Cavaliers reach 60 wins

CLEVELAND (AP) — Reaching 60 wins is far from the ultimate goal for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to savor reaching the milestone.

Cleveland’s 127-122 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon gave the Cavaliers at least 60 wins for only the third time in franchise history.

“Celebrate the small victories, and we will,” said Donovan Mitchell, who had 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. “It’s been a great year. All of our sacrifices and hard work is paying off. It is big for the organization and the city.”

First-year coach Kenny Atkinson said he didn’t expect 60 wins at the start of the season, which is why he wanted his group to savor this.

“My internal goal was how we could improve from last year, even if it was for one or two wins. For this team to take it to another level and shatter that says a lot,” said Atkinson, who became the 13th coach in NBA history with 60 wins in his first season with a new team. “We still can add to that. We have to celebrate this. It’s not the end goal but take a deep breath and celebrate.”

The last time Cleveland reached 60 wins was 2009-10, when it went 61-21. The franchise-high mark is 66-16 from 2008-09. Those were the final two seasons in LeBron James’ first stint with the Cavaliers.

Without being asked, center Jarrett Allen recognized how meaningful it was to do something again for the first time without James. The Akron native remains an icon in Northeast Ohio after he led the Cavaliers to the region’s first professional sports title in 52 years in 2016.

“Whether we like it or not, LeBron is the face of this city and has done so much. It is tough to break away from that notion or the records, the first to do it with LeBron here,” he said. “We’re trying to do something special and hopefully we can.”

Auburn completes No. 1 sweep

ATLANTA (AP) — Johni Broome held his injured right arm through most of Auburn’s Elite Eight postgame celebration.

That didn’t keep the star forward from climbing a ladder to cut down the net he then wore around his neck.

Broome had 25 points and 14 rebounds and Auburn took command with 17 unanswered points in the first half to beat Michigan State 70-64 on Sunday and complete a sweep of No. 1 seeds advancing to the Final Four.

“You talk about delivering again at the biggest moments,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of Broome.

Auburn (32-5) earned its second Final Four trip, while Michigan State (30-7) fell short in its bid to send coach Tom Izzo to his ninth national semifinal. Pearl also led Auburn to its only previous Final Four appearance, in 2019.

The South Region champion Tigers, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, became the last of the No. 1 seeds to advance to the Final Four — joining Florida, Duke and Houston.

Auburn will face Florida, which beat Texas Tech 84-79 in the West Region final, in an all-Southeastern Conference semifinal on Saturday in San Antonio.

“Unfortunately there will only be one SEC team playing for the national championship,” Pearl said, also wearing a net around his neck.

Jaxon Kohler led the Spartans with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Jaden Akins had 15 points.

Bibee shines in Guardians win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tanner Bibee pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, Kyle Mazardo hit a two-run homer and Gabriel Arias and Daniel Schneemann added solo shots as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 on Sunday.

Bibee (1-0) gave up no runs and two hits in 6 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. The right-hander bounced back after he was scheduled to make the opening day start for Cleveland on Thursday, but was scratched because of an illness.

Royals starter Michael Wacha (0-1) threw 87 pitches over four innings and allowed one run and four hits with two strikeouts and four walks. None of Kansas City’s starting pitchers got past the fifth inning in any game during the three-game season-opening series.

Mazardo’s home run traveled 417 feet nearly into the right field fountains off Sam Long to give the Guardians a 3-0 lead. It was his second home run of the series.

Arias’ homer in the sixth made it 4-0. He started in place of six-time All-Star JosÈ RamÌrez, who missed the game due to a sprained right wrist he suffered on a slide in Saturday’s game.

Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Arias’ sacrifice fly that scored Carlos Santana.

Schneemann’s homer in the eighth extended the Guardians’ lead to 6-0.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit an RBI single and Hunter Renfroe drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth for the Royals.

Yankees slug 15 homers

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge homered in his first at-bat, Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered twice and the New York Yankees went deep four more times in a 12-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, a day after becoming the third team in major league history to hit nine homers in a game.

The Yankees hit a total of 15 homers and scored 36 runs as they swept the three-game series.

A day after homering three times for the third time in his career and finishing with a career-high eight RBIs, Judge hit a two-run homer off Aaron Civale (0-1) in the first inning, sending a full count 89 mph fastball into the lower left field seats.

The Yankees hit three home runs on the first three pitches Saturday during a 20-9 rout of the Brewers.

Judge followed Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to combine for unprecedented fireworks Saturday.

After hitting 58 homers last season, Judge is the first Yankee with four homers in the opening three games. Judge finished with 11 RBIs in the series.