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Lord Nelson, the only horse to be penalized in a college football game, died. Rutgers University said Lord Nelson was 42. One of his duties during his 37-year Rutgers career was carrying the university's Scarlet Knight mascot during football games. Against Army, in 1994, Lord Nelson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after he broke free and raced down the sideline at Giants Stadium.
The former Minnesota Vikings tight end Stu Voigt was charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and fraud in a reported Ponzi scheme. Voigt, 66, and Jeffrey Gardner, 61, are accused of using a real estate scheme to defraud investors. Voigt has denied wrongdoing.
SAN ANTONIO — Jordan Morris made a loud statement in his first start for the U.S. national team against his country's biggest and most bitter rival.
His reward? A game pennant given to him by veteran Michael Bradley to hang in his room at college.
The 20-year-old Stanford sophomore scored his first international goal early in the second half, Juan Agudelo added his first international goal in four years, and the Americans dispatched Mexico by their traditional 2-0 score in an exhibition game Wednesday night.
"I was nervous but I was excited," Morris said. "It's something I've dreamed of since I was a little kid, scoring a goal, especially in such a big game in front of so many fans."
Morris, thought to be the first collegian to start for the U.S. in at least two decades, scored in the 49th minute after Bradley brought the ball upfield and passed to Gyasi Zardes. The return pass ricocheted off defender Mario Osuna and was picked up by Morris at the top of the penalty area. He took a touch, broke in and slid the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Cirilo Saucedo from 10 yards.
"It just kind of popped out," Morris said. "I'm happy that when I got the chance, I got to the ball and put it away."
Agudelo replaced Morris in the 65th and scored seven minutes later. Bradley made a long pass from the midfield line and Agudelo controlled it just outside the penalty area. He cut inside with half a dozen touches and beat Saucedo to the near post with a low shot from 19 yards.
It was the third international goal for Agudelo and first since March 2011. Playing his second international match since November 2012 and his first since March last year, he dropped to his knees and was mobbed by a group of teammates.
Before a sellout crowd of 64,369, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann improved to 3-0-3 against his team's regional rival.
The U.S. has defeated Mexico by "dos a cero" in four straight home World Cup qualifiers, all in Columbus, Ohio. The U.S. is 13-5-5 against Mexico since 2000, including a win in the second round of the 2002 World Cup.
With the game not on a FIFA international date, both teams were missing top players. And with the U.S. looking ahead to this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup, Klinsmann mixed a roster of veterans and young players.
Morris, who trained with the national team last May and made his debut at Ireland in November, started because captain Clint Dempsey is sidelined by a hamstring injury and Jozy Altidore was serving a one-game suspension for a red card.
"You say, 'Why not give him a chance?'" Klinsmann said. "He trained very well. We see his improvement."
Klinsmann also saw some nerves in the youngster.
"When Jordan was doing his shooting before the game, he was pretty much missing everything. I told him, 'Just relax. It's OK,'" Klinsmann said. "To see a boy like Morris score his first international goal, you jump for joy."
Klinsmann also gave defender Ventura Alvarado his first start and started center back Omar Gonzalez for the first time since last summer's World Cup.
Kyle Beckerman, who was deep in a midfield diamond, limped off midway through the second half with a bruised left thigh.
Morris narrowly missed a chance in the first half when a cross barely sailed over his head for what would have been a point-blank chance at goal.
The Americans avoided their tendency to give up late goals. The U.S. had allowed 13 goals from the 80th minute on in their previous 13 games.
Mexico's best chance came late in the first half when Eduardo Herrera ran into the penalty area and poked a low cross past goalkeeper Nick Rimando into the side netting. El Tri had complained about the field conditions on Tuesday and by game time the grass was uneven, with large brown and dirt patches causing players to slip and stumble several times.
"I think they had better luck with the ball, but they weren't that much better," Mexico coach Miguel Herrera said. "Their opportunities were really mistakes on our part, slipping on the field because we didn't have the right cleats."
Late Wednesday night, Bojan Bogdanovic stood in the Nets' locker room in a white dress shirt with a purple sweater tied around his collar and small beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Bogdanovic, a 25-year-old rookie guard, had just scored a career-high 28 points at Barclays Center to help carry the Nets to a 101-88 victory over the Orlando Magic on the last day of the regular season. It might have been a moment to savor, a moment of relief, but it would have to wait a couple of hours.
"There's a lot more important things for us," Bogdanovic said with a wry smile. "We have to wait for another game."
The Nets started the day one game behind the Indiana Pacers for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, and the victory moved them up half a game in the standings. When the game finished, the Pacers were about halfway through theirs against the Memphis Grizzlies. If Indiana lost, the Pacers and the Nets would be tied, and because the Nets held the tiebreaker, having won the season series, they would snatch the berth.
So for the good part of the two hours after the final buzzer in Brooklyn, the Nets players watched the game in Memphis on television, or followed it on their phones, or did not follow at all and simply waited to hear the result secondhand. Just before midnight, the Grizzlies won, 95-83.
