Reigning NBA champions the Milwaukee Bucks claimed another big win on Friday as they toppled the Chicago Bulls 118-112.

Jrue Holiday came up big down the stretch to finish on 26 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 16 rebounds as the Bucks made it three wins on the spin.

While the Bucks are regaining form at the right time, the Bulls have now lost four on the bounce, though they hold an identical 39-25 record to Milwaukee.

Holiday hit the game-winning layup with less than two seconds left in the Bucks' win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday and he scored 15 points in the final quarter to help ensure the Bucks' 14th win against the Bulls in their last 15 meetings.

DeMar DeRozan has 29 points but was kept well contained overall, with Zach LaVine top scoring for Chicago with 30.

It was far from plain sailing for the Bucks, however, with Chicago having overturned an initial 14-point deficit to lead by seven after the third quarter.

Suns edge out Knicks as Randle's temper flares 

Next up on the Bucks' tough run are the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns, who scraped onto 51 wins for the season with a 115-114 triumph over the New York Knicks.

Cameron Johnson hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to snag a comeback victory and finish with a career-high 38 points in the process.

The Suns, without Chris Paul and Devin Booker, looked set to lose out with the Knicks leading by 14 in the third quarter, only for Julius Randle to be ejected after a confrontation with Johnson.

Sixers make it five in a row

The Philadelphia 76ers reeled off a fifth straight win as they dispatched the Cleveland Cavaliers 125-119.

James Harden had 25 points and 11 rebounds to continue his strong start, while Joel Embiid got a relatively low, by his standards, 22 points on the board. That was no matter for Philadelphia, though, as Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points, with his haul including five three-pointers.

The Utah Jazz had a shocker as they went down 124-90 to the New Orleans Pelicans, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 33 points was not enough as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and there were victories for the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic.

Former Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky is "pretty sure" he is on a Russian army target list after leaving his family to take up arms in defence of his country.

Stakhovsky, 36, recently returned to Kyiv to be part of the armed resistance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The attack started last Thursday and it has continued since, with Ukrainian civilians subsequently arming themselves to fight for their country.

Stakhovsky has been especially active with media duties in the past few days, and as such he believes himself to be a marked man for speaking out against Vladimir Putin and Russia.

But the 36-year-old said he has been driven by a moral compass to fight the Russian forces despite having no formal military training.

He told Stats Perform: "You have to be scared. I mean, if you don't [get] scared then you're stupid, I guess. Then of course, you need to calculate all the circumstances and everything that could come out of it.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure that I'm on a nice list of the Russian army to, not be really – let's say – treated well. But it is what it is.

"Russia is a dictatorship state. If you show resistance, if you show that you don't agree with what they do, if you show that you don't want to have them here, they put you to the ground.

"They don't really argue with you. It's a state which is controlled by one man and the system is so rotten that it just eats up everybody who is not willing, who is actually expressing a different mind.

"So of course, it is scary, it is unpleasant. But... I can be scared in any part of the world. It's not going to change anything."

Stakhovsky, a father of three, felt he had an obligation to return to Kyiv to fight rather than stay with his family.

But he accepts there is only so much Ukrainians can do with the love, prayers and support of the world, urging politicians to do more without selling Ukraine out, convinced surrender will doom many more for speaking out.

"I wouldn't want any father to make that choice [to fight] or to make the decision anytime, anywhere in the world," he continued. "It's something that you don't really want to do. It's not, there's no right choice.

"In this case, I have three kids, which I have to raise, and I have to look after and I want to enjoy them finally, after finishing my career. And instead of that I'm here in Kyiv with a gun and trying to prove a point that Russia is doing the wrong thing.

"Yes, I'm morally right, 100 per cent and all of Ukraine is right. Russia is at fault, but the whole world just seems not to… well, the people of the world they care. They care and they send their appreciation, their love and their prayers and their support, but it's not going to do justice.

