The Boston Celtics are not dead and buried despite going 2-0 down to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals on Friday, insists star forward Jayson Tatum.

Four-time All-Star Tatum posted team-high figures of 34 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics started Game 2 strongly at TD Garden, but it was not enough.

Jimmy Butler's 27 points helped the Heat rally to claim a 111-105 victory, with a game-ending 24-9 run from the visitors leaving the Celtics facing an uphill task to seal consecutive NBA Finals appearances.

Boston now approach back-to-back road games requiring a win to keep the series alive, but Tatum retains confidence in their ability to turn things around.

"It's tough. It's a challenge," Tatum said after Friday's loss. "They came in and won two games. They played well, you have to give them credit. 

"But we're not dead or anything. We've got a great opportunity. 

"I still have the utmost confidence. Everybody has the utmost confidence. We've just got to get ready for Game 3."

Grant Williams attracted criticism for his part in the Heat's fightback, after Butler said a heated fourth-quarter exchange with the Celtics forward provided him with additional motivation late on.

Addressing the incident, Williams said: "I think he said something and I just responded. I'm a competitor and I'm going to battle. 

"He got the best of me tonight, and at the end of the day it's out of respect, because I'm not going to run away from it. 

"You either come back before you die or you come back and get a win, and I'm not willing to die in this finals. I'm ready to get a win. 

"I'm ready to come back and come into Game 3 with a better mentality, and I know this team is as well.

"We have a real, real decision to make, are we going to come back and really set the tone for the rest of this year and really make a statement? 

"Or are we going to come out and lay down? I don't think this team is built for laying down."

Miami's Kaseya Center will play host to Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday respectively, with the Heat needing just two further wins to avenge last year's 4-3 Conference Finals defeat to Boston. 

Tahiyra is “more likely than not” to take her chance in the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas on Sunday week, trainer Dermot Weld has confirmed.

The daughter of Siyouni won each of her two starts as a juvenile last season, supplementing a debut victory at the Galway Festival with a Group One success in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Weld left it late before eventually committing to a run in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket earlier this month and after being sent off a hot favourite, she was narrowly beaten by Saeed bin Suroor’s Mawj, with the pair drawing a long way clear of the chasing pack.

With connections responsible for a second contender for the Irish Guineas in recent Group Three runner-up Tarawa, Weld was initially hesitant to commit Tahiyra to the Curragh Classic – but speaking at Leopardstown on Friday evening, he revealed he is leaning towards running the Rowley Mile runner-up.

“We’ll make a decision next week, the same with Tarawa as well. It’s more likely than not, at this stage, that Tahiyra will run in the Irish 1,000 Guineas,” said the Rosewell House handler.

“The final decision will be made the middle of next week.”

Reflecting on Newmarket Tahiyra’s Newmarket performance, he added: “She ran a super race, they are two very good fillies who drew seven and a half lengths clear of the rest.

“She was carried a little bit across the track as well but full marks to the winner, she’s a very good filly. On the day she had the fitness and on the day she was slightly the better of the two fillies.”

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has issued a promise to supporters that the summer months will be spent trying to bring “on-pitch success” to the club.

Spurs have endured a difficult campaign with boss Antonio Conte departing in March, before Fabio Paratici resigned from his managing director of football position last month following a worldwide ban for allegations of false accounting during his time at Juventus.

The club’s trophy drought has also extended into a 15th consecutive season and any hope of another top-four finish has long gone with unrest amongst the fanbase growing amid a perceived lack of direction or transparency from the board.

Ryan Mason is the third head coach this season, after Cristian Stellini was sacked following a disastrous four-game spell, and with the managerial search set to extend into a third month next week, Spurs fans’ have repeatedly chanted for Levy to leave the club in recent fixtures.

But in his programme notes for the final home match of the season against Brentford, Levy said: “This has been an immensely difficult season.

“We made footballing decisions over recent seasons based on ambition and a desire to bring success to our club and they have not delivered what we had hoped.

“Your frustration has been understandable and all of us at the club have shared it.

“We have undertaken a thorough and rigorous review of our footballing operations. Scott Munn joins us in the summer as our new chief football officer and we look forward to sharing further news with you post-season.

“We shall spend the period ahead of next season working relentlessly to position our club for on-pitch success and football you will love to come and watch.

“Every element of the club’s operations is geared toward delivering that.”

Levy did make similar promises in 2021 with talk of Spurs returning to their “DNA” amid the hunt for Jose Mourinho’s successor.

A lengthy managerial search ended with Nuno Espirito Santo being appointed in June, but he was sacked four months later.

Feyenoord boss Arne Slot has been installed as the new bookies’ favourite to replace Conte in the current head coach hunt.

Earlier this month Julian Nagelsmann was ruled to no longer be a contender while recent weeks have seen Xabi Alonso and Vincent Kompany commit to staying at Bayer Leverkusen and Burnley respectively.

Chairman Levy did pay tribute to Mason for stepping up for a second time in interim charge and women’s caretaker Vicky Jepson, who replaced Rehanne Skinner in March.

He added: “I should like to thank everyone at the club – all our staff, across all our locations, and our players – for their dedication and hard work during what has been a busy and often challenging season.”

Jimmy Butler said his bust-up with Grant Williams lit the fire within after leading the Miami Heat to a terrific comeback win over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.  

Boasting a 96-87 lead midway through the fourth quarter at TD Garden on Friday, the Celtics looked set to level the series at 1-1, only for Butler to lead his team to a huge 111-105 victory.

Butler scored nine of his team-high 27 points after he went head-to-head with Williams in a heated exchange in the fourth quarter, with the Heat closing the game with a 24-9 run.

Asked whether that incident helped to instigate his strong finish to the game, Butler said: "Yes, it did.

"But that's just competition at its finest. He hit a big shot, started talking to me. I like that. I'm all for that. 

"It makes me key in a lot more, it pushes that will that I have to win a lot more. It makes me smile. It does. 

"When people talk to me, I'm like, 'okay, I know I'm a decent player if you want to talk to me, out of everybody that you can talk to'. It's just competition. 

"I do respect him, though. He's a big part of what they try to do. He switches, he can shoot the ball. I just don't know if I'm the best person to talk to."

Heat guard Caleb Martin concurred, suggesting Williams picked the wrong man to provoke. 

"I knew it was going to be good for us," Martin said. "Knowing Jimmy, at that point in the game, if you get him going… we'll take mad Jimmy any time! 

"You could kind of see it in his eyes that he was ready to go after that."

With Miami set to assume home advantage for Game 3 on Sunday, head coach Erik Spoelstra said the Heat's ability to find new ways to win has been a key feature of their postseason run. 

"It feels like this has just been our existence all year long," Spoelstra said. "I guess nobody is really paying attention. 

"But every single game… it felt like for weeks on end, every game was ending on the last-second shot, whether we're shooting it or the other team is shooting it.

"You develop some grit from that. Whether that turns into confidence or not, sometimes you don't have the confidence, but at least you have that experience of going through stuff and you understand how tough it is."

Chris Cadden admits Hibernian must be “up for the challenge” of a formidable three-game run to finish the season if they are to qualify for Europe.

The fifth-placed Hibees conclude their cinch Premiership campaign with home games against the top two of Rangers and Celtic followed by an Edinburgh derby away to fourth-placed Hearts.

“It’s going to be tough but that’s what you’re in the top six for,” said 26-year-old Cadden. “These sort of games are what you want. We’ve got to be up for the challenge.

“If you want to do anything, you’ve got to play big games and have big performances and big moments. If you want to finish the season well, that’s what you’ve got to do.

“That’s Scottish football, that’s how the split works, we’ve just got to be up for the challenge.”

Hibs can still realistically finish anywhere between fourth and sixth in the cinch Premiership. Fourth guarantees a European place, fifth would be enough as long as Celtic beat Inverness in the Scottish Cup final, and sixth would see them miss. Cadden is trying not to get embroiled in the different permutations just yet.

“I look at the league table after games but I try not to concentrate on it too much,” he said. “It’s hard, but you try and focus on yourself and don’t want to get caught up in what other teams are doing.

