Tatum propels Celtics over Hornets, Lakers hold off Raptors

Tatum propels Celtics over Hornets, Lakers hold off Raptors
The Boston Celtics, fueled by Jayson Tatum, bounced back from an overtime defeat with a gritty 124-109 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte on Friday. (AP)
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Updated 02 November 2024
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Tatum propels Celtics over Hornets, Lakers hold off Raptors

Tatum propels Celtics over Hornets, Lakers hold off Raptors
  • Jayson Tatum added 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season

LOS ANGELES: The NBA champion Boston Celtics, fueled by 32 points from Jayson Tatum, bounced back from an overtime defeat with a gritty 124-109 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte on Friday.
Tatum added 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season and Jaylen Brown scored 25 points with six rebounds and five assists in a physical game that saw tensions erupt in the fourth quarter when former Celtic Grant Williams sent Tatum sprawling with a shoulder-to-shoulder check.
Williams was ejected, but Brown and others were clearly angered.
Less than a minute later, LaMelo ball was assessed a flagrant foul for crowding in under Tatum as the Celtics star attempted a three-pointer, and Charlotte’s Miles Bridges was ejected in the final minutes for punching the ball.
It all could make for fireworks when the teams face off again on Saturday, but Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t fazed.
“I loved it,” said Mazzulla, who received a technical foul as did his Hornets counterpart Charles Lee. “It was tremendous.”
“Physical game, guys handled it well, great poise, great execution,” added Mazzulla, who was particularly pleased with Tatum’s response to the foul by Williams.
“I’m glad he’s fine,” Mazzulla said. “What I liked most is how he jumped right up, didn’t lay around ... went to the free-throw line and did his business.”
In Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers let a 26-point lead dwindle to single digits but held on to snap a two-game losing streak with a 131-125 victory over the Raptors.
LeBron James set the tone early, scoring 14 of his 27 points in the first quarter.
Anthony Davis poured in 38 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in another monster offensive effort. However, he was more concerned that the Lakers, up 76-51 at halftime, let the Raptors back into the game.
That lead was halved with 1:02 remaining before the Lakers closed it out.
“Unacceptable,” Davis said. “We won, and we’ll take the win for sure because it’s hard to win in this league, especially on the road.
“But we’re a long way from where we want to be,” he added. “If we’re going to have any goals and aspirations to do anything this season, we can’t allow that on the defensive end.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City remained the league’s only unbeaten teams. The Cavs improved to 6-0 with a wire-to-wire 120-109 victory over the injury-hit Orlando Magic.
Darius Garland scored 25 points and Donovan Mitchell added 22 for the Cavs. Jalen Suggs scored 28 to lead Orlando, who learned Thursday that top forward Paolo Banchero would be sidelined indefinitely with a torn right oblique muscle.
The Thunder beat Portland 137-114 to improve to 5-0.
Elsewhere, the Minnesota Timberwolves surged home to beat Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets 119-116 after a roller-coaster fourth quarter.
Anthony Edwards scored 29 points, Julius Randle added 23, and Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 14 rebounds, drilling a pair of free throws to seal it in the waning seconds.
Gobert got into it earlier in the fourth with Denver’s Christian Braun, who dunked over the French veteran then yelled in his face, prompting Gobert to grab him. Both players were slapped with technical fouls.
The Timberwolves had led by 12 early in the final period only to find themselves down by 10 with less than four minutes to play.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker boosted the Timberwolves’ late comeback, scoring all eight of his points in the fourth quarter and forcing two turnovers.
Aaron Gordon’s 31 points and 11 rebounds led the Nuggets. Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. had 26 points each in defeat.
Denver’s Jamal Murray was limited to six points before departing in the third quarter after an on-court collision sent him into concussion protocol.


Heat embarrass Lakers, Hawks end Bucks’ winning streak

Heat embarrass Lakers, Hawks end Bucks’ winning streak
Updated 05 December 2024
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Heat embarrass Lakers, Hawks end Bucks’ winning streak

Heat embarrass Lakers, Hawks end Bucks’ winning streak
  • Herro scored 21 of his 31 points in the third quarter and finished with nine of the Heat’s franchise record-equalling 24 three-pointers
  • Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of superstar Jayson Tatum, leading by as many as 20 points in a 130-120 victory over the Detroit Pistons

LOS ANGELES: Miami guard Tyler Herro starred as the Heat humbled LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 134-93 on Wednesday, leaving the Lakers looking for answers after their biggest defeat of the NBA season.

Herro scored 21 of his 31 points in the third quarter and finished with nine of the Heat’s franchise record-equalling 24 three-pointers.

