Villarreal head coach Unai Emery hit back at criticism from Bayern Munich chief executive Oliver Kahn about the way the Spanish side played after they knocked the Bundesliga leaders out of the Champions League quarter-finals.

Taking a 1-0 advantage into the second leg on Tuesday at the Allianz Arena, the Yellow Submarine defended resolutely and scored a late goal to secure a 1-1 draw on the night, going through to the semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate. 

Robert Lewandowski had levelled the tie early in the second half via Thomas Muller's assist, but Samuel Chukwueze put Villarreal through with his goal in the 88th minute.

Speaking after Bayern's elimination, Kahn said: "There are few less pleasant teams to play against [than Villarreal]."

In response at a news conference following the game, Emery said: "Well, we do need to respect opinions, but they are totally unfair. The match is played in two games: 90 minutes [in Villarreal], where we were better than them, where we got a difference in the scoreboard, and today we played a match in which we haven't lost.

"The talk is that they wanted to be more aggressive in the pressure, and in fact, Lewandowski committed two aggressive tackles and the referee didn't send him off, which I understand because he shouldn't, and then they claimed a second card for Juan Foyth. But it was a clean game, well played."

The former Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal manager also addressed accusations of time-wasting against his team.

"Logically, we played for time, but also in Villarreal we played like this," he added. "Like with the goalkeeper, if they do not want to come and pressure, we gain our time. It is not that we do not want to play, we want them to come and pressure us. Today they did it, that is why it cost us more. [In the first leg], they didn't [pressure us].

"So what I want to say is that each team has tactics, but respect, I will never lose it. If someone disrespects [me], it is not that I will respect him, but I will omit him.

"[Kahn] said that they had bad luck and that we surprised them... well, one needs to be a man."

Villarreal captain Dani Parejo also did not hold back when speaking about Bayern head coach Julian Nagelsmann.

"When the draw took place and Villarreal was their opponent, I believe that their coach... well, I do not know him, but I think he showed a little bit of disrespect, not to Villarreal, but to football," Parejo told Movistar+.

"And our club in this case, when he said that he wanted to decide the tie in the first leg. I trust that this was a lack of respect to us.

"In the end, when you spit in the wind, sometimes it returns straight to you."

Trinity Rodman scored her first goal for the United States in Tuesday's 9-0 win against Uzbekistan.

The 19-year-old forward is the daughter of five-time NBA champion and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Dennis Rodman, but is already forging a reputation in her own right.

Rodman was the NWSL Rookie of the Year and the U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year in 2021.

And the Washington Spirit sensation, earning her third cap, achieved another milestone in scoring the seventh goal of a dominant USWNT win.

Half-time substitute Rodman steered a right-footed finish into the bottom-left corner from just inside the box in the 71st minute, becoming the first teenager to score for the USWNT since 2018.

For a player of such huge potential, it was perhaps fitting Rodman's breakthrough goal came at Subaru Park, the home of the Philadelphia Union where 115-goal great Alex Morgan also netted for the first time in national team colours back in 2010.

"For Trinity, it's her first goal," coach Vlatko Andonovski said. "But I said in the post-game huddle: I truly believe that's the first of many.

"It is a very nice moment and a very nice experience, obviously for Trinity but for me too. I was very proud of her.

"She has worked very hard to earn an opportunity, very hard to earn minutes on this team."

Alyssa Nakken simply said "this is my job" after becoming the first female to coach on the field in a regular season Major League Baseball game.

Nakken arrived to coach first base in the San Francisco Giants' clash against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday in the third inning following the ejection of Antoan Richardson.

The 31-year-old was warmly greeted by the fans at Oracle Park and was offered a handshake by Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer. She also received a hug from Giants catcher Curt Casali after returning to the dugout in the bottom of the third.

Speaking after the landmark moment, Nakken said: "I think we're all inspirations doing everything that we do on a day-to-day basis and I think, yes, this carries a little bit more weight because of the visibility, obviously there's a historical nature to it.

"But again, this is my job. We needed a coach to coach first base. Our first-base coach got thrown out.

"I’ve been in training as a first-base coach for the last few years. I work alongside Antoan, so I stepped into what I've been hired to do."

Giants manager Gabe Kapler added Nakken had "prepared for this moment" as part of her work since becoming the first woman to coach in MLB when she was hired in January 2020.