“There are so many different scenarios in terms of where we could finish but we just need to focus on controlling ourselves, controlling our performances and after that see where it puts us in the table. That’s the way I’ve been approaching it.”

Cadden is well aware that if Hibs can keep themselves within touching distance of Hearts over the next two games, next Saturday’s Edinburgh derby could become a straight shootout for fourth place.

“We’re not looking too far ahead, but, yes, we’ve got that possibility looking forward,” he said. “But we’ve got to put ourselves in a good position for that, and that’s what we’ll try and do.

“We’ve got Rangers and Celtic before that, so we need to concentrate on that.”

Sunday’s match against Rangers has extra spice as it falls on the seventh anniversary of Hibs’ famous 2016 Scottish Cup final triumph over the Ibrox side.

“Hibs v Rangers is, in general, always a big game, especially at Easter Road,” said Cadden. “You can tell the atmosphere and taste that it’s a wee bit different. It’s a big game in general but the anniversary will make it even bigger.”

Brett Howden banked the puck off a scrambling Jake Oettinger from behind the net 1:35 into overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

William Karlsson scored his sixth and seventh postseason goals for Vegas, while Teddy Blueger netted his first playoff goal since August 5, 2020.

Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for the Stars and Jamie Benn's goal with 1:59 remaining in regulation forced the extra period.

Hintz upped his playoff totals to 10 goals and 12 assists in 14 contests and Robertson's goal ended an eight-game stretch without one.

Adin Hill made 33 saves to improve to 4-1 this postseason and Oettinger dropped to 8-6 after turning aside 33 of 37 shots.

Game 2 will take place on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe would have no qualms over handing “big-game player” Elliot Anderson the chance to make a name for himself with late-season heroics for a second time.

Twelve months ago, the 20-year-old midfielder ended a hugely successful loan spell at Bristol Rovers in style when he scored the crucial last goal in a 7-0 final-day drubbing of relegated Scunthorpe to edge them to automatic promotion from Sky Bet League Two at Northampton’s expense.

On Monday evening, he could find himself playing a key role as the Magpies attempt to seal Champions League qualification against struggling Leicester, with fellow midfielder Joe Willock nursing a hamstring injury and Sean Longstaff working his way back from a foot problem.

Asked about Anderson’s readiness, head coach Howe said: “No qualms at all. He would have played more this season if it hadn’t been for the form of the players around him, there’s no doubt about that for me.

“The midfield has been performing as a unit very, very well this year. You look at each of the players in that midfield and you’d say they’re up there as our best-performing players, so Elliot, we believe in him, it’s just been the strength of the group.

“I think he showed last year in his loan spell – it was a brilliant experience for him – he showed that he’s a big-game player. When they needed him, Bristol Rovers, he stood up and made the difference and yes, it could be a chance for him to do that again.”

Anderson returned to Tyneside after his spell in Bristol and forced his way into the first-team picture, although he has had to remain patient.

Twenty-one of his 25 appearances to date have come from the bench, and his only Premier League start against Liverpool in February ended after just 24 minutes when he was replaced by goalkeeper Martin Dubravka following Nick Pope’s dismissal.

Howe said: “I’d say he would consider himself a first-team player now, as in a fully-integrated member of the first-team squad. He’s trained consistently throughout the season.

“It’s very difficult for those lads that haven’t played regularly when the team wins consistently and has performed as well as it has to wait for their chance.

“Now, he’s a young player that has been desperate to play, he’s controlled his emotions really well. I do believe he’s added elements to his game and improved certain parts of his game that needed to improve.

“I’d say he’s ready. He’s versatile – he proved that against Brighton. He came on on the right side of midfield. He’s predominantly been used by me as a left-side player and he’s very much capable, so we believe in him.”

Michael Beale will dig deep into his Rangers squad for the trip to Hibernian on Sunday but he is determined to build on the recent upswing in form.

The Light Blues, guaranteed to finish runners-up to cinch Premiership champions Celtic for a second successive season, go into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 3-0 win over their Old Firm rivals at Ibrox last weekend.

