Skip to content

Weekend Sports In Brief

NBA

DENVER (AP) Who's counting? The Golden State Warriors certainly are. The wins are piling up, and they're moving closer to NBA history.

But they're focused not so much on a number as winning in general.

Klay Thompson scored 21 points and the Warriors tied the best start in league history, beating the Denver Nuggets 118-105 on Sunday night to move to 15-0.

Golden State matches the start of the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the `93-94 Houston Rockets. The Warriors can break the record Tuesday night at home against the Los Angeles Lakers.

AUTO RACING

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) - Kyle Busch watched the season opener from a hospital bed, his pregnant wife and his dogs by his side. He ended the year in victory lane, hoisting the Sprint Cup with his infant son in the middle of a celebration.

NASCAR's comeback story is now a championship tale.

Busch won his first career Sprint Cup title nine months after he crashed into a concrete wall the day before the Daytona 500 and broke his right leg and left foot in a wreck that forced NASCAR to make immediate safety improvements at almost all of the circuits.

Busch won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to claim the title, and knocked Kevin Harvick from his perch as reigning champion. Busch also denied Jeff Gordon a fifth crown in his final race.

Harvick finished a distant second, Gordon was sixth, and Martin Truex Jr., the fourth driver in the championship field, finished 12th.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Iowa moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll, taking advantage of the first losses by Ohio State and Oklahoma State to slip in behind No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama.

Notre Dame is fourth and Oklahoma is fifth.

The unbeaten Hawkeyes (11-0) have their best ranking since being No. 3 in 2002. They have clinched the Big Ten West and a spot in the conference title on Dec. 5.

Michigan State jumped three spots to No. 6 after upsetting Ohio State 17-14 on Saturday. The Buckeyes, who began the season as a unanimous No. 1 and slipped to No. 2 earlier this month, fell to eighth.

Oklahoma State's 45-35 loss to Baylor dropped the Cowboys from fourth to ninth and pushed Baylor to seventh.

NFL

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's letter to Adrian Peterson last year spelled out the reasons for his suspension and the conditions for his reinstatement in cold, unsympathetic terms.

The league boss sounded much warmer toward the Vikings' running back on Sunday, with Peterson resettled in Minnesota following the child abuse case that kept him out for almost all of last season.

Goodell was in Minnesota, a scheduled visit for the game against Green Bay. He spoke to reporters after a question-and-answer session with 75 selected season-ticket holders, before touring the construction site of the team's new stadium that's about 80 percent complete and set to open next year.

Peterson was put on paid leave then suspended under the NFL's disputed personal conduct policy. He was reinstated by Goodell in April.

Asked in retrospect if the NFL should have handled any part of the matter differently, Goodell said yes, without being specific.

GOLF

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Cristie Kerr was the player of the week. Lydia Ko was the player of the year and pocketed another $1 million bonus. Inbee Park will be among the players of all-time.

One tournament, three women celebrating. And just as the LPGA Tour intended, the season finale was dramatic until the end.

Kerr won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday, taking the lead for good with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th and soon wrapping up her 18th career victory. Her $500,000 first prize, which pushed her career earnings past $17 million, almost seemed ancillary given the stakes that Ko and Park were playing for this week.

The 18-year-old Ko became the fourth player to go from rookie of the year one year to player of the year the next. She won the $1 million bonus for winning the Race to the CME Globe, just as she did last year. And Park wrapped up a trip to the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning the scoring title, meaning the only step that now remains between her and induction is completing her 10th season on tour next year.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) - Kevin Kisner ended a year marked by second-place finishes with his first PGA Tour victory in the RSM Classic at Sea Island.

Staked to a three-shot lead going into the final round of the final tournament of the year, Kisner ran with it. He doubled the size of his lead at the turn by going out in 30, and he breezed home with a 6-under 64 to win by six shots over Kevin Chappell.

Kisner became the sixth first-time winner in the fall start to the new season, though this was hardly a surprise. The 31-year-old from South Carolina played so well this year that he rose to No. 25 in the world. He just didn't win. He lost in playoffs at Hilton Head, Sawgrass and the Greenbrier, and he was a runner-up for the fourth time in a World Golf Championship two weeks ago in Shanghai.

This one wasn't even close.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Rory McIlroy won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai for a $3,208,300 payday.

The third-ranked Northern Irishman shot a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over England's Any Sullivan. McIlroy finished at 21-under 267 at Jumeirah for his third European Tour victory of the season.

McIlroy earned $1,333,300 for the tournament victory, and $1,875,000 for the Race to Dubai title - $1.25 million for topping the list and a $625,000 bonus for playing three of the four Finals Series. He also won the Race to Dubai in 2012 and 2014.

TENNIS

LONDON (AP) - As usual this season, Novak Djokovic was the best player on the court.

The top-ranked Serb won his fourth straight title at the season-ending ATP finals by beating six-time champion Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4.

Djokovic, who won three Grand Slam titles this year and reached the final in the other, capped the best season of his career with another superb display, including winning 16 of the 19 points on his second serve and saving both break points he faced.

Federer beat Djokovic on Tuesday in the group stage, but the 17-time Grand Slam champion made too many mistakes in the final on Sunday. Federer ended up with 31 unforced errors, including 15 from his usually reliable forehand.

He even gave away the final point with his second double-fault of the match.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox