James Harden believes "being aggressive the entire game" was key for his starring role as the Brooklyn Nets held off the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
The Nets went down 107-113 to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday but bounced back with a tight 112-110 victory over the Knicks at the Barclays Center.
Harden struggled in the defeat to the Suns, converting just four of 16 attempted field goals, while registering seven turnovers and going none-for-six from three-point range.
However, the 2018 MVP recovered by delivering his third 30-point game of the season – finishing with 34 – as he recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
The 32-year-old, who has had to deal with lingering hamstring strains since last season, credited a pre-game talk with Hall of Famer Reggie Miller for his dominant performance.
"Reggie's the one that got me going," Harden told reporters at the post-game news conference. "Ultimate confidence, ultimate 'best player in the league'-type vibe.
"That mindset. He just hit me with some good motivation before the game – something I needed."
Brooklyn coach Steve Nash called for Harden to adopt an attacking mindset all the time prior to the meeting with the Knicks and was subsequently granted his wish.
Asked what had changed for Harden to dominate, the shooting guard responded: "Yeah, just being aggressive. Being aggressive. That's the only thing every night is my aggressiveness. I've just got to continue that.
"Just not thinking about anything but being aggressive the entire game. The second half was a little different, but we had guys get going.
"Patty [Mills] started that second half off hot, Kevin [Durant] got going a little bit, so I was just aggressive. That's the mindset for four quarters."
Durant also chipped in with 27 points, 21 of those coming in the second half, and nine assists while crucially finding an open lane for James Johnson, whose last-gasp free throws secured the decisive two-point lead.
Durant's late show rallied the Nets to victory and the 33-year-old insisted he wants to play every available minute for Nash's side.
"I want to play for 48 minutes," Durant said. "That's just what it is. And I know a lot of people — I don't even know if they're concerned or not.
"It's just a conversation to have. I'm playing more minutes and I'm coming off an injury and all this other stuff, but I like to play, and if I can convince coach to play me the whole second half sometimes and put me in earlier in quarters, I'm going to do it.
"It doesn't matter. My basketball life is not that long, so I'm going to get the most out of it."
Chris Paul is confident that the Phoenix Suns depth can cover the likely loss of Devin Booker after suffering a hamstring injury in Tuesday's franchise-tying 17th consecutive win.
The Suns defeated the table-topping Golden State Warriors 104-96 despite losing Booker in the second quarter after limping out of the game with a left hamstring injury.
Phoenix head coach Monty Williams said post-game there was no update on the extent of Booker's injury but Paul, who had 15 points and 11 assists, was bullish about the side's depth.
"Just keep playing," Paul said during the post-game news conference. "It's not one guy that's gonna fill that void.
"We've got so many guys like Elfrid Paton who hadn’t played the last few games and he's ready, comes right not the game. Cam Johnson, he started the second half.
"We've got so much on this depth that if somebody does go down, somebody will step up."
The Suns defense contained the Warriors to only 18 points in the final quarter and only 42 in the second half.
Paul added: "With Book going down early in the game, it was a next-man-up mentality. Like coach always says, keep the ball moving, that's all we tried to do."
Booker was averaging 23.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists this season, prior to the injury where he had 10 points, two rebounds and one assist to that point against the Warriors.
The 25-year-old shooting guard had missed four games after suffering a left hamstring strain last January.
"No, nothing yet," Williams said when asked about Booker's status. "We'll have more tomorrow."
Chris Paul is confident that the Phoenix Suns depth can cover the likely loss of Devin Booker after suffering a hamstring injury in Tuesday's franchise-tying 17th consecutive win.
The Suns defeated the table-topping Golden State Warriors 104-96 despite losing Booker in the second quarter after limping out of the game with a left hamstring injury.
Phoenix head coach Monty Williams said post-game there was no update on the extent of Booker's injury but Paul, who had 15 points and 11 assists, was bullish about the side's depth.
"Just keep playing," Paul said during the post-game news conference. "It's not one guy that's gonna fill that void.
"We've got so many guys like Elfrid Payton who hadn’t played the last few games and he's ready, comes right not the game. Cam Johnson, he started the second half.
"We've got so much on this depth that if somebody does go down, somebody will step up."
The Suns defense contained the Warriors to only 18 points in the final quarter and 42 in the second half.
Paul added: "With Book going down early in the game, it was a next-man-up mentality. Like coach always says, keep the ball moving, that's all we tried to do."
Booker was averaging 23.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists this season prior to the injury where he had 10 points, two rebounds and one assist to that point against the Warriors.
The 25-year-old shooting guard had missed four games after suffering a left hamstring strain last January.
"No, nothing yet," Williams said when asked about Booker's status. "We'll have more tomorrow."