The Nets will open a series against the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
"The playoffs is a whole other monster," Jarrett Jack said. "Things could totally be different in that landscape."
It will have to be different if the Nets do not want to be embarrassed. They possessed the highest payroll in the N.B.A. this year and are only sneaking into the postseason. The desperate situation was one they made themselves. Having finally found their form and strung together six consecutive wins, the Nets ascended to seventh place on April 3. But then they went just 2-4, with margins of 23 and 27 points in their two losses heading into Wednesday's game.
And the game was no sure thing, with the final score failing to reflect the back-and-forth action. The Magic controlled play for much of the night, leading at one point by 12. The Nets came to life only in the fourth quarter. Just over three minutes into the final period, Joe Johnson sank a running shot to give the Nets an 83-82 lead that they would not relinquish.
Johnson, who finished with 16 points, shook his head after the game when asked to describe the feeling of waiting. He noted that the players had control of their destiny and then "we kind of shot ourselves in the foot." He let out a long sigh, as if to say the Nets were not entitled to anything.
Photo The Nets' Thaddeus Young, left, and Deron Williams defending against the Magic's Victor Oladipo in the second half. Credit Kathy Willens/Associated Press"It was a rough year this year," Johnson said, "simple as that."
Nets Coach Lionel Hollins had looked serene before the game. Reporters asked him whether the stakes made this game feel different, whether he was worried the Grizzlies would rest their key players, whether he would have one eye on the other game. He said he would try to keep a narrow focus on what could be controlled.
Hollins was just hoping that his players would be loose, that they would not be afraid to take chances.
"Sometimes, in these type of games, teams play not to lose instead of playing to win," he said. "So we have to go out there and play to win."
After the game, Hollins said that his players took a while to adopt that mind-set. The Magic made eight of their first 12 shots and jumped ahead, 18-10, forcing Hollins to take a timeout. With just over three minutes left in the first quarter, Victor Oladipo ghosted to the basket unattended for a two-handed dunk, rousing audible murmurs from the otherwise placid stands.
The Nets, meanwhile, could not find their flow. They were whistled for two traveling violations. They threw passes straight to defenders. The Nets staggered to the locker room at halftime trailing, 52-48.
And still, they emerged as winners and playoff contenders. Afterward, Hollins smiled when asked if he had allowed himself to think about the worst-case scenario, if he ever felt desperate or despondent while the Nets were trailing.
"This is kind of morbid, but it's kind of like somebody about to be in a crash," he said. "You're not thinking, 'I'm going to die.' You're just thinking, 'What can I do to avoid this crash?' And then the crash happens, and you have to deal with it."
The Nets have skidded all season. But somehow, they are still rolling along.
Aaron Hernandez grew up in the flagging factory city of Bristol, Conn., where during his youth a declining downtown was prowled by petty criminals who dreamed of making bigger scores in New England's prosperous hubs.
Mr. Hernandez's circle of friends included small-time crooks, but he was largely shielded from the serious wrongdoing because he was one of the few who had a golden ticket out of central Connecticut. At 17 years old, after he was allowed to graduate high school early, he left home as a prized football recruit of the University of Florida, relocating so he could get an early start on becoming a big-time college football player.
Within a few years, he was a star for the N.F.L.'s New England Patriots, signing a $40 million contract extension and moving into a huge home in suburban Massachusetts.
He had left behind his Bristol neighborhood and an unruly, sometimes violent household. But he had never truly escaped.
On Wednesday, Mr. Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the killing of an acquaintance, Odin Lloyd.
Continue reading the main story Video
A jury in Fall River, Mass., found the former N.F.L. player Aaron Hernandez guilty of murder in the first degree and firearms charges.
By AP on Publish Date April 15, 2015. Photo by Dominick Reuter/Reuters.Mr. Lloyd, a semiprofessional football player from Boston, had apparently angered Mr. Hernandez.
With Mr. Hernandez at the time of the killing, prosecutors said, were two men with Bristol roots. A jury of seven women and five men convicted Mr. Hernandez of pulling the trigger of the gun that killed Mr. Lloyd, including sending two shots to Mr. Lloyd's chest as he squirmed in pain inside a dusty industrial park less than a mile from Mr. Hernandez's palatial home.
It was the latest discomfiting episode for the N.F.L., which has grappled in recent seasons with the consequences of the violent behavior off the field by many of its players.
Mr. Hernandez also awaits trial, charged with the murder of two men during a drive-by shooting in Boston in 2012. Mr. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty. That shooting, prosecutors say, was a chance encounter after an altercation in a bar in which one of the victims spilled Mr. Hernandez's drink.
In Bristol in the 1990s, he was known as the football-playing son of Dennis Hernandez, a local sports hero who had been a decorated athlete at the University of Connecticut. He was a custodian in Bristol, but around the city he was known as the King.
Friends and teammates of Mr. Hernandez said that his father was uncomfortable about some of his son's rough-and-tumble associates in Bristol and kept him on a tight leash, especially as Mr. Hernandez became a pass-catching star at Bristol Central High School.