Jimmy Butler added 17 points and Bam Adebayo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, who set a franchise record with 42 assists as they kept their offense firing against the lethargic Lakers.

The Heat were already up by 17 at halftime, but Herro erupted in the third quarter, draining seven three-pointers to match the Heat record for most in a period.

“This past road trip, we let two slip, and it was the energy ... it was just our energy was off,” Adebayo said. “We came into this game with great energy, and you see what happened.”

The Lakers, coming off a 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, looked listless on both ends of the floor.

“I’m embarrassed, we’re all embarrassed,” Lakers first-year coach JJ Redick said. “It’s not a game where we had the right fight, the right professionalism.

“There has to be some ownership,” he added. “I own this, but there’s going to have to be some ownership on the court.”

There were encouraging signs for James, who came in mired in a shooting slump and scored a team-high 29 points on efficient 12 of 18 shooting.

The league’s all-time leading scorer also ended his streak of four straight games without a three-pointer, making one of his four attempts from beyond the arc.

That trey was the 2,451st of his career, passing Kyle Korver for seventh on the league’s all-time list.

That will be little consolation now that the Lakers have lost six of their last eight games.

A frustrated James said it wasn’t a matter of the game plan.

“If you don’t want to come to compete ... that’s other issues,” he said. “It’s definitely embarrassing for sure.”

On Friday the Lakers face the Atlanta Hawks, who snapped the Bucks’ seven-game winning streak with a 119-104 victory in Milwaukee.

Jalen Johnson scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Atlanta and De’Andre Hunter added 20 points off the bench as the Hawks notched their fifth straight victory.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points and teammate Damian Lillard added 21, but Milwaukee couldn’t build on an early 10-point advantage.

The Hawks took the lead late in the first quarter and never trailed again.

The NBA champion Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of superstar Jayson Tatum, leading by as many as 20 points in a 130-120 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

With Tatum and Jrue Holiday sidelined with knee injuries, Jaylen Brown stepped up and led the Celtics with 28 points and nine assists.

Brown scored 23 points in the first half to put Boston on the road to victory, and the Celtics weathered a late Pistons surge to complete the wire-to-wire victory.

Kristaps Porzingis, still getting back to top form after returning in November from ankle surgery, scored 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots for Boston.

Cade Cunningham had a near triple-double of 27 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists and Tobias Harris added another 27 points for Detroit.

The Orlando Magic bounced back from a blowout loss to the New York Knicks with a 106-102 victory over the injury-depleted 76ers in Philadelphia.

The Sixers, with Paul George and star center Joel Embiid both sidelined, cut a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to one with 22.3 seconds remaining, but the Magic closed it out with free throws from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs.


Pakistan eye whitewash against Zimbabwe in third T20I today

Pakistan eye whitewash against Zimbabwe in third T20I today
Updated 05 December 2024
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Pakistan eye whitewash against Zimbabwe in third T20I today

Pakistan eye whitewash against Zimbabwe in third T20I today
  • Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets on Tuesday to register 10-wicket victory in second T20I
  • Spinner Sufiyan Muqeem returned figures of 5-3, the best by a Pakistani bowler in T20I format

ISLAMABAD: After securing a commanding victory over Zimbabwe in the second T20I this week, Pakistan will face Zimbabwe in the third T20I of the series at Bulawayo as it eyes completing a 3-0 whitewash over the hosts. 

Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets on Tuesday as spinner Sufiyan Muqeem registered the best figures by a Pakistan bowler in T20I, returning figures of 5-3. 

Set to chase a paltry 58, Pakistan chased the target with 14.3 overs to spare, marking the biggest win by balls remaining between two Full Members in men’s T20I cricket.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday announced its playing Xi for the third T20I against Zimbabwe. 

“Pakistan playing XI for 3rd T20I against Zimbabwe,” the PCB wrote on social media platform X. 

The playing XI features openers Omair Bin Yousuf and Sahibzada Farhan as well as middle-order batters Usman Khan, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Tayyab Tahir, Qasim Akram, Arafat Minhas and all-rounders Jahandad Khan and Abbas Afridi. 

Pakistan have featured Mohammad Hasnain and Sufyan Muqeem as featured bowlers. The match has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today.