"The politicians are the main players in this whole area, and if they don't step up, if they don't save lives – because after all, the most important part in all of it in life is life itself – if they have a chance to save everything starting from tomorrow, they should.

"But they should not on terms that [mean] we give up [in] Ukraine and we save lives [by surrendering], because that's killing lives because then after they surrender Ukraine, the Russian machine will find every single individual who was in the resistance, who was willing to fight, and they will kill him, or put him in prison, they will poison him, they would kill him, it doesn't matter how, but they will find a way to get rid of these people.

"And we're talking about more hundreds and thousands of people. Russia these days is a Soviet Union of the Stalin era. It's a machine which is killing people."

Viktor Hovland holds a two-shot lead at the half-way point of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after Rory McIlroy endured a disappointing finish.

Overnight leader McIlroy was not as sharp as he was on the opening day at Bay Hill but still looked in with a chance of retaining his status as pacesetter for much of the round.

That was until the 15th, when he needed three putts from 30 feet. He then missed a birdie opportunity on 16 and failed to save par from eight feet on 17.

The Northern Irishman ultimately finished at level par for the day with 72 – Hovland, who started on the 10th, carded 66, giving him the round of the day and the lead.

His score would have been even better had he not bogeyed the 13th, however he responded admirably to that set-back with three birdies in his next four holes.

Hovland added two more on the fourth and sixth to ultimately set the clubhouse lead as he moved to nine under for the tournament – McIlroy failed to rise to his challenge.

Joining McIlroy two shots back on seven under in a tie for second are Talor Gooch and Tyrrell Hatton, the latter of whom felt his four-under 68 was "pretty flattering".

Similarly, Hovland is not getting carried away with his position in the standings, particularly considering he was only two shots off the lead heading in the weekend last year and went on to finish 15 off the pace.

"I kind of try to forget the weekend here last year," Hovland told the PGA Tour. "I played really well the first few days, very similar to how I played so far this year.

"The course just gets harder and harder every single day, and it started blowing. A few too many bad swings and I ended up in bad spots and just didn't really take my medicine."

As for McIlroy, the four-time major champion was taken aback by how quickly conditions on the course changed from Thursday, adamant he will be better prepared on day three.

"Those are the sort of greens you expect to see late on a Sunday, not late on a Friday," McIlroy added. "It's going to be interesting to see where they go from here, but it's going to be a good test over the weekend.

"I'm glad I got 18 holes in those conditions because the course definitely changed a lot from when I played it yesterday morning to this afternoon. I'll be a little more prepared for it [on Saturday]."

Billy Horschel is one shot further back on six under, and then there's a three-shot gap to a group of seven – world number one Jon Rahm is at two under.

Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose were among those to miss the cut, which was set at three over par.

Phil Mickelson will skip the Players Championship as his hiatus from golf continues. 

Six-time major champion Mickelson was a notable absentee from the 144-player field that features 48 of the top 50 in the world rankings. 

The 51-year-old said in February he was taking some time away from the sport following the backlash to his comments promoting a Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League. 

Mickelson had suggested that although Saudi Arabia has "a horrible record on human rights", the threat of the potential breakaway competition could be used to "reshape how the PGA Tour operates". He subsequently apologised for making "reckless" comments. 

While Mickelson has yet to set a date for his return to action, it will not come at TPC Sawgrass next week. 

Harris English, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods were the only other qualified players not to commit to the competition. 

Dayana Yastremska maintained her emotional run at the Lyon Open by beating fifth seed Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to book a semi-final spot. 

The Ukrainian wildcard secured her place in the last four on Friday with a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over the Italian amid the war with Russia in her home country. 

The 21-year-old fled Odessa with her sister last week, separating from her parents in the process, and has spoken about her desire to honour those back in Ukraine with a title. 

She will face second seed Sorana Cirstea after the Romanian made short work of Anna Bondar with a 6-3 6-3 victory. 

