Klay Thompson hit out at Tari Eason's "lame" pre-game taunts after helping the Golden State Warriors to a huge win over the Houston Rockets, all but confirming their Play-In spot.

Ahead of Thursday's game at Toyota Center, second-year forward Eason – who is out for the season after undergoing surgery on a benign growth on his lower leg bone – was seen wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan: 'Warriors, come out and play'.

Golden State did just that as Thompson joined Stephen Curry in scoring 29 points in a 133-110 win, their sixth in a row and one which has huge implications for both teams' playoff hopes.

The Warriors occupy the Western Conference's final Play-In spot and are now four games ahead of the Rockets with six regular-season games remaining, also holding the season tiebreaker. 

Thompson was delighted to get the last laugh over Eason, warning against players trash-talking when they are unable to contribute on the court.

"That's pretty lame, especially if you're not even playing," Thompson said of Eason's T-shirt, which he removed after the game.  

"It's one thing if you are out there playing, out there competing and you can back it up. 

"But if you're just going to be trolling from the sideline… what are you doing? The times we talk smack, we're out there competing. That's all I have to say about that."

Warriors team-mate Draymond Green echoed those sentiments, saying: "I love it but if you're going to say that, you've got to play. You can't come out and say that and not play. 

"I know what type of player he is. He welcomes all of that. He welcomes the challenge and welcomes the fight.

"Hopefully next year he'll say the same thing and we won't both be fighting for the Play-In, we'll be fighting for the seeding."

For the Rockets to pip the Warriors to the final Play-In spot, they will likely need to win all six of their remaining games and see in-form Golden State drop five.

But with the Warriors pulling to within 1.5 games of the ninth-placed Los Angeles Lakers, Green is looking up, rather than down.

"It allows you to now focus on what you can do to move up," Green said. "When you're just trying to solidify, you take everything step by step. 

"The first step is to solidify ourselves a chance, to give ourselves a chance. Once you get yourself a chance, it's like; 'What's next? What's the best chance we can give ourselves?'"

Long-serving presenter Garry Richardson will step down from BBC Radio Four’s Today programme this autumn, the corporation has announced.

Richardson will present the sports news on the early morning programme for the final time on September 9, marking precisely 50 years since his first day as a junior researcher for the broadcaster in 1974.

He has been working on the Today programme since 1981, and was also the host of the agenda-setting Sportsweek programme on Sunday mornings on BBC Radio 5 Live for 20 years until its final edition in September 2019.

“I have had the most wonderful time working for the BBC alongside my heroes from sport and showbusiness,” Richardson said.

“I’ll still be broadcasting from time to time, the only difference will be I won’t be setting my alarm for 2.45am and that’s a lovely thought.”

The BBC’s director-general Tim Davie described Richardson as a “legendary presenter” and added: “So many of us have woken up to him bringing the latest sporting news for over four decades.

“He has brought wisdom, insight and a smile to every broadcast. On behalf of all of us, I’d like to thank Garry for everything he has done, fifty years at the BBC is an incredible milestone.”

The news about Richardson comes just two days after it was confirmed Jonathan Agnew would stand down as the corporation’s chief cricket correspondent at the end of the summer.

Agnew will continue to commentate on the BBC’s Test Match Special broadcasts for four more years.

Animal Rising, the organisation behind the disruption at last year’s Grand National, has announced it has no plans to interfere with the meeting next week.

Last year’s Grand National was delayed by around 15 minutes after members of Animal Rising attempted to glue themselves to a fence. Over 100 arrests were made by Merseyside Police.

Animal Rising went on to stage a further protest at the Derby at Epsom in June, which led to Ben Newman, one of the founders of the group, being given a suspended prison sentence because the Jockey Club, the owners of Epsom, had been granted an injunction preventing disruption.

Animal Rising issued a statement confirming they had no intention of attending this year’s Grand National which read: “Last year the British public saw through the myths of the horse racing industry as a spotlight was put onto the Grand National.

