D’Angelo Russell scored 21 of his season-high 44 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead jumper with 5.9 seconds left, and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame LeBron James’ absence in a 123-122 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

After Russell’s basket put the Lakers up one, Spencer Dinwiddie blocked Damian Lillared’s step-back jumper before the buzzer to preserve a stirring win for the Lakers.

Russell matched his career high with nine 3-pointers, handed out nine assists and scored the Lakers’ final eight points in the final 1:13 to help them rally from a late deficit.

Anthony Davis had 22 points and 13 rebounds and Austin Reaves added 18 points as the Lakers won without James, who sat out to rest his sore left ankle.

Giannis Antetokounmpo tallied 34 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for his 43rd career triple-double and Lillard scored 28 points, but Milwaukee lost its second in a row after coming out of the All-Star break with six consecutive wins.

Depleted Cavaliers outlast Timberwolves

Darius Garland scored 34 points and Jarrett Allen scored 10 of his career-high 33 in overtime and also grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the injury-thinned Cleveland Cavaliers to a 113-104 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Allen made a career-best 15 free throws, 14 after halftime and his dunk early in overtime put the Cavaliers ahead for good.

Georges Niang had 16 points and Caris LeVert added 15 and eight assists to help Cleveland win despite missing starters Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Max Strus.

Naz Reid scored a career-high 34 points and Anthony Edwards added 19 on 7-of-27 shooting for the Wolves, who entered with a league-best 21-11 road record.

Minnesota’s loss coupled with Oklahoma City’s win over Miami moved the Thunder into sole possession of the Western Conference lead.

Thunder win to move atop West

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 23 of his 37 points in the second half and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied for a 107-100 victory over the Miami Heat to move into sole possession of the Western Conference lead.

Jalen Williams added 15 points and Josh Giddey had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists as the Thunder overcame a 14-point deficit to move into first place in the West, one-half game ahead of Minnesota.

Rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 25 points and Jimmy Butler had 20, 10 boards and eight assists for Miami, which has lost consecutive games for the first time since a seven-game skid in January.

England are battling to avoid a three-day defeat in Dharamsala as Ravichandran Ashwin caused havoc among the top-order after James Anderson became the first fast bowler to record 700 Test wickets.

Anderson joined former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and the late Australia leg-break bowler Shane Warne in the 700 club by dismissing Kuldeep Yadav on the third morning of the fifth Test.

India were all out for 477 and a lead of 259 before Ashwin ran amok on his 100th Test, bagging both England openers, Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes as the tourists ended the session on 103 for five.

Jonny Bairstow briefly rallied on his 100th Test with three big sixes off Ashwin but there was to be no memorable end to the series for the Yorkshireman as he was dismissed before lunch for 39 off 31 balls.

A 4-1 series defeat now appears all but inevitable and England’s hopes of not losing by an innings rest on Joe Root, who is on 34 not out after Stokes was castled by Ashwin with the last ball of the session.

After a chastening past couple of days, England broke out in smiles when Anderson kissed the outside edge of Kuldeep on the way through to Ben Foakes for 30. The evergreen 41-year-old soaked in the congratulations of his team-mates before raising the ball in a typically low-key celebration.

Shoaib Bashir had his five-for as India added just four runs to their overnight score, with the young off-spinner bagging Jasprit Bumrah for 20 to finish with five for 173. Anderson and Bashir each deferred to the other to lead England off the field before walking off together.

It was not long before England were in trouble when their innings started, Ashwin making the breakthrough in his first over when Ben Duckett uncharacteristically charged down the wicket and toe-ended the ball on to his off stump.

Zak Crawley made a 16-ball duck, dismissed after turning Ashwin to backward short-leg while Pope was sketchy again, making 19 before premeditating a sweep which ballooned off the top edge to Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Bairstow was purposeful and muscled three sixes in the space of seven Ashwin deliveries but was lbw when Kuldeep found sharp turn off the pitch. A review failed to save him as HawkEye showed the ball brushing the top of the stumps.

Despite bagging a wicket with his first ball yesterday, Stokes’ troubles with the bat continued as he was dismissed for a 13th time by Ashwin on the stroke of lunch, bowled through the gate by one that skidded on.

Great Britain’s Phillips Idowu won gold in the triple jump at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, on this day in 2008.

The 29-year-old Londoner smashed Jonathan Edwards’ 10 year old British record and came within eight centimetres of the then world indoor record.

Sporting a designer red hairstyle, Idowu opened with a jump of 17.10m before going out to 17.75m with his second.

He matched his previous personal best of 17.56m in the third round and jumped 17.45m in the next before sitting out the fifth and fouling with his final attempt.

