ORLANDO, Fla. -- Stephen Curry collected the inbounds pass thrown just ahead of him, took a couple of steps and then launched a 56-foot running heave, just before the Orlando Magic midcourt logo.

"Soon as it left his hand, I knew it was cash," Golden State forward Draymond Green said.

Curry buried the halftime buzzer-beater Thursday night, as Paolo Banchero could react only by raising his hands in frustration. Unfortunately for the Magic, the Curry show was just beginning.

From that shot beyond midcourt to the 3:38 mark in the third quarter, Curry scored 25 of his 56 points to help the Golden State Warriors overcome a 17-point deficit and beat Orlando 121-115 in front of an announced crowd of 18,846.

Curry made 16 of 25 shots, including 12 3-pointers, the most by a player this season. He also was 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

This was his 14th career 50-point game, tying LeBron James and Rick Barry for seventh most in NBA history. He has nine such games at age 30 or older, the most in NBA history, according to ESPN Research.

"We're spoiled around here," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We're used to it, but it never gets old watching, I can tell you that. I think the fans here tonight, even the Magic fans, they know they're witnessing the greatest shooter ever and one of the greatest performers ever.

"It's not just the shots going in, it's just the fluidity, the beauty of his movement and motion and his audacity -- the shots that he's willing to take. He's an incredible performer and he put on quite a show tonight."

In that third-quarter outburst, Curry outscored the Magic 22-21, making 6 of 8 shots, including four 3-pointers. It helped turn a 17-point lead for Orlando near the end of the first half into a 12-point deficit.

"Great player. He had a heck of a night," Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. "In that third quarter, [I'll] have to go back, look at it and see exactly where we let go of the rope."

Unfortunately for the Magic, Curry looks forward to playing in Orlando. He recently told Green that the Kia Center was one of his top five places to play, in part due to the large contingent of Warriors and Curry fans who often come to watch him play.

During the second half, the crowd in the Kia Center sounded like a Golden State home crowd.

"There's certain arenas," Curry said. "Obviously, I've had a couple of good games here, but it just looks different. You feel different energy. Our fan base has grown a little bit. I know the home team never likes that, but it's just good energy in here and the fans seem to be into it and they love when a show starts to happen. So I look forward to playing here. Obviously only get one time a year and it's delivered pretty much every time."

There's also something about Feb. 27 that brings out the best in Curry. Besides his 56-point effort Friday, Curry had his first 50-point game on the same date when he had 54 points and 11 3-pointers against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 27, 2013.

And this was the nine-year anniversary of when Curry scored 46 points and buried 12 3-pointers in a 121-118 win at Oklahoma City. That night, he pulled up from the edge of the Oklahoma City logo for the winning 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, the shot that famously drew a double "bang" from ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen.

"I guess I do like this calendar day," Curry said. "I had my first 50-point game in the Garden. So I have to channel February 27th energy all the time. I don't know what it is, but tonight was different just because we needed all of them to kind of stay afloat and give ourselves a chance and then a lot of guys contributed down the stretch to help us win.

"But it's nice to have a flurry like that and have fun with it."

The Warriors are surging, going 7-1 since trading for Jimmy Butler earlier this month. They have won five straight and are just a half-game behind the LA Clippers for sixth in the Western Conference standings. Sixth is their goal to avoid the play-in round.

For Butler, this was his first taste of a Curry explosion as his teammate. At one point, Curry scored 18 points in just under four minutes in the third quarter.

"You just see the defeat and the look of damn near disgust on the defender's face," Butler said. "But there ain't nothing too much you could do about it, you know what I mean? So good luck to whoever it is that is guarding him."

Curry has said that the arrival of Butler has revitalized him, giving him a chance to play in meaningful games the rest of the season and an opportunity to potentially make some noise in the playoffs.

"Since the trade, he's been so dialed in," Green said. "He told you guys all you want to do is play with expectations, have some expectations, and meant that. I think you look at the body of work over the course of the years, obviously we know that's true.

"But you start looking at these performances that's been coming since the trade and it makes complete sense. So I think there's definitely more of a sense of urgency for sure."

