Prior to January, the Cleveland Cavaliers only had one winning streak of eight games in the last five seasons.
They now have two winning streaks of eight games in the last five weeks.
Donovon Mitchell scored 27 points and the Cavaliers beat the Brooklyn Nets 118-95 on Thursday for their eighth straight victory and 16th win in 17 games.
Cleveland led 59-51 when Ben Simmons shoved Jarrett Allen to the floor just 14 seconds into the second half. Allen retaliated by pushing Simmons back, and both players received technical fouls.
The altercation seemed to inspire the Cavs (34-16), as they responded with a 21-0 run to grab an 80-51 lead.
Allen finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Evan Mobley added 14 points and 12 boards.
The Cavs, who also won eight consecutive games last season, haven't had a longer winning streak since winning a franchise record-tying 13 in a row in 2017-18 - LeBron James' last season in Cleveland.
Brooklyn kept it close through two quarters despite being a bit undermanned after sending Spencer Dinwiddie to Toronto and Royce O'Neale to Phoenix before the trade deadline.
Mikal Bridges had a team-high 26 points for the Nets (20-31), who lost their third straight game.
Curry hits 11 3s as Warriors win again
Just 24 hours after one of his lowest-scoring outputs of the season, Stephen Curry dazzled in the Golden State Warriors' 131-109 rout of the Indiana Pacers.
Curry made his first seven 3-point tries and drained a season-high 11 3s on 16 attempts, scoring 42 points to help the Warriors win their third straight game.
His fifth 40-point game of the season came one night after he scored just nine points in a 127-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Golden State (24-25) has now won five of six to move within one game of .500 following a 4-10 stretch.
Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton struggled to get going offensively, finishing with just five points in 26 minutes, though he did dish out 11 assists.
Pascal Siakam had team highs of 16 points and eight rebounds for Indiana (29-24), while Myles Turner added 15 points and seven boards.
Timberwolves trounce slumping Bucks
The hot-shooting Minnesota Timberwolves rolled to a 129-105 win at Milwaukee to spoil the home debut of Bucks coach Doc Rivers.
Anthony Edwards had 26 points, and the Timberwolves made 21-of-41 3-pointers, with Mike Conley leading the 3-point barrage by making 6-of-7 shots from beyond the arc.
Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns each made four 3-pointers for Western Conference-leading Minnesota (36-16), which pulled away in the third quarter with a 17-3 run.
The Bucks (33-19) were without both Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton due to sprained ankles and reserve AJ Green paced the team with 27 points while making 7-of-8 3-pointers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 17 - his fewest since December 19 - after averaging 38.3 points in his previous three games as the Bucks lost for the fifth time in six games.
It was the first home game for Rivers after his Milwaukee coaching tenure began with a 1-4 road trip.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner will face a hearing on Friday as he prepares to defend himself against an accusation of “inappropriate behaviour”.
The 50-year-old team principal “completely denies” the claims which the PA news agency understands were made by another member of staff at the British-based team.
Red Bull, the Austrian energy drinks company which owns the team, confirmed on Monday an independent investigation had been launched after it was made aware of the allegations.
It is not clear where the hearing will be held, but PA understands it will not take place at Red Bull’s headquarters in Milton Keynes, while a conclusion is not expected on the day.
A spokesperson for Red Bull said on Monday: “After being made aware of certain recent allegations, the company launched an independent investigation.
“This process, which is already under way, is being carried out by an external specialist barrister.
“The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Horner, who is married to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, has been in charge at Red Bull since they entered Formula One 19 years ago.
During that time he has overseen seven drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ titles.
The team dominated last season, winning 21 of the 22 races in 2023 as Max Verstappen defended his drivers’ crown.
Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s planned investigation, it has overshadowed the start of the 2024 campaign, with Red Bull set to unveil their new car on February 15 ahead of pre-season testing and the opening race in Bahrain next month.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been named the NFL’s most valuable player for the second time.
Jackson, 27, who missed out on a place in Sunday’s Super Bowl when the Ravens lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, was the pick of 49 of the 50-strong panel.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the only other player to receive a first-place vote from the panel of media, ex-players and coaches.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was a clear winner of the offensive player of the year award, having finished third in the MVP vote behind Jackson and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Myles Garrett was voted defensive player of the year, one of four awards for the Cleveland Browns – Joe Flacco winning comeback player of the year with Kevin Stefanski named coach of the year and defensive co-ordinator Jim Schwartz assistant coach of the year.