By that point he had already done enough to see off the challenge of former world junior champion David Giralt and the previous year’s world outdoor gold medallist Nelson Evora.

Idowu was presented with his medal by former world and Olympic champion Edwards.

He said: “I knew it was going to be hard beforehand, so I kept on going.

“I wanted to see what sort of shape I was in after four or five months of hard winter work – and obviously it’s a very good one.”

Valeri Nichushkin scored in overtime in his first game in nearly two months to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

Nichushkin tallied on a power play at 2:32 of overtime in his first game since Jan. 10, five days before he entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.

Artturi Lehkonen also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had a pair of assists as Colorado won its third straight and fifth in six games.

Alexander Georgiev stopped 29 shots and denied Mats Zuccarello on a penalty shot with 5:55 remaining in regulation.

MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 32 games, tied with Guy Lafleur (1978-79) for the third-longest home point run in NHL history.

Rookie Brock Faber scored for Minnesota, which is 2-0-1 in its last three games as it tries to make up ground in the playoff race.

Stars start fast in win over Ducks

Roope Hintz scored one goal and set up another during Dallas’ three-goal first period and the Stars defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 6-2, for their fourth straight win.

Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski each had a goal and an assist for the first-place Stars, who have points in six of seven (5-1-1) to maintain a two-point lead over Winnipeg and Colorado in the Central Division.

Dallas scored three times on the power play and is 6 for 12 with the man advantage in its last three games.

Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who had won three of four.

Ingram denies slumping Red Wings

Connor Ingram made 28 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and the Arizona Coyotes snapped a seven-game home losing streak with a 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Ingram stopped six shots in the first period, 17 in the second and five more in the third to tie Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry for the league lead in shutouts.

Nick Bjugstad had a goal and an assist and Alex Kerfoot, Logan Cooley and Jack McBain also scored for the Coyotes, who have won three of five following a 14-game skid.

The Red Wings have scored five goals during four consecutive losses after winning six straight.

 

James Anderson continues to defy the sands of time, claiming his 700th Test wicket aged 41 for England in their fifth Test against India in Dharamsala.

Here, the PA news agency looks at five other sportspeople from the UK whose longevity is unparalleled in their chosen professions.

Sir Steve Redgrave – rowing

The only man in history to win gold at five successive Olympics in an endurance sport. Redgrave first stood atop the podium at a Games in Los Angeles 1984 and reigned supreme until Sydney 2000 – four years after his memorable utterance: “Anybody who sees me in a boat has my permission to shoot me” in 1996.

Ryan Giggs – football

The most decorated player in English football history with 34 trophies, the Welshman went 23 seasons in a row scoring at least one goal in the top-flight. The ex-Manchester United winger played over 1,000 games for club and country, penning his first deal as a 17-year-old in 1990 before bowing out in 2014.

Ronnie O’Sullivan – snooker

Seven days before his 18th birthday, O’Sullivan toppled the great Stephen Hendry in the final of the 1993 UK Championship. While it took another eight years to win a first world title, the Chigwell-based potter has won another six since then and most observers would argue he remains the best player today.

Sir AP McCoy – horse racing

A champion jockey for a record 20 successive times in every year that he was a professional, the Northern Irishman rode 4,358 winners. McCoy won almost every notable horse race in Britain and Ireland and capped his career with a long-awaited Grand National triumph in 2010, retiring five years later.

James Roby – rugby league

In an often brutal sport where injuries can soon take their toll, the former St Helens captain broke the mould with a 20-season career and finished as the leading appearance-maker in Super League’s summer era with 495 matches. Roby was a six-time Super League and two-time World Club Challenge winner.

Age and injuries have been insufficient roadblocks as James Anderson has set another stratospheric benchmark, unlikely to ever be beaten.

There are few other sportspeople that have given Father Time such a run for their money than the evergreen swing king, who aged 41 years and 223 days and in his 23rd year as an international fast bowler has just bagged his 700th Test wicket in England’s fifth Test against India in Dharamsala.

Only Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Shane Warne (708) have more but Anderson is out of sight among non-spinners and may never be toppled, with closest challenger Stuart Broad retiring last year.

It is doubtful Anderson would be where he is without Broad, who owes just as much of his success to the Lancastrian. The pair are indelibly linked and their partnership fits comfortably alongside McGrath-Warne, Wasim-Waqar and Walsh-Ambrose as one of the best of all-time.

There are those who seek to downplay their achievements, that their records are gilded in home conditions with more modest successes overseas. But statistics can obscure the bigger picture and Anderson was instrumental in England’s two greatest away victories in a generation.