Stephen Curry went off for a season-high 56 points in a 121-115 win against the Orlando Magic Thursday night, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise if you checked the date.

Feb. 27 is a significant day for the Golden State Warriors star. Curry has scored at least 45 points on this date three times, making him the third player in NBA history to do so on a single calendar day, according to ESPN Research.

The other two players are Elgin Baylor (Feb. 25) and Wilt Chamberlain, who had at least three 45-point games on 16 different calendar days.

The first of the three special games for Curry on this date came in 2013, when he recorded 54 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. It marked the first 50-point game of Curry's career.

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"I felt good all night. Obviously played the whole game, so was just trying to keep my legs underneath me on the offensive end, and you know, just stick to the game on the defensive end," Curry said at the time. "Once I started seeing that 3-ball go down in transition, all sorts of spots on the floor, I knew it was going to be a good night."

The second game featured arguably the most famous shot of Curry's career: a go-ahead 37-foot 3-pointer against the Oklahoma City Thunder with 0.6 seconds left in overtime. The Warriors celebrated that anniversary with a post earlier on Thursday.

The deep 3 capped off a 46-point outing with 12 3-pointers in the midst of Golden State's 73-9 season in 2015-16.

Curry matched that effort in terms of 3-point field goals made as he netted 12 against the Magic, the most by any player in a game this season. It also marked his third career game with 12 3-pointers, tied with former teammate Klay Thompson for the most of all time.

The Warriors play the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC).

MESA, Ariz. -- Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto will not be ready to play by Opening Day while recovering from right shoulder surgery.

Manager Ron Washington told reporters before the team's spring training game Thursday against the Chicago Cubs that Neto, 24, likely will start the season on the injured list, an anticipated move after Neto had the procedure in November.

Washington said he expects Neto to be available sometime in April.

The 2022 first-round draft pick was among the few bright spots in 2024 for an Angels team that finished with the worst record in franchise history at 63-99. Neto established himself as an every-day player, batting .249 with 23 homers, 30 stolen bases and 77 RBIs in 155 games while playing solid defense.

Neto injured his shoulder Sept. 26 while sliding in a game, and it didn't respond to rest and treatment.

Derek Bender, the former Minnesota Twins minor league catcher who is under MLB investigation for telling opposing hitters what pitches were coming, denied the allegations in an interview with The Athletic as he remains out of professional baseball.

"No," Bender told The Athletic, in an interview published Thursday, when asked if he gave away pitches to opposing batters. "And I'll live with this until the day I die. I never gave pitches away. I never tried to give the opposing team an advantage against my own team."

Bender, a sixth-round draft pick out of Coastal Carolina in July, was playing for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, the Twins' Single-A affiliate. In the second game of a Sept. 6 doubleheader, Bender told multiple hitters for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, a Detroit farm team, the specific pitches being thrown by starter Ross Dunn, sources told ESPN at the time.

Lakeland scored four runs in the second inning and won the game 6-0 to clinch the Florida State League West division and eliminate the Mighty Mussels from playoff contention. Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game, sources told ESPN at the time.

Sources told ESPN that Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over. In his interview with The Athletic, Bender said he joked to teammates about letting a ground ball go under their glove, but said he wasn't serious.

Major League Baseball's investigation of the incident continues, according to The Athletic, and Bender could face a permanent ban from the league.

"I had to go dark for at least three days," Bender told The Athletic of the reaction to the initial story. "I had to private all my social media accounts. I was getting death threats and awful, obscene things said to me."

Bender, 22, said he is trying to get back into professional baseball. He said he'll play for the Brockton Rox of the independent Frontier League this summer.

Meanwhile, Bender said he hasn't heard from any of his former teammates, including Ross.

"There are a lot of times where you're talking with people that you thought you were friends with, they just don't look at you the same," Bender told The Athletic. "I've heard my friends get questioned about me, why they're still friends with me. That's hard to hear.

"It's not like I'm getting accused of committing a crime."