Houston Texans players collected both rookie of the year titles, quarterback CJ Stroud clearly winning the offensive crown with Will Anderson Jr picking up the defensive award.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won his second Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award on Thursday.
Jackson, who won his first league MVP in 2019, was a near-unanimous winner, receiving 49 of 50 first-place votes. Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen got the only other first-place vote.
An overwhelming favourite to win the NFL's top award, Jackson led the Ravens to the AFC North title with a 13-4 record and the conference's top seed.
He accounted for 29 offensive touchdowns and led Baltimore in passing yards and rushing yards for the fifth straight season, throwing for 3,678 and running for 821 to become just the second player to pass for 3,500+ yards and rush for 800+ yards in a season, joining Kyler Murray in 2020.
The 27-year-old is now part of an exclusive group, becoming just the fourth player to win two MVPs before turning 28 years old, joining Patrick Mahomes (27) and Hall of Famers Brett Favre (27) and Jim Brown (22).
The MVP was one of eight AP awards handed out at the "NFL Honors" awards show on Thursday in Las Vegas - the site of Sunday's Super Bowl.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey won the AP Offensive Player of the Year.
McCaffrey, whose 49ers are facing the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, led the league with 1,459 rushing yards, 2,023 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns.
The Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett took home the AP Defensive Player of the Year award.
The All-Pro edge rusher had 14 sacks, 30 quarterback hits and 17 tackles for loss, and was the focal point of a Cleveland defence that allowed a league-low 270.2 yards per game.
Garrett was one of four Browns to win an award, as quarterback Joe Flacco won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, narrowly beating out the Bills' Damar Hamlin.
Signed in November after being out of football, Flacco led the Browns to a 4-1 record down the stretch to help the franchise reach the playoffs.
Kevin Stefanski of the Browns won AP Coach of the Year, edging out the Houston Texans' DeMeco Ryans by one first-place vote.
Stefanski's defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year award after directing the NFL's top-ranked defence.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in a runaway, receiving 48 of 50 first-place votes. Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua got the other two.
Stroud, the No. 2 pick in the draft, led the Texans to the AFC South crown one year after the team won just three games. He finished eighth in passing yards with 4,108 - the third-most yards passing by a rookie in NFL history behind Andrew Luck (4,374 in 2012) and Justin Herbert (4,336 in 2020).
His teammate, Will Anderson, won Defensive Rookie of the Year after registering seven sacks, 22 QB hits and 10 tackles for loss.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry is two shots off the lead held by American Sahith Theegala after a weather-hit opening day at the Phoenix Open.
Theegala hit seven birdies and a bogey in a six-under-par 65 and leads by one from compatriot Andrew Novak after the first day at Scottsdale.
Novak had only completed nine holes with around half of the field needing to complete their first rounds on Friday after a rain delay of more than three hours around lunchtime.
Theegala, who had played 14 holes before the break, said: “The weather was, it was not good, those last four holes felt great.
“I played great and that’s all I can do, really.”
Lowry, 36, who is tied third with S H Kim, started with six birdies and a bogey in his first nine holes, adding one bogey on the way home to finish with a 67. He said the weather made conditions “really bad towards the end”.
“We came back out, the wind was not blowing as strong but the ball was going nowhere, and it was cold and kind of tough,” he said.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick dropped two late shots after the resumption to fall back to two-under- par, alongside Scotland’s Martin Laird and one ahead of European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.
Luke Littler lost in a dramatic showdown to Michael Van Gerwen in the BetMGM Premier League.
The 17-year-old suffered a 6-5 defeat in the final of the second night in Berlin on Thursday.
“It’s good. I hope we can keep it that way as well,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“In this format, in the Premier League, you have to be good week after week. It’s non-stop and I think that was good for me.
“I was always putting energy into my game and that helps me in the long run.
“It is only week two. Everyone was saying ‘last week you lost in the first round’. Don’t worry, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
Littler moved 2-0 ahead before Van Gerwen hit back to move 3-2 legs in front but the pair could not be separated with the current PDC World Youth Champion close to a 145 checkout before levelling at 4-4.
They went into the final leg locked at 5-5 and both hit 180s but Van Gerwen missed the bull for victory before Littler failed to convert two darts at double 10 to allow his rival to hit double four to win.
Littler had beaten Luke Humphries and Rob Cross on the way to the final with Van Gerwen dispatching Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall.
