Yu birdies 18th twice, wins Sanderson Farms in playoff for first PGA Tour title

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — LeBron James and his son, Bronny, made NBA history Sunday night when they played together for the first time during the Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason game against Phoenix.

LeBron and Bronny are the first father and son to play in any NBA game at the same time, let alone on the same team. The James family’s remarkable moment coincidentally happened on Bronny’s 20th birthday.

Bronny James entered the game as a substitute to begin the second quarter, joining his father on the court out of the timeout. The crowd at Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley cheered at the mention of Bronny’s name.

LeBron James is beginning his record-tying 22nd season in the NBA, while LeBron James Jr. — known to all as Bronny — was the Lakers’ second-round draft pick this summer. After recovering from cardiac arrest over a year ago, Bronny played just one season at Southern California before entering the draft and joining the Lakers.

Things weren’t immediately smooth for the James family: Bronny committed two turnovers and LeBron made another in their first two minutes together. Shortly after LeBron hit a 3-pointer moments later, LeBron got the ball to Bronny and set a screen for his son’s 3-point attempt, but Bronny missed.

Bronny came off for a substitute 4:09 into the second quarter, and LeBron came off 25 seconds later at the next dead ball.

Although LeBron will turn 40 in late December, the top scorer in NBA history has shown no sign of slowing down with age. He has spoken for years about his longtime dream of playing in the NBA with one of his sons, and the Lakers made it a reality when they grabbed Bronny with the 55th pick in the draft.

The 6-foot-2 Bronny is expected to spend much of the upcoming season working on his game with the South Bay Lakers of the G League, but he will almost certainly get to play alongside his 6-foot-9 father in a real game early in the regular season.

Head coach JJ Redick said the Lakers already have discussed the logistics of the next historic moment, but he hasn’t predicted when it will happen.

LeBron sat out of the Lakers’ preseason opener against Minnesota last Friday night, resting up after a full week of training camp following a busy summer. Bronny had two points on 1-for-6 shooting and three blocked shots while playing 16 minutes against the Timberwolves.

The Lakers have four more preseason games — all outside Los Angeles while their home arena is being renovated — before they begin the regular season at home against Minnesota on Oct. 22.

LeBron was early in his second NBA season with the Cleveland Cavaliers when he and his high school sweetheart, Savannah Brinson, became parents for the first time in 2004. They had two more children — son Bryce and daughter Zhuri.

LeBron and Bronny have been preparing for the chance to play together ever since LeBron returned from a summer vacation after winning a gold medal with the U.S. team at the Paris Olympics. Anthony Davis also made his preseason debut against the Suns after a similarly busy summer.

The father and son have scrimmaged together repeatedly during workouts at the Lakers’ training complex, both as teammates and opponents. Redick said they’ve even run pick-and-rolls together in preparation.

In the regular season, they’ll join a short list of fathers and sons who have shared a playing field in North American professional sports. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. played together with the Seattle Mariners during parts of the 1990 and 1991 MLB seasons, while hockey great Gordie Howe played with his sons Marty and Mark for the WHA’s Houston Aeros and the NHL’s Hartford Whalers.

___

AP NBA:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Castellanos sometimes amazes himself with intuition he can win a game on the final swing.

As he approached the plate with two outs in the ninth inning, with two runners on and the score tied, Castellanos had a hunch he could win Game 2 of the NL Division Series for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Even in the face of an 1-2 slider against Mets reliever Tylor Megill.

“I did like that pitch when I saw it,” Castellanos said.

As Phillies fans unleashed a throaty roar that echoed outside Citizens Bank Park, it was clear they liked that pitch, too.

Castellanos ripped a winning single that scored Trea Turner and sent the Phillies to a dizzying 7-6 win over New York on Sunday and evened the NLDS at one game apiece.

“I said to the guys, Rocky would be proud,” postseason star Bryce Harper said. “Never-die mentality. Just a great game.”

This win meant more than any fictional tale.

Castellanos, who led the major leagues this season with four walk-off hits, tossed his helmet and was mobbed by teammates on the infield as a game that seemed to slip away one inning earlier turned into one more comeback for the NL East champions.

He ran over to his son, Liam, a steady presence at the ballpark during his tenure, and the two exchanged a big “Let’s Go!”

“When I’m old and no one cares about me as a baseball player anymore, we’re going to be home and be able to remember and look back at that,” Castellanos said.

His performance in Game 2 will live long in Philly sports lore. Castellanos had two big swings and misses in the fourth inning for an 0-2 count. He didn’t bite on a sweeper in the dirt and mouthed his displeasure when he heard boos from fans.

His tying homer in the sixth made it 3-all, and Castellanos scored the go-ahead run on Bryson Stott’s two-run triple in a three-run eighth that put Philadelphia ahead 6-4.

“He came up big for us a lot this year,” Stott said. “It feels like every walk-off hit is Nick, and that’s who he is. And his heart rate doesn’t get up, stays the same. And gets the swing off.”

Megill retired the first two batters of the ninth and walked Turner and Harper, who also homered and scored twice. Castellanos followed with the Phillies’ fifth career postseason walk-off hit.

“Just made a bad pitch, backed up on me,” Megill said.

After falling behind 0-2, Castellanos took a ball in the dirt, then pulled a hanging slider into left and sparked the towel-waving crowd at the ballpark into a frenzy.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Castellanos said. “If he blows a fastball by me, so be it. I’d rather that than swing at something in the dirt. It was incredible but the series is even. Now we go to New York and there’s a lot of baseball left.”

Game 3 is Tuesday in New York, the Mets’ first home game since Sept. 22.

“No excuses. It’s been hard, but here we are,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I’m just looking forward to get back to Citi Field.”

