AUTO RACING: Three-peat champion Max Verstappen and Formula One take center stage in Las Vegas

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Pelicans coach Willie Green is sitting out a game because of an illness. Assistant coach James Borrego is filling in for Green during Tuesday night's contest against Dallas. Borrego is a former head coach in Charlotte who joined New Orleans' staff this past offseason.  Green's ailment is being described by the Pelicans as a “non-COVID illness.” New Orleans came into the designated in-season tournament game looking to end a five-game losing streak. Pelicans forward and top defensive player Herbert Jones was available to return to the lineup from a bruised right leg. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd says forward-center Maxi Kleber is miss his third straight game for Dallas. Kleber has a dislocated toe on his right foot.

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Freshman guard Mikaylah Williams scored 42 points and No. 7 LSU rolled to a 109-79 rout over Kent State. It was the most points ever scored by an LSU freshman in the NCAA era of women’s basketball and the most by a Tigers player since Cornelia Gayden scored 43 vs. TCU on Jan. 2, 1996. Junior transfer Aneesah Morrow added 17 points, eight rebounds and nine steals for LSU, which scored 70 points in the second half.

Taika Waititi would really rather just go to the beach. In an interview, the 48-year-old Māori filmmaker of the upcoming “Next Goal Wins” says he's already begun planning how he can quit Hollywood, which he calls “just sad people eating lukewarm food out of cardboard boxes in offices.” For him, the writers and actors strikes were a welcome hiatus after a long stretch of work, including the Oscar-winning “Jojo Rabbit” and 2022's “Thor: Love and Thunder.” And he'd rather keep the slower pace. “Next Goal Wins,” inspired by a 2014 documentary of the same name, is a sports movie that delights in upending the conventions of sports movies. It's in theaters Friday.

The Minnesota Vikings have signed linebacker Anthony Barr to their practice squad. They are bringing back their 2014 first-round draft pick and four-time Pro Bowl pick for depth after an injury to leading tackler Jordan Hicks. Hicks bruised his right shin in Minnesota’s win on Sunday over New Orleans. He developed a condition called compartment syndrome caused by a pressure buildup from internal bleeding or swollen tissues. He was hospitalized for two nights after emergency surgery and discharged Tuesday. Barr was a starter for the Vikings for eight seasons. He became a free agent and played for Dallas in 2022.

First baseman Dominic Smith and right-hander Cory Abbott have been designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals. The club also requested unconditional release waivers for right-hander Andrés Machado. The Nationals say Machado plans to pitch in Japan. The moves open room on the 40-man roster, and Washington selected the contracts of four pitchers: right-handers Cole Henry and Zach Brzykcy, and left-handers DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker. Smith hit .254 with a .326 on-base percentage and a .366 slugging percentage in 2023, with 12 homers and 46 RBIs for the Nationals. Victor Robles and Tanner Rainey agreed to 1-year contracts to avoid arbitration.

BOULDER, Colo. — Deion Sanders said he won’t hold a grudge against the four California high school students who are accused of stealing from the Colorado locker room at the Rose Bowl last month. And he’s hoping Buffs fans will do the same.

The captain of Israel’s soccer team displayed the shoe of a young boy that he said was kidnapped by Hamas militants during their deadly Oct. 7 raid, an act of solidarity with those Israelis still being held captive in the Gaza Strip ahead of the team’s Wednesday game in Hungary. During a news conference on Tuesday, team captain Eli Dasa raised the small athletic shoe and displayed it to reporters, saying it belonged to an 8-year-old boy who had been kidnapped and was still being held in the Gaza Strip along with seven members of his family. Visibly emotional, Dasa said the shoe was all that is left from the boy's house in the Be’eri kibbutz.

Two-time U.S. figure skating champion Bradie Tennell broke her ankle while working on a step sequence in practice and said Tuesday that the surgery will force her to miss the remainder of the Grand Prix season. She won two lower-level events leading up to the marquee Grand Prix events, but the injury has forced her to withdraw from planned competitions in China and Japan. The 25-year-old Tennell has battled back problems, a foot injury and a separate ankle injury throughout her career. She helped the U.S. win team bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

SAN DIEGO — Padres Chairman Peter Seidler died Tuesday morning.

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton’s agent has responded after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that the slugger will likely end up getting hurt again next year.

David Braun appears to be the biggest winner among the Big Ten’s first-year coaches.Northwestern is in a position few would have envisioned when he was elevated to interim coach in the wake of a hazing and abuse scandal that cost Pat Fitzgerald his job. Northwestern is one of four Big Ten schools that began the season with new head coaches. Braun didn’t come with the cache of Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell or Nebraska’s Matt Rhule or even Purdue’s Ryan Walters. The Wildcats are one win away from bowl game eligibility.

Starting quarterback has been a position under fire in the Big 12. Whether due to injuries or coaching decisions, staying on the field has been a challenge for many of the league’s quarterbacks who started the season No. 1 for their programs. Injuries have knocked out starters at some point in the season Texas, Kansas, BYU, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and West Virginia. Oklahoma State’s quarterback carousel through the first few games had the Cowboys rotating three players before finally settling on Alan Bowman.

Peter Seidler, the Padres owner who spent hundreds of millions trying to bring a title to San Diego, has died at 63.

