The basketball world took to social media Sunday to pay tribute to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash five years ago along with eight other passengers, including his daughter Gianna.

The crash happened en route to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury Park, California, where he was scheduled to coach his daughter’s team.

The tragic crash shocked the local area and the basketball world, and five years later, Bryant’s legacy continues to grow and inspire. The NBA legend was was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Kobe Bryant tributes shared on social media

Social media was filled with photographs, memories and stories of the Hall of Famer as people looked back at his life and career.

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The Lakers did not put out a formal statement but shared a photograph of Bryant sitting courtside of a basketball game with his arm around his Gianna.

A statue of Kobe and Gianna together in front of Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles was unveiled in August of 2024. It was the second of three Kobe Bryant-related statues placed outside of the venue. A date for unveiling the third statue has not been publicly announced.

Carmelo Anthony shares moment with Kobe Bryant

Former Team USA teammate Carmelo Anthony shared a photograph with Bryant and a caption that read ‘Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.’

Anthony and Bryant were members of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medal teams. The teams also featured Lakers forward LeBron James and San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver remembers Kobe Bryant

The NBA’s official X (formerly Twitter) account also shared a portrait of Bryant and a statement from league commissioner Adam Silver.

‘Kobe Bryant continues to serve as an inspiration to aspiring and current NBA and WNBA players, young athletes playing at all levels and those who are motivated solely by his relentless pursuit of excellence. Our thoughts today are with Vanessa and the Bryant family as we remember Kobe and their daughter, Gianna, with whom he shared a special bond around a profound love of the game of basketball.’

WNBA honors Kobe, Gianna Bryant and her teammates

The WNBA’s official X account shared a picture remembering Gianna, Alyssa Altobelli, and Payton Chester.

Altobelli and Chester were teammates of Gianna and were also in the crash. The trio were selected as honorary draftees during the league’s 2020 draft.

How other NBA players honored Kobe Bryant on social media

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum did not share a post about Bryant, his all-time favorite player, but continues to have images that feature Bryant in his profile photo on his official X and Instagram accounts.

Tatum, who played against the Lakers earlier this week, spent time working on his game and being mentored by Bryant. The Laker star’s former teammate, Pau Gasol, also has a photo of Bryant as his X account profile photo.

Jayden Daniels pays tribute to Kobe Bryant

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was asked about Bryant earlier this week.

‘Kobe is my favorite athlete of all time, especially growing up in Southern California, watching the Lakers and watching Kobe,’ Daniels told reporters. ‘Just growing up you fall in love with his game and who he is and as I got older you fall in love with his mindset and everything like that and how he approached the game. He never cheated the game and he took it serious and he gave it his all every time he was on the court.’

Daniels and the Commanders played Bryant’s favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Sunday for the NFC championship game with a chance to advance to the Super Bowl. The quarterback wore Kobe cleats during pregame warmups.

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Nobody in men’s tennis has an answer for Jannik Sinner at the moment. 

The 23-year old Italian cruised to his second straight Australian Open title on Sunday and third major overall, beating world No. 2 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in a disappointingly one-sided final. 

Sinner, who went 73-6 last year with eight ATP trophies, picked up right where he left off in Australia and dropped just two sets en route to the title. 

Though Sunday’s final had the veneer of competitiveness at times, the reality is that Sinner does everything better than Zverev on a tennis court except serve – and even there, it’s a pretty even battle these days. 

But that’s not just a Zverev issue. Sinner has spent the past year picking apart the top players one by one with his arsenal of ground strokes, which match supreme power with Novak Djokovic-like consistency, and elite movement around the court. 

At the moment, Sinner doesn’t really have a weakness for opponents to exploit. They kind of have to hope he has a bad day – and he wasn’t in that mood over the past two weeks in Australia. 

How it happened

There really wasn’t much drama in this one, nor were there a lot of spellbinding rallies. It was mostly meat-and-potatoes baseline tennis, and it generally didn’t go well for Zverev on the handful of occasions he tried to force the issue by coming to net.

Unsurprisingly, Sinner’s bigger, penetrating ball put him in position to control the forehand-to-forehand exchanges. But Zverev’s backhand, which is typically his best shot, also let him down too many times with 11 unforced errors in the second set when he needed to make his push. 