In just the second postseason game between the NL East rivals, the Mets and Phillies were pushed from pillar to post over the final four innings, each game-changing swing topped by one even more emotional.

Mark Vientos hit a pair of two-run homers for the Mets, who got solo shots from Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo.

“I think we put on quite a show for everybody in attendance and everybody watching on TV,” Nimmo said.

Harper’s two-run homer and Castellanos’ solo drive in a three-pitch span from Luis Severino sparked the Phillies’ comeback from a 3-0, sixth-inning deficit.

“Missed my location and paid for it,” Severino said.

After Nimmo’s seventh-inning homer off Orion Kerkering gave New York a 4-3 lead, Stott lined a go-ahead, two-run triple down the right-field line on his 27th birthday after Harper walked and Castellanos singled off Díaz in the eighth.

“He threw a slider that I thought I could finally hit, and was able to pull it down the line,” Stott said.

Díaz, who has a 9.37 ERA at Citizens Bank Park, threw 104 pitches in three outings over a seven-day span.

Díaz faulted his approach to Harper, saying “I think I was a little bit lazy to him instead of attacking him.”

J.T. Realmuto’s grounder scored Stott for a 6-4 lead, but Vientos hit a two-run homer off Matt Strahm, an All-Star lefty who failed the Phillies for a second straight game.

Harper — who wore a “Showman” headband — snapped the Phillies out of their offensive malaise when he drove Severino’s fastest pitch of the day, a 99 mph fastball, 431 feet into the shrubbery in dead center as fans roared.

“That was sick,” Harper said. “Best fanbase in the world.”

Phillies fans were still going wild when Castellanos followed with a tying homer to left-center, then sprinted around the bases.

Now it’s off to New York.

“Both teams, man,” Harper said. “Punch for punch.”

UP NEXT

Phillies RHP Aaron Nola and Mets LHP Sean Manaea start in Game 3.

___

AP MLB:

Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer took a moment to touch on his profession’s job security.

Or lack thereof.

“It’s insanity,” DeBoer said in May during the NHL playoffs after the league saw its 19th coaching change since the end of the 2022-23 season. “We coach in an age where everyone talks about the modern athlete, building relationships in order to coach them. How do you do that with that kind of turnover?

“It’s like going on a date and getting married and divorced before the appetizers show up. I don’t get it, but that’s the world we live in.”

That world has seen an astounding level of turnover that speaks to the desperation felt by organizations when things turn sour and the temperature is turned up.

“I wouldn’t want to be a head coach right now,” New York Islanders centre Bo Horvat said at the recent NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “It’s tough.”

St. Louis Blues counterpart Robert Thomas saw the only pro coach he’d ever played for — Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube — get fired last December. Berube subsequently replaced Sheldon Keefe in Toronto after the Maple Leafs handed their bench boss his walking papers.

Keefe, in turn, took over for Lindy Ruff with the New Jersey Devils. Ruff, meanwhile, returned for a second stint with the Buffalo Sabres when Don Granato was canned.

“Coaching changes are hard,” Thomas said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit to adjust, but a breath of fresh air changes things in the room.”

Of the 32 coaches standing behind benches at the start of last season, 12 are no longer in the same role — including the retired Rick Bowness.

“It’s a results-driven league,” Vegas Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel said. “If you don’t win, you get replaced. If you don’t produce, you get replaced.

“If you’re not performing and not getting results, they usually just go find someone that will.”

Not all coaching moves are equal. The Columbus Blue Jackets cut ties with Mike Babcock for off-ice reasons prior to the 2023-24 campaign. Jacques Martin was brought back by the Ottawa Senators on an interim basis after D.J. Smith was axed to keep the seat warm for Travis Green. Scott Arniel, meanwhile, took over the Winnipeg Jets when Bowness hung up his clipboard.

The job, however, remains incredibly volatile.

“I don’t know what the average lifespan of the coach in a specific organization is, but I know it’s got to be short,” New York Rangers forward Vincent Trochek said. “(General managers) have to make moves if things aren’t going well.”

Florida Panthers winger Sam Reinhart watched Presidents’ Trophy-winning coach Andrew Brunette, now with the Nashville Predators, get fired after a second-round playoff exit in 2022. Paul Maurice took the reins and led the club on back-to-back runs to the Cup final, including June’s victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

“Tough business to be in,” Reinhart said. “Especially when 31 teams go home unhappy every year.”

But there are the organizations with a measure of stability.

Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper has the longest current tenure dating back to March 2013.

Lightning captain Victor Hedman said that continuity, even through tough times and playoff disappointments, helped his team lift the Cup twice (2020, 2021) and make three straight finals.

“It’s huge,” Hedman said. “Especially if you have a coach and a core group of players who have been with him the whole time, have bought into his message and his philosophies.”

The big defenceman added Cooper’s ability to evolve has no doubt helped his longevity.

“Really good at finding a way to play to make our team the most successful,” Hedman said. “You’re going to go through injuries, you’re going to go through different players.

“Really good at feeling out the room, feeling out the guys, and knowing when to push what buttons.”

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, on the job since December 2015, led the franchise to Cup wins in 2016 and 2017. Jared Bednar, meanwhile, has been with the Avalanche since August 2016, and guided Colorado to the 2022 title.

“That would suck … I wouldn’t want a new coach every couple years,” Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon said. “There’s so many factors going into winning. Health is a big one, just the right group of guys, the right mix.”

Horvat, who experienced a coaching change in January when Patrick Roy replaced Lane Lambert, said players feel a level of guilt with a firing.

“Ultimately it’s on us and how we play,” he said. “It’s not always the coach’s fault. Sometimes you just need to change and it sparks something.”

Senators forward Shane Pinto said coaching casualties are a byproduct of a league with fine lines and small margins.

“But that’s what makes it beautiful,” he said. “That’s why it’s so rewarding when you win.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.