MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City reached their fourth straight League Cup final as second-half goals from John Stones and Fernandinho gave Pep Guardiola’s side a 2-0 win over Manchester United in Wednesday’s semi-final at Old Trafford.

JOEL Embiid scored 38 points and hit all 13 of his free throws to lift the host Philadelphia 76ers past the Washington Wizards 141-136 on Wednesday.

GOALS from Cristiano Ronaldo and Welshman Aaron Ramsey helped Juventus to secure a 3-1 victory over 10-man Sassuolo in Serie A on Sunday, lifting the champions to fourth place in the standings.

BURNLEY, England — Manchester United moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League after a Paul Pogba goal gave them a hard-fought 1-0 win over Burnley at a freezing Turf Moor on Tuesday.

The National Basketball Association would have to go back 70 years to relive the last time it held the All-Star Game in March. And just as the inaugural event was significant in its uniqueness, so, too, did this year’s iteration stand out. With the novel coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on normalcy, the latest version of the league’s elaborate Thank You to fans wound up being compressed at best. A weekend’s worth of festivities was cramped in a single night, and the 16,600-seat State Farm Arena served as host to a mere eighth of its capacity, the maximum allowable under local safety regulations.

TURIN, Italy — Defiant 10-man Porto upset Juventus to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw despite losing 3-2 to the Italians following extra time in a thrilling clash that went to the wire on Tuesday.

The Lakers were pumped. Heading into the Toyota Center, they figured they could generate the momentum they needed to prove, at the very least to themselves, that they could win under pressure with consistency even absent top dog LeBron James. That was certainly what they did against the highly regarded Thunder last Friday, hanging tough in overtime after looking lost and ripe for the picking early on. And for a while there, it looked as if they possessed the resolve to do so anew against the Rockets on the road.

The Hawks finally put the ball through the hoop with 31.1 ticks left in overtime yesterday. Prior to Cam Reddish’s short stab, they proved unable to score in 10 straight offensive sets dating back to the last minute of the fourth quarter. And through seven missed field-goal attempts, two trips to the charity stripe, and two turnovers, they managed to snatch defeat from the throes of victory. They hitherto looked to be en route to reaping the benefits of 47 minutes of outstanding hoops in hostile territory, only to get in their own way and ultimately absorb their 18th setback in 24 outings so far through their 2019--20 campaign.

SYDNEY -- Rafael Nadal secured a come-back victory against Australia’s Alex De Minaur at the ATP Cup in Sydney on Saturday, propelling Spain into the final of the inaugural event to play the Novak Djokovic-led Serbian team.

DENVER -- Nikola Jokic had 20 points and 15 rebounds for his 21^st double-double of the season, Jamal Murray scored 10 of his 19 points from the foul line, and the host Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 114-104 on Sunday night.

CAGLIARI, Italy — Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of finishing the season as top scorer in Italy’s Serie A faded away on Wednesday as he failed to find the net when champions Juventus slumped to a shock 2-0 defeat away to Cagliari.

THE BMW Championship, which figures to occupy golf habitues this weekend, is being compared to the 2003 United States Open for good reason. Apart from sharing the Olympia Fields Golf Club in Cook County, Illinois, as the venue, the first stop on the FedEx Cup Playoffs rota likewise looks to sport penal conditions reminiscent of typical setups for the major tournament. And it doesn’t help that the weather slated to reign at least through the first two rounds will make the Bent grass fairways hard and Blue grass greens uninviting. Under the circumstances, players are right to expect high scores, and certainly well north of those that bombarded The Northern Trust at TPC Boston over the weekend.