CHICAGO -- Fans at United Center may have reveled in Bulls forward Derrick Jones Jr.'s flagrant foul on Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen on Friday night, but Jones insisted afterward that the foul was not intentional and denied being a dirty player.

Jones was given a flagrant foul 1 in the fourth quarter after delivering a hip check while trying to defend Allen on a drive to the basket and hitting Allen in the face with his elbow.

Jones said he was simply trying to "get a stop."

"That's all that goes through my head," Jones said after the game. "I'm not a dirty player. Honestly, I talked to every ref that was there today. I didn't think that was a flagrant. They said I hit him in his head. I didn't even feel it. I just felt him bump my hip and fall. That's all I felt."

Allen had been the subject of ire by Chicago fans all evening and was serenaded by boos from the sold-out crowd of 21,259 every time he touched the ball.

On Jan. 21, the last time the Bulls and Bucks matched up against each other, Allen committed a flagrant foul 2 on Alex Caruso, which resulted in Caruso suffering a fractured right wrist. Caruso has not played since.

It was the first time Allen had been called for a flagrant foul this season, and only the second time in his NBA career.

However, the Bucks were ready to put the incident behind them leading up to Friday's rematch, and none of their players took issue afterward with Jones' hard foul on Allen.

Jones maintained that he did not try to exact revenge for the play in January.

"I ain't even tripping off that. It's basketball," Jones said. "I want to get a stop as much as they want to get a stop on the other end. What happened in Milwaukee, we didn't like it. It's obvious we didn't like it. Nobody liked that. But I mean I'm not going to go out there and just try to take a man out.

"That's not who I am. If I get a foul in the process of trying to get a stop, then so be it. But I ain't [gonna] blatantly take that man out. He got a family to take care of. Why would I do that?"

Officials from the Major League Baseball Players Association are preparing a written response to MLB's last offer on a new collective bargaining agreement that preceded the league canceling the first week of the regular season, sources familiar with the union's plans told ESPN.

When the sides will next meet is unclear, and as the league's lockout of the union approaches its 100th day, the MLBPA will need the approval of player leaders before bringing any parameters on a potential deal to the league after rejecting its proposal Tuesday afternoon.

Commissioner Rob Manfred officially canceled the first two series of the season Tuesday, the last time the sides met. The league, which has said it wants four weeks of spring training before a season begins, could cancel another batch of games should a deal not materialize quickly. On Friday, MLB canceled minor league games through March 17.

During a Thursday meeting that included deputy commissioner Dan Halem and union lead negotiator Bruce Meyer, the league requested the union deliver in writing a document that outlines its proposals. Though the gap between the sides narrowed during nine days of bargaining in Jupiter, Florida, the sides could not strike a deal, far apart on the competitive-balance-tax threshold and other issues.

The CBT, or luxury tax, remains the sticking point in negotiations. In its last Florida proposal, the union requested a first-year CBT threshold of $238 million that would grow in the fifth year to $263 million. The league proposed the threshold start at $220 million, stay there for three years and wind up at $230 million. A significant gap remains in the proposed bonus pool for players who have yet to reach salary arbitration: $85 million for the players vs. $30 million from the owners.

While the players agreed to a playoff expansion from 10 to 12 teams, they would consider expanding to 14 -- MLB's preferred number -- but only if the three-game wild card series include a unique provision. To incentivize winning a division, the players have proposed using a "game in hand" or "ghost win," in which a division winner in a three-game wild card series would start the series with "a win" and need only one more to advance.

After the Florida sessions, amid the disappointment of games lost and the possibility of spring training quickly evaporating, the sides returned home with no deal. Much like in 2020, when during the early days of COVID-19 they struggled to strike an agreement on a playing season, the union and league have spent months trading proposals but have not come close to a deal.

MLB last missed games in 1995, at the end of a bitter strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. The last time a scheduled Opening Day was lost was 1990, when the sides agreed on a deal March 18. The beginning of the season was pushed back, and 162 games were played.

Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska has reached the semi-finals of the Lyon Open a week after fleeing the Russian bombing of her home city of Odessa.

"That's another win for Ukraine," Yastremska said.

"I feel so much support from everybody."

Meanwhile in the Monterrey WTA event, fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina is also in contention for a spot in the last four as she takes on Camila Osorio in the quarter-finals overnight.

Edinburgh came from behind to thump Connacht in a blistering, eight-try display to move up to fourth place in the United Rugby Championship.

But Emiliano Boffelli, Henry Immelman and Dave Cherry, on his 50th Edinburgh game, replied before the break.

Blair Kinghorn, Ramiro Moyano, Immelman, Glen Young and Ben Vellacott all touched down in the second half.