Composure was the key to the St Louis Blues stunning three-goal comeback after defeating back-to-back champions Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a shootout win in the NHL on Tuesday.
The Blues trailed 3-0 at 5:29 in the opening period as Erik Cernak and Corey Perry scored five seconds apart for the Lightning.
St Louis rallied with two second period goals while Jordan Binnington made 30 saves and was perfect in the shootout.
Blues scorer Ryan O'Reilly told reporters: "The coaching staff was positive with us and had a good message of just sticking with it and build it up and knowing that there's a lot of game left. That's exactly what we did.
"I thought everyone did a good job at not being fazed. It's not what we wanted but it's a long game."
Blues coach Craig Berube said: "You've got to feel what's going on in the game. You've got to stay composed. I just told our team there's a lot of hockey, stay with it. we've got to get one back. Get some momentum going."
The Lightning had a chance to win the game in over-time after Blues forward Jordan Kyrou's penalty but could not clinch it.
"We went to overtime, we had our chances, but we didn't get it done," Lightning coach Job Cooper said. "We were a tired group at the end there."
The Phoenix Suns have tied their franchise record 17 consecutive wins and moved level with the Golden State Warriors at the top of the table by beating them in a 104-96 win on Tuesday.
The Suns' record-equalling win came without Devin Booker who suffered a left hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return.
Deandre Ayton top scored with 24 points along with 11 rebounds while veteran guard Chris Paul had 15 points and 11 assists, but Phoenix's defense was critical to the win.
The Warriors only managed 61 points after quarter-time, with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green finishing the game with only 12 and eight points respectively.
Golden State had a season-high 22 turnovers, with Paul having five steals and Mikal Bridges also registering four steals.
The result means the Suns and Warriors both have 18-3 records across the season and will meet again on Friday.
Harden finds his groove
James Harden had his third 30-point game for the season, finishing with 34 points as the Brooklyn Nets won 112-110 over the New York Knicks. Harden had a double-double with 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, while Kevin Durant contributed 27 points and nine assists.
Top draft pick Cade Cunningham registered a career-high 26 points including five three-pointers as the Detroit Pistons lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 110-92.
In the absence of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane scored 25 and 23 points respectively to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Toronto Raptors 98-91.
Kings struggle from range
The Sacramento Kings only managed six triples for the entire game as they were beaten by the Los Angeles Lakers, without LeBron James, 117-92. Shooting guard Terence Davis went zero-for-four from beyond the arc. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook had 25 and 23 points respectively in James' absence, after he entered the NBA's health and safety protocols prior to tip-off.
The Phoenix Suns have tied their franchise record 17 consecutive wins and moved level with the Golden State Warriors at the top of the table by beating them in a 104-96 win on Tuesday.
The Suns' record-equalling win came without Devin Booker who suffered a left hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return.
Deandre Ayton top scored with 24 points along with 11 rebounds while veteran guard Chris Paul had 15 points and 11 assists, but Phoenix's defense was critical to the win.
The Warriors only managed 61 points after quarter-time, with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green finishing the game with only 12 and eight points respectively.
Golden State had a season-high 22 turnovers, with Paul having five steals and Mikal Bridges also registering four steals.
The result means the Suns and Warriors both have 18-3 records across the season and will meet again on Friday.
Harden finds his groove
James Harden had his third 30-point game for the season, finishing with 34 points as the Brooklyn Nets won 112-110 over the New York Knicks. Harden had a double-double with 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, while Kevin Durant contributed 27 points and nine assists.
Top draft pick Cade Cunningham registered a career-high 26 points including five three-pointers as the Detroit Pistons lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 110-92.
In the absence of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane scored 25 and 23 points respectively to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Toronto Raptors 98-91.
Kings struggle from range
The Sacramento Kings only managed six triples for the entire game as they were beaten by the Los Angeles Lakers, without LeBron James, 117-92. Shooting guard Terence Davis went zero-for-four from beyond the arc. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook had 25 and 23 points respectively in James' absence, after he entered the NBA's health and safety protocols prior to tip-off.
The trio of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, and Nicholas Pooran led a list of 9 West Indies players not retained by their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams ahead of the upcoming mega auction.
The 38-year-old Bravo, who has been with Chennai Super Kings since 2018, and previously spent four years with the franchise between 2011–2015, was a part of the team’s IPL-winning run last season. Retention policies, however, forced the team to shed a few of the team’s veteran players.
In addition to Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Josh Hazlewood, Suresh Raina, and Cheteshwar Pujara were also among those released. In the meantime, the team retained MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Gayle, Pooran, and Fabian Allen, in the meantime, all played for Punjab King’s XI with Gayle and Pooran having seasons to forget. Gayle averaged 21.44 in 10 games, while Pooran averaged a measly 7.72 in 12 games. Punjab retained only Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh and will have a hefty purse for the auction.
