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John Shipley: Wild get heavy and Stars can’t deal

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

Win or lose, the Wild wanted to come heavy for Game 3 of their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series with Dallas. Need to come heavy. It was imperative after the way they played in Game 2 Wednesday at American Airlines Center.That tied the series at a game apiece with the series headed back to Minnesota, and showed what the Stars can do if the Wild abandon their identity, abandon the grind.After falling behind, 2-0, in the first eight minutes, Minnesota started taking chances as they tried to tie the game. What they got was the wrong end of a series of odd-man rushes that ultimately buried the Wild, 7-3.The Wild are not yacht rock, synclaviers and fancy baselines and complex harmonies. They’re heavy — Zeppelin at the Garden. Blue Cheer. Mott the Hoople before Bowie got a hold of them.Minnesota needed to hog the mic and turn it up to 11 on Friday, to crush Dallas under a barrage of power chords and an unrelenting 4 x 4 beat. Keep it simple, but keep it heavy.Boy, did they come he...

Slain woman’s son, ex-boyfriend charged with murder in July shootout that killed her in crossfire

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

A 25-year-old man has been charged in the July 2022 killing of his mother during an Apple Valley gun battle involving the woman’s ex-boyfriend, Dakota County authorities said Friday.Billy Joe Pryor Jr. was charged this week with one count of second-degree murder (with intent/not premeditated) in the slaying of his mother, Michelle McGill, 49, of Apple Valley, according to Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena.Billy Joe Pryor Jr.The mother’s ex-boyfriend, Willie John Selmon II, 40, of Apple Valley, was also charged this week with second-degree murder (with intent/not premeditated) in the killing.Keena’s office gave the following details:On July 10, 2022, police responding to a 911 call about shots fired found McGill dead near a vehicle outside an Apple Valley home in the 900 block of Oriole Drive. She was shot in the thigh, in the chest and multiple times in her lower abdomen, according to the criminal complaint.When officers arrived, they said, they saw Pryor running ...

Wild win Game 3 against Stars, lose Joel Eriksson Ek in the process

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

The return of Joel Eriksson Ek has been a talking point ever since the Wild started their first-round series against the Dallas Stars.It came to fruition on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center, and he didn’t even last a full shift.After getting announced last in the starting lineup, and drawing a massive ovation from the sellout crowd, Eriksson Ek left less than 20 seconds into the game. He did not return.As much as that put the Wild in a precarious position — down a skater with basically the full 60 minutes to play — they still managed to scratch and claw their way to a 5-1 win over the Stars. Whether it was Mats Zuccarello busting out of a slump, Marcus Johansson continuing his excellence, or Marcus Foligno firing up the crowd, the collective stepped up for the Wild like it has so many times this season.That win in Game 3 helped the Wild take a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in St. Paul.There was intensity from the onset o...

Nuggets top Timberwolves to put Minnesota down 3-0 in series

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

The NBA’s regular season reveals more than most recognize. Over the course of 82 games, identities crystallize.Denver established one — a fine-tuned machine centered on Nikola Jokic, who’s armed with a couple elite scorers and a host of role players who perfectly balance out the team’s general skillset.Minnesota’s identity: that it did not have an identity. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch admitted as much throughout the season. What the Timberwolves excelled at or relied on changed numerous times over the months, and the results fluctuated accordingly.So when times got tough or tense, Minnesota had nothing to lean back on to make something happen. When that’s the case, individual players simply try to make things happen on their own.That doomed the Timberwolves time and time again this season, just as it did in Game 3 on Friday in Minneapolis. The Wolves fell apart down the stretch in their 120-111 loss to the top-seeded Nuggets.Denver leads the be...

Nuggets take commanding 3-0 lead over Minnesota behind Nikola Jokic’s triple-double

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS – Despite the magnitude of the moment, Jamal Murray didn’t hesitate whipping a behind-the-back pass through the lane to his favorite dance partner, Nikola Jokic.In what was expected to be a tense Game 3 here Friday night, the Nuggets were in complete control as they dashed Minnesota’s hopes of making this a competitive playoff series. Murray’s devilish dish to Jokic late in the fourth quarter may as well have been salt in the wound. The Nuggets’ 120-111 win gave Denver a commanding 3-0 lead in this first-round playoff series with a chance to end it on Sunday.Jokic’s 20-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound triple-double earned the headlines, but six Nuggets finished with double figures. Murray scored 20, and Michael Porter Jr. paced Denver with 25 points and four 3-pointers.Denver owned the paint (60-52) and dominated the glass (40-32). It was a resounding statement win and one the Nuggets didn’t need to have but they wanted, badly, anyway.Anthony Edwards’ 36 points paced Minneso...