Sir Alastair Cook took the plaudits with his insatiable appetite for runs in the 2010/11 Ashes but the leading wicket-taker was Anderson, whose immaculate control and key breakthroughs led to him being described as “the major difference” by Mahendra Singh Dhoni when England beat India in 2012 in a series where all other quicks floundered.

Sir Ian Botham’s 383 wickets are long since in the rear view mirror and much like the great all-rounder’s fine wines, Anderson kept getting better with age. Since his 30th birthday he has taken 432 wickets at 24.13 while that average sinks to a scarcely believable 22.86 after turning 35.

Rewind to December 2002, the start of his life with England, and Anderson was a terrorising paceman who swung the ball round corners and possessed immaculate seam control. He made an impression in the 2003 World Cup before taking a five-for on Test debut against Zimbabwe later that year.

His career stalled over the next few years, partly because well-meaning coaches attempting to iron out kinks in his action to prevent stress fractures in his back had the unintended consequence of inducing stress fractures in his back.

He filtered out the bad advice and after being in and out of the side, his and Broad’s inclusion in New Zealand in March 2008 marked a changing of the guard as Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison were ushered out.

The connection was not instantaneous and England had to bide their time, but they struck up a union that brought four Ashes series victories between 2009 and 2015 during a golden period in which they also climbed to the top of the Test rankings between 2011 and 2012.

As Anderson’s career has progressed, so too has his meticulous planning to his craft. As his speeds dropped, he focused on a metronomic line and length to constrain batters although he was still capable of producing the odd ‘magic ball’. That was evidenced with his 500th Test scalp as he pegged back the middle stump of West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite in 2017 en route to career best figures of seven for 42 at Lord’s.

Afterwards, Anderson admitted to feeling “not quite teary but emotional” – a break from his more natural sullen and occasionally grumpy demeanour.

Apart from one heated confrontation with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in 2014, that hostility was self-contained. Anderson is a more self-effacing and thoughtful character off the field and channels his temper in more productive fashion.

He was part of the England side that reached the 2013 Champions Trophy final but his white-ball career ended two years later after the World Cup omnishambles. Although Anderson never actually retired, he was deemed surplus to requirements even if no other Englishman can better his 269 ODI wickets.

The decision elongated Anderson’s red-ball career. He went on to top the Test bowling rankings on a couple of occasions, breaching the 900-point barrier a few days after he passed 100 wickets at Lord’s in August 2018 – the first paceman to take a century at a single venue. A month later he surpassed Glenn McGrath’s 563 wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful fast bowler.

A chronic shoulder injury, which was a factor in great rival Dale Steyn’s retirement, has impacted his daily routine to such an extent that even just brushing his teeth can prove a burden.

Recurring calf complaints meant he missed almost all of the 2019 Ashes while a broken rib sidelined him after a stellar showing at Cape Town that winter but Anderson remained unbowed through it all.

Being left out of England’s post-Ashes tour of the West Indies in 2022 brought fresh speculation Anderson might finally call it quits but he predictably came back with a vengeance and seems rejuvenated under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Despite the combination of a poor 2023 Ashes and Broad heading for the hills, Anderson keeps going and has finally joined the 700 club. Warne may now be in his sights – after that, who knows?

James Anderson has become the first fast bowler to reach 700 Test wickets.

The 41-year-old England seamer joins former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and the late Australia leg-break bowler Shane Warne to get to the milestone in his 187th Test.

Anderson moved to 699 on day two of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala by bowling Shubman Gill through the gate and got to 700 on the third morning by removing lower-order batter Kuldeep Yadav.

With just his 10th delivery of the day, Anderson, who began his record-breaking Test career in May 2003, hung one outside off stump and Kuldeep obliged with the edge on the way through to Ben Foakes.

Anderson was mobbed by his team-mates before sheepishly raising the ball to the crowd in a typically understated celebration after ending a 49-run stand, with Kuldeep on his way for 30.

Shoaib Bashir struck to remove Jasprit Bumrah three balls later as India were all out for 477 and an ominous lead of 259, with England’s young off-spinner finishing with figures of five for 173.

Anderson began to lead England off the field but motioned for Bashir to go ahead of him after the 20-year-old’s second five-wicket haul in just his third Test.

But Bashir, who was not even born when Anderson started playing for England, smiled and edged towards Anderson as they walked off the field at the HPCA Stadium together.

Anthony Joshua urged Francis Ngannou not to quit boxing after he defeated the 37-year-old in just his second professional fight in Riyadh.

Joshua knocked the former UFC champion out in the second round leaving him requiring oxygen in the ring.