Elsewhere, Caroline Garcia toppled another seed after fighting back to beat Alison van Uytvanck 4-6 6-3 7-5. The home favourite knocked out top seed Camila Giorgi in the first round and has a semi-final clash against Zhang Shuai to look forward to. 

Zhang did not have to sweat to make her place after Vitalia Diatchenko was forced to retire at three games down in the first set through injury. 

Major League Baseball's Players Association (MLBPA) announced on Friday it will set up a $1million fund to help employees affected by the labour dispute that has delayed the start of the 2022 season.

The support program, which will be overseen by the MLBPA in conjunction with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), is designed to provide financial assistance for stadium workers and other employees who may endure hardship by owners' lockout and cancellation of games.

"There are a lot of people who make our game great. Many aren't seen or heard, but they are vital to the entertainment experience of our games," MLBPA executive board leaders Andrew Miller and Max Scherzer said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, they will also be among those affected by the owner-imposed lockout and the cancellation of games. Through this fund, we want to let them know that they have our support."

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that the league has cancelled all games scheduled for the first week of the upcoming season due to the current impasse in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. It's the first work stoppage since the players' strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the 1994 World Series.

The MLPA added that it will work with the AFL-CIO in the coming weeks to determine which areas will be most impacted by the stoppage and outline a plan to distribute its resources to where they will be most needed.

"Whether you're a worker on the baseball field, or a worker behind the scenes, we all deserve respect and dignity on the job," AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said. "The labour movement will do everything in our power to support these and all workers."

The owners imposed the current lockout on Dec. 2 following the expiration of the previous CBA, and Manfred announced an agreement would need to be reached by Tuesday in order to prevent a delay to the season's start. The two sides met extensively in Florida earlier this week, but remain at odds on key economic elements to prevent a deal from being reached.

Talks broke off between the two parties following Tuesday's deadline, and no decision has yet been made as to when negotiations will resume.

INEOS Grenadiers rider Pavel Sivakov's request to compete for France rather than Russia has been approved by the UCI.

The 24-year-old last week stated that he is "totally against war" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sivakov revealed he had already wanted to become a French national before Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine and cycling's world governing body has now sanctioned his switch.

"I was born in Italy and moved to France when I was one year old," Sivakov said. "France is where I grew up and was educated and where I fell in love with riding my bike which led me to racing. It feels like my home.

"I have wanted to become a French national for some time and had made the request to the UCI, but given what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, I wanted to fast-track this.

"I want to thank the UCI and the team at INEOS Grenadiers for supporting me with this process and helping make this a reality. To now have the opportunity to race as a French national in international events makes me incredibly happy.

"It would be a dream to race in Paris at the 2024 Olympics for France and this is something that the team have said they would fully support.

"As I have previously said, I am totally against this war and all my thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. Like most people around the world right now, I hope for peace and a swift end to the suffering happening in Ukraine."

A struggling Russell Westbrook declared "I'm not a quitter" after another night to forget in the Los Angeles Lakers' defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Westbrook has failed to hit the heights since joining the Lakers from the Washington Wizards in August.

The 2017 MVP could only muster a 17-point haul in a heavy 132-111 loss to the Clippers on Thursday and averages just 18.1 points this season.

That is now four successive defeats for the Lakers, who are ninth in the Western Conference at 27-35 as they continue to fall short without the injured Anthony Davis.

Westbrook said he had been dealing with critics since he was born and was involved in a tense exchange with a reporter after the Lakers' latest loss.

But the 33-year-old insists he will not be throwing the towel in.

"My role and what I'm doing has changed every single night, so I'm just trying to figure that out as I'm playing and to be able to benefit and help my team," he said.

"But my expectations are still the same. I'm not a quitter. It's not in my genes. I don't quit, regardless of what the hell is going on. I'm going to fight to the end and if it don't work, that’s cool, too.