"It's not a foreign spot on the field for her," he said. "She does so many other things as well that aren't seen.

"So, it's nice to see her be right there in the spotlight and do it on the field."

The Giants beat the Padres 13-2 to move to 3-2 for the season.

The moment came just four days after Rachel Balkovec became the first woman to manage a minor league affiliate of an MLB team, guiding the New York Yankees' Class A Tampa club to victory.

The resurgent Timo Werner revealed he thought the job was done when his goal at Real Madrid put Chelsea ahead in their Champions League quarter-final tie for the first time.

Chelsea had a mountain to climb after a 3-1 first-leg defeat at Stamford Bridge, but an inspired performance in the return match had them on the brink of the last four.

Goals from Mason Mount and Antonio Rudiger brought the Blues back level on aggregate, before Werner struck 15 minutes from time.

It was a wonderful individual effort from the much-maligned forward, who followed up a brace at Southampton on Saturday by both scoring and assisting in this second leg.

Werner has been involved in six goals (four goals, two assists) in five Champions League outings this season, compared to just four (three goals, one assist) in 16 Premier League appearances.

He and Mount became the first pair of team-mates to both score and assist against Madrid in the same Champions League game since Werder Bremen duo Markus Rosenberg and Boubacar Sanogo in 2007.

But it was ultimately not enough. Luka Modric forged a vital goal for Rodrygo to take the game to extra time, where Stamford Bridge hat-trick hero Karim Benzema headed the decisive effort in Madrid's 5-4 aggregate success.

"The home game made a difference because this was nearly a perfect performance from us," Werner said, "so we are very disappointed after what we put into this game and how we played.

"When I celebrated, I thought 'this is it'. We could have scored before that to make it 3-0, but the officials didn't give it to us; it is a point you can talk about, but when I scored I thought we are through with this.

"We nearly gave no chances to Madrid, but in the end we have to say the goals they scored were very good.

"There was one moment in regular time when we were not like we were the whole game, and Madrid have the quality to score against you, and they showed it for the 3-1.

"I think it was a brilliant goal, a brilliant cross from Modric, hard to defend."

Chelsea were bidding to become only the second team in 44 attempts in the Champions League era to overturn a two-goal home-leg deficit in the return match.

Werner said: "[The home defeat] was a problem because it put us in a very difficult situation, but also on the other side it was the thing that brings us for the second game to this level, because we know that we have to step up and we have to give everything.

"We had a brilliant game and we had 10 minutes to go through to make a miracle come true, so it is very disappointing."

Anthony Edwards ensured the Minnesota Timberwolves did not pay the price for Karl-Anthony Towns' night to forget against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Three-time All-Star Towns fouled out of the seven-eight play-in game in the West on Tuesday.

Having made just three field goals and given up four turnovers along with his six fouls, Towns had a miserable plus/minus of -14 as he exited the fourth quarter.

But the seven-point lead the Clippers held at that point was subsequently overturned – in no small part due to the performance of former first overall pick Edwards.

The second-year wing finished with 30 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, in a 109-104 T-Wolves win.

Edwards faced the media alongside Patrick Beverley afterwards, and his team-mate interrupted when the 20-year-old was asked about his work on offense.

"No one can guard him. I've been telling him that all year," Beverley said. "I don't care who plays him. I've seen the best defensive guys. I'm one of the best defensive guys on Earth.

"No one can guard him, and I just keep preaching that, preaching that to him, and he's been doing it all season, so credit to him, credit to his hard work, credit to his patience.

"Obviously we have Karl-Anthony Towns, who we feature a lot, so credit to his patience at a young age, understanding the game, being patient, understanding when to attack.

"KAT fouled out, him and D'Lo [D'Angelo Russell] took over the game. Our young core, man, those three guys, man, we're going to be here for a while.

"So, I'm very excited. I didn't mean to interrupt his questions, but I see the boy, he puts in a lot of work, fellas... ladies, too. He puts in a lot of work.

"One of the first guys in the beginning of the year in the gym. It's time to go home, he's the last one in, he comes at night. He brings his dog in there, he's in there.

"So, you've got to give a lot of credit. This is our star and this is his moment. He deserves all of it. This is his moment. My bad."

Beverley could be forgiven for being a little excited, having beaten his former team. He spent four years on the Clippers before joining the T-Wolves this season.

"I wanted this so bad," he said. "I wanted this one so bad."

