PRO BASKETBALLOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony plans to opt in and take the $28 million he is due next season.The New York Times first reported the 34-year-old Anthony’s decision to bypass the chance to become a free agent. A person with knowledge of details confirmed Anthony’s choice to The Associated Press on Friday night. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.The Thunder traded for Anthony and Paul George to join Russell Westbrook before last season Youth Derek Grant Jersey , moves that gave them high hopes of challenging Golden State in the West. It didn’t work out as planned.The 34-year-old Anthony had been the headliner his entire career – he’s 19th in NBA history with 25,417 points – but he was more of a catch-and-shoot scorer last season instead of the isolation specialist he had always been. He averaged 16.2 points per game, but struggled at times in his new role. His playing time dwindled in the playoffs and he wasn’t happy. In Game 6 of the first-round playoff series against Utah that ended Oklahoma City’s season, he played fewer minutes than backup Jerami Grant.HOCKEYDALLAS (AP) – Rasmus Dahlin went first overall to the Buffalo Sabres, Commissioner Gary Bettman was booed relentlessly by the crowd all night and trade chatter didn’t amount to a whole lot of movement.With the exception of one trade by the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, the first round of the NHL draft went off without many surprises. Only two players and a handful of picks were traded Friday night, leaving general managers hoping for more on Day Two.”That was kind of a boring first day or first round,” Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall said. ”It’s not typical for this day.”The Sabres picking Dahlin at No. 1 and the Carolina Hurricanes taking Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov at No. 2 got the draft itself off to a predictable start. Montreal taking Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi third and Arizona going a bit off the board with center Barrett Hayton fifth allowed high-scoring Czech winger Filip Zadina to fall to Detroit with the sixth pick.Not a whole lot of big decisions happened Friday night at American Airlines Center. The Sabres taking Dahlin was automatic since they won the draft lottery in April, and the 18-year-old wore a Buffalo Bills hat Friday prior to the selection. Svechnikov got to try on the Hurricanes’ draft hat before he was the No. 2 pick just as general manager Don Waddell acknowledged recently.BASEBALLWASHINGTON (AP) – Slugger Bryce Harper will participate in the Home Run Derby if he makes the National League All-Star team.On Friday afternoon the Nationals tweeted: ”tfw Bryce announces he’ll do the (at)MLB HR Derby if he makes the NL All-Star team…” accompanied by a GIF of Harper celebrating in the dugout.The All-Star Game will be held July 17 at Nationals Park.The 25-year-old Harper is second in the voting among National League outfielders behind Nick Markakis of the Braves. The top three in the voting will be starters.Despite being in a slump that has dropped his average to .213, Harper entered play Friday leading the National League in home runs (19) and walks (55), and stood 10th in RBIs (45).Harper last participated in the derby in 2013 at Citi Field in New York.ATHLETE ABUSEEAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Michigan State University’s embattled interim president survived an attempted ouster from the school’s governing board Friday as trustees met to approve using a bond to finance a $500 million settlement with hundreds of women and girls who said they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar.At the meeting’s outset, trustee Brian Mosallam tried to change the agenda and allow a vote to fire John Engler, who had disparaged accusers and their lawyers in emails. The audience rejoiced, but the board voted 6-2 against taking up the issue, with Mossallam and Dianne Byrum the only trustees voting in favor.Engler has faced a whirlwind of backlash since the emails surfaced last week. At one point he wrote that Rachael Denhollander, one of Nassar’s most outspoken accusers, probably received a ”kickback” from her attorney. Within days http://www.ducksshoponline.com/authentic-jakob-silfverberg-jersey , the controversy crested in some 150 Nassar accusers demanding his departure before he apologized in a written statement on Thursday. PITTSBURGH (AP) Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have spent their entire careers chasing the Pittsburgh Penguins and shouldering their own franchise’s onerous history of playoff failures.One brilliant end-to-end rush gave the two Washington Capitals teammates and their