Leipzig down Frankfurt to reach German Cup quarters, Cologne strike late

Leipzig down Frankfurt to reach German Cup quarters, Cologne strike late
Updated 05 December 2024
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Leipzig down Frankfurt to reach German Cup quarters, Cologne strike late

Leipzig down Frankfurt to reach German Cup quarters, Cologne strike late
  • Lois Openda scored a brace as RB Leipzig roared back into form with a 3-0 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup last 16 on Wednesday

BERLIN: Lois Openda scored a brace as RB Leipzig roared back into form with a 3-0 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup last 16 on Wednesday, while Cologne found a winner in the 121st minute to advance.
Leipzig and their coach Marco Rose came into the game under pressure, after five losses and a draw during a winless November, against a Frankfurt side sitting second in the league.
The hosts, however, started with a flurry and had two goals ruled out for offside before Benjamin Sesko broke through after 31 minutes.
The Slovenian striker collected an Antonio Nusa pass on the turn and bewitched the Frankfurt defense with some clever footwork before tapping home.
Nusa was the provider again to double Leipzig’s lead four minutes after half-time, sliding the ball into the path of Openda, who hammered home.
Nusa, still just 19, collected his third assist of the game nine minutes later, again finding Openda who rifled in from long range.
After the goal, Openda ran straight to Rose on the sideline, leading his teammates who piled on and embraced the coach.
“Today we wanted to do something, we wanted to fight together as a team — and we did that tonight,” Openda told Sky.
“We wanted to win today and show we are all strong together, with the coach, the fans and the players — that we are one family.”
Speaking with Sky, Leipzig and Germany wing-back Benjamin Henrichs praised his coach.
“It’s not an easy time for him and for us as well, but it all came out (when we scored). The win was very, very important,” the 27-year-old said.
German Cup winners in 2022 and 2023, Leipzig have made the final in four of the past seven seasons.
The loss breaks a run of seven straight wins for Frankfurt and is their first loss since mid-October.
Earlier, a 121st-minute Dejan Ljubicic penalty took Cologne to a 2-1 win over 10-man Hertha Berlin.
Hertha took the lead early when Ibrahim Maza converted a penalty after Derry Scherhant was felled in the box.
Berlin’s hopes took a hit soon after when Deyovaisio Zeefuik was red carded for a headbutt in the 25th minute.
The visitors equalized five minutes later when Florian Niederlechner scored an own goal from a Cologne corner.
With scores locked at 1-1, the match went to extra time.
Ljubicic missed a sitter inches from goal on the 100th-minute mark but made good on his error, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, with penalties looming, to book Cologne’s place in the last eight.
2015 winners Wolfsburg beat Hoffenheim 3-0 at home thanks to three goals in 22 second-half minutes.
Scoreless at half-time, Denis Vavro and Jonas Wind scored within four minutes of each other midway through the second half, before Yannick Gerhardt added a third to seal the game in the dying stages.
The win continues Wolfsburg’s improvement under former Southampton and RB Leipzig manager Ralph Hasenhuettl, with the Wolves now unbeaten in seven games.
Augsburg beat second-division Karlsruhe 5-4 on penalties away after visiting midfielder Ruben Vargas scored in the 123rd minute to level the scores at 2-2.
Bayer Leverkusen, who eliminated 20-time winners Bayern Munich on Tuesday, have already booked their spot in the quarter-finals along with Stuttgart, Werder Bremen and Arminia Bielefeld, who are the sole third-division side in the final eight.


Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes as Ferrari vie for constructors’ title

Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes as Ferrari vie for constructors’ title
Updated 05 December 2024
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Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes as Ferrari vie for constructors’ title

Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes as Ferrari vie for constructors’ title
  • Sunday’s floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit will mark the end of an era as the seven-time champion ends a remarkable 12-year spell with the ‘silver arrows’ and a 26-year association with the Mercedes brand
  • Ferrari offered Hamilton a contract that runs until 2026, which Mercedes were not prepared to do, giving him a continued platform not only to bid for an unprecedented eighth title, but also to promote diversity and inclusion

ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes, the team that carried him to six world titles, this weekend as his future outfit Ferrari, seek to snatch a first constructors’ crown in 16 years from McLaren, his first F1 home.

For all concerned, Sunday’s floodlit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit will mark the end of an era as the seven-time champion ends a remarkable 12-year spell with the ‘silver arrows’ and a 26-year association with the Mercedes brand.

He will then move on to Ferrari where, Italy hopes, he can rediscover the mojo that made him the sport’s most successful driver with seven titles and 105 wins before hitting a trough of frustration in the current ‘ground effect’ era.

This has seen Red Bull return to dominate with Max Verstappen winning four consecutive drivers’ titles even if this season saw them decline, a fall that sees McLaren hanging on to a 21-point lead on Ferrari entering the decisive season-ending race.