Nuggets 3-pointers: Minnesota fans need to stop complaining about refs and start complaining about Rudy Gobert’s inability to guard Nikola Jokic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

Initial observations from the Nuggets’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of their first-round Western Conference playoffs matchup.1. Not even refs could slow Nuggets down. Timberwolves media couldn’t stop whining on Twitter late Friday about phantom Nikola Jokic traveling calls. What about phantom fouls on the NBA MVP? Or Rudy Gobert’s attempts at defending him? Home cooking on the home court happens, but the free-throw disparity Friday night bordered on the absurd. While Minnesota fans shouted, “Refs, you (expletive)” for the hundredth time with 4:46 to go in a five-point game, the T-Pups had gone to the stripe 31 times to Denver’s seven. It still wasn’t enough. Anthony Edwards’ shoulder charge on Jamal Murray with 4:06 left in the game finally got the Nuggets in the bonus and started sucking the oxygen out of the hosts, who now trail 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. No NBA team has ever flipped a 3-0 deficit.2. What can Brown do for you? Everything. Coming into F...

Police find $4 million worth of meth, fentanyl pills in San Bernardino bust

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

Police found over 300 pounds of methamphetamine and 90,000 fentanyl pills during massive drug busts in San Bernardino this week.On Wednesday, San Bernardino officers along with a SWAT team served a search warrant at an undisclosed location where 305 pounds of meth were discovered. The drug’s total street value is estimated at $4 million, authorities said.Police found $4 million worth of methamphetamine in a massive drug bust in San Bernardino. (San Bernardino Police Department.)Police found $4 million worth of methamphetamine in a massive drug bust in San Bernardino. (San Bernardino Police Department.)“You’d think these crooks would avoid @SanBernardinoPD,” said SBPD Chief Darren Goodman in a Tweet. “Our Narcotics Unit keeps fighting the battle to keep these dangerous drugs out of our community.”On Friday, officers conducted a traffic stop on a driver with a suspended license. Inside the suspect’s vehicle, police found 40,000 fentanyl pills. After serving a search warrant at the sus...

How SF Giants’ game vs. New York Mets turned in an instant, and when is it no longer ‘early’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants’ deficit against the New York Mets grew from one run to four runs in a span of about a minute Friday night – and not without some consternation from San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler.Catcher Joey Bart fielded a check swing from Jeff McNeil in the fifth inning right in front of home plate, but his throw to first base went off McNeil’s back and into right field, allowing Luis Guillorme to score from second base.Kapler came out of the dugout to talk to home plate umpire Bill Miller, presumably about McNeil being inside the line on his way to first base, but the discussion was brief.The next batter, Pete Alonso, took the first pitch he saw from Anthony DeSclafani over the center field wall, giving the Mets more than enough offense in what became a 7-0 win over the Giants before an announced crowd of 27,551 at Oracle Park.Mets left-handed starter and Newark native Joey Lucchesi, in his first big league game since June 2021, struck out eight in seven innings as ...

Zuccarello scores 2, Wild beat Stars to take 2-1 series lead

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Ryan Hartman had a three-point game as the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 5-1 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.Zuccarello scored Minnesota’s first goal on a backhander at 16:45 of the first period and beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger on a breakaway at 14:07 of the third to bring the sellout crowd to its feet.Marcus Johansson, Marcus Foligno and Hartman also scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson, who did not play in Game 2, made 23 saves.Luke Glendening scores his first goal of the series at 2:25 of the second period for Dallas. Oettinger, a Minnesota native, stopped 20 shots.Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center.The Wild opened the scoring late in the first period. John Klingberg, playing in his first game of the series, fired a shot from the point that wound up in front of the net. After the puck bounced around, Zuccarello corralled it and scored pas...

Alonso hits majors-best 10th homer, Lucchesi wins in return

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:28:27 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pete Alonso hit his majors-leading 10th homer, a two-run drive in the fifth that backed Joey Lucchesi’s triumphant return to the majors nearly two years after Tommy John surgery, and the New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-0 on Friday night.Lucchesi (1-0) struck out nine, walked two and allowed four hits over seven scoreless innings in his first appearance since June 18, 2021. The lefty became the first Mets pitcher to work into the seventh this season.Lucchesi underwent reconstructive elbow surgery on June 24, 2021, six days after his last big league appearance. His sensational season debut came across the bay from his hometown of Newark. His 97-pitch gem featured 59 sinkers averaging 91 mph and even clocking 92.6 mph to Mike Yastrzemski in the seventh. Lucchesi had never faced the Giants while with the Mets, tossing six innings here with San Diego on Aug. 31, 2019.Alonso delivered another mighty swing — this time off right-hander Anthony DeScla...