"I can live with the results. But I’m never going to give up or give in because of a little struggle that’s happening this time of the year."

Westbrook says he did not sign for the Lakers with the expectation that it would all be plain sailing.

"Expectation? I come into every situation the same," he said. "The last four years I've been on different teams, so my vision of kind of everything is going to be peaches and cream, I don't. 

"That's not life. So for me I come into every situation, start from ground zero and try to figure it out along the way."

Jayson Tatum said having fun was the key to the Boston Celtics' strong form after Thursday's 120-107 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Celtics moved to 38-27 as Tatum put on a 21-point fourth-quarter blitz, racking up 37 points overall on his 24th birthday.

His stellar showing was key as Grizzlies star Ja Morant impressed again, with 38 points, four rebounds and seven assists.

And Tatum, whose side sit fifth in the Eastern Conference, believes that embracing the fun factor has been crucial to the Celtics' promising season.

“I think watching us now, we play with a lot more passion,” he said. “We just seem like we’re having a lot more fun.

“This is basketball at the end of the day, and it’s supposed to be a lot of fun,” said Tatum. "And we've been having a lot of fun lately.”

Team-mate Al Horford cited the side's solid work on defense as the foundation of their success, with the Celtics boasting a defensive rating of 105.4 – second only to the Golden State Warriors.

However, he conceded there was still work to be done on the offensive front.

“Defensively, I feel like we know who we are,” Horford said. "On offense, I feel like we're continuing to find our identity and how we want to play and what we want to do.

"The more and more you start playing that way, it almost becomes second nature.

"We're not there yet, but I feel like we're making a lot of progress and it's going to be at the point that we're not even thinking about it and we're moving the ball, making the simple reads, and I feel like that's when we'll be at our best.”

Ukrainian top seed Elina Svitolina was made to work hard but triumphed in more than two hours against Viktoriya Tomova as she booked her Monterrey Open quarter-final spot on Thursday.

Svitolina won 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2 over the Bulgarian qualifier in two hours and 24 minutes, having trailed 2-0 in the final set, before rattling off the final six games to set up a last-eight meeting with fifth seed Camila Osorio.

The Ukrainian won the title at Monterrey in 2020, with her victory on Thursday maintaining her unbeaten record at the event.

"It was an extremely tough match today," Svitolina said during her on-court post-match interview. "I think Viktoriya played a really good match, and I had to really fight back in the third set to bring back my best game and try to come back in the match.

"In the end, I managed to win six games in a row, so it's a good effort for me. It was an extremely tough first set, second set didn't go my way, and then the third set I was 0-2 down. I was not playing my best, but I was fighting, until the very end.

"And you know, the Ukrainian flag [in the crowd] really helped me today to fight... I was really fighting until the end, and I found my game in the end."

Last week's beaten WTA Abierto Zapopan finalist Marie Bouzkova maintained her good form with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Petra Martic.

Sixth seed Nuria Parrizas-Diaz won 6-4 7-6 (7-2) over Briton Heather Watson, while Wang Qiang defeated Mayar Sherif 6-0 6-7 (2-7) 6-3.

Kevin Durant returned from injury with 31 points but the Brooklyn Nets' struggles continued with a 113-107 defeat to the Miami Heat.

Durant had missed the past 21 games due to an MCL sprain sustained on January 16, with the Nets going 5-16 in his absence, and they led by 16 points in the first half upon his return, but could not sustain it.

The 2014 NBA MVP had a three-point attempt with 57 seconds left which would have put the Nets in the lead but he missed and the Heat scored from the ensuing possession via Bam Adebayo.

Adebayo finished the game with 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, while Tyler Herro came off the bench to contribute 27 points, four rebounds and eight assists.

Durant shot 10-of-21 from the field for his 31 points, including two three-pointers, with four rebounds and four assists.

The result leaves the Nets at 32-32 with a .500 record, while the Heat are top of the Eastern Conference with a 42-22 record.

