NBA
ATLANTA (AP) - Carmelo Anthony looked like he was all done just a couple of seasons ago. Now, he’s part of a truly exclusive club in the NBA.
Welcome to the Top 10, Melo.
Anthony scored 14 points Monday night in Portland’s 123-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, moving him past Elvin Hayes for 10th place on the career scoring list with 27,318.
Anthony, who’s in his 18th NBA season and turns 37 before the month is out, cruised past Hayes early in the second quarter, hitting a 3-pointer while getting fouled by Danilo Gallinari and knocking down the free throw to complete a four-point play.
FOOTBALL
Amazon Prime Video will become the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package a year earlier than originally anticipated.
Amazon and the league announced that Prime Video will take over the entire package in 2022, which will make it an 11-season deal through 2032. It was originally supposed to begin in 2023 when the league’s new media rights deals kick in.
This is the first time a streaming service has had the full rights to an NFL package.
Prime Video will carry 15 regular-season games on Thursday night along with one preseason game. Games will be available on stations in the markets of the participating teams, which is the same practice when they are on ESPN and NFL Network.
NBC has the opening game of the season and also Thanksgiving night, and there is no Thursday night match in the final week of the schedule.
Amazon has partnered with the league to stream 11 Thursday night games since 2017, but it will take over the entire package from Fox, which has had it since 2018. Fox and NFL Network will broadcast “Thursday Night Football” this season. The league will announce the schedule on May 12.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - Less than five weeks into the season, the New York Mets are making significant changes.
The scuffling Mets fired hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater on Monday night following a 6-5 loss in St. Louis that dropped them to 11-12.
New York has struggled badly with runners in scoring position, a trouble area last year as well when the popular Davis worked remotely from his Arizona home because of coronavirus concerns. Several accomplished hitters are off to slow starts - including $341 million newcomer Francisco Lindor, who is batting .163 and mired in an 0-for-20 slump.
The team has also lacked power at the plate, a big surprise for a lineup that includes Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith.
Minor league director of hitting development Hugh Quattlebaum becomes the new hitting coach, and director of player development Kevin Howard takes over as assistant hitting coach under second-year manager Luis Rojas.
CHICAGO (AP) - Dustin May got an MRI on Monday morning, and that was it. His season was over.
May will have Tommy John surgery next week, leaving the Los Angeles Dodgers without one of baseball’s top young pitchers for the rest of their title defense.
The 23-year-old May was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday, a day after the right-hander winced in pain on the mound and was forced to leave a start at Milwaukee.
The World Series champion Dodgers, already beset by several injuries to their pitching staff, said Dr. Neal El Attrache will perform May’s ligament reconstruction surgery on May 11 in Los Angeles.
CHICAGO (AP) - Luis Robert couldn’t put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the field Sunday. A day later, the news was no less painful for the White Sox or their promising young center fielder.
Robert could miss the remainder of the season after a scan Monday showed he has a torn right hip flexor, another major blow for a team eyeing a deep playoff run.
General manager Rick Hahn said their will be more consultations with specialists in the next few days to determine whether Robert needs surgery. Either way, Hahn said Robert won’t resume baseball activities for three to four months at least. It’s not clear if he will play again this year.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
WACO, Texas (AP) -WNBA coach Nicki Collen has been hired as the new Baylor women’s coach, taking over a program that has won three national championships and the last 11 Big 12 regular season titles.
Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades made the announcement Monday night. Collen, who had coached the Atlanta Dream the past three seasons, replaces Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey and will be formally introduced Wednesday on the Waco campus.
Mulkey left Baylor last month after 21 seasons to return to her home state to take over at LSU. The SEC campus is only about 50 miles from Tickfaw, Louisiana, where Mulkey grew up.
Collen was the 2018 WNBA coach of the year in her first season with the Dream, when they went 23-11 and made it to the league semifinals. She was 38-52 overall in Atlanta, after two seasons as an assistant for the WNBA’s Connecticut franchise.
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