National Sports

TORONTO — When Fred VanVleet threw up a three-point attempt late in the first quarter on Tuesday, it was as the nearly 20,000 fans at Scotiabank Arena were collectively willing the ball to fall through the hoop. The roar when it did? Deafening.

TOKYO — The Tokyo Olympics are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place.

Win or lose, Joel Embiid has become the Philadelphia 76ers' lightning rod.

DENVER — Paul Millsap is showing the young'uns how it's done.

ST. LOUIS — Pat Maroon always imagined becoming a hometown hero. The 31-year-old St. Louis native got to live out that fantasy Tuesday night. Maroon scored 5:50 into the second overtime, Jordan Binnington made 29 saves and the St.

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors didn't need a superhuman performance from Kawhi Leonard on Tuesday. After shouldering the load through the first four games of this playoff series, Leonard got plenty of help from his teammates in Game 5.

TORONTO — Kawhi Leonard dunked and Serge Ibaka bled for the Toronto cause Tuesday. The Raptors finished the first half with a 21-point lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, with an exclamation point dunk from Leonard paving the way to the dressing room.

TORONTO — The Blue Jays' bats went silent again Tuesday as Toronto's hitters try to work through a major slump at the plate. Running into some stellar opposing pitching isn't helping matters, either.

LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool's players had their hands on their heads, seemingly unable to comprehend their achievement. One of them, James Milner, was in tears.

TORONTO — Raptors forward Serge Ibaka needed some repair work Tuesday after taking an inadvertent elbow from teammate Kawhi Leonard in Game 5 of Toronto's playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.