Tatum leads Celtics final-quarter charge

The Boston Celtics continued their strong form as Jayson Tatum scored 21 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter in a 120-107 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant maintained his own hot streak, with 38 points, four rebounds and seven assists.

Luka Doncic produced a dominant display with 41 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors for the second time in five days, 122-113. Stephen Curry managed 21 points with nine assists for the Warriors who have lost seven of their past 10 games.

The Chicago Bulls suffered their third straight defeat with Trae Young scored 39 points with 13 assists as the Atlanta Hawks won 130-124.

Struggling Lakers beaten by Clippers

The Los Angeles Lakers slumped to their fourth consecutive loss going down to the Los Angeles Clippers 132-111 after being blown apart in a 40-18 third quarter. LeBron James shot eight-of-18 from the field for his 26 points with four turnovers, while Reggie Jackson scored 36 points for the Clippers.

Kevin Durant ominously said he will "only get better" after he scored 31 points on his return from a 21-game injury lay-off but that was not enough as the Brooklyn Nets lost 113-107 to the Miami Heat.

Brooklyn went 5-16 in Durant's absence, sliding from second in the Eastern Conference to eighth, after he sustained an MCL sprain on January 16.

The Nets led by as many as 16 points in the first half but the Heat fought back to win, with Durant playing 35 minutes on his return, scoring 31 points with four rebounds and four assists.

"I felt great. I'm only going to get better and get more comfortable out there," Durant said during his post-game news conference.

"Take more of the load out there too when I get more games under my belt. I felt solid."

The Nets were missing Kyrie Irving who is unable to play in home games at the Barclays Center due to the New York City vaccination rules, while recruit Ben Simmons is still yet to debut as he builds up his conditioning having not played all season.

Durant played alongside new signings Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and Goran Dragic in the starting line-up for the first time and admitted their cohesion may take time.

"It can take one game, it can take 20 games," he said. "It's a matter of getting out there and seeing what works for us.

"It's not like a certain formula that goes into how you know to build chemistry. It's an organic thing that happens naturally."

The Nets do not have time on their side, with the defeat leaving them at .500 with a 32-32 record having lost three in a row.

"It's to focus on the details every day," Durant said when asked what his short-term focus was. "Obviously winning basketball games, I don’t even need to say that, that's always the goals.

He added: "You've got to give Miami credit. There's no moral victories, but we look at the film, we know how we play, we know what we need to do to win."

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy leads by two strokes after a first-round 65 that included an eagle at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida on Thursday.

McIlroy made six birdies and an eagle on the 16th hole to card a seven-under-65 with a bogey on the 11th the only blemish on his scorecard.

The Northern Irishman, who made 11 of 14 fairways, leads by two strokes from American trio Beau Hossler, JJ Spaun and Billy Horschel, with a group of six players one further shot back including Sungjae Im and Will Zalatoris.

“This is my fourth start of the calendar year. I’ve had one really good chance to win and probably one other half chance," McIlroy told reporters after day one.

"I feel like I’m playing well enough to have chances to win golf tournaments, but all you can ask of yourself is to keep putting yourself in those positions on Sundays and then you see where your game really is.

“Hopefully, this is another week where I put myself in a position where I can really see where my game is when the pressure is on.”

McIlroy's day was highlighted by his 41-foot putt for eagle on the par-five 16th hole.

"I played the par-fives particularly well, and that was the bulk of the score," said McIlroy who won at Bay Hill in 2018.

"I've said this all along: You can play within yourself here and still shoot a good score, I feel, if you're just disciplined and pick off the birdies where you're supposed to."

McIlroy is one of four players from the PGA Tour's top six, with world number one Jon Rahm struggling with an even round on the opening day - including falling short on a gimme putt - to be seven shots off the pace.

Viktor Hovland carded a three-under-round of 69, while Scottie Scheffler is two under after the first day.