His message to the Clippers now? "Take their a** home. Long flight to LA, take y'all a** home.

"It's deeper than that for me. I gave my blood and sweat and tears to that organisation. You guys know the story. Blood, sweat and tears, to just be written off like that, 'oh, he's injury prone, he's old', this, this, that, that.

"To be able to come here, play them in a play-in, beat their a**, there's no other feeling, man, no other feeling."

Despite Beverley's apparent ill feeling towards the Clippers, former team-mate Paul George said he "loves" and "misses" his "contagious" antics.

"You need energy guys like that," George said, although Clippers coach Ty Lue was disappointed with the way Beverley was able to get under his team's skin.

"He did a good job, especially in that second half, of just defending, getting into guys, irritating guys like he always does," Lue said.

"He's a big reason why this team is successful this year. I just think the mentality he brought over here has changed the team.

"[You've] just got to be able to keep composure, you can't let it get to you. I thought at times he did. That's what he does.

"He's been with us here forever. We knew that coming into the game. We didn't handle it well, but whatever."

Julian Nagelsmann knows this season cannot be considered a success for Bayern Munich after falling short of their "minimum goal" of making the Champions League semi-finals.

Bayern are on course for a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title, nine points clear of nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund with five games to play.

But as last season, Bayern have failed to win the DFB-Pokal and been eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

After being edged out by big-spending Paris Saint-Germain in 2020-21, underdogs Villarreal put paid to their European hopes this time, claiming a 1-1 draw in Germany on Tuesday to claim a 2-1 aggregate success.

Samuel Chukwueze's late equaliser saw Bayern eliminated in the last eight for the eighth time in the Champions League era – more than any other side.

It was the first time Bayern had failed to win consecutive matches at any stage of the competition since facing Liverpool in the last 16 in 2018-19.

On the back of that disappointment, Nagelsmann was unwilling to be complacent about the Bundesliga title race as he considered the season as a whole.

"It depends on what happens in the Bundesliga," said the first-year Bayern coach.

"If we win that, we've matched what we did last year, which is not enough for Bayern Munich. The semi-finals should have been our minimum goal, but we've not done it."

While Nagelsmann insisted the damage had been done in Spain, he ranked this result among the three most disappointing of his coaching career.

"To be honest, this is one of the worst three defeats of my career," he said. "Hoffenheim v Liverpool was tough. RB Leipzig v PSG was difficult to take. We had plenty of chances, this is certainly one of the three toughest occasions.

"As to how we lift the team, everything works as normal. I'll do my job as usual. [On Wednesday] we'll start preparing for our next Bundesliga game and I'll get the team ready for it.

"A team like Bayern has experience with good and bad results. You win together and lose together, and you have to prepare for the next matches together.

"It's not easy, we will feel bad about [Tuesday], but I will do my best to lift the team."

Nagelsmann will be relieved he will at least not have to face Villarreal again this season, having grown frustrated by the approach of the LaLiga side, who had just four attempts but scored with their only shot on target.

Crucially, they limited Bayern to four shots on target from their 23 efforts, making seven blocks, and won 11 fouls to slow the pace of the game.

"It's difficult when the opposition have eight defenders in the penalty box, so it's never that easy to find your rhythm," Nagelsmann said.

"We have to score from winning the ball back, as we did. In other situations, it's super difficult.

"That's a part of how football is in southern Europe. I don't want to open up any discussion I'll have to apologise for next week, but everyone has to see their style for themselves.

"We had a couple of strong tackles where players could reasonably stay down, but not every situation needs to end with a player staying down for three minutes. I'm not going to make excuses about that, though."

Manchester City or Atletico Madrid will have to overcome "the magic" of the Santiago Bernabeu if they are to defeat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti credited the club's stadium and supporters for their role in a gripping quarter-final tie with holders Chelsea.

The 13-time European champions again had to rally in a second-leg comeback, albeit this time after holding a first-leg lead.

Madrid beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at home with a Karim Benzema hat-trick after losing 1-0 away, but this time returned to Spain with a 3-1 advantage from Stamford Bridge – again courtesy of three goals from Benzema.

However, Ancelotti's men were heading out when Chelsea took a 3-0 lead on Tuesday, before Rodrygo's equaliser from an outstanding Luka Modric assist took the game to extra time.