Gareth Southgate insists he is keeping an open mind about staying with England beyond Euro 2024 this summer.
The 53-year-old is under contract until December and accepts it is possible he may not even be in charge by the time England play Nations League matches against the Republic of Ireland, Greece and Finland in the autumn.
However, he insists his decision is not yet made either way and remains open to the possibility of staying on and working with England’s exciting crop of players, led by Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham.
“There’s a fair chance half the coaches won’t be here after the Euros. That’s international football,” he said at the draw in Paris.
“You’ve got to see how the summer goes. It’s as simple as that. In my view, I know what we’re capable of achieving in the summer, I know what my own benchmark of success would be, after that I’m not really thinking about anything else.
“Without a doubt it’s exciting to take the team, it’s always been exciting to take the team, whatever the strengths of the squad. In the end, we’ve got to deliver a performance and you’ve got to make the best decisions for everybody. I won’t be in a position to make that decision before the tournament.”
While Bellingham’s place in the squad appears certain barring injury, others seem to have a much bigger fight on their hands.
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has hit the headlines recently after an unsanctioned trip to Belfast and Southgate insists all his players are being monitored on and off the field.
“We’re five weeks away from picking a squad, although so much happens to players over the period between November and March that we’re always sitting and observing everything on and off the pitch.”
The last competitive encounter between England and the Republic was a Euro 92 qualifier at Wembley, where a Niall Quinn goal cancelled out Lee Dixon’s opener.
A friendly match in 1995 at Lansdowne Road had to be abandoned due to crowd trouble and the teams’ most recent meeting was a November 2020 friendly.
England midfielder Declan Rice played three senior matches for the Republic before switching allegiance to England, while Manchester City star Jack Grealish also played for the Republic at under-age level.
Southgate said: “I have to say that I don’t know where we would have been without them. If we hadn’t had Declan over the past four years then I don’t know what we would have done.”
Football Association of Ireland director of football Marc Canham said of the draw: “It’s tough, but exciting, some amazing games and obviously we’re playing England for the first time in a while.
“It’s a great opportunity for our players and team and our amazing fans, an experience they can really look forward to.”
Wales will be up against Iceland, Montenegro and Turkey in Group B4.
Wales boss Rob Page said: “We know what Turkey are about (having played them in the Euro qualifiers last year). There are no easy games in international football but, with regards to the opposition, if we could have handpicked them we probably would have picked them.
“That’s no disrespect to them, but we want to give ourselves the best opportunity.”
Steve Clarke’s Scotland are up against Croatia, Portugal and Poland in Group A1.
Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland were drawn in Group C3, where they will take on Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Belarus.
O’Neill said: “I think they will be good games for the young squad that we have at the minute. It will be a test for them as part of their development as international players.”
The league phase will be played between September and October before League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs take place in March 2025.
Single-leg semis and a final will be played in June 2025.
Adam Idah detailed his confidence from 12 yards after brushing off the pressure to net a stoppage-time winner on his first Celtic start.
The on-loan Norwich forward enjoyed a dream full debut as he scored penalties near the start and end of a 2-1 victory over Hibernian.
Celtic looked set to drop points for the second game running until Kyogo Furuhashi earned a penalty following Joe Newell’s late tackle, and Idah sent former Hoops goalkeeper David Marshall the wrong way for the second time in the game after switching sides.
The Republic of Ireland international, who has a 100 per cent record from the spot for club and country, said: “I have taken penalties my whole career and didn’t think much of it. I was confident enough I was going to score.
“That’s the mindset you have to have when you take penalties and thankfully it hit the back of the net.
“It was a bit crazy. It was an amazing feeling. To get the goal and the three points was fantastic and to do it in front of the away fans was unbelievable. To see their reaction and to get a last-minute goal was fantastic. I’m delighted with it.
“The main thing was to get the three points and it was a tough game but overall I’m proud of the lads.”
The 2-1 victory restored Celtic’s three-point lead over Rangers in the cinch Premiership and Idah’s penalty could prove crucial given the Light Blues have a game in hand.
Idah, who now has 10 goals for the season for Norwich, Ireland and Celtic, said: “It was a big game, a big three points and hopefully we can push on now and get more wins.
“One of my aims when I joined the club was to score goals. It’s the most goals I have scored in a season and it drives me and motivates me to push on and get more goals and get wins and hopefully help the team.”
