Lacrosse player dies

BAY VILLAGE (AP) — An Ohio high school lacrosse player died Thursday from injuries he suffered during a lacrosse game this week.

The family of Dylan Veselic announced his death in a message posted to the Bay Village High School lacrosse team’s X account.

Veselic, a sophomore, was injured Tuesday during a game in Olmsted Falls. He was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery.

Cleveland television station WKYC reported that Veselic was struck by the ball in the back of his head, just below the helmet.

The district superintendent’s office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Bay Village is 15 miles west of Cleveland.

Cavs play it cool

INDEPENDENCE — Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson refused to blame officials for what the NBA said were three incorrect no-calls in the final minute — including one that led to Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning 3-pointer — in Indiana’s 120-119 victory over Cleveland in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.

The NBA said Wednesday in its “Last 2-Minute Report” on the game that two lane violations and defensive 3 seconds call were missed. The NBA releases those reports the day after games where the margin is three points or fewer at any time in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.

The league said Haliburton should have been called for a lane violation for stepping over the plane of the free throw line before the ball touched the rim on a missed foul shot with 12.4 seconds remaining with Indiana trailing 119-117.

Haliburton got the offensive rebound after it was deflected by multiple players, dribbled out to the 3-point line and made the game-winning, step-back shot from the top of the key as the Pacers rallied from a 20-point, second-half deficit to go up 2-0 in the series.

Haliburton though wasn’t the only player to commit a lane violation on the play. The NBA said multiple players entered the lane.

Atkinson — honored as the NBA’s Coach of the Year on Monday — said his bigger worries were about how the Cavs lost their lead and how Indiana scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to get the victory.

“I think we always have recency bias. So what happened in the last 30 seconds? It’s like, how’d you lose that 20-point lead,” Atkinson said after practice on Thursday. “I’d say it was coaching decisions, player decisions, and then referee decisions. And we all made mistakes. And then if you put it kind of a ledger, you add all those up and that their minus-20 goes to, oh my gosh. We had plenty of decisions where we could have made it. I’m kind of there with that.”

The NBA also said multiple players committed lane violations with 48 seconds remaining on a missed free throw by Indiana’s Pascal Siakam. One of the players was Aaron Nesmith, whose dunk off the rebound got the Pacers with 118-113.