“We all want to see these horses living happy lives in sanctuaries, not being raced; just as we need to see mass rewilding and a plant-based food system to really tackle our climate and nature crises.”

A spokesperson for Aintree said the racecourse have not been contacted directly by Animal Rising ahead of next week’s event and that they continue to work with Merseyside Police and their own security teams to plan for all eventualities.

Toto Wolff made a U-turn on his decision not to attend the Japanese Grand Prix as it would have been the “wrong choice” given Mercedes recent troubles.

The Mercedes team boss was scheduled not to be at Suzuka this weekend and the PA news agency understands that was planned before the start of the new season and not as a result of the team’s poor performance at the Australian Grand Prix.

Neither Lewis Hamilton nor George Russell finished the race in Melbourne, with Russell’s fifth-placed finish in the season-opener in Bahrain the best result for the team so far this year.

Having dominated the sport between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes have struggled since new regulations arrived the following year and have won just one race in that time.

Wolff changed his mind on attending the race in Suzuka – where Russell and Hamilton finished fourth and fifth in first practice before a rain-affected second session – and explained the call on Friday afternoon.

“I had planned not to come to Japan, because there’s so much on back in Europe, things to do,” he said.

“But then I felt not coming to Japan was the wrong choice. I think it’s important to be with the race team…it does me good also, to be close to the action.

“We’re experimenting with a few things and then being part of the team really gives me energy and I hope the other way around, too. So that’s why I decided against staying in Europe.”

Speaking on Thursday, Hamilton was asked about the tough times of both drivers not crossing the finish line last time out.

“I think it’s all about perspective. I think for us of course we’ve not started the season where we wanted to be,” he said.

“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve seen in the past – last year for example – how things can switch with certain teams.

“I think we’ve just got to learn as much as we can, take as much as we can from the data, remain positive, continue to work hard and I always say it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get up.

“We will just continue to chase and fight and hope we can be fighting at the front at some stage.”

Wolff, too, was keen to be optimistic when asked about the struggles of the season so far.

“We are a sports team, we’ve won eight times in a row, and that hasn’t been done before. But you have periods where you struggle, like any other sports team, and you can’t win every time.

“That’s why this is a super challenge and it’s not a race, it’s not one single season, and then you come back out on top, but it’s the third one in a row.

“But I remain absolutely convinced that we will be looking back in a few years and saying that was so tough, but so important for the development of the team.”

Hamilton, who has won six of Mercedes’ seven consecutive drivers’ championships, is leaving to join Ferrari next season.

He has tipped Sebastian Vettel as an “amazing option” to take his seat at Mercedes after the four-time world champion revealed he has been considering returning to F1 after leaving in 2022.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Vettel admitted he has been talking to Wolff – who was full of praise for the former Red Bull and Ferrari man, before confirming he has whittled down the options for 2025 to two or three drivers.

“Sebastian is someone you can never discount,” he said.

“His track record is phenomenal, and sometimes maybe taking a break is also good to evaluate what’s important for you and re-find your motivation.

“We haven’t taken the decision yet and it is not something we plan to do in the next few weeks, the driver market is very dynamic and some of the really good guys are about so sign for the other teams.”

This afternoon’s meeting at Fontwell and Saturday’s Premier fixture at Kelso are the latest to fall foul of the persistent wet spell.

Officials at Fontwell held a precautionary inspection at 7.30am following over 30mm of rain through the week and a further 7mm in the last 24 hours tipped the decision over the edge.

Unfortunately for Kelso, where the £100,000 Herring Queen Series Final Mares’ Novices’ Handicap Hurdle was the feature on a valuable card, heavy rain overnight left the course unraceable and more is forecast.

Clerk of the course Matthew Taylor said: “Unfortunately we’ve had a further 12mm overnight and it has left us unraceable.

“We had 22mm yesterday but then we had some improvement which was significant but this further 12mm has set us back quite a way. Up to 50 per cent of the track is waterlogged.

“It has just stopped raining by 8am and it is a bit breezy but we’ve got random sporadic showers forecast this afternoon which will be heavy and there’s a further rain band coming in Friday night and into Saturday morning.

