PRO BASKETBALLSAN ANTONIO (AP) The wife of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has died. She was 67.The Spurs confirmed Erin Popovich’s death Wednesday. The team didn’t provide further details.”We mourn the loss of Erin Danton Heinen Jersey Kids ,” Spurs general manager RC Buford said in a team statement. ”She was a strong, wonderful, kind, intelligent woman who provided love, support and humor to all of us.”The Popovichs have two children and two grandchildren. They met at the Air Force Academy in 1970s when he was an assistant coach for the Falcons. Erin’s father, Jim Conboy, was Air Force’s head athletic trainer.Gregg Popovich has coach San Antonio since 1996, leading the Spurs to five NBA titles. San Antonio will face Golden State on Thursday night in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.Popovich ran the Spurs’ practice Wednesday. They Warriors lead the series 2-0.OLYMPICSThe question sex-abuse victim Craig Maurizi would like to ask U.S. Olympic leaders is simple and searing: ”How can you sleep at night?”Every bit as perplexing: How to make sure this doesn’t happen again?The figure skater was one of four Olympic-sports athletes who testified to a Senate subcommittee Wednesday about abuse they suffered while training and competing under the purview of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national sports organizations that controlled their Olympic dreams.Their testimony provided yet another reminder of the way leaders at the USOC, US Figure Skating, USA Gymnastics and other federations failed to protect them over a span of decades.At a USOC board meeting held later in the day, acting CEO Susanne Lyons outlined a six-part ”Athlete Action Safety Plan” the federation is developing as a response to the abuse cases.But the abuse victims, including Olympic gymnasts Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher and speed skater Bridie Farrell , cast doubt on the USOC’s motivation to solve this problem.BOXINGLAS VEGAS (AP) – Nevada boxing regulators gave Canelo Alvarez a reduced penalty for doping violations Wednesday, potentially allowing him to return to the ring in September against Gennady Golovkin.Alvarez was given a six-month suspension instead of the standard one year for first-time violators. His May 5 fight with Golovkin was called off earlier because of the doping, but with the Nevada Athletic Commission suspension retroactive to February he would be available for a possible fight with Triple G on the traditional Mexican Independence Day weekend in September.Golovkin, meanwhile, announced Wednesday he would fight Vanes Martirosyan in Carson, California Authentic Mitchell Marner Jersey , on the May 5 date he was supposed to meet Alvarez.HOCKEYSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Tomas Hertl scored the tiebreaking goal 9:09 into the third period, Martin Jones was spectacular in goal yet again, and the San Jose Sharks completed a first-round sweep of the rival Anaheim Ducks with a 2-1 victory in Game 4.Hertl scored just 1:16 after the Ducks finally got a puck past Jones when he deflected a point shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic past John Gibson. San Jose then held on to advance to the second round against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.Fourth-line winger Marcus Sorensen scored for the third straight game to open the scoring for San Jose and Jones did most of the rest of the work with 30 saves. He robbed Corey Perry several times and got help from a replay review that negated an apparent tying goal early in the third.SOCCERKINSHASA, Congo (AP) – FIFA Council member Constant Omari was arrested on suspicion of corruption and held for 24 hours in a public prosecutor’s office in his home country of Congo while being questioned for alleged involvement in embezzlement, officials said.Omari, who is also a vice president of the Confederation of African Football, was arrested on Tuesday night on the orders of Luzolo Bambi, Congo President Joseph Kabila’s special adviser on corruption, a statement from Bambi’s office said. Omari was released late Wednesday but was ordered to return for further questioning on Thursday, prosecutors said.Omari, the president of the Congo soccer federation, was arrested along with two other federation officials and a government sports ministry official. The three other officials were still being detained Wednesday at the public prosecutor’s office at a court building in Kinshasa. