Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — This most unusual NFL season kicks off with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs facing the Houston Texans before about 17,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium tonight (Thursday night). The game features two teams intimately familiar with each other, and each led by dynamic, young — and rich — quarterbacks in the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Texans’ Deshaun Watson. The Chiefs rallied from a 24-0 hole to beat Houston in the divisional round of the playoffs, but both teams have changed plenty in the eight months since that January day.

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs fans who file into Arrowhead Stadium for a masked and socially distanced start to the NFL season won’t be wearing headdresses or face paint amid a nationwide push for racial justice following the police-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The move by the reigning Super Bowl champions has pleased Native Americans as a good first step. But it frustrated some of the 17,000 fans who will be in the stands Thursday. The team will bes the first to take the field in front of a crowd amid the coronavirus pandemic. The team also announced last month that it’s discussing the future of its tomahawk chop celebration.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Danny Duffy pitched four-hit ball into the sixth inning and snapped a winless streak of nearly six years in Cleveland as the Kansas City Royals beat the Indians 3-0 on Wednesday night. Adalberto Mondesi had an RBI single in the sixth and Edward Olivares and Nicky Lopez drove in runs in the ninth, giving the Royals their second straight victory after starting September with seven losses. Duffy struck out four and walked four over 5 2/3 innings to win for the first time at Cleveland in eight starts since Sept. 22, 2014. The left-hander was 0-6 at Progressive Field during that span. Greg Holland earned his third save.

MONTREAL (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will spend the next few months studying at one of the world’s most prestigious universities instead of playing football. The Canadian addressed the media Wednesday, speaking about his decision to opt out of the 2020 NFL season after spending the past few months as an orderly at a long-term care facility an hour away from Montreal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Duvernay-Tardif will take online classes at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The 29-year-old McGill University medical school graduate first revealed he would try to take classes in nutrition, biostatistics and epidemiology in an article with Sports Illustrated released Wednesday.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Lowry contributed 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 53 minutes as the Toronto Raptors outlasted the Celtics, 125-122 in double-overtime. Norman Powell finished with 23 points off the bench to help the defending champs force a Game 7 in the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals. Fred VanVleet had 21 points and OG Anunoby chipped in 13 with 13 rebounds.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers are one win away from their first trip to the Western Conference finals following a 96-85 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4. Kawhi (kah-WY’) Leonard finished one assist shy of his first playoff triple-double, providing 30 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. Los Angeles coughed up an early 18-point lead and was tied at 48 early in the third before the Clippers responded with a 21-5 run.