NBA draft 2020: The Report Card

Mavericks, Stars Chase Dallas Double

SCHUYLER DIXON Associated Press

DALLAS — Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks tossed the question back at the reporter when the rookie center was asked if he knew why so many fans shouted "Stars" during the national anthem at his home games.

"You tell me why," Lively said, prompting the explanation that supporters of Dallas' NBA team were offering a shoutout to fans of the NHL's Stars, who for years have yelled their team's nickname both times it comes up during "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"I definitely had a sneaking suspicion, but I didn't want to guess," the 20-year-old from Duke said. "So that's what I thought it was."

The Mavericks and Stars reached the Western Conference finals in their respective leagues together this spring for the first time in the 31 years since the NHL franchise moved south from Minnesota.

Lively and co-stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have the Mavs in the NBA Finals for the first time in 13 years, with Game 1 in Boston next week. The Stars will play at least six games against Edmonton for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, which was last played in Dallas in 2000 when the clubs shared since-demolished Reunion Arena.

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It's making for a busy spring for American Airlines Center workers who can convert the floor from ice to hardwood — or vice versa — in a matter of hours at the 23-year-old arena. They do that constantly for six months during the regular season, occasionally for a day-night doubleheader with less than five hours to spare between games.

By the time these NBA and NHL playoffs are over, the AAC, as the locals call it, will have hosted about 25 postseason games, after each team played 41 games there in regular seasons that started almost eight months ago.

It's just the sixth time that NBA and NHL teams sharing an arena have reached the conference finals together, and the first since the Nets and Devils in New Jersey in 2003.

"There's gonna be a lot of things sold in this stadium," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said, chuckling at himself while seeming to have the word "alcohol" running around in his brain. "A lot of water's going to be sold, so it's going to be an incredible time here in Dallas. It's going to be busy downtown."

The Texas Rangers won their first World Series last fall, an interesting twist considering they were a strike away from winning the title twice in 2011 when the Mavs were reigning NBA champs.

That 2011 championship is the only one for the Mavericks so far. The Stars won their lone Stanley Cup in 1999. Now the clubs are closer than ever to a Dallas double.

"It's awesome," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "I think both franchises probably got some motivation from the Rangers as well. We're happy to watch the Mavs go on and do so well. And we're supporting them as much as they're supporting us."

Even a couple of out-of-town football stars are getting into it.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce showed up in a suite with former Stars goalie Marty Turco and plenty of others for a 3-1 victory over Edmonton in Game 2.

That footage prompted fellow three-time Super Bowl winner and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a Texas native, to post on X imploring his favorite receiver to "get out of my arena!!" Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, attend a fair share of Mavs games.

A night later, Mahomes and Kelce were sitting next to each other courtside when the Mavs beat Minnesosta 116-107 for a 3-0 series lead.

"It's just dope to see both of us in the same position right now," Mavs center Daniel Gafford said. "Something that you never think you would think on as a kid, but now that you're in a position of thinking about it, it's just like, 'Wow.'"

Nathaniel Lowe won his first Gold Glove at first base while helping the Rangers win the championship. The gregarious Lowe seems to relish showing up on the video boards when he attends Stars games.

"The DFW area has given me a lot — like, a lot," Lowe said, referring to the acronym that includes Fort Worth. "And I feel really fortunate to be part of a championship organization there. So if that can bleed into hockey and basketball and then, ideally, across the road to football too, then we've got a good thing going."

By "football," Lowe means the Dallas Cowboys, who play just a few hundred yards from the home of the Rangers in Arlington, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. One of the biggest brands in pro sports, the Cowboys haven't reached an NFC championship game since winning the last of the franchise's five Super Bowls to finish the 1995 season.

Dak Prescott is the latest quarterback to bear the burden of trying to get that playoff breakthrough, and he sees what's going on about 30 miles south of the headquarters of America's Team in a Dallas suburb.

"It's not jealousy, but yeah, it fires you up," said Prescott, who endured his biggest postseason disappointment in January with a shocking wild-card loss at home when the Cowboys were favored to beat the Green Bay Packers.

"I want it for them," Prescott said. "I want it because it only raises the stakes and makes it tougher on me. And I'm for that. Go win it. Rangers did it. Other two go do it. Put more (expletive) pressure on us."