But in 2006, Dennis Hernandez died from complications of hernia surgery. In interviews with newspapers at the time, Aaron's mother, Terri, said that she worried that Aaron would lose the direction in his life that his father had provided.
By then he was smashing state high school records and attracting the attention of college football recruiters nationwide. To most everyone in town, it was also obvious he began running with a rougher crowd, people he kept in touch with even as he moved on to Florida and, later, the Patriots.
In his freshman year at Florida, while still 17, Mr. Hernandez got into a fight with a bouncer at a bar. He received deferred prosecution after being charged as a juvenile. In the fall of that year, The Orlando Sentinel reported that Mr. Hernandez was questioned by the police about a shooting that injured two men. Friends from Connecticut were with Mr. Hernandez that night, The Sentinel reported.
As a sophomore, he was suspended for the season-opening game. Mr. Hernandez later acknowledged that he had tested positive for marijuana. But by Mr. Hernandez's junior year, Florida Coach Urban Meyer was saying that his player had been rehabilitated. Mr. Meyer had led him in daily Bible study sessions.
N.F.L. teams were not swayed. Once considered a top pick, Mr. Hernandez, then 20, fell to the Patriots in the fourth round, and his selection was viewed as a risky move. There were reports that he had failed multiple drug tests.
Photo Hernandez was drafted by the New England Patriots out of the University of Florida. He became an elite tight end and earned a large contract. Credit Elise Amendola/Associated PressBack home in Bristol, his mother had remarried, but the union did not last long. One day, his stepfather knifed his mother and went to jail for the crime.
During the same year, The Hartford Courant contacted Mr. Hernandez's high school football coach, Doug Pina, who said of his former player: "Personally, I've always had concerns. He's still finding himself. With the right people around, if he keeps his head straight, he'll do very well."
With the Patriots, Mr. Hernandez was often portrayed as a loner on a high-profile team of stars. He was frequently in the company of buddies from Bristol, which was less than a two-hour drive from the team's stadium and practice complex.
But Mr. Hernandez was an uncommon combination of size and speed, and the Patriots' owner, Robert K. Kraft, who testified at Mr. Hernandez's trial, lavished him with a plentiful contract extension. When Mr. Hernandez in return donated $50,000 to a charity of Mr. Kraft's, the team owner called the gesture "a touching moment."
Mr. Hernandez told reporters at the announcement of his contract extension that he had tears in his eyes and had been nurtured by "the Patriot way."
Not long afterward, in separate romances, Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lloyd began dating two sisters from Bristol. Mr. Hernandez and one of the sisters, Shayanna Jenkins, were high school sweethearts. Mr. Lloyd began dating Ms. Jenkins's sister, Shaneah.
At family gatherings, the two men became acquainted. Over time, the men spent time together away from the Jenkins sisters, although they were an odd fit. Mr. Lloyd lived in a hardscrabble section of Boston where Mr. Hernandez's pricey cars stood out.
Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Lloyd often went clubbing in the Boston area, and on one late-night outing in June 2013, prosecutors say, Mr. Hernandez became angry with some of the people Mr. Lloyd was talking with. Investigators indicated that Mr. Hernandez might have suspected that Mr. Lloyd had overheard talk about the Boston double murder and whether Mr. Hernandez had been involved in it.
At 2:29 a.m. on June 17, according to prosecutors, Mr. Hernandez picked up Mr. Lloyd at his home in the Dorchester section of Boston. Less than an hour later, apparently worried about Mr. Hernandez's intentions, Mr. Lloyd texted his sister at home. "Did you see who I was with?" Mr. Lloyd texted.
"Who," she answered.
"NFL," Mr. Lloyd texted back, adding, "Just so you know."
Later that night, a surveillance camera captured an image of Mr. Hernandez in his home carrying a handgun. With him were two friends from Bristol, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz.
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Two errors by pitcher Blake Treinen allowed the Boston Red Sox to erase a seventh-inning deficit, and they won, 8-7, on Tuesday night as the visiting Washington Nationals struggled in the field for the second straight game.
Boston went ahead with three unearned runs without a hit in the inning, which included three errors.
Hanley Ramirez reached first base on a fielding error by shortstop Ian Desmond before Shane Victorino was hit by a pitch from the left-hander Matt Thornton. After Mike Napoli's flyout sent Ramirez to third, Treinen replaced Thornton and hit Allen Craig with a pitch, loading the bases.
Treinen fielded Ryan Hanigan's bouncer in front of the plate, dropped the ball as Ramirez scored, then threw it past catcher Wilson Ramos as Victorino came home with the tying run. Craig scored the go-ahead run on Brock Holt's groundout.
RAYS 3, BLUE JAYS 2 Desmond Jennings hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and visiting Tampa Bay edged Toronto for its fourth straight win.
Steven Souza homered in the first inning and, with the score tied at 2, reached on a bunt single off Miguel Castro leading off the eighth. One out later, Souza stole second, then advanced to third on catcher Russell Martin's throwing error. Evan Longoria was intentionally walked, and Jennings drove an 0-2 pitch to center, scoring Souza.