Despite earning no break point chances in the entire match, Zverev perhaps had an opportunity in the tiebreaker to even things up and test Sinner’s fitness and nerve over a marathon match. But serving at 4-4 in the tiebreak, Zverev suffered a stroke of bad luck: Sinner’s inside-out forehand from the middle of the court clipped the top of the tape and dropped dead over the net, giving Zverev no chance to hit the ball. Sinner won his next two service points to close out the set and take command of the match.

Zverev’s energy dropped precipitously in the third set, and he was broken at 2-3 to essentially concede the title. It’s unclear whether that was resignation or the effect of his type-1 diabetes, which he has had to manage throughout his career. Zverev was seen twice during changeovers injecting himself with medicine to regulate his blood sugar. Zverev also seemed to be upset at various points in the match with the tension in his racket strings. 

Sinner finished the match with a plus-5 winner-to-error ratio, while Zverev was minus-20. 

What it means

With Sinner rolling like this, it seems at the moment that only Carlos Alcaraz can consistently push him head-to-head. Their rivalry stands at 6-4 in favor of Alcaraz, and Alcaraz has four Grand Slam titles to Sinner’s three. 

However, there’s been a huge gulf between them over the last year when it comes to consistency over the course of the season. Alcaraz, who lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals of this tournament, took several bad early-round losses over the last year while Sinner only lost to highly-ranked players (including three times to Alcaraz).

Their race for Grand Slam titles will be fascinating to watch over the coming years – but also alarming for the players in their late 20s like Zverev who have seen their generation underperform on the biggest stages.

Zverev, who has 23 ATP titles, is arguably the best player in the history of men’s tennis without a major. This was his third loss in a final, and it’s unclear where he goes from here. Zverev had complete control of the 2020 U.S. Open final against Dominic Thiem before falling apart and losing in a fifth-set tiebreaker, and last year he was ahead two sets to one on Alcaraz at Roland Garros before losing.

This match won’t leave Zverev with what-ifs, but where does he go from here knowing that the young guys are only getting better? The scar tissue seems to be accumulating. 

Sinner, meanwhile, will have his biggest upcoming battle with WADA – the World Anti-Doping Agency. A little less than a year ago, he tested positive for traces of a steroid but was allowed to continue competing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency as an investigation took place. 

Sinner and his team attributed the positive test to an over-the-counter spray available in Italy that contains the banned substance clostebol, which Sinner’s trainer had used to treat a cut on his hand. Sinner successfully argued to the ITIA that the substance entered his system by the trainer’s hand contact with lesions on his skin. 

WADA, however, has pushed for Sinner to receive at least a one-year ban as punishment. Sinner now faces an April hearing in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. That leaves open the possibility Sinner could miss Grand Slams this summer. 

(This story was updated to add a video.)

There’s a certain magic to Kansas’ Phog Allen Fieldhouse, a building in which seemingly inexplicable things routinely happen late in games to doom visiting teams.

On Saturday night, whatever supernatural forces there might be inside the 80-year-old arena worked against the Jayhawks.

Coach Bill Self’s team squandered a six-point lead over Houston with fewer than 10 seconds remaining before ultimately falling 92-86 in double overtime in a matchup of top-15 teams.

How does a squad as talented and experienced as Kansas manage to blow a multi-possession advantage in such a short period of time, with all of that unfolding in front of what’s arguably the best home-court advantage in the sport?

It took a special, difficult-to-replicate sequence of events.

The Jayhawks led by six, 79-73, in overtime after a pair of Rylan Griffen free throws with 28 seconds remaining. Looking to get his team within a basket, Houston’s LJ Cryer misfired on a 3-pointer, which was collected by Kansas’ Dajuan Harris Jr.

He was quickly fouled, sending the 71.9% free-throw shooter to the line with 18.5 seconds remaining. In that moment, with one made free throw extending their lead to three possessions and effectively icing the game, the Jayhawks had a 99% chance of winning, according to ESPN analytics.

Harris, however, missed both free throws and Houston responded on the other end, with Emauel Sharp draining a contested 3 to cut the Cougars’ deficit in half with 7.5 seconds to play.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Kansas’ Zeke Mayo threw the ball well short of his intended target, Hunter Dickinson. The ball was deflected back to Houston’s Mylik Wilson, who had the presence of mind to take a step back to get behind the arc and calmly sink the game-tying 3 with 4.3 seconds remaining.