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Still stung by the Blues missing the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, general manager Doug Armstrong capped a major roster overhaul on the first day of the NHL’s free-agency period by acquiring center Ryan O’Reilly in a multiplayer trade with the Buffalo Sabres.Aside from landing a nine-year veteran in O’Reilly on Sunday, St. Louis committed $31 million in salary to sign forwards David Perron and center Tyler Bozak to multiyear contracts.”Once you miss the playoffs, change has to happen,” Armstrong said. ”We’re a non-playoff team for the first time in a number of years and it doesn’t sit well with the St. Louis Blues organization http://www.officialmapleleafsproshop.com/authentic-adidas-morgan-rielly-jersey , and certainly the fan base.”Making drastic changes was also the theme in Buffalo, where general manager Jason Botterill continued shuffling the under-performing roster of a team that finished last in the standings for the third time in five years.”We had to change the dynamic,” Botterill said. ”The bottom line was there’s a lot of great people in that locker room, but when you finish 31st, you have to look to make changes.”The Sabres added experience to a young roster by acquiring veterans forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund. They also acquired forward Tage Thompson, a 2016 first-round draft pick, who had three goals and six assists in 41 games as an NHL rookie this season last year. Buffalo rounded out its haul by adding a conditional first-round draft pick next year and a second-rounder in 2021.The Blues also agreed to pay O’Reilly the $7.5 million contract bonus he was due by the end of the day. Botterill said the price for O’Reilly would have gone up once the Sabres were put in a position to pay the bonus.Berglund, a former first-round draft pick, has 168 goals and 322 points in 694 games over a 10-year career in St. Louis. Sobotka is a defensive forward, who has 47 goals and 155 points in 463 career games over nine seasons.The trade continues a busy stretch in Botterill’s rebuilding plans.Aside from selecting 18-year-old Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin with the No. 1 pick in the draft last month, he also acquired play-making forward Conor Sheary in a trade with Pittsburgh last week. The Sabres addressed their goaltending needs by signing former Blues backup Carter Hutton to a three-year, $8.25 million deal Sunday.Hutton will share the starting duties with Linus Ullmark, who is pegged to make the jump to Buffalo after three seasons in the minors.O’Reilly was expendable because he was one of the few assets the Sabres could trade. And he also caused a stir during an end-of-season availability by suggesting there were times he had lost the passion for hockey and that a losing culture had crept into the locker room.Armstrong is confident a change of scenery will help O’Reilly.”I’ve certainly been guilty of saying things I was thinking and wishing I didn’t say them. He probably would add that to the list of things he wishes he could’ve kept internal,” said Armstrong, who is familiar with O’Reilly during the time they’ve spent together as part of Canada’s national team at international tournaments.”He’s got great passion for the sport. He’s got great passion to compete and win,” he added. ”And hopefully, this gives him the boost that he feels is necessary that he can come in here. And quite honestly, we need that boost.”O’Reilly completed his third season in Buffalo since being acquired in a trade with Colorado Nikita Zaitsev Jersey Kids , after which the Sabres signed him to a seven-year, $52.5 million contract. He’s one of the league’s most dependable two-way forwards, and set the NHL record by winning 1,273 faceoffs last year.Perron returns to St. Louis for the third time in his NHL career after signing for $16 million over four years. He spent last season in Las Vegas, where he set career highs with 50 assists and 66 points. Bozak, who signed a three-year, $15 million deal with St. Louis, spent his first nine seasons in Toronto, where he scored 136 goals and 365 points in 594 games.”You bring in Ryan O’Reilly, and you bring in Perron and Bozak, experience players, I think it just makes you better,” Armstrong said.Notes: Buffalo signed goalie Scott Wedgewood, who is expected to take over the starting duties in the minors. … Forward Scott Wilson returned to Buffalo by signing a two-year, $2.1 million contract. … The Sabres also signed defenseman Brandon Hickey to a two-year entry-level contract. Hickey completed his senior season at Boston University, and was acquired by Buffalo in trade with Arizona last month.—