“That wouldn’t give us enough time to do the work needed so we’ve had to abandon. We’re really sorry, we were desperate to get it on as a Premier raceday but we just can’t guarantee the integrity of the structure of the surface underneath.”

Wexford in Ireland were also forced to abandon on Friday while the meeting at Wetherby had already been called off.

Second practice for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix proved to be a damp squib as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the fastest time on a weather-affected session.

Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda and his RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo were the only drivers to set lap times early on in changeable conditions, but set their times on the intermediate tyre.

The hour-long session began in rain and, although it later stopped, the track was not deemed sufficiently dry enough for most teams to send out their cars.

Piastri was one of them and his time of one minute 34.725 seconds proved fast enough to top the timesheets, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari the only others to set representative times.

Earlier, Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice as Willams endured another Friday to forget.

Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but was back at it here, his time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.

A red flag halfway through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.

Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.

Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed the car had suffered “extensive” damage and Sargeant was forced to sit out of second practice – although the lack of running meant there was little that would have been gained from taking part.

“It is pretty significant (damage). So the chassis is OK, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t – so the suspension around, the gearbox is cracked, big damage.

“At the top of the brow of the hill there, he struggled to see where his positioning was on track. So it fundamentally looks like he didn’t quite realise where he was with where the grass was on the outside and put a wheel on the grass.”

Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Leclerc was sixth.

Jon Rahm will defend his title when the 88th Masters takes place at Augusta National from April 11-14.

Rahm is bidding to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the main contenders for the year’s first major championship.

The 2022 champion has been in brilliant form in 2024, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots and seven days later becoming the first player to win back-to-back Players Championship titles at Sawgrass. Switching putters on the advice of Rory McIlroy has proved vital, although missed short putts did cost him a third straight win in the Houston Open. Rightly rated favourite for a second green jacket at the kind of odds previously only offered for peak-era Tiger Woods.

Started last year with a four-putt double bogey on the first but still shot an opening 65 and ended up winning his second major title by four shots over LIV Golf duo Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. Remarkably returns to Augusta as a fellow member of the Saudi-backed breakaway, a shock move which ensures his competitive sharpness will be under scrutiny. Will be hoping Koepka and Mickelson proved last year that experience of the course is more important than current form.

McIlroy’s 10th attempt to win the Masters and complete a career grand slam comes on the back of some underwhelming form since winning in Dubai in January, although the world number two remains second favourite behind Scheffler. His recent record at Augusta National includes a thrilling final round of 64 in 2022 and two missed cuts and the four-time major winner is reportedly set to skip the pre-tournament par-three contest to fully focus on his bid to make history.

Schauffele insisted the best was yet to come in his career after narrowly missing out on the Players Championship title, the Olympic champion taking a one-shot lead into the final round only to get overhauled by a charging Scheffler. Failing to get over the line perpetuated the belief in some circles that Schauffele has underachieved, although he has seven PGA Tour titles to go with his gold medal from Tokyo, along with 11 top-10 major finishes, including three in his last five starts at Augusta.

Most golf fans are well aware of the statistic which makes Aberg appear an unlikely contender, namely that Fuzzy Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on their tournament debut back in 1979. In addition, the Masters will be Aberg’s first appearance in any major, but the 24-year-old Swede has defied the odds since turning professional in June 2023, winning on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour and justifying his wild card by helping Europe regain the Ryder Cup.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each scored 29 points and the Golden State Warriors won their season-high sixth straight game, 133-110 over the Houston Rockets on Thursday.

Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis had a career-high 20 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Warriors, who made it 13 straight wins against the Rockets since a loss on Feb. 20, 2020, and tightened its grip on 10th place in the Western Conference.

Thompson scored 21 points in the first half with five 3-pointers to help Golden State take a 65-50 lead into the break.

The Warriors held a 16-point lead after three quarters and were up 20 with just under four minutes left when coach Steve Kerr cleared his bench.