REDS 3, CUBS 2 Anthony DeSclafani threw seven scoreless innings, Joey Votto had two hits and drove in a run, and Cincinnati held on to top host Chicago.
DeSclafani gave up two hits while striking out five for the Reds. Acquired in the off-season as part of the trade that sent the former ace Mat Latos to the Marlins, DeSclafani earned his first victory with Cincinnati.
ATHLETICS 4, ASTROS 0 The rookie Kendall Graveman pitched into the sixth inning, and four relievers combined to finish it, as visiting Oakland blanked Houston.
Graveman yielded four hits in five and a third innings for his first major league win. Eric O'Flaherty allowed one hit in one and two-thirds innings, Dan Otero gave up two hits in two-thirds of an inning and Fernando Abad retired one batter before Tyler Clippard finished it off in the ninth.
RANGERS 8, ANGELS 2 Robinson Chirinos had a career-high five R.B.I. with a home run and double, backing Nick Martinez and leading host Texas in a rout of Los Angeles.
Chirinos hit a two-run double in the second. He then made it 4-0 when he scored on a double by Rougned Odor on a liner to center.
TIGERS 2, PIRATES 0 Shane Greene pitched eight strong innings, and visiting Detroit bounced back from its first loss of the season by defeating Pittsburgh.
Greene, a 26-year-old right-hander, allowed just three singles, and two of them never left the infield. He had three strikeouts and no walks after the Tigers' six-game winning streak ended Monday with a 5-4 loss.
WHITE SOX 4, INDIANS 1 Cleveland pitcher Carlos Carrasco was struck in the face by a line drive in the first inning, and Chicago's Jose Quintana pitched six strong innings to help the visiting White Sox to a win.
Carrasco was taken off the field on a cart after Melky Cabrera — the second batter — hit a shot up the middle that struck the right side of Carrasco's face. The Indians said X-rays of Carrasco, the club's No. 2 starter, showed no serious injury, and he was treated at a hospital for a bruised jaw.
MARLINS 8, BRAVES 2 Giancarlo Stanton broke out of a slump with three hits and four R.B.I., Dee Gordon and Ichiro Suzuki each scored two runs, and visiting Miami trounced Atlanta.
Stanton, who signed a record 13-year, $325 million contract in November, began the game hitting just .130 with three R.B.I. in 23 at-bats. But he was dialed in against the Braves.
ROYAL BREAKS HAND Kansas City right fielder Alex Rios is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch in Minnesota.
The start was so sublime, with a swinging strikeout as the crowd stood and chanted for the return of a phenomenon. By the end, the events in the Mets' 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday were so scrambled that Matt Harvey best summed it up this way:
"That might have been the weirdest game I've been a part of," Harvey said. "Maybe ever."
There were six innings from Harvey — some electrifying, some erratic. There were four hit batters, including Michael Cuddyer, who left with a contusion on his right hand. There were two replay delays and a catcher's interference call. Manager Terry Collins was ejected, Jeff Francoeur hit a home run and Anthony Recker played third base for the first time in his life.
Most significant, there was this: David Wright hurt his hamstring again, and Collins called it "a major problem." Wright, the Mets' third baseman and captain, will almost certainly head to the disabled list.
Wright tweaked his hamstring in 2013 but tried to keep playing and suffered a major setback in early August. He did not return for almost seven weeks and said he would not make the same mistake now.
Photo The Mets' David Wright injured a hamstring on an awkward slide into second base in the eighth inning. Credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times"For me, worst-case scenario, you miss two weeks rather than do something stupid and play through it and have to miss two months," Wright said. "As upset and as frustrated as I am right now, that's probably the smartest thing to do and it's hopefully the right thing to do."
Wright said he felt his hamstring grab just before sliding into second base on a steal in the eighth inning.
"I thought it just might be something that I could stretch out a little bit," he said. "Then I took a couple of secondary leads and just realized that if the ball is put in play, I wouldn't have been able to do anything positive, that's for sure. Took a couple of pitches and it didn't get any better."
Wright took himself out of the game, replaced by the last player on the Mets' four-man bench. It was Recker, the backup catcher, an 11-year professional who had never played third base, even as an amateur. Recker borrowed the glove of a former minor league teammate — he uses it for infield practice, because he can maneuver his hands better with it than he can his first baseman's glove — and played the ninth inning at third.
"We don't want to go without David, ever," Recker said. "But we have all the confidence in the world in all the people in here. Obviously, it's not going to be me tomorrow."
Recker smiled as he spoke, and so did Cuddyer, who said his hand felt better as the game went on. Wright was not downcast, either, given what had happened. The Mets are 5-3, and from his experience with hamstring injuries, he believes he has reason for hope.
Photo Harvey after retiring the Phillies in order in his final inning, the sixth. Credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times"The last time I did it, I could barely walk," Wright said. "I can walk around. As far as how it feels, not nearly as bad as that one did."