That first win of the season over the Hoops followed a 1-0 home win over Aberdeen, after losing to both of those teams in the previous two matches.

Defender Connor Goldson is a doubt for the Easter Road game and could be added to a lengthy injury list which includes Borna Barisic, Ben Davies, Ryan Kent, Antonio Colak, Kemar Roofe, Tom Lawrence, Steven Davis and Filip Helander while on-loan attacker Malik Tillman is now back at Bayern Munich with a hamstring problem which has ended his season.

The Gers boss said: “In terms of the young players, we’ve lost Bailey Rice and Zak Lovelace to international duty with Scotland and England Under-17s, at the Euros.

“So there will be one or two others get an opportunity.

“There’s players that have been injured for big parts of the season that need an opportunity as well and we are going to need everyone.

“We probably have 16 players to get us through the last three games next week: Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday.

“We want to end the season well. We know the teams we are playing this week are still in the hunt for European places, so they are not slowing down.

“It is important for us that after two home wins against Aberdeen and Celtic that we back that up this weekend.”

However, with changes for next season certain to be made, Beale stressed the need for the comprehensive win over Celtic not to be romanticised.

The former QPR boss said: “When the sun is shining on your face and you get a good result then everything feels better.

“Other times, when the wind is in your face and everything is rubbish – that’s the life of a football manager in this city.

“I’ve always said there’s a core of players that will move forward, you don’t change a whole squad,  you try to improve your squad in certain areas.

“Last week was a decent performance but it is important we don’t get romantic over one result.

“People have had all season to play and perform and to show everyone if they should be involved or not. It was a good day last week.”

Pep Guardiola has played down the significance of his role in Manchester City’s outstanding season.

Guardiola’s exhilarating side could end the campaign by winning the treble after hitting a hot run of form throughout the spring.

There will be a celebratory feel in the air as the leaders host Chelsea in their final Premier League home game of the season on Sunday while they also have FA Cup and Champions League finals to come.

Guardiola has once again been a huge factor in their success, with little doubt after Wednesday’s ruthless demolition of Real Madrid that he has brought his team to the boil at just the right time.

Yet the inspirational Catalan has no interest in taking all the credit.

The City boss said: “As a manager, I feel part of something but, no confusion, I never think it belongs to me.

“I’m part of it, I don’t deny it, but not without the incredible work and decisions of the sporting director, the board and the players, who are the most important thing.

“I am a part of that and I am really proud but I’m not the only person to achieve the Premier Leagues or Champions League finals and so on. I don’t feel only I am responsible for that.”

Defender Nathan Ake is City’s only fitness doubt for the visit of Chelsea. The Netherlands international has missed the last three games after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

City are unbeaten in their last 23 games in all competitions since February and have won 19 of them.

They have won 11 Premier League games in a row and have not lost at home since November.

Ruben Selles says Southampton still have pride to play for as they see out the Premier League season as a relegated club.

The Saints’ demotion to the Championship was confirmed last week, which means there is nothing riding on this Sunday’s visit to Brighton or next week’s final game against Liverpool.

But the Spaniard, who is insistent that he wants to be the man to try and lead the Saints back into the top flight, says his side still have to be professional.

“It doesn’t matter what sport you practise, the first thing is that you play for yourself and train for yourself and keep fit for yourself and you put yourself into the team, into a group of players that want to do things,” Selles said.

“The first meeting (after relegation) was very simple. It’s nothing new but the fact we can’t get anything from the table, it makes those things a little bit more important than ever because you need to play for yourself.

“When you think about that and playing for the club, the fans that will go and support us on Sunday and against Liverpool.”

The trip to the Amex represents a difficult one for the Saints, whose hosts are vying for European qualification.

They have excelled following Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment earlier this season and Selles says his Italian counterpart is breaking the mould.

“Brighton has a really good season, first with Graham Potter and now De Zerbi, they play attractive football and you can recognise what they do in every single game they play,” he said.

“They are performing really well in the Premier League and if you do that it’s because something has been building up for a long time. I am respectful of Roberto because he is a great coach and you can see it every time his team play.