Ngannou, who performed well in losing narrowly on points to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in what had been his only previous fight, started brightly again in Riyadh, holding his own well for much of the first round.

He was put on the canvas by Joshua with about a minute to go in the round, and when he went down again in the second there appeared to be little chance of Ngannou continuing.

“On the road to the championship, you should always stay focused,” Joshua told broadcaster DAZN. “I thought this was something for the broadcasters to get behind.

“When I saw the fight with Tyson Fury, I thought I want some of that. (Ngannou) is a great champion and this doesn’t take anything away from his capabilities. I told him not to leave boxing. He’s two fights in and he fought the best.”

For Joshua it is now four wins in a row as he put himself in prime position to meet the winner of the May 18 fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

“The Ben Davison performance centre, I appreciate them highly,” he said. “All of these guys that I worked with until this day. I’m just hungry. Stay hungry and all that good stuff.

“It only takes one shot in the heavyweight division. Joseph Parker is one of my favourite fighters, he had it tough and look at him now. I’m just doing it while I’m here and making the most of it. In five years I won’t be fighting.

“Eddie Hearn and my team will shape my future. I’m going back to my cage and when they let me out, I’ll fight again.

“The people of Cameroon, I appreciate you. Africa united, respect. Everyone here tonight, I appreciate you. Thank you to Francis Ngannou.”

Anthony Joshua eased to a second-round knockout win against Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia in just the UFC champion’s second professional match.

Joshua floored his opponent in the first round with a right hand to the chin then again early in the second with a right-left hook combination.

Ngannou got to his feet but was quickly put back down by a strong right hand, after which the referee put a stop to the contest.

The 37-year-old, who performed well in losing narrowly on points to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in what had been his only previous fight, started brightly again in Riyadh, holding his own well for much of the first round.

He was put on the canvas by Joshua with about a minute to go in the round, beating the count at nine and making it back to his feet to see out the final 40 seconds.

However, when he was knocked down again in the second round there appeared to be little chance of Ngannou continuing, and after struggling back up he was quickly knocked out by a big right hand to put an end to the contest in Joshua’s favour.

Ngannou required oxygen in the ring as he was attended to by medics in the immediate aftermath, before recovering to leave the ring unaided.

For Joshua it is now four wins in a row as he put himself in prime position to meet the winner of the May 18 fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

The Baltimore Ravens kept star defensive tackle Justin Madubuike off the open market with a franchise tag earlier this week, and struck a four-year, $98 million deal with him on Friday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The contract includes $75.5 million in guarantees and $53.5 million at signing and keeps the 26-year-old with the Ravens through the 2027 season.

“Justin is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL and a cornerstone on our defence,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in a statement. “We are thrilled for Justin and his family and equally happy for our fan base. This is a great way to start the new league year!”

Last season, Madubuike was named second-team All-Pro and was invited to his first Pro Bowl after he had the ninth-most sacks in the league (13) and finished sixth among all defensive tackles in tackles for loss (12).

He more than doubled his pressures from the previous season and helped Baltimore’s defence become one of the league’s best.

Madubuike became the first Ravens player to record double-digit sacks since Terrell Suggs had 11 in 2017.

The Ravens drafted Madubuike in the third round of 2020, and he became a starter in his second season.

Andy Murray was unable to make his opportunities count as he suffered a second-round loss to Andrey Rublev at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Looking for just his second victory over a top-five opponent since 2016 and buoyed by an impressive performance in the opening round against David Goffin, Murray matched Russian Rublev for most of the contest.

But he was unable to take four set points in the opener and succumbed to a 7-6 (3) 6-1 loss in the Californian desert.

Rublev made unwanted headlines last week when he was defaulted from the ATP tournament in Dubai for aggressively yelling in the face of a line judge.

The Russian had denied using bad language, and had his ranking points and prize money restored on appeal, but he issued a public apology for his behaviour ahead of Friday’s contest with Murray.

Both men often struggle to contain their emotions on court but here Rublev was on his best behaviour, bar the odd shout towards his box.

There were plenty of opportunities for frustration to surface in the first set, especially when Murray, whose first serve and backhand were particularly effective, moved to 0-40 at 5-4 ahead.

But Rublev saved all three set points and then a fourth that followed before powering his way through the tie-break, helped by 29 winners in 13 games, 18 alone off his monstrous forehand.

Murray then found himself in deep trouble when he was broken from 40-0 up in the fourth game of the second set, with two double faults hurting him badly, and from there Rublev ran away with the contest.

While it is another defeat for the Scot to digest, he will at least leave Indian Wells – probably for the final time – to head to Miami feeling more positive about his tennis, with some encouraging signs for future tournaments.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke felt his side fully deserved “a massive three points” after a 2-0 win at Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday lifted them back into the top two.