As injuries go, it was nothing like Harvey's ulnar collateral ligament tear, in August 2013, the month after he started the All-Star Game at Citi Field. He missed last season after Tommy John surgery and the Mets, predictably, endured their sixth losing year in a row. They expect much better now, and Harvey's scintillating debut last week in Washington — six shutout innings — helped fuel the good feelings.
The second start, Collins warned, would be more of a challenge, and he was right. After two strikeouts to start the game, Harvey allowed a homer to Chase Utley, who also singled home a run in the third.
Utley came up again with two outs and one on in the fifth. Following Utley would be Ryan Howard, who had looked overmatched by Harvey's fastballs.
Harvey had not really answered David Buchanan's earlier transgression of drilling Wilmer Flores and Cuddyer in the second inning. This, perhaps, was an opportunity for payback, against an elite hitter who had already done damage.
Harvey fired his first pitch, a 95 mile-an-hour fastball, between the numbers on Utley's back. Utley took his base, but not before flipping his bat over the head of catcher Travis d'Arnaud. Harvey got away with a warning.
Photo Lucas Duda beating the tag of Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz in the fifth inning. Credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times"The situation in the game, I think I got a little over-amped," Harvey said. "That one got away."
Howard then reached base on catcher's interference, prompting an animated argument from Collins, who was ejected as fans chanted his first name. It was a fun night for the crowd, just as the Mets orchestrated.
The Mets lined up Harvey third in their rotation so he could pitch the second home game, which ordinarily would not draw many fans. The Mets were figuratively beaming the Batman symbol out of Flushing, and it worked.
The weather cooperated — 65 degrees at game time — and the team sold 39,489 tickets to this midweek April game. Some fans wore blue and orange Batman masks, saluting Harvey for his nickname, the Dark Knight of Gotham.
They cheered eight strikeouts, without a walk, and groaned as Utley and Cody Asche hit the first two homers off Harvey in more than 60 innings. The Phillies had five hits off Harvey and scored three runs in his six innings, an uneven pitching line for an ace.
"Everybody in this room has had an adrenaline rush of some type, somewhere, and it beats you down," Collins said at his postgame news conference. "Once your system is beat up, from all the hype and all the stuff he's been through, there's going to be a letdown someplace. There has to, and as exciting as it was in the first inning, with all the fans screaming and hollering, he couldn't get through it all. As great as he is, he still went out and did the best he could without his best stuff."
It was enough to produce the second victory of Harvey's comeback, a highlight of a winning night in which the Mets still took a loss.
INSIDE PITCH
The right-handers Bobby Parnell and Vic Black began rehabilitation assignments by pitching one inning apiece for Class A St. Lucie on Tuesday. Terry Collins said that Parnell, recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Black, who had shoulder tendinitis in spring training, would need to work consecutive games — and perhaps do so twice — before joining the Mets.
C. J. Miles scored 25 points, George Hill added 24 and together they keyed a 7-2 spurt to open the second overtime as the Indiana Pacers kept their playoff hopes alive with a 99-95 home victory over Washington. The Pacers (38-43) have won six straight.
■ Jae Crowder hit an off-balance fall-away with .8 seconds left, lifting host Boston to a 95-93 win over the Toronto Raptors that secured the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference for the Celtics.
■ The Atlanta Hawks' Thabo Sefolosha accused the New York City police of causing a "significant injury" that knocked him out for the season. Sefolosha, a backup forward, sustained a fracture to his right lower leg and ligament damage while being arrested with his teammate Pero Antic outside a Manhattan nightclub while the Hawks were in the city to play the Nets last week. Sefolosha will not return until next season, costing the top-seeded Hawks a strong perimeter defender heading into the N.B.A. playoffs.
■ Justise Winslow is entering the N.B.A. draft after one season at Duke. He averaged 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds while helping Duke win its fifth national title.
The Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is expected to be in the lineup for Game 1 of Chicago's opening-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night. Both Kane and Joel Quenneville, the Blackhawks' coach, confirmed that the right wing was ready to return after Tuesday's practice. Kane, who broke his collarbone in February, received medical clearance to play on Monday.
■ The Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Cooke has an injury that has clouded his availability for Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues. Cooke did not practice Tuesday because of what Mike Yeo, the Wild's coach, described only as "discomfort."
A Brazilian club that has the former Barcelona star Rivaldo as its president said it had hired Pelé's troubled son Edinho as its coach. Mogi Mirim announced that Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, known as Edinho, would be the team's coach in the second division of the Brazilian league. Edinho was recently convicted in a money-laundering case that involved a drug gang. He is appealing a 33-year prison sentence.
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The Nets were encouraged by a late-season surge that gave them control of their playoff destiny.
They even drew some consolation after collapsing in the second half Sunday in a 23-point loss at Milwaukee. But now, after being drubbed, 113-86, by the Chicago Bulls on Monday night at Barclays Center, they are a desperate team forced to watch the scoreboard.
"Having to depend on somebody else is always frustrating," Jarrett Jack said. "Hopefully, we will get some help."
The Nets can no longer eye the Eastern Conference's seventh slot. Their latest stumble ensured that the Boston Celtics clinched a playoff position, currently No. 7. The Nets fell a half-game behind the Indiana Pacers, who were idle, for the final berth.