Boffelli added eight successful conversions to his try.

Connacht remain in sixth place, seven points behind Munster, who have three games in hand over their Irish rivals and two over Edinburgh now four points above them.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair has consistently spoken about the importance of making fast starts in games, but it was Connacht who did the early running at Dam Health Stadium.

The home side's discipline was lacking in the opening 20 minutes - Mesu Kunavula was shown a yellow card for a flailing arm to the face of scrum-half Caolin Blade - and, as the penalties racked up, Connacht took advantage.

After Ireland fly-half Jack Carty kicked a straightforward penalty, Edinburgh were stretched defensively one time too many and wing Sullivan found himself free out wide to run in the game's opening try.

That was the wake-up call that Edinburgh seemingly needed. From that moment onward, their discipline tightened up, they were able to get possession of their own and struck back with a superb try.

Young stole a Connacht line-out and, in the aftermath, Kinghorn darted down the blind-side and found Boffelli with a pinpoint pass. The Argentine winger didn't need a second invitation and raced away to score in the corner.

Edinburgh looked a different side all of a sudden and, just four minutes later, Chris Dean's delayed pass put Immelman through a gap to score the easiest of tries.

Connacht had absolutely no answer to the new-found Edinburgh confidence and, on the stroke of half-time, the home side showed their forward grunt as Cherry dived over to score off the back of a rolling maul.

One would have been forgiven for thinking that the half-time whistle came at an unfortunate time for Edinburgh, with Connacht on the ropes, but the onslaught would continue after the break.

Kinghorn, dictating the play delightfully at stand-off, put Ben Muncaster into space with a Finn Russell-like pass flat to the line and, rather than admiring his work, went with Muncaster in support and strolled under the posts for a bonus-point score.

Kinghorn, perhaps auditioning for the Scotland number 10 shirt in Rome next weekend, then assisted Moyano for try number five.

Connacht looked more and more ragged as the second half went on and Immelman raced on to a Dean miss-pass without breaking stride for his second score of the night.

Further tries from Young and Vellacott took Edinburgh past the 50-point mark in a one-sided contest that few saw coming.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair: "I was really pleased with the performance. It was potentially a difficult fixture. As soon as we got a bit of possession, I felt we could get some pressure on them and get some points.

"We'll have to be better from the start against Glasgow, but the resilience we showed to come back from 8-0 down was excellent. We're missing 14 internationals from our forward pack, so I'm delighted with the guys coming in."

Connacht head coach Andy Friend: "We probably tried to force things a bit and Edinburgh showed us how to do things.

"We were in the game still at half time, but we didn't show up in that second half - and Edinburgh did."

Edinburgh: Immelman, Moyano, Lang, Dean, Boffelli, Kinghorn, Pyrgos, Venter, Cherry, Williams, Philips, Young, Muncaster, Boyle, Kunavula.

Replacements: McBurney, Courtney, Atalifo, Campbell, Brown, Vellacott, Van Der Walt, Currie.

Connacht: Porch, Sullivan, Arnold, Daly, Wootton, Carty, Blade, Duggan, Heffernan, Aungier, Dowling, Fifita, Prendergast, Oliver, Boyle.

Replacements: Delahunt, Tuimauga, Robertson-McCoy, N. Murray, Papali'i, Marmion, Farrell, Butler.

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)

Ulster returned to the top of the United Rugby Championship as they swept aside Cardiff at Kingspan Stadium.

Kirby Myhill and James Ratti crossed for the visitors in the second half.

Ulster move one point above Leinster, who can reclaim first place when they play Benetton on Saturday.

The inter-provincial rivals will meet in Belfast next Saturday, 12 March with both sides set to be missing the majority of their Ireland contingent with the international side in Six Nations action at Twickenham on the same afternoon.

Cardiff remain 12th in the table with with multiple games in hand over all the teams above them, having been restricted to just eight league games so far this season.

Quick start aides Ulster dominance

Ulster's desired fast start came courtesy of Baloucoune and James Hume, two of the players released from Ireland's Six Nations camp for the fixture.

Baloucoune is yet to make his tournament bow for Ireland but has made try-scoring returns for Ulster twice during the competition to provide a reminder of what he has to offer.

On this occasion he benefitted from a hugely fortuitous bounce that saw Billy Burns' cross-field kick flip over the head of Hallam Amos into the Ulster wing's arms, allowing him to turn on the jets and slalom between two Cardiff defenders to score.

The visitors unsurprisingly displayed early signs of rust having not played in five weeks, and their cause was not helped when Willis Halaholo was shown yellow for making a tackle while off his feet after 12 minutes.

