Sports briefs
Pirates add 3 to broadcast team
It would have been hard to imagine any one person replacing Steve Blass on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ broadcast team. Fittingly, the club hired three former players to step into the retired franchise icon’s role.
The Pirates on Friday announced that former players Kevin Young, Matt Capps and Michael McKenry will be a part of the broadcast crew this season. Those three will join returning color analysts Bob Walk and John Wehner as rotating commentators on both television and radio, working alongside play-by-play men Greg Brown and Joe Block.
Young has been working for the Pirates as a special assistant involved in player development. McKenry should be a familiar face on television, as the former catcher most recently was a pregame and postgame analyst with AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh.
Blass retired after last season, ending his 60-year career as a pitcher and broadcaster with the Bucs. He began broadcasting only home games in 2005, with Wehner filling in on the road while Walk provided analysis for every game. Robby Incmikoski is also set to return as the sideline and clubhouse reporter.
AT&T SportsNet will televise 14 spring training games, starting with the Feb. 23 matchup against the Detroit Tigers.
The Pirates also unveiled their new road uniforms for the 2020 season: a road gray and alternate black jersey that will include a return to the Pittsburgh script lettering across the chest.
The Pittsburgh script lettering is reminiscent of the early 1990s Pirates road gray uniforms worn by a team that won three straight National League East titles from 1990-92.
In the NBA
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 12 rebounds and the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Hornets 116-103 on Friday night in the first NBA regular-season game in France.
Milwaukee improved to 40-6 with its eighth straight victory. The Bucks have the best 46-game start in franchise history. They were 39-7 in 1970-71 when they went on to win the NBA championship.
- Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 24 of his 29 points in the first half, and he sank a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help the Memphis Grizzlies hold off the Detroit Pistons, 125-112.
- Kemba Walker scored 37 points and Gordon Hayward added 22 to help the Boston Celtics rally from a 16-point first-half deficit and defeat the Orlando Magic, 109-98.
Daniel Theis added 16 points as the Celtics won their third straight game.
- Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, Pascal Siakam had 23 and the Toronto Raptors beat the New York Knicks 118-112 for their sixth straight victory.
A night after being voted to start the All-Star Game, Siakam had two big baskets down the stretch. He drove for a dunk with Toronto leading by only one, then nailed a 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining after the Knicks had closed within three.
In college basketball
Isaiah Thompson scored 14 points and Purdue responded to coach Matt Painter challenging his players’ toughness with one of the season’s best efforts in a 70-51 home rout of Wisconsin on Friday night.
The Boilermakers (4-5 Big Ten, 11-9) improved to 41-4 lifetime at home against the Badgers (5-4, 12-8). Sasha Stefanovic added 12 points and Purdue had seven scorers contributing at least five points. Purdue also limited the Badgers to their second-lowest point total of the season.