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• Hamann repeats Flick plea after Germany 'served the same c*** as at the World Cup'

  Dietmar Hamann worries it is "too late" for this Germany team as he called again for coach Hansi Flick to be sacked following Tuesday's defeat to Belgium.

  Hamann was a vocal critic of Flick following the 2022 World Cup, where Germany exited at the group stage for the second consecutive finals.

  Former midfielder Hamann wanted the coach to go then, and his stance was not softened by the March internationals.

  With Germany hosting Euro 2024 and therefore absent from the qualification process, they played friendlies against Peru and Belgium.

  A 2-0 win over Peru in Mainz was followed by a 3-2 defeat to Belgium in Cologne, in which Hamann suggested "it could have been 0-3, 0-4 or 1-5 in the first half".

  Speaking to Sky Sport, the pundit said: "Nothing has changed at all.

  "The team that started yesterday included eight World Cup players. [Florian] Wirtz and [Timo] Werner were also in the starting line-up, who were not there in Qatar due to injury.

  "Marius Wolf was the only one who played against Belgium who wasn't at the World Cup. He did an excellent job in Dortmund in the last few weeks and months.

  "So, it felt like there were 10 World Cup players in the line-up, and then I can't speak of a change.

  "If [Flick] had let youngsters play and they had gotten under the wheels in the first half, then I would have understood because they would have learned something from it.

  "But the way it was yesterday, that they play with the same players and we get served the same c*** as at the World Cup, sooner or later people will turn their backs on the national team."

  Hamann felt that performance backed up his argument following a World Cup exit he had described as "pathetic".

  "It's too late for me," he said. "I spoke after the World Cup, where it was clear to me that it's difficult to continue working with the coach when you're eliminated from the group for the second time in a row.

  "I couldn't imagine it because you need a new impetus.

  "They hid in Qatar, they let the team down, they didn't take responsibility. And if the coach doesn't take responsibility, then I can't expect the players to take responsibility.

  "That's why I don't think the discussion [around Flick's future] comes too early. It's too late, for me, and they decided to continue with it.

  "I have big, big concerns about whether things will get better in the coming weeks, months and then at the European Championships next year."

• Kerr credits Green with willing Warriors to victory as Curry lauds unmatched 'competitive spirit'

  Steve Kerr credited Draymond Green with "willing" the Golden State Warriors to victory in their comeback win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

  Green scored eight points and provided 13 assists, four turnovers and two steals to help complete a 120-109 turnaround triumph for the reigning NBA champions at Chase Center.

  Golden State were trailing by 17 points after a lacklustre first half, but Green sparked the team into life, earning the credit from his coach.

  "Draymond willed us to victory tonight," said Kerr. "Just the intensity, the frustration early with the way we were playing.

  "Mad at the world, yelling at everybody – their bench, our bench – and frankly, we deserved it."

  Green's first spark came late in the second quarter when he picked up his 17th technical foul for a shove on Brandon Ingram.

  The pair exchanged words, amongst some shoving, and were issued Ts.

  He will be fined $5,000 if the technical foul does not get rescinded over the next 24 hours - which Green thinks it will be - but if it does not, the Warriors forward believes it was worth it.

  "It was perfect," said Green. "Perfectly executed. We looked dead those first 18 minutes. We had to find some energy somewhere.

  "It wasn't just going to come, especially after losing the game like we did last game [99-96 to Minnesota Timberwolves].

  "That can carry over. I felt like it did. I knew we had to do something and do it fast before the game got out of hand."

  Green almost picked up another technical foul 20 seconds later after colliding with Herbert Jones but following more shoving and a video review, no Ts were assessed.

  "I've got to play with the same intensity I try to play with each and every time I step on the court," added Green.

  "I can't worry about that. For me, if I'm going to change my intensity level, then why be out there?"

  Following Green's clash with Jones, Stephen Curry got involved in the scrum yelling at Pelicans players and giving some shoves.

  "He knows that guys are backing him up," said Curry. "I'm sure [Green] wouldn't go out on an island like that if he didn't have that confidence.

  "There are times when I've got to keep him in check and bring him back in when it's turning in the wrong direction in the sense of staying focused on just winning."

  The Warriors outscored the Pelicans 74-46 in the second half, shooting 70 per cent to help complete their second-biggest comeback of the season.

  Curry scored or assisted half of the points Golden State won after half-time.

  Green said: "When I turned it up a notch, [Curry] turned it up another two notches.

  "We all hopped in line and followed him, and he was locked in. No one was stopping him."

  The Warriors are now sixth in the Western Conference, holding just a half-game advantage over the Timberwolves in seventh with five rounds left of the regular season.

  "It feels like we've been in a playoff vibe for a couple of weeks now," said Curry.

  "The only difference is you're playing a different team every night. But it's the same kind of adrenaline rush that we're getting. Every game does matter.

  "We have a competitive spirit that's unmatched. And it's been that way for a decade."

• Brown bemoans 'everything going wrong' as Celtics team bus stuck in traffic before defeat

  Jaylen Brown did not want to make excuses but acknowledged "everything was going wrong for us" after the Boston Celtics' upset loss at the Washington Wizards.

  The Celtics had the opportunity to close to within one win of the Milwaukee Bucks and the number one seed in the East on Wednesday.

  Instead, they went down 130-111 to a Wizards team missing Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma.

  One of the Celtics' team buses was stuck in traffic for around an hour before the game, and although Boston recovered to make a solid start, it was the first sign of the troublesome night that was to come.

  "Tonight it just seemed like everything was going right for Washington; everything was going wrong for us," Brown said.

  "On top of all the stuff that was happening before the game... but I'm not one to make no excuses."

  The Celtics had recovered from a run of three straight defeats in early March to win seven of the next nine before visiting the Wizards.

  While Boston are now 2.5 games back, Brown knows they cannot afford this one-off defeat to become part of a slump.

  After the Bucks play the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, they welcome the Celtics to Wisconsin the following night.

  "Games like this are not supposed to happen. You're supposed to win," Brown said. "But it's over with now, nothing we can do about it.

  "I'm not concerned, because the way my brain works is you have just got to look forward to what's next.

  "You don't want one bad night to turn into three bad nights or a bad week. Nobody wants to see that. We don't want to see that, so you don't harp on it.

  "Obviously, we dropped the ball. But now you have just got to refocus and get ready for the next one."