Cardiff had in fact set up good field position in the next passage of play before Hume perfectly read Jarrod Evans' floated pass to claim it one-handed and run from inside his own 22 to extend his side's lead.

Cardiff were 15-0 down despite not having been under immense pressure. It was the inability to convert promising positions into points that was their undoing in the first half.

They knocked on a line-out from seven metres out before Josh Turnbull fumbled just two metres from the line as they brutally botched a close-range penalty.

By contrast, Ulster were taking their chances and compounded Cardiff's misery in the last act of the half when Nick Timoney burst through the line, before McCloskey spotted a gap at the fringe of a ruck to dive across the line.

Cardiff struggle for foothold as hosts dominate

Cardiff too had a number of returning Wales internationals on show as they welcomed back Josh Navidi for his first appearance in four months.

However the flanker was unable to assert his usual influence on the game as Cardiff struggled to find any semblance of momentum despite getting themselves on the scoreboard when Myhill finished Rey Lee-Lo's break in the corner.

The try did little to disrupt Ulster's control of the contest; and the hosts soon found the bonus-point try when Nick Timoney bounced off a tackle to power over on 50 minutes.

The score of the game came four minutes later when Stewart Moore, excellent all game from his less-familiar position at full-back, glided past Aled Summerhill on the outside and fed Baloucoune on the touchline, who again backed his electric pace to surge over to the delight of the home fans.

The Ulster support were given further reason to cheer when 21-year-old Sexton - a former Irish underage sprinter - was played into space on the left wing to coast over for his first senior score.

Tom Stewart mauled over for a seventh try to heap more misery on Cardiff, who did find the final score through James Ratti before Ulster were denied another sensational late effort with Hume finishing off a coast-to-coast move that was`brought back for a forward pass on halfway.

Ulster: Moore; Baloucoune, Hume, McCloskey, Moxham, Burns, Doak; McGrath, Andrew, Moore, O'Connor, Henderson (Capt.); Murphy, Marcus Rea, Timoney.

Replacements: Stewart, Reid, Milasinovich, Carter, Vermeulen, Cooney, Madigan, Sexton.

Cardiff: Amos; Lane, Lee-Lo, Halaholo, Summerhill; Evans, L Williams; Thyer, Myhill, Arhip, Turnbull (capt.), Screech; Jenkins, Navidi, Botham.

Replacements: Assiratti, Carré, Davies-King, T Williams, Ratti, Hill, Thomas, Morgan.

Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr announced that his team Kladno will move its final Czech Extraliga regular-season home game to the larger O2 Arena in Prague, with ticket proceeds benefitting Ukrainian families who are currently seeking asylum in the Czech Republic after Russia's invasion.

The Knights of Kladno were scheduled to host HC Sparta Prague on March 8 at their home arena, which seats around 5,200. Instead, the Knights will be the home team inside Sparta's arena, which seats upwards of 18,000 fans.

On Thursday, Jagr announced on Facebook that he wanted to move the home game to benefit Ukrainian families, and polled Kladno fans to find out if they would still come to the game "to help those who need it the most at this time."

On Friday, Kladno announced the game was officially moved to Prague and pointed fans to where they could purchase tickets.

"I am very happy to confirm that everything was successful even in such a short time. Now our only wish is to sell out the O2 arena. Buy a ticket and help those Ukrainian families in the Czech Republic!" wrote Jagr on Facebook.

No charities were specified by Kladno or HC Sparta, although Kladno does have a charitable foundation. Jagr chose No. 68 as his jersey number to remember the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, in response to the Prague Spring insurgency. His grandfather died that year, between the start of the uprising and the Soviet response to it.

"At least my grandfather died in freedom,″ Jagr said in 1998.

Jagr, 50, has played the last five seasons with Kladno, the Czech team he owns. He last appeared in the NHL with the Calgary Flames in 2017-18. In 1,733 career games, Jagr was third in NHL history with 766 goals -- three more than Alex Ovechkin, who has 763 goals in 1,251 games.

You only have one chance to make a first impression. And Chris Gotterup nailed it. 

The University of Oklahoma fifth-year senior is making his PGA Tour debut this week at the Puerto Rico Open after receiving a special exemption by winning the Puerto Rico Classic, a college event, on Feb. 22.

And despite not playing a practice round this week, the Little Silver, New Jersey native is back on the same course — Grand Reserve Golf Club — where he won two weeks ago and will make his first Tour cut after firing consecutive 68s. In his second PGA Tour-sanctioned start (the first was a MC at the Korn Ferry Tour's 2020 Lincoln Land Championship), Gotterup sits T-6 at 8 under, three shots off Ryan Brehm's lead and two strokes behind Michael Kim, Satoshi Kodaira, Callum Tarren and former Sooner Max McGreevy. 