The Nets have hope, however. They hold the tiebreaker with Indiana because they won the teams' season series. And Indiana has formidable opponents remaining — if both are not looking ahead to the playoffs.
The Pacers will face the Washington Wizards at home Tuesday and play at the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. The Nets will conclude the regular season at home against the Orlando Magic, whose ineptitude in the conference is exceeded only by that of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Knicks.
Lionel Hollins, the Nets' coach, warned against writing off his 37-44 team, which had reasserted itself with 10 victories in a 13-game stretch before the consecutive lopsided defeats. "Do what you want to do," Hollins told reporters, "but we'll be here on Wednesday and try to close out the season with a victory and see what happens."
The Nets struggled on both ends of the court against Chicago (49-32), even though the Bulls played without Joakim Noah, an imposing forward who sat out with an eye toward the postseason.
Derrick Rose played only 23 minutes 4 seconds in his fourth game back after a 20-game layoff due to surgery on his right knee, but he was a dynamic player who could not be contained. He finished with 13 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds, with only 2 turnovers.
"There's no one like him," Chicago Coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He's got the power, quickness and speed. It's very unusual."
Rose affected his team's offense in ways that his counterpart, Deron Williams, could not for the Nets. Williams converted only 3 of 13 shots from the field, finishing with 9 points and 5 assists, although he played 10 more minutes than Rose.
"When he's attacking the rim, it doesn't necessarily have to be the rim but the paint; you're going to get good shots," Thibodeau said of Rose. "I thought he did that."
Nikola Mirotic, a 6-foot-10 forward bidding for rookie of the year honors, got some great looks courtesy of Rose. Mirotic came off the bench for a game-high 26 points, making 6 of 11 shots from 3-point range.
As Hollins lamented, Chicago shot better from 3-point range, draining 12 of 30 for 40 percent, than his team did inside the arc. The Bulls' staunch defense limited the Nets to 36.8 percent from the field (32 of 87).
Rose led the charge in helping the Bulls build a 57-50 halftime lead. The Bulls ended any doubt about the outcome in the third quarter by rattling off 13 of the last 15 points to take command, 87-65. Mirotic poured in the Bulls' last 9 points in the quarter, all on high-arcing 3s.
After the Nets had played so well for an extended stretch before Sunday, some players were at a loss to explain the team's reversal.
Joe Johnson, a veteran forward, said of falling so far short against Chicago: "I really, honestly can't explain it. I don't even know how that's possible with this being a very important game."
REBOUNDS
ALAN ANDERSON missed his sixth consecutive game with a sprained left ankle. ... CHRIS MULLIN, the newly hired coach at St. John's, received a rousing ovation when he was introduced.
Gerrit Cole shut down baseball's top-hitting team, allowing just one run in six-plus innings on Monday, as the host Pittsburgh Pirates handed the Detroit Tigers their first loss of the season, 5-4.
The Tigers were trying to match the 7-0 start by the 1984 club that went on to win the World Series.
Cole struck out eight and walked two while giving up three hits, helping the Pirates win their second straight home opener.
Josh Harrison, Pedro Alvarez and Corey Hart each homered for Pittsburgh. The Pirates have won three of four after being swept by Cincinnati to open the season.
J. D. Martinez hit a two-run homer off Pittsburgh closer Mark Melancon in the ninth, but a late Detroit rally came up short.
Anibal Sanchez of the Tigers surrendered five runs in six and a third innings. Miguel Cabrera went 2 for 4 with an R.B.I.
ROYALS 12, TWINS 3 Kansas City became the only unbeaten team in the major leagues as Danny Duffy pitched into the seventh inning and Kendrys Morales homered in a romp over Minnesota, spoiling the Twins' home opener.
The Royals, the defending American League champions, improved to 7-0. It was the second-best start in team history, behind the 2003 club that won nine in a row to begin the season.
Duffy lasted six and a third innings, giving up three runs.
RED SOX 9, NATIONALS 4 Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer, took a potential two-run shot away from Bryce Harper with a flashy catch and stole two bases on the same pitch, leading Boston past Washington in the Red Sox' home opener.
Boston's Rick Porcello allowed four hits in eight innings.
BRAVES 3, MARLINS 2 Alberto Callaspo hit a tiebreaking single in Atlanta's two-run fifth inning, and the host Braves held off Miami in the ninth in a game slowed by two rain delays.
ROCKIES 2, GIANTS 0 Eddie Butler outpitched his fellow rookie Chris Heston to shut down San Francisco, and visiting Colorado spoiled the Giants' latest World Series championship celebration during their home opener.
Troy Tulowitzki had the only R.B.I. of the game with a single in the fourth.
ANGELS 6, RANGERS 3 Collin Cowgill and David Freese each hit two-run homers in the fifth inning for visiting Los Angeles, which rallied from an early deficit to top Texas.
RAYS 2, BLUE JAYS 1 Jake Odorizzi pitched eight innings, and visiting Tampa Bay edged Toronto in the Blue Jays' home opener.
