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With eight minutes left and the Spurs ahead by 33 points, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch conceded defeat by pulling his starters, including Edwards, who finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-for-26 shooting. Rather than head straight for the Minnesota bench, Edwards made his way to the Spurs bench to offer his congratulations to coach Mitch Johnson and his players."I never seen that before," said Castle, who led the Spurs with 32 points, a playoff-best 11 rebounds and six assists. "It was cool," Castle said of the act by his fellow Georgian. "We were competing all series, so for him to come over there and show that kind of respect is definitely cool."

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype:"I never seen that before," said Castle, who led the …

Sherman Lewis, who won four Super Bowl championships as an assistant coach, died on Friday at 83 years old. His death was confirmed by Michigan State University, where Lewis was an All-American running back in 1963.

Lewis was the running backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers under head coach Bill Walsh for nine seasons and won Super Bowl titles during the 1984, 1988 and 1989 seasons. He went on to become the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers on Mike Holmgren’s staff for eight seasons, winning another championship in 1996.

Despite that success, Lewis was never hired as a head coach in the NFL. He interviewed for several openings and was endorsed for such jobs by Holmgren. At the time Lewis appeared to be a strong candidate for head-coaching positions, the NFL had not yet adopted the Rooney Rule that required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head-coach openings. That mandate was implemented in 2002.

"We won Super Bowls in San Francisco and one in Green Bay,"Lewis told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2015. "And I got to work with some great coaches and players.”

"No question I wished I had the chance to be a head coach,” he continued. “But looking back, I did all I could. I was disappointed, but I'm not going to hang my hat on that. I had a great career and was fortunate to coach in the NFL."

After his tenure in Green Bay, Lewis had two offensive coordinator stints with the Minnesota Vikings (from 2000-01) and Detroit Lions (2003-04). His final NFL coaching job was as an offensive assistant with the Washington Commanders in 2009.

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At Michigan State, Lewis rushed for 1,566 yards and 16 touchdowns in three seasons, and was named a team captain. In addition to earning All-American honors in 1963, he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting to Navy’s Roger Staubach and Georgia Tech’s Billy Lothridge.

Lewis was also an accomplished track and field star for the Spartans, winning Big Ten championships in the long jump and 300-yard dash.

Following his collegiate career in East Lansing, Lewis played two seasons in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He also played two seasons for the New York Jets when they were in the AFL.

Before moving on to the NFL, Lewis was an assistant coach for his alma mater for 14 years. He was inducted intothe Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

May 16 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan government will retain power to set royalty and tax rates for private and foreign investors in ‌oil and gas projects on a project-by-project basis under draft ‌regulations of a new hydrocarbons law seen by Reuters on Saturday.

The law passed in January ​established a royalty cap of 30% and a new maximum integrated hydrocarbons tax of 15%. Industry experts had anticipated the accompanying regulations would specify the exact rates below those caps that private and foreign partners would pay.

Instead, ‌the draft document states ⁠that the Ministry of Hydrocarbons will review each operating company's business plan to determine the specific tax and royalty ⁠rates.

Venezuela is attempting to attract foreign capital and rebuild its economy following the U.S. removal of President Nicolas Maduro at the start of the year. ​Under acting ​President Delcy Rodriguez, the draft framework ​officially ends decades of state ‌monopoly by allowing private companies to obtain licenses for heavy crude oil processing, refining and international trading -- activities that previously only state-owned PDVSA could perform.

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The 63-page regulation must still be published in the Official Gazette to take effect.

Under the new legal framework, the National Assembly no longer approves ‌the energy joint ventures.

Instead, the Ministry of ​Hydrocarbons holds almost complete authority to sign ​contracts and modify their terms, ​including taxes and royalties. Oil experts and economists have ‌criticized the ministry's wide latitude as ​a potential deterrent to ​foreign investors who worry the government could make unilateral changes to agreed terms.

The introduction of the integrated tax raised skepticism over ​whether Caracas intended to ‌reduce significantly the state's take, which has historically been one of ​the highest in Latin America.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by ​Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally ofNicolás Maduroto face judicial proceedings in the U.S. less than three years after the business owner was pardoned by PresidentJoe Bidenas part of a prisoner swap.

The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born business owner, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s “bag man,” may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.

The Venezuelan immigration authority in a short statement Saturday did not explicitly say where it had sent Saab but said the decision was made based on several ongoing criminal investigations in the U.S. The statement's reference to Saab only as a “Colombian citizen” may have been a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Following his last arrest, Maduro and acting President Delcy Rodríguez claimed that Saab was a Venezuelan diplomat who had been illegally detained during a refueling stop while en route to Iran for an important humanitarian mission.

The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab’s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food.

The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab’s longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, a former law enforcement official said. That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around theso-called CLAP programset up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.

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Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country’s new leadership that took power following Maduro's ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodríguez demoted Saab,firing him from her Cabinetand stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela. For months conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington

Venezuelan law prohibits the extradition of its own nationals,

The task facing the Buffalo Sabres is not easy, but it is straightforward.

The Sabres must drum up a win when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday or their season is over.

The Canadiens lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-2 with a chance to close it out in front of their frenzied home faithful. The Sabres head to Montreal with a chance to spoil that party and then have the same opportunity in their arena on Monday.

"What is there, five teams left? To be sitting here talking to you guys, I think that it's a wonderful place to be, and I'll tell the team the same thing," coach Lindy Ruff said on Friday. "We get to go to Montreal in Game 6 in the middle of May to move on to a Game 7."

The series winner will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Carolina swept its opponents in each of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs and has been off since Sunday.

To prolong their series, the Sabres must regroup from a deflating 6-3 home loss on Thursday. Buffalo held a 3-2 lead after the first period, but surrendered four unanswered goals.

This would be a perfect time for a couple of struggling first-liners to find their form. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs have failed to net a single point in the first five games of this series. Tuch netted four goals and three assists while Krebs had six points (two goals, four assists) in the six-game series victory over the Boston Bruins to open the playoffs.

"I can't play the way I'm playing right now," Tuch said. "Just going to be will and determination, but I've got to move past it, I've got to move on to the next game, and I've got to be better for the guys in this room."

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The Canadiens return home to a city and arena that will be filled with excitement.

The young squad had high hopes for the season and going into the playoffs. Reaching the third round may have exceeded anybody's expectation back in October, but now is a reality they can all envision.

"Saturday night at the Bell Centre, I don't think you can write it any better to close out a series," forward Joe Veleno said on Friday. "I think the boys know that, and we're all ready for it."

It's the same situation they had in their opening-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal failed to beat the Lightning in that Game 6 on the road, although it was as much due to a great goaltending performance by Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy as anything else.

Still, there was a lesson learned about the difficulty of closing out a series.

"I think it's the hardest game," defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. "Any time a team's got its back against the wall, that's when they're desperate, that's when they play their best most of the time. We've just got to stick to our game plan and really do what we do best."

Though there will be a euphoric atmosphere in Montreal, the Canadiens' track record this postseason has shown they will likely not be overwhelmed.

"I think we're just focused on each and every day," coach Martin St. Louis said. "We're not worried about the day before. We're not worried about what's ahead. Let's just take care of today. I think when you just take care of today, usually you don't get anxious or too ecited. I feel like you just stay present where your feet are."

--Field Level Media