Unsurprisingly, Benzema had the final say, netting his fifth Champions League goal against Chelsea and 13th against English opposition (second only to Lionel Messi's 27).

After guiding Madrid to a 31st European Cup or Champions League semi-final – 11 more than any other side – Ancelotti praised first his players and then the fans.

"We've got through because we showed the energy, particularly towards the end of the game to keep ourselves in it," he said. "All of the players stood up and were counted and it was a tough night.

"We didn't deserve to be 2-0 down. We struggled on set pieces because we were missing our best player in that department, who is [Eder] Militao, and what's more, their first goal came from a rebound.

"We didn't show the desire to score goals and, after going 2-0 down, the team suffered mentally.

"I can't explain any of the rest of it. The magic of this stadium helps the players to never give in.

"At no stage did I think that it was over, particularly because we were playing here at the Bernabeu. It's difficult to put it into words, but this magic spurs you on.

"It helped to give the whole team that energy boost to get through to the semi-finals."

On the pitch, defender Nacho certainly felt that, with Madrid relying on the crowd despite the experience of their oldest ever Champions League starting XI.

"It was yet another incredible night at the Bernabeu," the Spain international said. "It looked like it was going to be a real uphill struggle for us, but the team produced an amazing reaction to progress through to the semi-finals.

"It's similar to the PSG game. It gives you goosebumps every time you witness a night like that at the Bernabeu.

"What's important for us is that we're in the next round. We've got to be a lot better from the start. We're playing for Real Madrid and we're taught from a young age that you never give up.

"A lot of people were waiting to see us fail against PSG. When the result was against us today, a lot of people doubted us. But this club's DNA never gives up. We showed that again. We have completed our objective".

Joao Felix was one of the brightest prospects in world football when he burst onto the scene with Benfica.

Atletico Madrid had to shell out of one the biggest ever transfer fees to land such a big up-and-coming talent.

Atleti paid Benfica a club-record fee of €126million to bring Joao Felix, then 19, to the Wanda Metropolitano, making the forward the fourth-most expensive footballer of all time.

Antonie Griezmann's move to Barcelona provided Atleti with the funds for such a transfer, though it would be safe to say neither of those players hit the heights that might have been expected.

Indeed, Griezmann is now back at Atleti and playing alongside the man who was brought in to replace him. For Joao Felix it has been a slow burn, but he now appears to be playing at the highest level he has achieved since his move to the Spanish capital.

Manchester City visit the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday with a place in the Champions League semi-finals up for grabs and, though the Premier League leaders hold a 1-0 advantage, it is all to play for.

Joao Felix may just prove to be the decisive figure.

Lofty expectations

Diego Simeone is an incredible coach whose achievements in Madrid cannot be understated. Two LaLiga titles, two Europa League crowns, a Copa del Rey triumph and two Champions League runners-up medals.

Yet, Simeone is hardly renowned for nurturing flair players who thrive at being able to roam the final third; scoring, creating and producing those moments that live long in the memory.

Joao Felix certainly falls into that category of player and it is hard not to imagine just how exciting the Portugal forward – who also plays for a more conservative coach at international level in Fernando Santos – might have been under, for example, Pep Guardiola.

Having scored 20 goals for Benfica across all competitions in the 2018-19 season, he managed just nine from 36 appearances in his first campaign at Atleti, averaging one every 276 minutes.

It was by no means bad for a young player finding his feet for one of Europe's top teams, and one of the most defensive of the elite sides, but living up to such a price tag was always going to be difficult. Until now, perhaps.

Adapting

Simeone will not adapt to his players, they must adapt to his system and slowly, but surely, Joao Felix has got there.

Joao Felix has scored 10 goals and assisted a further five this season in all competitions, already matching the tallies from last season. Ten of those 15 goal involvements have come in his past 12 appearances (seven goals, three assists), as many as in his previous 47 games for the club.

Yet despite being in such a rich vein of form, having scored a double against Deportivo Alaves ahead of Atleti's trip to Manchester last week, his first job at the Etihad Stadium was to defend.

Atleti failed to register a shot in the first leg, making them the first side since APOEL Nicosia (versus Real Madrid in March 2012) to fail to record a single shot in a Champions League match. It was very nearly the perfect defensive showing; only Phil Foden's sublime pass and Kevin De Bruyne's neat finish punctured Atleti's resolve.