Jamie George has urged his England team to put their passion on full display when one of rugby’s great rivalries is renewed at Twickenham on Saturday.
Wales are the opponents in round two of the Guinness Six Nations and new captain George is determined to match their zeal for the jersey when he leads the team out on home soil for the first time.
England are hoping to improve engagement with their supporters through changes to the matchday experience at Twickenham, such as increasing the length of the players’ walk through the crowds from their bus to the changing room.
On their last appearance at the ground in August they were booed off by their own fans having lost to Fiji for the first time in their history in a deflating Rugby World Cup send-off.
George is keen for England to find their own inspiration rather than looking to emulate Celtic fury, but he knows that results will ultimately shape the relationship between team and supporters.
“We don’t want to replicate anything, we want to do things our way. We can build emotion and motivation through different ways,” the Saracens hooker said.
“Something we have talked about a lot as a group is passion and not being afraid to show passion. I’ve certainly been encouraging of that this week.
“If people want to use that passion and emotion, as long as we are controlled and clear about what we are doing rugby-wise, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do that.
“We don’t want to replicate anyone else’s emotion – we are never going to try to do things another team’s way. We want to be authentic.”
England have lost 50 per cent of their Six Nations matches at Twickenham over the last three years as part of a significant period of underachievement in the tournament pre-dating Steve Borthwick’s arrival as head coach.
“First and foremost, we’ve identified that our win rate there hasn’t been good enough. The most intimidating atmospheres come off the back of the most intimidating teams,” George said.
“If we want to be the the type of team we want to be and create an intimidating environment to play in at Twickenham then we have to be the sort of team that we want to be.
“I think there’s going to be a great buy-in and a great atmosphere at Twickenham. Now the responsibility is on us as players to go and back that up.”
Borthwick has named an unchanged matchday 23 to the one announced for the 27-24 victory over Italy after prop Ellis Genge recovered from a foot injury to take his place on the bench.
Wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso made his Test debut in Rome on Saturday and he continues as a replacement against the nation of his birth.
The 21-year-old wing sensation has pledged allegiance to England despite being born and raised in Cardiff, prompting Wales boss Warren Gatland to remark that his decision had not gone down well across the border.
“Manny came on and did really well against Italy. He has been an incredibly calm, composed and mature character,” Borthwick said.
“He’s trained very well and in the little time I’ve known him he doesn’t seem to get fazed. I only have good things to say about him.”
The New York Knicks have made another big move in an attempt to ascend in the Eastern Conference, acquiring scorers Bogdan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Detroit Pistons in one of the headline deals commenced prior to Thursday's NBA trade deadline.
New York will send guards Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn and Ryan Arcidiacono along with two second-round draft picks to Detroit in exchange for two players who are both shooting over 40 per cent from 3-point range this season.
Bogdanovic is averaging 20.2 points per game after establishing a career best in that category last season, when the Croatian averaged a team-leading 21.6 points in 59 games.
Burks, who previously spent two seasons with the Knicks from 2020-22, has shot better than 40 per cent on 3-point attempts in four straight seasons and is averaging 12.6 points in 43 games in 2023-24.
New York is presently tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for third in the East and is 16-3 since Jan. 1, two days after it secured defensive standout OG Anunoby in a blockbuster five-player trade with the Toronto Raptors.
The team right behind the Knicks and Bucks in the East race added a sharpshooter of its own on Thursday, as the Philadelphia 76ers landed guard Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers for forward Marcus Morris, guard Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round picks.
Hield, a career 40.1 per cent 3-pointer shooter who is averaging 12 points in 52 games this season, will be asked to help stabilise a reeling 76ers team that has lost seven of its last eight games and will be without Joel Embiid for at least four more weeks after the reigning NBA MVP recently underwent surgery on his left knee.
Indiana, which sits two games back of Philadelphia in sixth place, later traded Morris to the San Antonio Spurs for outside shooting specialist Doug McDermott.
Milwaukee's lone deadline move came via a trade with the 76ers for veteran defensive stopper Patrick Beverley, in which the Bucks sent fellow point guard Cameron Payne to Philadelphia.
The most active team in the Western Conference was the Dallas Mavericks, who swung two deals to bolster their frontcourt by obtaining center Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards and forward P.J. Washington from the Charlotte Hornets.