“I know Roberto from the time in Sassuolo so I know what he can do and from Shakhtar Donetsk. He played amazing football so I am not surprised he can take his style and play it in the Premier League.

“The football in possession he practises is a really good one, it’s a little bit different, it’s usually the big teams that play with that kind of model but Roberto has shown you can do it in a different kind of environment.”

Roberto De Zerbi insists Brighton deserve to qualify for European football next season as a result of their efforts over the current campaign.

The Seagulls will head into Sunday’s Premier League clash with relegated Southampton at the Amex Stadium knowing two wins from their final three games – they host champions elect Manchester City next Wednesday before bringing the curtain down with a testing final-day trip to Aston Villa – would secure a Europa League berth.

It would be a first qualification for continental football for the south coast outfit and De Zerbi wants his players to write themselves into the club’s history.

Asked if he would regard this season as a success whatever happens over the next week or so, the Italian said: “Good question, but I prefer to answer you at the end of the season.

“ I am really proud for this season, but we want to write our own history of our club for our fans, for ourselves.

“I think we deserve to qualify for the Europa League. We won against Chelsea two times, we won against Manchester United two times, we won at Arsenal’s stadium, beat Liverpool and I think we are deserving to qualify for Europe.

“It is very difficult. The games are not one per week, they are very close, but we have to adapt, to react with motivation, with energy, with the head.”

Brighton head into the weekend sixth in the table, a point clear of Tottenham and Aston Villa with a game in hand on both.

Their outside hopes of threatening the top four were dealt a blow on Thursday evening when they were beaten 4-1 at Newcastle, who cemented themselves in third place as a result.

It was a second defeat in three games – they were surprisingly trounced 5-1 at home by Everton in between victories over Manchester United and Arsenal – but with Levi Colwill expected to return to the squad after being rested on Tyneside and Alexis Mac Allister, Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson having been used only as substitutes, De Zerbi is expecting a response.

He said: “I think it will another tough game, but the characteristics, the quality of Newcastle are different. We will play in our stadium with our fans and we are able to win.”

Leeds boss Sam Allardyce said it is “do or die” for his relegation battlers in Sunday’s Premier League game at West Ham.

The Yorkshire club, third from bottom and one point from safety, have just two fixtures left in their bid to retain their top-flight status.

Allardyce, halfway through his salvage mission after replacing former boss Javi Gracia with four games remaining, agreed Sunday’s trip to the capital was effectively a ‘cup final’.

The former England manager said: “That’s it. Do or die lads. Fight. Fight to the end.

“But fight with the right temperament and have the right amount of control and don’t lose control. And certainly don’t lose the game-plan.”

Victories for relegation rivals Nottingham Forest and Everton on Saturday, against Arsenal and at Wolves respectively, would leave Leeds under severe pressure to collect all three points at the London Stadium.

Allardyce said only time will tell if his players will cope with the pressure.

“I think that it is a difficult situation if you find that the teams down there on the Saturday have picked up three points and it’s almost a near certainty that you have to get three points to stay in the race,” he said.

“So when it comes around and whatever the situation is when we get to Sunday afternoon, we have to deal with it, we have to accept it and we have to make it spur us on to the best performance we can give.

“No matter what happens on Saturday we have to deliver a three-point scenario at West Ham to try and save our Premier League status and handling the pressure that comes with that is a big question of ‘can you?'”

Leeds sacked Gracia, who had only replaced Jesse Marsch in February, after a series of damaging, heavy defeats.

Performances have improved sufficiently in the two games under Allardyce – a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City and last week’s 2-2 home draw against Newcastle – to leave fans with some sense of hope.

Allardyce, who refused to be drawn on whether he will stay at Elland Road beyond the end of the season, said he could not fault his players for effort and has challenged them now to show more quality on the ball.

“I think confidence has grown, I think application has been applied. I think that possession could get better,” he added.

“I think we’ve been so up for it and so frantic to try and do well, and close the opposition down and make life difficult, that when we’ve actually won the ball back we’ve still been so hyper that we haven’t been able to calm down and control ourselves to play the right ball and the right pass more often.

“So the difference between those two is something we’ve talked about, about being calmer when we’re on the ball.”