Key to Simeone's plan was the work of Joao Felix and Griezmann, who has been directly involved in 67 per cent of Atleti's Champions League goals this season (6/9 – the highest ratio of any player for his team among the eight quarter-finalists).

Given Atleti only had 29.5 per cent possession, Joao Felix spent much of his time on the ball in what would normally be the space filled by the left-back, and only one of his 34 touches came inside City's area.

He did his defensive work diligently, making a team-high five interceptions, going in for nine duels (slightly above his per-game average of 8.1 this season), and was able to at least get City working back the other way with some impressive, surging runs before he was replaced by Thomas Lemar.

Time to shine

Simeone's tactics must change in the second leg, though, if Atleti are to progress, and a more open game could provide Joao Felix with the opportunity to shine.

Only Luis Suarez (13) and Angel Correa (12) have scored more goals for Atleti this season than the 22-year-old, whose 15 goal involvements ranks joint-second in the squad behind Correa.

Joao Felix has netted seven times in 21 Champions League appearances for Atleti, making him the club's top scorer in the competition since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and Simeone has to find a way to get him into more adventurous positions this time around.

Not that Joao Felix needs to be provided with gilt-edged opportunities. His expected goals (xG) of 6.9 this season in all competitions means he has a +3.1 differential between his xG and his actual tally. In fact, this differential is larger than Kylian Mbappe's (3), Erling Haaland's (2.5) and Paulo Dybala (2.15), and second only to Correa (4.6) in Atleti's team.

Essentially, he is scoring more goals than predicted given the quality of opportunities coming his way, although an expected goals on target (xGOT) of 7.9 suggests he may have benefitted from some goalkeepers not keeping out shots they should have done better with.

Atleti have a supreme talent on their hands who finally seems to be living up to his enormous potential. Lighting up a Champions League quarter-final and sending Simeone's men into the last four just might be the seminal display that Joao Felix needs to prove he can be considered among the very best.

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant believes Joel Embiid should win this season's NBA MVP award.

The Philadelphia 76ers center and reigning MVP Nikola Jokic are the clear favourites for this season's award, with Giannis Antetokounmpo in the running, too.

Durant, who was the MVP in 2014, pointed to Embiid's scoring when he said he deserved the nod marginally ahead of Denver Nuggets big man Jokic.

"If I had to choose, I would go Joel Embiid," Durant told reporters.

"He led the league in scoring, double-doubles, his team won 50 games this year. His numbers were incredible. It's a great year.

"But you can just close your eyes and just pick any one of the guys out of the top six or seven, and you can have a good MVP this year.

"That shows how great our league is right now and how talented our league is from top to bottom, but I would go with Embiid if I had to choose."

Embiid finished the regular season with the scoring title, averaging 30.6 points per game, along with 11.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He also had 46 double-doubles.

Jokic was second in the NBA across the regular season for rebounds, averaging 13.8. The Serbian center also contributed 27.1 points and 7.9 assists, with 66 double-doubles and 19 triple-doubles – two league highs.

The 76ers finished with a 51-31 record to claim fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Nuggets were sixth in the West with a 48-34 record.

Durant was also critical of MVP voting, claiming a player's narrative or story too often fed into the results.

"It's unfortunate," Durant said. "There's a lot of players that have been controlled by their narrative.

"Some of it has been because of the player, some of it just has been because of the perception of other people about that player.

"In Joel's case, more people just like Giannis and Jokic. It's as simple as that. They just prefer them more than Embiid's personality or his story, I guess."

Embiid was the runner-up for last season's MVP behind Jokic, with Stephen Curry in third.

Juan Soto made history with his 100th career home run in the Washington Nationals' 16-4 loss to world champions, the Atlanta Braves, on Tuesday.

Soto, 23, became the youngest player in franchise history to reach 100 career home runs with a moon shot at the top of the sixth inning.

The homer, which travelled 451 feet according to Statcast to right-center field, was the fourth longest of his career.

"It just comes to me. I never tried to hit a homer, or anything like that," Soto told reporters. "I’m one of the guys who just tries to hit singles every day. So for me to become consistent hitting homers, it’s just impressive and it tells how good I’ve been working on my body and everything."

Soto is the seventh active player to blast 100 homers at age 23 or younger, having first homered as a 19-year-old in 2018.

The Braves ultimately got the win after 10 runs in three innings to open up a 10-1 lead after four innings, but Soto finished with two hits, one run, one walk and one RBI.