Odorizzi, a right-hander, allowed one run and two hits.
CUBS 7, REDS 6 Jorge Soler homered twice, and Arismendy Alcantara had a game-ending run-scoring single in the 10th inning to propel host Chicago past Cincinnati.
BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 4 Matt Garza overcame five walks to earn his first career win in St. Louis, and Carlos Gomez had two hits and an R.B.I. for Milwaukee in the Cardinals' home opener.
ATHLETICS 8, ASTROS 1 Billy Butler hit a three-run homer and Marcus Semien and Brett Lawrie connected to back a solid start by Scott Kazmir as visiting Oakland pounded Houston.
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The Mets announced in the ninth inning Monday that the crowd at their home opener — 43,947 — had set a regular-season record for Citi Field. It sounded like a joke because the ballpark, now in its seventh season, has never hosted a postseason game. It was an All-Star Game, two years ago, that holds the record.
The way the Mets are talking, they might be printing tickets soon for the 2015 playoffs. They are not as brazen as Bryce Harper, the young Washington Nationals slugger, who said this spring that when the team signed pitcher Max Scherzer, his reaction was, "Where's my ring?" But the Mets will clearly be shocked if they do not end their streak of six losing seasons.
"We have huge expectations, and we're not afraid of it," Manager Terry Collins said Monday morning. "We're not afraid to talk about it, talk about winning, because I think the more you talk about it, the more you feel good about the execution side."
Then Jacob deGrom, who at this time last season had never pitched in the majors, coolly collected the first 19 outs of a 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Nobody reached third base against deGrom, and nobody got a hit off the bullpen.
Part of that, naturally, is because of the Phillies' weak lineup. But the Mets really can pitch, they are capitalizing on opponents' mistakes, and their balanced offense might do just enough to keep things interesting all season.
Sandy Alderson, the general manager, said he liked the mix of young players who had earned a longer look and veterans who seemed likely to improve from last season. He loves the rotation.
"And I like our chemistry," Alderson said. "The team has a whole different attitude about itself and what it's capable of doing."
Chemistry and attitude are hopeful buzzwords this time of year, impossible to quantify but, for all we know, important to winning. They sound good, anyway, and they can shape the narrative the Mets want to promote: They are a team on the rise.
This act can wear thin, but it is fun for a while. Collins, in the final year of his contract, seems comfortable channeling Rex Ryan and proclaiming the Mets as winners before they actually win. The players understand what he means.
"You've got to believe," said the new left fielder, Michael Cuddyer, who seemed not to notice that he was quoting Tug McGraw. "You've got to believe you're a good team. And if that means outwardly showing it, I don't know. I think you have to go out there with the intent that you're going to win the game and the belief that you're going to win the game. You have to walk that way and play that way."
In his first home game as a Met, Cuddyer said the crowd gave him chills. It happened on a double play in the ninth inning, when Jeurys Familia covered first on the back end of a 3-6-1 double play. Cuddyer looked into the stands and saw fans slapping hands, like they were part of the team. When he signed here last fall, this is what Cuddyer wanted.
"The crowd was electric," second baseman Daniel Murphy said. "There was buzz in the stands. Nice to see the 7-Line Army in right-center field."
Those were the fans who commandeered three outfield sections between the home-run apple and the bullpens, a patch of orange T-shirts that helped make the park come alive. The Mets keep searching for the right dimensions on the field, but we see, now and then, that this place has a soul. October will be crazy here, if the Mets make it happen.
Just one of them has experienced the feeling of reaching the playoffs with the Mets — David Wright, the captain, who was here in 2006. Wright said he liked this team's personality, its unselfish attitude and upbeat clubhouse vibe. But those attributes only go so far.
"We've all done it, and I've been guilty of it also — talking about how good we should be or how good we think we are," Wright said. "But when push comes to shove, the only way to become truly confident is to become good at winning — and that takes wins, especially the first month. Playing as many games as we are in our division, it's a good chance for us to gain true confidence, not the confidence of talking about it or thinking that you're good — actually going out there and being good."
The Mets were good last April, too. They entered May with a 15-11 record, then went 64-72 the rest of the way. They added Cuddyer early in the off-season, then did little else. They have lost some players to injury but welcomed others back, like Matt Harvey, the most electrifying baseball player in New York. He starts on Tuesday.
Maybe this all adds up to a playoff berth, maybe not. The Mets just need an entertaining summer, especially with the cloud of gloom that shaded the Yankees' side of town in their opening homestand. Wright has seen enough to be skeptical of brash talk, but Collins will not back down.
"The more you talk about good things, the more you work at them and the more you focus," Collins said, "because nobody likes to be embarrassed."
The Mets have been embarrassed, repeatedly, since opening a ballpark that deserves a better product. They believe they finally have one. Their efforts will be fascinating to watch.
Anthony Davis had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks to move the visiting New Orleans Pelicans one step closer to a playoff berth with a 100-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
Tyreke Evans added 22 points and 5 assists and Eric Gordon scored 22 for the Pelicans (44-37), whose magic number for clinching a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference has been reduced to one.