resilient club something they’ve rarely enjoyed against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions: momentum.Ovechkin knocked his own rebound out of midair and by Matt Murray with 1:07 remaining to lift the Capitals to a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night in Game 3 of their increasingly testy Eastern Conference semifinal series with Pittsburgh.Ovechkin’s initial shot smacked off the far post.The Russian star, however, stayed with the play and with Murray out of position, he deftly flicked it into the open net to give the Capitals a 2-1 series lead.”It’s a good thing I didn’t raise my arms up (after the first shot), you know to (celebrate) the play,” Ovechkin said after scoring his eighth goal of the playoffs. ”Got lucky.”Matt Niskanen, John Carlson and Chandler Stephenson also scored for Washington, which improved to 4-0 on the road in the postseason. Braden Holtby finished with 19 saves. Backstrom had three assists, including the helper on Ovechkin’s winner.”It’s huge, huge goal,” Ovechkin said. ”Obviously for our team, you know we want to win tonight and we did. It doesn’t matter what, it doesn’t matter who scored. We sacrifice. We play hard. And we have to do the same moving forward.”Game 4 is in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist also scored, but the Penguins lost consecutive playoff games for only the fourth time since the start of their run to consecutive Stanley Cups began in 2016.Pittsburgh also lost forward Zach Aston-Reese to a broken jaw and a concussion following a violent collision with Washington’s Tom Wilson at the game’s midway point.Aston-Reese was stickhandling near the Washington bench when Wilson slammed into him, sending the 6-foot-4 Aston-Reese to the ice.Wilson was not penalized on the play, the second time in as many games he was not disciplined for a borderline hit.Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin went into the league’s concussion protocol after Wilson blindsided him in Game 2 while Dumoulin was bracing for a collision with Ovechkin.The NHL’s Department of Player safety didn’t ask Wilson to explain himself during a hearing and Dumoulin was back in the lineup to start Game 3.Both teams stressed the need to move forward with so much at stake. But that was before Aston-Reese slowly made his way off the ice, flinging one of his gloves at the Washington bench in frustration, his jaw mangled and his status for the rest of the postseason uncertain.The initial point of contact was hard to discern Womens John Gibson Jersey , even on replay. Was it the shoulders? The head? Either way the tenor changed considerably.Asked afterward about the hit, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan replied ”at some point we hope the league might do something.”Maybe not. Officials conferred for several minutes before deciding to take no action against Wilson.”They all got together and they said, `You know what, we’ve got a good, clean check here,”’ NHL on-site supervisor Paul Devorski said through a pool reporter.Stephenson tied the game shortly after the sequence and a crescendo of pushing, shoving and jawing followed.Crosby put the Penguins back in front with 3:33 left in the second when he took a pretty pass from Guentzel – who occupied three Capitals before sliding the puck to his teammate – and buried it into an open net.Niskanen, who spent four seasons in Pittsburgh before signing with Washington in the summer of 2014, blasted a one-timer by Murray 5:06 into the third to set up the finish.Ovechkin and Backstrom’s two-on-one gave the Capitals the series lead over Washington for the first time since they won Game 1 of the 2016 Eastern Conference semifinal.Of course, the Capitals lost that series. As they almost always do when the Penguins are on the other side of the ice.The champions have proven to be an impossible out during their current reign. Three tight games in, Washington is well aware there’s little margin for error.”It’s a funny game,” Niskanen said. ”Boy, sometimes the puck takes a different bounce and the score can be completely different.”NOTES: Penguins C Evgeni Malkin played 19:07 and assisted on Hornqvist’s goal in his return after missing three games with a lower-body injury. … The Penguins hosted Humboldt Broncos junior hockey player Brayden Camrud , a survivor of the bus crash that killed 16 people – many of them teammates – last month. … Pittsburgh F Carl Hagelin skated with his teammates for a second straight day, but remained out of the lineup. Hagelin is dealing with an upper-body injury and has worn a full face shield while on the ice. … Both teams went 1 for 4 on the power play. … Guentzel has recorded a point in seven straight playoff games.—