Patrick Bamford broke the deadlock deep in first-half stoppage time and Willy Gnonto struck a killer second just before the hour-mark as Leeds extended their unbeaten league run this year to 12 matches.

Farke’s side leap-frogged Ipswich into second place, two points behind Sky Bet Championship leaders Leicester, with their automatic promotion rivals, including Southampton, due to play on Saturday.

The German said: “It was a well-deserved win. I think it was a pretty mature performance, a pretty controlled performance.

“Obviously you could feel that Sheffield were on a good run, playing with confidence and an excited home crowd.

“But you have to tire the opponent, take the enthusiasm and the aggressiveness away. I’m pretty proud of my lads tonight. It was a massive three points for us.”

Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier’s brilliant first-half save thwarted Owls forward Anthony Musaba, but after Bamford turned home Junior Firpo’s raking low cross at the far post, the visitors took control.

Farke added: “Everyone speaks about the goal (Bamford) scored at Peterborough in the (FA) Cup – a worldie – this (goal tonight) is for me also like a world-class striker goal.

“To have this instinct. Will Junior be there with the cross? To have the movement away from the opponent at the far post and then you still have to have the concentration to get the ball down.

“It wasn’t that easy to score and this is a sign of a top-class striker. When it counts you have to be there and you have to be clinical, so we are all happy that we have Patrick and also have him in his best shape.”

Wednesday had won five of their previous six league games in their battle to avoid the drop, but missed the chance to climb out of the relegation zone for the first time since August.

Manager Danny Rohl, who said he was proud of his side, was booked in the second period for protesting over a foul, but said his emotions were running high due to the amount of injury time referee Sam Allison had played at the end of the first half.

The Owls boss said: “It was a key point. Of course he showed four minutes and then it was four minutes more – and everyone can think about if this is a key moment.

“I’m really not happy about this moment. We were hoping to go in at half-time at zero-zero. I will not speak too much about some decisions.”

Rohl added: “Maybe a decision against us and today we can speak about this. This is football, we have to take it and keep going.”

Barcelona leapfrogged Catalan rivals Girona into second place in LaLiga after Lamine Yamal’s second-half goal handed them a 1-0 win against Real Mallorca.

The 16-year-old winger netted his sixth goal of the season in the 73rd minute, cutting inside on to his left foot and lashing a shot into the corner to break the visiting sides’ resolve.

Mallorca striker Vedat Muriqi had headed against the crossbar with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen beaten, as Barca’s six-game unbeaten run in the league came under threat.

Victory drags them to within five points of leaders Real Madrid, who have a game in hand.

Defending Serie A champions Napoli’s mini revival stalled as Torino hit back to earn a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made the breakthrough for the home side just past the hour mark as they sought a third win on the bounce to energise an unlikely late bid to qualify for the Champions League.

But Antonio Sanabria scored minutes later to leave Napoli lagging seven points behind the top four.

In the Bundesliga, Stuttgart moved a step closer to Champions League qualification with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Union Berlin.

Serhou Guirassy and Chris Fuhrich scored to cement their team’s position in third and move them to within a point of Bayern Munich.

Meanwhile, Nice saw their own hopes of reaching Europe’s top competition suffer a setback as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Montpellier in Ligue 1.

Jean-Clair Todibo’s own-goal put the visitors – who climbed out of the relegation zone up to 12th – ahead after 10 minutes, before Jeremie Boga promptly levelled.

But Teji Savanier netted the winner from the penalty spot late in the first half to leave Nice a point outside of the top four.

Luke Littler avoided a shock exit as he claimed victory on his European Tour debut as the 17-year-old edged past Jose de Sousa in the first round of the Belgian Open in Wieze.

World Championship runner-up Littler defeated Portuguese De Sousa 6-5, having survived two match darts, to set up a round-two clash with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski.

Littler, who averaged 101.86 and registered eight 180s, said in quotes on the PDC’s official website: “I’ve always said that I love playing in front of a massive crowd.

“I’m glad to get through. I know that my scoring is there, so I will have a good rest tonight and come here tomorrow and practise those doubles.”

Peter Wright beat Geert De Vos 6-2 to advance to a meeting with Michael van Gerwen, while Nathan Aspinall crashed out with a 6-3 loss to Richard Veenstra.

James Wade will face world number one and reigning world champion Luke Humphries after fighting back from 4-2 down to defeat Raymond van Barneveld 6-5.

Friday’s action also saw Belgian number one Dimitri van den Bergh, winner of the UK Open last weekend, beaten 6-5 by Stephen Bunting.

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