Houston extended the game to a second overtime, where coach Kelvin Sampson’s team used a 6-0 run to turn what was an 86-84 lead with 1:16 remaining into six-point victory.

It wasn’t the first time Saturday that Kansas had given away a late lead. The Jayhawks were up 66-60 with 1:10 remaining in regulation, but allowed a jumper to Houston and then had turnovers on back-to-back possessions, opening the door for the Cougars to tie the game with a pair of J’Wan Roberts free throws with 14 seconds left.

Roberts had a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds for Houston while Wilson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

The win improved the No. 5 Cougars’ record to 16-3 while dropping the No. 11 Jayhawks to 14-5. For either team, no win or loss this season came under more improbable circumstances.

Free agent first baseman Pete Alonso remains unsigned less than a week from February, and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen got ‘brutally honest’ during an event Saturday about winter negotiations with the team’s longtime slugger.

With fans chanting ‘we want Pete’ during Cohen’s panel at Citi FIeld with president David Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza, the Mets owner took the mic and explained his frustrations with efforts to bring Alonso back.

‘Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,’ Cohen said. ‘(Juan) Soto was tough, this is worse.’

The Mets signed Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal in December, the largest contract in sports history. Alonso is also represented by Soto’s agent Scott Boras.

‘We’ve made a significant offer to Pete,’ Cohen said. ‘I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetrical against us and I feel strongly about it.’

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Drafted by the Mets in 2016, Alonso made his big-league debut in 2019 and set the MLB rookie record with 53 home runs. In six seasons with the Mets, Alonso hit 226 home runs – third on the club’s all-time list – and became one of the team’s most beloved players in recent history.

‘I will never say no, there’s always the possibility. But the reality is we’re moving forward and we continue to bring in players,’ Cohen said Saturday. ‘As we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players. …

‘I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us and maybe that changes – and certainly I’ll always stay flexible – but if it stays this way, I think we’re going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to move forward with the existing players that we have.’

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The Super Bowl 59 matchup is about to be set.

For the four teams still left standing in the conference title games, it might seem like there’s little room for surprise. The Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles have already met twice this season, with the NFC East rivals splitting the season series. And the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs have plenty of familiarity with one another, including the Week 11 contest in which Josh Allen and Co. handed Andy Reid’s team its first loss of the season.

But the penultimate weekend of action has a way of producing some unexpected twists, including the San Francisco 49ers’ rally from 17 points down to beat the Detroit Lions last year. Could another defining moment for a franchise be ahead?

Here are our bold predictions for the conference title games this Sunday:

Chris Jones ends drought and collects two sacks

In typical matchups, it’s not so bold to predict All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones will get to the quarterback. But this is different. It’s Buffalo. And Josh Allen.

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The Bills’ underappreciated offensive line allowed an NFL-low 14 sacks during the regular season, which included a shutout of the Chiefs during Buffalo’s big win in November. In fact, the Chiefs also didn’t sack the slippery Allen during KC’s divisional playoff win last year. So, I’m thinking the Chiefs defense is overdue. Jones will lead the way – and by example, too – with a pair of sacks to end the drought.

No, it won’t be easy. Allen, rolling with an MVP-credentialed season, is arguably the toughest quarterback in the NFL to bring down, given his knack of extending plays with power, speed and vision. And his elusiveness is only part of the reason the Bills gave up the fewest sacks. Allen helps his O-line’s protection with his improved sense of awareness on pass plays, which translates into knowing exactly when to throw the football as trouble looms with the pass rush. Of course, Allen can also just bolt from the pocket to avoid a sack. It’s worth noting that in the past two meetings between the team, not only wasn’t Allen sacked. He was also Buffalo’s leading rusher, too, in each of those games. Jones had just five sacks during the regular season, which was his lowest total since his rookie year in 2016. Yet perhaps his sack against C.J. Stroud last weekend to open the playoffs was a sign. No doubt, with a Super Bowl berth at stake, his pass-rush could be a serious X-factor.

— Jarrett Bell

Patrick Mahomes throws 3 interceptions as three-peat dream ends

The three-time Super Bowl MVP won’t flop his way out of this one. 