Jabari Smith Jr. scored 24 points for the Rockets, who dropped their third straight following an 11-game winning streak.

Knicks rally past Kings to end skid

D had 35 points and 11 assists and Josh Hart added a season-high 31 points as the New York Knicks overcame a 21-point deficit in a 120-109 win over the Sacramento Kings.

Hart shot 14 of 19 from the field, had nine rebounds and eight assists and Donte DiVincenzo scored 21 points to help New York snap a three-game skid and tie Orlando for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.

De’Aaron Fox had 29 points, seven boards and seven assists for the Kings, who failed in a bid to tie New Orleans and Phoenix for sixth in the West.

Sacramento raced to a 46-25 lead while making 19 of its first 28 shots, but the Knicks responded with a 16-2 to get back in it.

Clippers hold off Nuggets

Paul George had 28 points and Ivica Zubac scored the final six points for the Los Angeles Clippers in a 102-100 win over the Denver Nuggets.

James Harden tallied 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds and Zubac finished with 14 points and 15 boards as the Clippers snapped a five-game home skid despite the absence of Kawhi Leonard, who sat out his second straight game with a sore right knee.  

Nikola Jokić notched his 24th triple-double of the season with 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Nuggets couldn’t come all the way back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter and dropped one-half game behind Minnesota for the Western Conference lead.

Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix as Willams endured another Friday session to forget.

Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but still leads the way in the drivers’ standings and the Red Bull driver was once again topping the timesheets.

Verstappen’s time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.

A red flag half way through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.

Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.

Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed the car had suffered “extensive” damage and that it would be a race against time for the mechanics to prepare it for Friday’s second practice.

“It’s going to be difficult,” he said of Sargeant’s chance of making FP2.

“Obviously we will do our utmost to try and get the car back out there again, but the damage is extensive. So it will take a while.

“It is pretty significant (damage). So the chassis is okay, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t – so the suspension around, the gearbox is cracked, big damage.”

Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was sixth.

Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for RB behind both the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – whose team-mate Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago Jon Rahm headed to Augusta National as the winner of three of his first eight tournaments of the year, started with a four-putt double bogey and still went on to win the Masters.

One year on, Rahm will make the drive down Magnolia Lane as a member of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League and with just five of their 54-hole events under his belt before defending his title.

The change is all the more startling given Rahm’s previous publicly stated opinions on LIV’s format and his claim that he played golf to win titles, not money, claims reinforced by his comments immediately after slipping on the green jacket.

Rahm dedicated his triumph to Seve Ballesteros after claiming his second major title on the 40th anniversary of his late idol’s second win at Augusta National, a win which also came on what would have been Ballesteros’ 66th birthday.

“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, and Seve being one of them,” said Rahm, whose father took up golf after watching Ballesteros captain Europe to victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.

“If it wasn’t for that Ryder Cup in ’97, my dad and I talk about it all the time, we don’t know where I would be or where as a family we would be.

“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful.”

Rahm was also well aware that his win took him halfway to completing a career grand slam and joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to have won all four majors.

Joining LIV does not immediately impact on Rahm’s ability to achieve that goal, his Masters win earning him a lifetime exemption for Augusta and five-year exemptions for the US PGA and Open Championship.

The 29-year-old was already eligible to compete in the US Open through 2031 thanks to his victory at Torrey Pines, but the question of whether his game will be affected by the switch to LIV remains to be answered.

In Rahm’s absence, the mantle of most dominant player on the PGA Tour has undoubtedly switched to his predecessor as Masters champion, world number one Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler’s worst finish this season is a tie for 17th and he followed his five-shot win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational by becoming the first player to successfully defend the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

On his next start a fortnight later, Scheffler missed from six feet for birdie on the 18th to force a play-off in the Houston Open, a tournament which saw his run of 28 consecutive rounds under par broken by a careless three-putt from six feet on the same hole in round two.

Scheffler’s form – aided by taking up Rory McIlroy’s suggestion of a change in putter – means he is as short as 7/2 with some bookmakers to win a second Masters title, the kind of odds not seen since Tiger Woods was making them look like good value.