"I'm just very comfortable on this course," Gotterup said after Round 2. "The par-5s are perfect for me and I can take advantage of it when I can, and when I'm out of position, I just try to keep it in play."

What makes Gotterup's feat even more impressive than it is already, is the quick turnaround he had en route to Puerto Rico. 

He was part of the Sooners’ win Tuesday at the prestigious Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. Gotterup finished T-50 (by far his worst finish of the season as he entered the event as Golfstat's top-ranked individual), but the Sooners had their third straight team victory. Gotterup, however, then hopped on a 10 p.m. red-eye flight from Sin City to Orlando and touched down in Puerto Rico around 11 a.m. Wednesday.

“I guess I got a little taste of the Tour life,” Gotterup said to PGATour.com Wednesday about his travels. “I think it’s a good thing. I’m not going to have any expectations. I’m just here to have fun. This is house money for me.”

Two days later, Gotterup, who played four years at Rutgers and was the 2019-20 Big Ten Player of the Year and a first-team All-Big Ten selection, might be having more fun than he imagined. So, too, is his support group, which includes a buddy who is caddying, his parents, some family friends and a few members from his home club, Rumson Country Club.

"It's great to have them here," Gotterup said. "They've been hooting and hollering all week for me, which makes it awesome." 

If it ends up being deja vu for Gotterup by winning again at Grand Reserve, it will mark the first amateur to win on Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991 in Tucson, Arizona. Gotterup would be eligible for next year's Sentry Tournament of Champions with a victory, but he'd have to immediately turn professional should he want to accept Tour membership.

The Players Championship will once again possess a lucrative field, but there will be some notable absences this year, too. 

In the 144-player field, all but two of the world's top 50 players will tee it up next week at TPC Sawgrass. Harris English, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods are the only qualified players to not commit to the event. 

Amid controversy from comments he made regarding the Saudi-backed super league, Mickelson will miss The Players for only the third time since 1992. Mickelson was absent from the event in 1994 after breaking his leg skiing and in '03 due to the birth of his second daughter. In a statement last week addressing his comments, the 51-year-old said he was taking a break from golf. 

English won twice last year and was a part of Team USA's historic Ryder Cup beatdown, but hasn't made a start since January as he's been dealing with a nagging hip injury that stems back to last fall. 

Stricker, last year's U.S. Ryder Cup captain, continues to recover from a health scare that hospitalized him for two weeks in late 2021. 

Woods will miss The Players for the third straight year as he is still recuperating from his February 2021 car crash. He didn't play the event in 2020 because of a back injury, however, the tournament was canceled after Day 1 due to COVID-19. Woods' presence will still be felt next weekend, as he is being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Bryson DeChambeau is currently scheduled to return from his wrist injury and make his first start since early February.  Last week he was slated to come back for his Arnold Palmer Invitational title defense, but withdrew Monday ahead of the event. 

ORLANDO, Fla. – When Zach Johnson was officially named U.S. Ryder Cup captain earlier this week, Max Homa did what he does best: He fired up Twitter.

Homa then immediately began to lobby for a captain’s pick, congratulating the new captain and proceeding to list a few “fun facts” about himself. That petitioning continued Friday afternoon at Bay Hill, where Homa played in the group right behind Johnson. Before the round, Homa showed Johnson his U.S.-themed golf cleats, which were white and featured red and blue spikes.

“I'm just going to keep lobbying,” Homa said. “He told me I'm not going to need a pick, so I'm wasting my breath, but it's a good Plan B. I have a better chance at that than the PIP.”

Homa revealed Friday that he didn’t even sniff the top 10 in the inaugural Player Impact Program race, as he instead finished “somewhere in the 20s.” 

Homa’s final standing could be shocking to some, especially considering Homa is arguably the most active Tour pro on Twitter and has more than 330,000 followers (over 100,000 more than Jon Rahm). Homa, however, wasn’t surprised.

“I actually kind of had a feeling I was nowhere near it, but you never know,” Homa said. “It's the most arbitrary 'contest' ever. It's pretty predictable who's going to get at least the top 8; I guess 9 and 10 are tough.”

Asked if he planned on setting a new goal for this year, Homa was quick to respond.

“Oh no, I don't care,” he said. “I hope they blow it up at some point, or just hand the money to people. But calling it a contest is kind of – I don't know what else the average guy like me has to do to [crack the top 10].

“I'd have to win three majors this year to have a chance.”