Gafford, whose 2.16 blocks per game ranks seventh among qualified NBA players, heads to Dallas for forward RIchaun Holmes and a 2024 first-round pick the Mavs acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Mavericks also sent a 2027 first-round selection, along with forward Grant Williams and guard Seth Curry, to rebuilding Charlotte for Washington, who's averaged 14.9 points and five rebounds per game over the past two seasons and is under contract for two more years.
Dallas currently sits in eighth in the West but is just two games behind the fifth-place Phoenix Suns, who traded four role players in a three-team deal with Brooklyn and Memphis to add perimeter-shooting forward Royce O'Neale from the Nets and second-year forward David Roddy from the Grizzlies.
Three teams - the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves and defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets - entered deadline day tied atop the West. The Thunder were the only one of that group to make a significant move on Thursday, as they acquired former All-Star Gordon Hayward from the Hornets for guards Tre Mann and Vasilije Micic, forward Davis Bertans and a pair of second-round picks.
The 33-year-old Hayward is averaging 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 25 games this season but has been sidelined since late December by a calf strain.
One player who did stay put with the Hornets is Miles Bridges, the team's second-leading scorer at 21.9 points per game and an unrestricted free agent next season. Bridges had the right to veto any trade as part of the one-year contract he signed during the offseason to stay in Charlotte.
British duo Tom Daley and Noah Williams secured spots at the Paris Olympics with silver in the men’s 10-metre synchro at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
They earned 84.48 points in their first international competition as a pair and sealed a quota spot for this year’s Olympic Games in the process.
China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao took gold in the event, while Oleksii Sereda and Kirill Boliukh of Ukraine finished third.
Daley and Williams’ silver medal also set a new British diving record, becoming Britain’s seventh of the championships, beating a previous best of six earned in Budapest in 2022 and Daley insisted that the “real work” starts now in the build-up to Paris.
“I was terrified when I woke up this morning, terrified eating breakfast, and at lunch!” Daley said.
“But once I got into the competition, and being with Noah, I kind of relaxed and was like, ‘ah, this is what it feels like’.
“We knew that we had to try to qualify for a spot at the Olympics, which we succeeded in – but I think we went into it more fighting for the medals rather than thinking about the spots.
“Today was what it all came down to, whether I was going to be able to be fit enough to dive with Noah in the first place, and then be able to actually come in the top qualifying spots.
“That’s mission accomplished so far, and now it’s about staying fit and healthy to get to the start line (in Paris), so now the real work starts.”
For Williams, it was a second silver World Championship men’s 10m synchro medal having earned his first in 2022 at Budapest and he hopes to push for gold alongside Daley.
He said: “We came into today’s competition just trying to get an Olympic spot, and we did that and got a medal as well, so we’re very happy with the performance.
“We obviously haven’t trained too much together, but I think it has come pretty naturally to both of us.
“Tom said about seeing if he’s fit enough to dive with me, it’s definitely the other way around! I just try to do my best next to him, he’s obviously a great diver, so the better I dive, we’ll hopefully be able to be pushing for gold.”
Gareth Southgate admitted all England’s focus was on this summer’s European Championship as the Nations League draw pitted his team against the Republic of Ireland.
The two sides will meet competitively for the first time since March 1991 and are also up against Euro 2004 winners Greece plus Finland in Group B2.
The Nations League ties will be played in the autumn when Southgate could, depending on how the summer tournament in Germany goes, be out of the job, and he admitted it was difficult to see past the Euros at the moment.
“Our entire focus is on (the Euros),” he told Sky Sports.
“I know we’re here for a draw for a different competition but all we’re thinking about is our preparation for Germany and we’re really looking forward to the competition.
“We finished runners-up last time. We’ve been ranked in the top five in the world for four or five years so we know we have a good team.
“But we know in tournaments that on one day there are lots of good teams in Europe who can win matches against each other. There are also some other strong squads.”
The last competitive encounter between England and the Republic was a Euro 92 qualifier at Wembley, where a Niall Quinn goal cancelled out Lee Dixon’s opener.
A friendly match in 1995 at Lansdowne Road had to be abandoned due to crowd trouble and the teams’ most recent meeting was a November 2020 friendly.
Football Association of Ireland director of football Marc Canham said: “It’s tough, but exciting, some amazing games and obviously we’re playing England for the first time in a while.
“It’s a great opportunity for our players and team and our amazing fans, an experience they can really look forward to.”
Wales will be up against Iceland, Montenegro and Turkey in Group B4.
Wales boss Rob Page said: “We know what Turkey are about (having played them in the Euro qualifiers last year) – there are no easy games in international football but with regards to the opposition, if we could have handpicked them we probably would have picked them.