Mahomes has eight playoff-career interceptions total, and he’s thrown a pair of them three times (twice in the Super Bowl). A three-pick performance would be uncharted territory for him, and it would go a long way in ending the Chiefs’ chances of a three-peat. 

Sean McDermott’s defense may not have stars or big names, particularly in the secondary. But that unit will have to turn Mahomes over a time or two to put the Chiefs on the back foot. Add in a desperation interception, and there’s the three – and the Bills may need each one – to pull off the upset and head to New Orleans. 

Mahomes has had a somewhat bizarre season when it comes to throwing picks. He tossed at least one in the first seven games of the season, when nine of his 11 occurred. But the two-time league MVP hasn’t thrown a pick in seven straight games.  

Of course, the idea of Mahomes turning over the ball at all seems far-fetched. He’s only thrown three picks three times in his entire career, and the Chiefs actually won two of those games. The lone loss was the memorable “Monday Night Football” shootout against the Rams in 2018 that ended 54-51 in favor of Los Angeles. But something drastic has to happen to terminate the Chiefs’ magic. This is it. 

— Chris Bumbaca

Bills’ no turnover streak ends in Kansas City

The Bills’ two takeaways were key in their Week 11 win over Kansas City. Buffalo has an NFL-high 35 takeaways and an NFL-low eight turnovers this season (including playoffs). Josh Allen and company have committed zero turnovers in their last four playoff games. They are the first team ever without a turnover in four straight postseason games.

The Bills’ no turnover streak will end Sunday in Kansas City. I predict Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie will pick off Allen and the Bills will also lose a fumble. Buffalo will lose the turnover battle for the first time this postseason, and the giveaways will play a critical role in the team’s loss to Kansas City.

All streaks come to an end at some point. Unfortunately for the Bills, their streak will coincide with a playoff loss.

— Tyler Dragon

Saquon Barkley runs into record books with most rushing yards in season including playoffs

The Philadelphia Eagles’ All-Pro running back ended up just short of Eric Dickerson’s storied single-season rushing record when he was kept out of the lineup for the Week 18 finale. But Barkley has a solid shot – how bold is this prediction, really? – at breaking Terrell Davis’ mark for rushing yards in a season including the playoffs (2,476), as he stands just 148 yards away from taking over the top spot. His average in two games against Washington during the regular season: 148.

— Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Inbound that ball successfully, and Kansas is well on its way to a victory.

This is with about seven seconds remaining in the first overtime period Saturday, at home against Houston. This is with the Jayhawks leading 79-76, and the Cougars trying desperately to complete a late comeback without any sizable margin for error.

And then not only did Houston’s pressure force a turnover, as KU guard Zeke Mayo failed to complete a pass to one of his teammates, but the Cougars quickly pounced on the late change in possession and hit a 3-point shot that tied the score at 79-79 to send the game to double overtime.

It wasn’t the only time No. 11 Kansas had an opportunity to close out a win inside Allen Fieldhouse against No. 5 Houston. The Jayhawks also led in the final minute of regulation, too, before turning the ball over and later watching the Cougars tie the score at 66-66 to force overtime. But given the chance to make up for not making the necessary plays at the end of the second half, Kansas came up short again and went on to lose 92-86.

“It’s like a gut punch, and it feels terrible,” Kansas center Hunter Dickinson said. “It feels like we just went to battle for however long, however many minutes we were out there, and just — we did everything we were supposed to do to win but just in the end didn’t make the right plays to finish it out.”

Kansas finished the game with 12 turnovers. Houston scored 17 points off of them, and the Cougars only allowed eight points off of their five turnovers. The Jayhawks ended up shooting 17-for-30 on free throws, 56.7%, as they failed to take advantage of their visitor shooting 14-for-25, 56%, from the free-throw line. Execute in the way Kansas has shown itself capable of, and coach Bill Self’s squad is the one that’s celebrating a victory Saturday.

Instead, Kansas (14-5, 5-3 in Big 12), again without forward KJ Adams due to injury, finds itself in a more than just challenging situation when it comes to the Big 12 Conference race. Houston (16-3, 8-0 in Big 12) is a full three games clear of the Jayhawks. This was an opportunity to make up ground on the Cougars, and it was squandered.