New Orleans has the same record as Oklahoma City but hold the tiebreaker heading into the season finale Wednesday against San Antonio.
THUNDER 101, TRAIL BLAZERS 90 Russell Westbrook scored 36 points for host Oklahoma City, which would have been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race with a loss.
Portland has already locked into the No. 4 spot in the West.
KNICKS 112, HAWKS 108 The rookie Langston Galloway scored a career-high 26 points, hitting all six of his 3-point attempts, and the visiting Knicks stunned playoff-bound Atlanta.
Atlanta entered its final home game of the regular season having long ago clinched the top seed in the East and leading the Knicks by 44 games in the standings.
The Knicks led by 17 points in the first half and held off several furious comebacks by the Hawks. Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver led Atlanta with 19 points each.
BALTIMORE — Easygoing and soft-spoken, with a smooth Georgia drawl, Stephen Drew does not play with any more of an edge than he speaks with. His is not the sort of demeanor that can endear players to fans at Yankee Stadium when their performances do not.
And so it was during the off-season that a punching bag was set up in the Bronx when the Yankees re-signed Drew to a one-year, $5 million contract after he had done so little to earn it last season, his .162 batting average with the Red Sox and then the Yankees being the third-worst mark over the last century for players with 300 plate appearances.
If there is to be a change of heart in how Yankees fans view Drew, the shift no doubt began here Monday night when he came off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit grand slam that lifted the Yankees to a 6-5 victory over Baltimore.
It was an invigorating victory after a disappointing start to the season at home, and not a bad way for the team to embark on a stretch in which it will play 25 of 35 games on the road.
The Yankees got a sterling defensive performance from catcher John Ryan Murphy and a five-out save from Andrew Miller and continued their recent home-run binge with three more. But nobody provided a larger lift than Drew.
With two out and the bases loaded in the seventh, he was called on to hit for Brett Gardner, who was having difficulty swinging the bat after being hit on the wrist by a pitch earlier in the game.
Drew took a first-pitch strike, then worked the count to 3-1 before crushing a fastball from the right-hander Tommy Hunter over the fence in right-center field.
"It's one of those things where I feel a little more comfortable trying not to do too much, trying not to put too much pressure on myself," Drew said. "I know what kind of player I am and I've done it for a long time."
It was the first pinch-hit grand slam for the Yankees since Jorge Posada hit one against the Orioles 14 years ago.
Manager Joe Girardi had a number of options on his bench, including two hitters with more power: Brian McCann and Chase Headley. Girardi had spoken earlier with Gardner, who was hit in the first inning and bunted in his next two trips to the plate.
"I knew from swinging on deck that it didn't feel great," said Gardner, who was hit on the wrist for the second time this season. X-rays taken after he was removed showed no serious injuries. "I came to Joe before the seventh inning and I just let him know if my spot came up with guys on base, I might not be the best guy to go up there and swing the bat and try to drive them in. It turns out Stephen Drew was the man for the job."
If Drew's home run Monday was a bolt from nowhere, the rally was constructed on innocuous building blocks: a bloop single from Chris Young, a walk by Murphy and a two-out dribbler that Jacoby Ellsbury beat out to load the bases.
At the time, the Yankees were trailing by 4-2 after Orioles center fielder Adam Jones snapped a tie with a two-run homer to center field off Michael Pineda with two outs in the sixth. After Drew's homer, the Orioles closed the gap to 6-5 in the seventh when the Yankees could not turn a challenging 4-6-3 double play, allowing Manny Machado to score. A walk to Steve Pearce loaded the bases, but Dellin Betances struck out Chris Davis with a slider, allowing the Yankees to escape with their lead intact.
Shortly after Murphy threw out Jones trying to steal second, Miller entered with one out in the eighth and closed out the victory. The last out came, fittingly enough, when Pearce bounced out to Drew at second.
Drew had other options after last season but wanted to return to the Yankees, despite having to switch to second base after having played shortstop before his arrival in a trade. He missed the first two months of last season after declining a one-year, $14 million qualifying offer from the Red Sox, eventually signing with them in May. Even though he was in good shape physically, he did not see live pitching for so long that he was far behind. His timing never recovered and neither did his confidence.
"It's never easy," Girardi said of playing at Yankee Stadium. "You have to be pretty resilient to play here; we know that. The fans expect a lot, and I understand why. We've all been through it."
One reason he chose to return was a desire to prove that he was still the hitter he was in 2013, when he delivered 29 doubles, 13 home runs and 67 runs batted in for the Red Sox, who won the World Series.
"I wanted to be here," Drew said. "I know what kind of team this is. I'm just glad to be back. This team puts a team together to want to win, and in '13, being able to go over there in Boston and winning, and seeing that — it's later in my career now. I want to be able to have a team to be able to win."
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Stephen Drew's batting average last season. It was the third-worst mark over the last century for players with at least 300 plate appearances, not at-bats. An earlier version of this article also misstated, in one instance, the first name of the Orioles player who homered in the sixth. He is Adam Jones, not Chris.