Ozzie Albies, who finished with three hits, two runs and three RBIs, blasted his first homer of the 2022 season in the fourth inning.

The Dallas Mavericks have not ruled out All-Star Luka Doncic from Saturday's NBA first round playoffs opening game against the Utah Jazz despite confirming a left calf strain.

Doncic limped from the court in Sunday's win over the San Antonio Spurs, putting him in doubt ahead of the playoffs.

The Mavericks announced that an MRI on Monday had confirmed the superstar had suffered a strain in his calf but did not set a timetable on his recovery.

"If he's able to go out and put on his shoes, then he's going to go," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd told reporters after Tuesday's practice.

"If he can't, we're not going to put him in a situation to jeopardize it and make things worse."

The Mavericks will turn to Spencer Dinwiddie to start if Doncic is unavailable. Doncic has an NBA-high 37 per cent usage rate this season.

Dinwiddie has averaged 15.8 points and 3.9 assists in 23 games for the Mavs since his trade deadline deal from the Washington Wizards.

Doncic averaged 28.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists this season.

The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 in the first game of the NBA Play-In Tournament on Tuesday.

The Nets are now the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, confirming a playoff matchup with the second seed Boston Celtics.

Kyrie Irving made 10 straight attempts on the way to 34 points and 12 assists, but Kevin Durant took over in the second half with 25 points and 11 assists, as well as two steals and three blocks.

The Nets led by as much as 22 points at one stage, but it was on the back of Durant and Irving starting off hot. The Cavs managed to hang in there and cut it down to single digits with Darius Garland's free-throws and triple following Goran Dragic's flagrant foul.

Garland finished with 34 points on 13-of-24 shooting, but Caris LeVert and Lauri Markkanen experienced a poor shooting night, combining for 25 points but on nine-of-26 attempts from the floor.

The Cavs will play the winner of Wednesday's matchup between the Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks, for a chance to take on the Miami Heat in a seven-game series.

Timberwolves win through to face Grizzlies

The Minnesota Timberwolves reached the playoffs for the second time since 2004 with a 109-104 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Timberwolves, who lost All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns who fouled out early in the fourth quarter, finished with a 26-11 run to secure victory, which means they will face the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.

Anthony Edwards (30 points with five three-pointers and five rebounds) and D'Angelo Russell (29 points and six assists) starred offensively, while the relentless Patrick Beverley was excellent against his former side with 11 rebounds.

Paul George kept the Clippers in the contest with 34 points including six three-pointers with seven rebounds and five assists.

The Clippers will next face the winner of the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs' play-in game for a shot at the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

Kevin Durant admits it will be tough to stop Jayson Tatum after the Brooklyn Nets progressed to the playoffs where they will face the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster first round series.

The Nets got past the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 in the play-in tournament on Tuesday to clinch the seventh seed, meaning they will face the second-seeded Celtics.

Durant scored 25 points with five rebounds and 11 assists, while ex-Celtics guard Kyrie Irving had 34 points with 12 assists.

The last time the two sides met, the Nets were beaten 126-120 by the Celtics on March 7 with Tatum scoring 54 points.

Tatum is seventh overall this season for points per game, averaging 26.9 shooting at 45.3 per cent from the field and 35.3 from three-point range.

"That's a tough question," Durant told reporters, when asked how to stop Tatum. "He's one of those players you've got to play hard and see what happens.

"He's just so talented, skilled and efficient at what he does. We've just got to play hard and I expect us to."

Irving added that keeping Tatum quiet would go a long way towards winning the series.

"It starts with really slowing JT down," Irving said. "He has a great feel playing against us. Everyone else around is very complementary to that attack."

Durant added: "[It's about] staying disciplined, playing together and playing with passion. I don’t have the schemes or the strategy to break it down to you. That's what every team needs to bring to win in the postseason."

The Celtics are one of the form teams in the NBA, going 35-12 since the turn of the year to finish the regular season with a 51-31 record.

Nets head coach Steve Nash said: "I'm really impressed with the Celtics, the job Ime [Udoka] has done. They've been able to build on that continuity.

"That group has been together for quite a while. They've made some tweaks and adjustments that have really improved their team both ends of the floor.  

"It'll be a great challenge for us. For a new group to go and play a team like that that's terrific at both ends is going to be something that hopefully brings the best out of us."