McIlroy is second favourite despite an underwhelming run of form since winning in Dubai in January, while Woods himself can be backed at 150/1 following his withdrawal from the Genesis Invitational, his sole start in 2024.

Making a record 24th consecutive cut in the Masters would be an achievement for the 48-year-old, but the likes of Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy will have their sights set considerably higher.

Akshay Bhatia shot an opening nine-under-par 63 to take a three-shot lead at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

The American did not drop a shot as he followed four birdies on the front nine with five on the second, including four in his final five holes.

Bhatia sits ahead of Brendon Todd and Justin Lower with Max Homa among a group of four players two shots further back.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied for eighth on three under par after going bogey free with three birdies.

The world number two, who recently had a lesson with Tiger Woods’ former coach Butch Harmon, told PGATour.com after his round: “What I’ve been trying to do the last couple weeks is no different than what I’ve been trying to do previously; he just sort of gave me a different way to do it.

“You could tell someone five different things and like for the same feel – like to a piece of a swing, but sometimes none of them resonated, sometimes all of them, sometimes one thing.

“It’s just one of those things over the past few months that nothing was resonating with me.

“He gave me a tiny little something that I went with and, as I said, it’s felt a little better over the last two weeks and felt pretty good out there.”

A win at next week’s Masters will see McIlroy join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods as the only players to have won all four major championships.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth had a dour round of 73 salvaged by a hole-in-one on the par three 16th.

Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix as Willams endured another Friday session to forget.

Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but still leads the way in the drivers’ standings and the Red Bull driver was once again topping the timesheets.

Verstappen’s time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.

A red flag half way through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.

Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.

Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was sixth.

Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for RB behind both the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – whose team-mate Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.

Pete Alonso belted a tying homer in the ninth inning and Tyrone Taylor delivered a game-winning single to lift the New York Mets to their first win of the season, 2-1 over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday for a doubleheader split.

After blowing a 3-0 lead in a 6-3, 11-inning loss in the opening game, the Mets were held hitless in the second game until Harrison Bader led off the eighth with a single against reliever Tyler Holton.

Alonso’s tying home run – and his 500th career RBI - came off Alex Faedo and Brett Baty walked before Starling Marte sacrificed. Taylor then lined a single to left for his first career walk-off hit.

The win was the first for Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as New York avoided opening 0-6 for the first time since its second season in 1963.

Detroit improved to 5-0 with the Game 1 win, as Colt Keith stroked a tiebreaking double in the 11th before Gio Urshela’s bloop scored a pair.

Matt Manning pitched 5 2/3 hitless innings in the opener with four walks and three strikeouts.

Cardinals rally past winless Marlins

Nolan Gorman highlighted a five-run seventh inning with a two-run double and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for an 8-5 victory in their home opener to keep the Miami Marlins winless.

The Marlins took a 5-3 lead into the seventh, but the Cardinals scored five times on Ivan Herrera’s RBI single, Gorman’s big hit, Alec Burleson’s two-out, run-scoring single and Masyn Winn’s RBI triple.

Herrera also hit his first major league home run leading off the second inning.

Jake Burger hit a pair of home runs for the Marlins, who dropped to 0-8 for the worst start in the 33-year history of the franchise. Their start is the worst in the majors since Atlanta and Minnesota each opened 0-9 in 2016.

Bibee, bullpen power Guardians

Tanner Bibbee allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings and Steven Kwan had three hits as the Cleveland Guardians spoiled the Minnesota Twins’ home opener with a 4-2 win.

Bibee struck out nine and four relievers followed, with Emmanuel Clase pitching a perfect ninth for his third save. Cleveland's pitchers totalled 15 strikeouts.

Cleveland reached Pablo Lopez for three runs in the sixth. Jose Ramirez singled home Kwan and Tyler Freeman had an RBI single before Will Brennan lofted a sacrifice fly.

Carlos Correa had three hits and Edouard Julien homered for the Twins, who stranded nine runners and were 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position.