Bender told The Athletic that the Twins were willing to keep him in the organization if he admitted to the accusations and apologize. He said he apologized, but he wouldn't say what he was apologizing for.

"The only thing I had left was my character at that point," Bender told The Athletic. "Literally, the way they put it was, 'If you want to die by the sword, we'll release you.' I knew there was no bluffing involved."

His agents at Octagon told The Athletic that they had dropped Bender as a client because they had told him not to do any interviews until the MLB investigation was closed.

"It's about gaining control over my life," Bender told The Athletic of why he did the interview. "And this whole situation. I'm not doing this as a last-ditch effort to get back into affiliate ball. It's more of this is the start of me taking control of my life again. Because I've let this completely control me for months now."

A catcher and first baseman selected with the 188th pick in 2024, Bender signed for $297,500, slightly below the $320,800 slot for that selection. He will keep the entirety of his bonus after playing 19 games for Fort Myers, hitting .200/.273/.333 with two home runs and eight RBIs.

In three seasons at Coastal Carolina, he hit .326/.408/.571 with 32 home runs and 153 RBIs in 144 games.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Baltimore Orioles star shortstop Gunnar Henderson was removed from a spring training game on Thursday because of lower right side discomfort.

Henderson, the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year and a 2024 All-Star Game selection, made a jumping catch of a line drive in the field against Toronto and grounded out in the first inning before he was taken out as a precautionary measure, manager Brandon Hyde said after the game. Hyde said Henderson felt his side tighten up after the catch, but that Henderson doesn't need an MRI.

Henderson, who debuted with the Orioles in 2022 after being drafted in the second round in 2019, has never been on the injured list in the major leagues. He played in 150 games in 2023 and 159 games in 2024, when he set career highs with 31 doubles, 37 homers, 92 RBI, 21 steals and an .893 OPS.

The Orioles are also missing All-Star third baseman Jordan Westburg, who is out for at least a few more days because of a sore lower back.

Countless home runs are hit every spring training. But it would be tough to argue many carry more meaning than the two-run shot Jake Burger hit Thursday.

Burger spent the week at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where his 4-month-old daughter, Penelope, had open-heart surgery. The procedure, which was planned, was a success, Burger told reporters, and the veteran first baseman rejoined his new Texas Rangers teammates Thursday morning ahead of their spring game against the Seattle Mariners.

A few hours later, Burger stepped to the plate in Surprise, Arizona, and launched a fifth-inning home run off Mariners right-hander Blas Castano. It was his first home run of the spring for Texas, which acquired him in a December trade with the Miami Marlins, and considering the emotions of the previous few days, an incredible moment for the slugger.

"Man, I can't even imagine the two days he went through and how intense it must've been," Texas manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. "It's incredible what his young daughter, Penelope, went through."

Penelope was born Oct. 25 with Down syndrome, a condition in which a person is born with an extra chromosome, causing mild to moderate cognitive disability, developmental delays and physical challenges.

Burger and his wife, Ashlyn, knew Penelope would need heart surgery sometime during spring training. It happened Monday at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

"You have to have faith in something when you're in the waiting room there," Burger said, according to The Dallas Morning News. "My faith in God and my faith in my family just grew exponentially. Just blessed and grateful to have Penelope on the mend and ready to come to some Ranger baseball."

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Burger said he remained with Penelope until late Wednesday night, even holding her hand at the hospital before he took an early-morning flight to Arizona.

When he stepped to the plate against Castano, he was wearing Penelope's hospital band on his left wrist.

"I landed at 7:40, drove straight here and got to work," Burger told reporters. "Maybe that's the secret sauce there. I don't know if I want to do that on a daily basis, but, if we need a home run, maybe? Maybe throw that in there."

Burger will wear No. 21 for the Rangers this season. The number is a nod to trisomy 21, the clinical name for Down syndrome, and by wearing it, Burger has said he hoped it would help raise awareness about the condition.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Chicago White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi will miss four to six weeks with a broken hand after being hit by a pitch in a spring training game on Thursday.