In the meantime, only three West Indies players were retained. The Kolkata Knight Riders kept all-rounder Andre Russell and mystery spinner Sunil Narine, while the Mumbai Indians have kept a hold of Kieron Pollard. Other Windies players released include;
Shimron Hetmyer (Delhi Capitals), Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas (Rajasthan Royals), Jason Holder, Sherfane Rutherford (Sunrisers Hyderabad).
Four-time NBA MVP LeBron James has entered the league's health and safety protocols.
The 36-year-old was set to line up for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday but was ruled out ahead of tip-off.
James is likely to be out for several games, having already missed 11 of the Lakers' 22 games this season with ankle and abdominal injuries along with a one-game suspension.
The NBA mandates a minimum of 10 days of isolation away from a player's team if they have tested positive to COVID-19, before mandatory cardiac screening and reconditioning to be cleared to return. James confirmed in September that he has been vaccinated from COVID-19.
The Lakers, who are 11-11 across the 2021-22 NBA season, are 4-7 without James in the team this campaign.
James is averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game from 11 games this season.
Gerard Pique revealed he feels "added pressure" as he does not want to let former team-mate and new Barcelona head coach Xavi down.
The centre-back has started all three games of the new era under Xavi, who was appointed in the wake of Ronald Koeman's dismissal at the end of October.
Barca have won twice while drawing the other of Xavi's first three games and currently sit in 10th in LaLiga, 10 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Pique now feels an added incentive and pressure to perform for the former Blaugrana midfielder, who he played with 261 times during the Catalan club's halcyon days.
"Xavi has arrived and has set standards like many coaches," Pique told Spanish television show El Hormiguero on Tuesday.
"They are necessary to demand orders and we are going to fulfil them all as it has always been in the past.
"It puts added pressure on me to have Xavi as a coach, you don't want to let him down.
"Morally I have to give him my best and if my performance is not the best I feel like I'm failing him."
Barca's challenge has mounted this term following the departure of Lionel Messi, who ended a 21-year association with the Spanish giants as he joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
Pique explained the difficulties of seeing Messi leave as he reminisced on a glory period with the Argentine superstar, who collected a record-extending seventh Ballon d'Or on Monday.
"It was very hard, we played together since we were 14 years old," he added. "It was very hard from a sporting and personal point of view. Things haven't gone well for us at the start of the season.
"I am happy for him and his seventh Ballon d'Or proves that he is the best of all time.
"He has gone to a new country and a new culture. It's difficult, it happened to me when I was 17 when I went to Manchester [United]. Leo has gone with his family and I went on my own, but it's hard."
Pique has no ambitions to leave Barca, though he has been gradually preparing himself for a potential retirement.
"Many team-mates say that when you retire it's hard. You have had this routine since you were little," the 34-year-old continued.
"It takes you a long time to adapt to the new life. People can take a year or more. And people recognise you less and less in the street and generations go by. It's hard.
"I have been preparing myself for this life for a long time. Investing in business, projects, [and so on] to have something to do after I retire.
"The key is to have something to do after leaving football. But clearly, I'm going to miss football."
Giorgio Chiellini insists he and his team-mates are determined to repay the faith shown in them by Juventus and help put their recent struggles behind them.
The Bianconeri bounced back from successive defeats by Chelsea and Atalanta with a routine 2-0 win over bottom side Salernitana in Serie A.
Goals from Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata sealed victory for the visitors at Stadio Arechi. Juve dominated, enjoying 73.9 per cent of the ball, having 18 attempts, with seven on target, and finishing the match with a 92.9 per cent passing accuracy in contrast to their hosts' completion rate of 75.9.
Dybala sliced a late penalty over the bar – his first spot-kick miss for Juve since 2017 – but the three points were already assured.
But despite the win, Juve remain seventh in the Serie A table and seven points off the top four after their opening 15 matches.
Massimiliano Allegri has claimed Juve cannot be considered as title contenders, though Chiellini is still driven to improve.
"It was a good performance, but the coach used the right words yesterday and today to let us realise what we need to do," Chiellini told DAZN.
"We need a sense of responsibility, don't do anything extraordinary, just do it with the right mentality.
"We played it clean today; it doesn't always work, but we managed it this evening. We knew it would be difficult, but we held out.
"Juventus have given so much to me and all my team-mates, so this is the time to give back.
"We must all stay close to this club and together, we'll get out of this situation."
Ellen White became England women's all-time top scorer as she netted a hat-trick in a record-breaking 20-0 demolition of Latvia in World Cup qualifying.