Legalized sports betting in North Carolina isn’t expected to begin in early January, as the state’s new gambling laws permitted. That's what members and staff of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission said during a committee meeting Tuesday. Legislation approved by the General Assembly this year said the commission had until next June 15 to launch the betting options. The law said gambling could begin as soon as Jan. 8, but the commission says that's unworkable given all the steps that have yet to occur. That includes applications yet to be received from companies that want to offer gambling. No start date was identified Tuesday.

Troy Lesesne was fired by the New York Red Bulls, and his replacement will become the team’s 20th coach in 29 seasons. New York also said Denis Hamlett had left after seven seasons as sporting director in what the team termed a mutual decision. Lesesne replaced Gerhard Struber on May 8 with the team in last place with one win, four losses and six draws for nine points. The Red Bulls made the playoffs by finishing eighth in the Eastern Conference with 11 wins, 10 draws and 13 losses and beat Charlotte in the first round before losing to Cincinnati.

ESPN Bet, a rebranded sports-gambling app owned by Penn Entertainment, is set to launch Tuesday. Penn signed a $1.5 billion deal with ESPN for rights to the sports media giant’s name in August. Under the agreement, Penn will operate ESPN Bet while ESPN promotes the app across its online and broadcast platforms. It’s unclear when ESPN Bet will officially be available to download. A Penn spokesperson told The Associated Press that the app is planned to debut Tuesday afternoon, but did not provide a specific time. ESPN Bet is set to go live in 17 states.

Carlos Mendoza began his tenure as New York Mets manager emphasizing how close the team was to success in 2022, not how far it descended this year. Speaking at a Citi Field news conference, Mendoza says: “I’m not just creating a new culture. People need to understand that this is a team that won 100 games not too long ago." Mendoza became the third Mets manager since Steve Cohen bought the team in November 2020, following Luis Rojas and Buck Showalter.

The Buffalo Bills have fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey with the Josh Allen-led attack stagnating over a six-week stretch and the three-time defending AFC East champions falling further out of the playoff picture. The move came a day after a 24-22 loss to the Denver Broncos in an outing where Allen committed three of Buffalo’s four turnovers and the offense was held under 26 points for a sixth straight game to match the longest stretch since the quarterback’s rookie season in 2018. Second-year quarterbacks coach Joe Brady takes over as interim coordinator.

Liverpool soccer player Luis Díaz has been reunited with his father, who was kidnapped in northern Colombia last month and released last week. The Colombian Football Federation tweeted photos that showed the the striker and his father, Luis Manuel Díaz Jiménez, hugging on Tuesday in the city of Barranquilla. The Colombian national team is set to play against Brazil there on Thursday. Armed men on motorcycles abducted Díaz’s parents from a gas station on Oct. 28. His mother was rescued within hours. A unit of the National Liberation Army guerrilla group eventually claimed responsibility but said the kidnpping was a mistake and its top leadership had ordered the father’s release.

The Cricket World Cup is at the semifinal stage. Host nation India is playing New Zealand on Wednesday and South Africa plays Australia on Thursday. The matches are filled with storylines. Virat Kohli is regarded by many as the Lionel Messi of cricket and the India superstar is pushing his country toward another World Cup title just like the Argentina great did in Qatar last year. New Zealand’s players are being driven by redemption after their heartbreaking loss in the 2019 final to England. South Africa is looking to reach the final for the first time after four semifinal losses and rid itself of a “choker” tag. Australia’s David Warner is nearing the end of the long goodbye to his turbulent, storied career.

Formula One team Williams says American teenager Lia Block will drive for the ART Grand Prix team in next year’s F1 Academy season. The 17-year-old Block will represent Williams on the 2024 F1 Academy grid after joining the Williams Driver Academy program. Block says "this is something I never could have dreamed of” and “I can’t wait to embrace this new experience.” Block became the youngest American Rally Association champion in history when she won the Open Two-Wheel Drive class this year. Her debut in F1 Academy racing marks her first full season of open-wheel racing and Williams says she recently underwent testing in open-wheel cars to prepare.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has withdrawn from the ATP Finals with a back injury after playing only three games of his second match in Turin. Holger Rune won the match. Tsitsipas was trailing 2-1 in the opening set when he had a lengthy conversation with his trainer before slowly getting to his feet, shaking his head and walking over to shake Rune’s hand. That was after only 17 minutes of play and led to boos from the crowd in Turin. An exhibition match between alternates Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz was then played. Both Tsitsipas and Rune lost their openers. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic plays Jannik Sinner later in the day.

Defending Serie A champion Napoli has fired coach Rudi Garcia and replaced him with Walter Mazzarri. The 62-year-old Mazzarri returns to Napoli 10 years after leading it to a runner-up finish in the Italian league. Garcia had taken over from title-winning manager Luciano Spalletti in the offseason and leaves just two days after a 1-0 defeat to lowly Empoli. That was Napoli’s third loss in Serie A this season and left it 10 points behind league leader Inter Milan.

Camilo Villegas made it back to winning on the PGA Tour, and he has a caddie to thank for that. Not his own caddie, and not just any caddie. Jose Campra has been teaching on the side. And when Villegas approached him during a chance meeting at Torrey Pines in January, it was the start of a happy ending. Campra told Villegas it would take a year to make the radical change in his swing he needed. Villegas is happy it didn't take quite that long. He won the Bermuda Championship for his first PGA Tour title in nine years.