For the second time this season, Kansas lost a game at home that it had its chances to win. This one, because of the way it ended, likely will sting that much more. While the Jayhawks can boast of a roster with so much talent, and so much experience, that combined with the crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse wasn’t enough against a Houston team that has the same kind of aspirations this season the Jayhawks do.

“I feel like the way they pressured the ball, the way they guarded it, just — we didn’t get open in time,” KU guard Rylan Griffen said, assessing why his Jayhawks struggled with some inbounds situations against Houston.

“And that’s really what happened right there.”

Houston vs. Kansas highlights

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on X at @JordanGuskey.

As much as this roll to the NFC Championship Game by the Washington Commanders has been fueled by the best rookie quarterback we’ve ever seen, Jayden Daniels, I couldn’t help but notice some of the so-called “old heads” living it up in the festive visitors’ locker room at Ford Field on Saturday night.

There was Zach Ertz, the 34-year-old tight end who many might have figured was close to the end last season, when he missed the final 10 games for the Arizona Cardinals with a quad strain and posted a career-low 27 catches. The year before that, his season ended with torn knee ligaments.

Now Ertz is headed back to Philadelphia, where his records as the most-prolific tight end in Eagles history still stand.

Now Ekeler, who had 88 rushing-receiver yards in the divisional playoff win at Detroit, is poised to play in a conference title match for the first time.

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Then there’s Bobby Wagner. His presence is striking in another sense.

During his second NFL season with the Seattle Seahawks, Wagner won a Super Bowl ring as a member of the vaunted defense led by its “Legion of Boom” secondary. The next year, they went back to the Super Bowl and were positioned to win … until Russell Wilson’s last-minute, goal-line pick.

In the decade since, Wagner, 34, hasn’t sniffed the Super Bowl. Until now.

Wagner went to the playoffs five times during his final seven season with the Seahawks and never got past the divisional round. That’s one reason why in his 14th NFL season, the grizzled vet is savoring this new deal.

“It just means a lot,” Wagner told USA TODAY Sports. “When I first got in the league, we made it to the Super Bowl my second year, again in my third year, and then we hadn’t been back to the NFC Championship Game. So you appreciate these moments a little bit different now, knowing how hard they are to get to.”

Wagner is undoubtedly a huge key to Washington’s formula to spring an upset and become just the third sixth-seed to advance to a Super Bowl. The middle linebacker led the Commanders with 132 tackles during the regular season, but this unit is a far cry from the dominance of those old Seahawks Super Bowl defenses that, incidentally, were coordinated by Washington coach Dan Quinn.

The Commanders tied for the NFL’s fourth-worst run defense during the regular season. And now comes the challenge of handling Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who ran for 205 yards and two touchdowns against the Los Angeles Rams last weekend. During his 2,000-yard season, Barkley went for 146 and 150 yards against the Commanders.

“You just try to contain him,” Wagner told reporters at Commanders headquarters this week, mindful that Barkley’s ability to break off a long-distance run at any time is enabled when defenders get out of their gaps. “This is going to be a game of discipline.”

I asked Wagner, whose Hall of Fame-credentialed career includes 11 All-Pro selections, to compare the Commanders to his old Seahawks team. Like Washington, there was a young quarterback in Wilson, who was in the same Seattle draft class with Wagner in 2012. And youth was served across the board, with the likes of Richard Sherman (2011, fifth round), Earl Thomas (2010, first round) and Kam Chancellor (2010, fifth round).

‘If I were to compare it to those teams, the biggest thing is how close we are,” Wagner said. “Our team in Seattle might have been a little smarter, but what made us so good was how close we were.”

Ekeler won’t dispute that. He pointed out that, on top of new GM Adam Peters, Quinn and a staff of new coaches, there were 60 new players on the 90-man roster when the team began offseason workouts last spring. To develop a bond, they were intentional about spending time together away from the field.

“I think it’s a staple of our brotherhood, and the talent we have, too,” Ekeler told USA TODAY Sports. “A lot of people came together who were new to the area. You really can’t measure the way we’ve connected.

“And then you throw in 5 having a crazy year as a rookie,” he added, referring to Daniels, “and it kind of puts a cherry on top.”

Follow Jarrett Bell on X: @JarrettBell