McLaren have not won the teams’ title since 1998 while Ferrari ‘s last success came in 2008 since when the championship has been dominated by Mercedes and Red Bull. A change is long overdue.

Despite his travails in recent weeks, notably in Brazil and Qatar, Hamilton will leave Mercedes feeling conflicting emotions.

“It is a celebration of everything we have achieved,” said team boss Toto Wolff of the anticipated finale.

“We will honor an unparalleled story in Abu Dhabi and then visit Kuala Lumpur, Stuttgart and both Brixworth and Brackley... Lewis will always be part of our family.”

He added that before Hamilton’s final visits to the team’s various centers, the “entire team wants to add on more highlight to the reel.

“Nothing is going to take away 12 incredible years. That’s the memory, not a season of races that were particularly bad.”

Ferrari offered Hamilton a contract that runs until 2026, which Mercedes were not prepared to do, giving him a continued platform not only to bid for an unprecedented eighth title, but also to promote diversity and inclusion.

For Hamilton, a Ferrari title success on Sunday could be a perfect prelude to his move and help erase his recent tantrums and comments about ending races and the season early.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur declared he is not at all worried by Hamilton claiming he has lost his speed.

“Not at all,” he said. “Have a look at the 50 laps he did in Vegas. Starting P10, finishing on the gearbox of Russell. No, I’m not worried.”

Hamilton, who will be 40 in January, remains determined to “rise again” and make his mark.

“I’m still standing,” he said. “It’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up.”

Carlos Sainz, whose seat he is set to take, will also be seeking a happy exit as he and Charles Leclerc bid to overturn McLaren’s lead before he leaves for Williams.

“Twenty-one points requires a perfect weekend from Ferrari and a bad weekend from McLaren,” he said.

“We’re going to give it our best shot. I think if we nail a good weekend, we could still make it happen. Nothing to lose.”

On form, at a circuit likely to favor them, McLaren start as favorites but, after winning in Qatar, Verstappen will seek a 10th win this year with his usual vim as Red Bull say goodbye to sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who is moving to Sauber/Audi.

The Dutchman may also carry prickly motivation from his Qatar fallout with Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell, a daunting spectre for his rivals.

His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez may also be in his last race with the team after a hapless run while Alpine welcome Jack Doohan for his debut as replacement for Esteban Ocon.


DAZN awarded global TV rights for FIFA Club World Cup

DAZN awarded global TV rights for FIFA Club World Cup
Updated 05 December 2024
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DAZN awarded global TV rights for FIFA Club World Cup

DAZN awarded global TV rights for FIFA Club World Cup
  • A source close to the negotiations told AFP the contract was worth around €1 billion ($1.05 billion)
  • DAZN chief executive officer Shay Segev called the deal “groundbreaking“
  • FIFA President Gianni Infantino hailed the deal as a great one for fans

MIAMI, Florida: British streaming service DAZN has been awarded the exclusive global rights to broadcast next year’s expanded 32-team Club World Cup in the US, FIFA announced Wednesday.

“The landmark agreement will see all 63 matches... live-streamed, free to view on DAZN worldwide,” read a statement from FIFA.

A source close to the negotiations told AFP the contract was worth around €1 billion ($1.05 billion).

The announcement came on the eve of Thursday’s tournament draw which is set to take place in Miami.

DAZN chief executive officer Shay Segev called the deal “groundbreaking.”

“We’re committed to ensuring that every fan can watch every moment of the thrilling action from this new prime club tournament,” he said.

FIFA are expected to announce next week that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. The Gulf nation is the only bidder for the tournament.

FIFA had initially held talks with Apple about broadcasting the tournament but those discussions reportedly ended in July and the organization launched a tender process.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino hailed the deal as a great one for fans.

“Through this agreement, billions of football fans worldwide can now watch the most widely accessible club football tournament ever — for free,” he said in a statement.

The tournament will see some of the world’s best club teams battle it out in what is effectively a curtain-raiser for the 2026 World Cup taking place a year later in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Twelve top clubs from Europe, including Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain, will feature alongside top teams from South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.

In November, Inter Miami, who feature eight-times Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, were handed a place in the tournament to represent the host nation.

Games will take place across the US from June 15 to July 13. The opening game will be held in Miami with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Yet for many, Infantino’s passion project is a tournament too far, an unwelcome addition to an already crowded global calendar that exhausted players say has pushed them close to breaking point.

Javier Tebas, the chief of Spain’s La Liga, has been one of the Club World Cup’s most outspoken critics, telling Infantino in October to cancel the tournament, citing apathy from broadcasters and opposition from clubs.