“That’s no disrespect to them, but we want to give ourselves the best opportunity.”
Steve Clarke’s Scotland are up against Croatia, Portugal and Poland in Group A1.
Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland were drawn in Group C3, where they will take on Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Belarus.
O’Neill said: “I think they will be good games for the young squad that we have at the minute. It will be a test for them as part of their development as international players.”
The league phase will be played between September and October before League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs take place in March 2025.
Single-leg semis and a final will be played in June 2025.
Head coach Andy Reid says he can understand the Kansas City Chiefs being viewed as the underdog for this weekend’s Super Bowl but stressed he never approaches a game feeling like one.
Sunday’s NFL championship match in Las Vegas sees defending champions the Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers.
Reid’s side – who he has guided to three of the last four Super Bowls, triumphing against the 49ers in 2020 and the Philadelphia Eagles last year – suffered four defeats in six towards the end of the regular season before finding form in the play-offs.
And the 65-year-old told a press conference: “I understand why we’re the underdog, I get that – we had some ups and downs during the season.
“I never feel like an underdog going into a game. I understand why it’s been situated that way. It is what it is.”
Reid, whose experienced stars include quarter back Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, said his message to players tasting the showpiece for the first time to help calm nerves they might have was: “When you get through all of this, this stuff here, it’s a game.”
He added: “It’s faster than most games. It’s crazy how in the play-offs every game is a little faster the higher you go up. So it’s fast. But it’s still a game. You’re professionals, so you go play and do your job.”
Reid was asked about the likelihood of him considering retirement if the Chiefs complete back-to-back successes this weekend.
And he said: “I haven’t gone there, I don’t think about that. I’m tied up in the game and trying to take care of that. I’m sure somewhere I’ll know when that time is. It’s not today or Sunday.”
Kelce described Super Bowl week as having been “chaos and a lot of fun” with “a lot of energy at practices”.
He said: “I’m not even going to lie, things got a little chippy – I’m not going to say between who, but the offensive and defensive lines are trying to get their work in, trying to make sure everybody’s ready for the game.
“It just got me fired up yesterday, seeing everybody locked in and wanting to get their work in, making sure that everybody’s ready for the task in hand on Sunday. I just love the focus and the energy of the team right now.”
There has been considerable attention in the build-up to the contest on the fact Kelce is in a relationship with pop star Taylor Swift.
Asked if the buzz over his personal life was a distraction for him, Kelce said: “I love this game and I love coming into work.
“I think everybody has things in their lives that can take away from their focus in their work life, and you’ve just got to be able to compartmentalise that.
“It might be on a national media scale so it seems like it’s a lot harder, but in the reality of things, when I step on that field I’m focused on championship football and being a Kansas City Chief.”
Kelce was also asked why he thought there was such fascination with him and Swift, and said: “I think the values we stand for, and just who we are as people.
“We love to shine light on others, shine light around the people who help and support us, and on top of that I feel like we both have just a love for life.”
Jamaica has been named as the hosts of the 2024 Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) U19 Boys and Girls Championships. The highly anticipated tournament is scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 5, 2024, and will unfold at the prestigious G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in Spanish Town, St Catherine.
The confirmation of Jamaica as the host country and the specified dates came through a letter from CAZOVA President Mushtaque Mohammed, as revealed by the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA) in a press release on Thursday.
This marks a significant milestone for Jamaica as it marks the first international volleyball event to be hosted since the onset of the global pandemic.
Jamaica has a rich history of hosting successful volleyball events, having previously organized the CAZOVA U18 Girls and U19 Boys Championships in 2019 at the G.C. Foster College. The Senior Women’s CAZOVA Championship took place in 2017 at the National Indoor Sports Centre, while the CAZOVA U19 Boys Championship in 2015, held at G.C. Foster, saw Jamaica emerging as champions, securing the nation's first-ever international volleyball title at any level.
The Caribbean island has also been a host for high-profile beach volleyball events, including the Beach Volleyball Olympic Qualification in 2015 and 2016, as well as the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tournaments in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
With the hosting rights secured, Jamaica has wasted no time in preparing its teams for the upcoming championships. Over the weekend, more than 100 student-athletes participated in tryouts at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport. The participants included athletes currently engaged in the ISSA National U19 Volleyball Championships, showcasing the depth of talent and dedication within the Jamaican volleyball community.
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