Benintendi was hit on the right hand with an 87 mph fastball by Cleveland right-hander Logan Allen in the first inning and left the game. The White Sox announced the diagnosis as a non-displaced fracture, with no surgery required.

The recovery timetable means Benintendi likely will start the season on the injured list. The White Sox open at home on March 27 against the Los Angeles Angels.

Benintendi signed a $75 million, five-year contract with the White Sox prior to the 2023 season. After debuting with Boston in 2016 and helping the Red Sox with the World Series in 2018, he was traded to Kansas City in 2021. He won a Gold Glove that year and was selected for his first All-Star team in 2022, before being traded to the New York Yankees for the stretch run.

Benintendi matched his career high in 2024 with 20 homers but batted just .229, his worst average for a full season, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 schedule. He has played in 286 games in two seasons with Chicago.

World number two Alexander Zverev suffered a shock early exit from the Mexican Open with a straight-set defeat against teenage qualifier Learner Tien.

Australian Open finalist Zverev, the top seed in Acapulco, put in an uncharacteristically error-strewn performance as American Tien won 6-3 6-4.

Tien, 19, beat Briton Cameron Norrie in the previous round and will face Czech Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals.

"I just went out there and tried to control my side of the court," said Tien.

"Obviously I knew it was going to be a tough match. To come through feels great... I think just focusing on what I can control and keeping my cool as best as I can has really taken me a long way."

Tien is the youngest American man to record a victory against a top-three opponent since Andy Roddick in 2001.

He has enjoyed a memorable few months, reaching the final at the Next Gen ATP Finals in December before making it through to the fourth round at the Australian Open in January.

Zverev is one of six seeds to exit the competition in the second round.

Casper Ruud, Tommy Paul and Holger Rune all pulled out because of a stomach bug, while Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe were beaten by David Goffin and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina respectively.

Ruud finished runner-up at the ATP 500 event in 2024 but the second seed did not make it to the court for his encounter against local favourite Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez.

"I was hoping to overcome this stomach illness that showed up yesterday," Ruud said on Instagram.

"Hoping to come back stronger in a couple of days and come back here to Mexico next year."

Rune, seeded fourth, began his match against Brandon Nakashima but had to retire while trailing 3-0 in the first set.

"Furious and so sad at the same time. Had food poisoning and was unable to play today," Rune said on X.

"One of my favourite places is Mexico and I love this tournament. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end."

Newcastle's last trophy came in 2004 when they defeated Sale Sharks 37-33 at Twickenham in the Powergen Cup.

Since then, all of the current Premiership clubs have won a trophy - with the exception of the north east outfit.

The Falcons sit bottom of the league with two wins from their 11 games, but Diamond has targeted a strong showing in the Premiership Rugby Cup all season.

And with Newcastle not losing as many of their players to international duty as many other clubs, they sense an opportunity.

"Our captain, Callum Chick, produced a really good presentation ahead of the group stages called '21'," revealed Diamond, twice a winner in this competition with Sale in 2020 and Worcester Warriors two years later.

"It was about 21 years since we had won anything and he showed pictures of that day at Twickenham. Micky Ward, our defence coach, was playing for us.

"It really hit home with the players."

Tigers are fourth in the table, 11 games into their 18-match Premiership campaign, and will face Glasgow Warriors in the Round of 16 of the European Champions Cup.

Kidwell, a rugby league World Cup-winning player with New Zealand in 2008 who went on to coach the national side between 2016 and 2018, had a spell playing the 13-man game in England with Super League side Warrington Wolves.

That stint came early in his career and before be collected a National Rugby League title with Sydney Roosters in 2002.

He got to another NRL Grand Final with Melbourne Storm later in his career, but it was not until he moved into coaching that he helped the Victorian club to the Australian crown.

Chieka says Kidwell will bring "a unique perspective" and "offer a valuable, new point of view" for the remainder of the season.

"Having worked with him before, I know what positives he will bring into our environment and that extends beyond just the players to the coaches and staff with the experience and knowledge he can pass on to them to help us improve," Cheika said.

"David was a tough player, successful player and both of those mindsets are going to be important for us."