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Dorothea Barron Watched Over Men Who Battled Sea To Perfect Harbors Seen As Key To Normandy Success

Dorothea Barron got a sneak preview of the Normandy landings from a watchtower on the coast of Scotland. During the spring and summer of 1943, she and her colleagues kept watch over the troops who tested the prototypes for two prefabricated harbors that would be constructed in the hours after D-Day to ease the delivery of men and equipment to the battlefield. Whenever someone got into trouble, Barron would unfurl her semaphore flags and signal for help. (AP video shot by Kwiyeon Ha)

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Bryson DeChambeau Puts On A Show But Somehow Comes Up Short At PGA Championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The putt that barely toppled in on the 18th hole. The tee shot that hit a tree on No. 16 but careened back into the fairway. The chip-ins from off the green, the fist pumps in the air and the fist bumps with the fans.

Bryson DeChambeau put on the kind of show, and got the sort of breaks, that make players larger than life and sometimes win them major titles, too. Yet somehow, when he looked up at the scoreboard for the last time Sunday at the PGA Championship, his name was stuck in second.

One of golf's most entertaining characters trickled in his last putt for a birdie to close a thrill-a-minute round of 7-under 64 — tied for best of the day — and put him in a tie for the lead at 20-under par.

A half-hour later, Xander Schauffele made birdie from virtually the same angle — his putt lipped halfway around the cup before falling in — to break the tie, break the all-time major scoring record, and capture his first major.

DeChambeau left not with a shiny new trophy, but looking at all the bright spots that came out of his thrilling performance at Valhalla.

"I gave it my all," he said. "I put as much effort as I possibly could into it and I knew that my 'B' game would be enough. It's just clearly somebody (else) played incredibly well."

Warming up for a possible playoff, DeChambeau stood with his hands on his hips, stared at the big board near the driving range and watched Schauffele's winning putt go in. Once it landed, DeChambeau turned quickly and exited stage left, making his way to 18 to congratulate the winner.

"I seriously thought 18 was going to do it," DeChambeau said. "Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it's like, 'Man, he's playing some unbelievable golf.'"

The 2020 U.S. Open remains DeChambeau's only major title, but golf fans won't soon forget the charge he put on, the fun he had with the fans, and the exhilarating near-miss in yet another heart-stopper at Valhalla.

Schauffele said he knew he'd be an underdog had the tournament gone into extra holes.

"I really did not want to go into a playoff with Bryson," he said. "Going up 18 with his length, it's not something that I was going to have a whole lot of fun with."

DeChambeau's most memorable moments came on 16 and 18. On 16, DeChambeau was shouting "Fore!" when he hooked his tee shot deep into the woods to the left of the fairway. It pinballed among the trees, then landed 221 yards from the pin in the fairway.

He pulled 8-iron and stuck the shot to 3 feet, taking a monster step forward, waving his arms, then leaning forward and putting his hands on his knees, urging the ball to do exactly what it did — land and stop for his easiest birdie putt of the day.

"I looked at (caddie Greg Bodine) and I go, 'OK, this is what it takes to win major championships. You got to have breaks like that happen,'" DeChambeau said.

He also needed a birdie on 18 to tie Schauffele. DeChambeau teed off into an awkward lie in a bunker to the left of the fairway, but punched a 6-iron out to the first cut of rough to the left of the green.

The chip stopped 10 feet away and the ensuing putt didn't look like it had enough steam. On the very last revolution, it tumbled in. DeChambeau pulled the ball from the hole, jabbed his fist in the air, then fist-bumped fans on his way off the course and back to the driving range.

"I (thought I) left it short again like a you-know-what, like an idiot," he said. "Luckily it got there and it was some nice elation to finish off a round like that in a major championship. Pretty proud of myself, yeah."

Only a day before, DeChambeau set the stage on 18 when he used a 6-iron from 10 yards off the green to chip in for eagle. It vaulted him to two shots out of the lead and was a hint of things to come.

Once one of the most divisive characters in pro golf, DeChambeau has cut down on the weight lifting and toned down on the "Mad Scientist" act that first propelled him into the spotlight. (Though he's still big on cutting-edge equipment's major role in his game.)

He has moved to LIV Golf. This win, combined with two other top-10 finishes in majors over the last 12 months, is helping quiet any talk that the LIV players can't compete at the highest level.

He is honing his persona on YouTube — gobbling up followers online and fans at the course.

On one of golf's biggest stages, he delivered some much-needed drama and good times for a sport at a crossroads. The best news for DeChambeau and his fans: He's confident there's more to come.

"Definitely surprised myself, impressed myself and I know I can do it again," he said. "It's just going to take some time."

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AP golf: https://apnews.Com/hub/golf

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