The Manchester City forward, making her 101st appearance for her country, equalled Kelly Smith's record of 106 goals for England after just six minutes at the Keepmoat Stadium.
White, who achieved the mark in 16 games fewer than Smith, surpassed the milestone just three minutes later before adding her third – one of four hat-tricks scored by England on Tuesday – after the interval.
The 32-year-old now has 48 goals for the Lionesses, averaging almost a goal per game, following England's record competitive win. Their 13-0 thrashing of Hungary in October 2005 was the previous biggest margin of victory.
In total England, who had hit double figures 10 times previously since the team started in 1972, had 10 different goalscorers and over their two group matches against Latvia have attempted 121 shots while facing none in return, according to Opta data.
England remain top of their World Cup qualifying group, with a perfect six wins from six games, in which they have managed 53 goals and conceded none in reply.
White is also the second-highest scorer in Women's Super League history, netting 58 times in 126 appearances for Arsenal, Notts County, Birmingham and Manchester City.
Juventus returned to winning ways in Serie A with a routine 2-0 victory over bottom side Salernitana.
Massimiliano Allegri ruled Juve out of the title race after their defeat to Atalanta on Saturday, which followed a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea in the Champions League.
But Juve hit back on Tuesday, Paulo Dybala breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute, though he did send a stoppage-time penalty way over the crossbar.
Dybala's penalty miss was never going to prove costly, however, with Alvaro Morata having already sealed the points in the 70th minute.
Aiming to avoid a third successive defeat against newly promoted sides in Serie A for the first time, Juve started well with Dejan Kulusevski shooting just wide.
Kulusevski turned provider as Juve's pressure told in the 21st minute – Dybala exchanging a neat one-two with the winger before firing low beyond Vid Belec.
Giorgio Chiellini thought he had doubled the lead when he tucked home the rebound after Juan Cuadrado's free-kick was tipped onto the post, but he was denied a first league goal of the season following a VAR check, with Moise Kean deemed to have strayed offside.
Salernitana had a glorious opportunity to equalise when the ball broke kindly for Luca Ranieri in the 57th minute, but his effort crashed against the woodwork with Wojciech Szczesny beaten.
It proved costly as, just three minutes after entering the action, Morata was in the right place to flick home Federico Bernardeschi's low cross.
Dybala had the chance to put the icing on the cake from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game, but slipped at the vital moment and sliced his effort high over the goal.
Bayern Munich are set to play home matches behind closed doors "for the foreseeable future" due to rising coronavirus infection rates.
Two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant were detected in Bavaria at the weekend.
As of Monday, the seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases in the southern German state stood at 12,304.
Government officials are scheduled to meet on Thursday to decide on new restrictions for the country in an attempt to halt the spread of the respiratory illness.
The state of Saxony has already stopped supporters from attending matches and Bavaria will now do likewise, regardless of the outcome of Thursday's meeting.
Speaking on Tuesday, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Soder told state broadcaster BR: "When Christmas markets are closed, it is not appropriate to have full stadiums."
"It makes no sense for the foreseeable future to admit viewers again. It is an important demand that we decide today that we will no longer allow viewers in the future.
"If that doesn't work at the federal level, we would do it for Bavaria alone."
Soder later used Twitter to justify his comments, posting: "The high mobility when travelling to and from the club is currently irresponsible.
"Football is a great role model. We now have to reduce contacts everywhere."
No timeline was set by Soder, but Bayern do not play at the Allianz Arena again until Barcelona visit in the final round of Champions League matches on December 8.
The Bundesliga champions then host Mainz in the league three days later and Wolfsburg on December 17 in their final game before the mid-season hiatus.
Fellow Bavarian Bundesliga sides Augsburg and Greuther Furth would also be affected by the measures.
Mauricio Pochettino challenged Paris Saint-Germain to adapt and find the best tactical balance in the absence of the injured Neymar.
The Brazil forward has been ruled out for six to eight weeks after sustaining ankle ligament damage against Saint-Etienne last weekend.
Neymar was carried off during the final stages of Sunday's 3-1 win in Ligue 1, and will not play again in 2021.
Speaking ahead of PSG's home match against Nice on Wednesday, Pochettino expressed his sympathy for Neymar, who has registered three goals and three assists in 10 league appearances this season.
Nevertheless, the head coach insists his side must demonstrate their ability to cope during his spell on the sidelines.
"I'm sad for him because he's someone who loves to play football above all else," Pochettino said.
"We are not trying to replace Neymar, but to find solutions to have the best tactical balance.
"We feel that we are facing a challenge that makes us grow as a team and as a staff.
"These are problems that arise and to which solutions must be found.
"I think the principle of the team, of the game is going to be there.
"We will continue to develop what we want since the beginning of the year beyond the players who are there on the field."
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