Worldwide Sports News

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Captain Harry Brook called correctly at the coin toss and England opted to bowl first against India in their Twenty20 World Cup semifinal on Thursday.

India was unchanged from its win against the West Indies on Sunday. England made one change, bringing back pacer Jamie Overton for spinner Rehan Ahmed.

The pitch at the iconic Wankhede Stadium should aid batters and a high-scoring contest was on the cards. Evening dew should aid the chasing side.

The winner will take on New Zealand in the final on Sunday at Ahmedabad.

England and India are playing their third straight T20 World Cup semifinal.

England beat India by 10 wickets in Sydney in 2022 and ultimately won its second title. India then beat England by 68 runs in the 2024 semifinal at Georgetown and went on to its second title, too.

Defending champion India's only loss in the tournament so far was against South Africa.

England has lost only once, too, against the West Indies in the first round, also at Mumbai.

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Lineups:

India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook (captain), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

HAINAN ISLAND, China (AP) — Zhang Weiwei chipped in on her last two holes, one for eagle and the other for birdie, giving her a 6-under 66 and a three-way tie for the lead in the Blue Bay LPGA on Thursday.

Zhang, one of 20 players in the field from the China Golf Association, was tied with Mary Liu of China and Youmin Hwang of South Korea. All three of them were solid on a day of strong wind at Jian Lake Blue Bay.

Auston Kim, the American who tied for third last week in the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, shot a 67.

Zhang took advantage of a shorter tee box on the par-5 17th that allowed her to get close enough to the green in two to chip in for eagle. She finished with a chip just off the 18th green about 30 feet from the cup.

“I hit it a bit heavy,” she said of her chip on the 17th. “But the landing spot was perfect and it rolled straight into the hole. That really got me excited and energized.”

Liu birdied four of her last six holes for a 66, while Hwang did her best work around the turn with five birdies in a six-hole stretch in the middle of her round.

Kim had nine birdies, offset by four bogeys, that put her in a tie for third.

“I’m just hitting a couple shots here and there that are really costing me,” Kim said. “Couple three-putts today, and just a couple bad shots off the tee. Overall the rest of it was more solid than before.”

Blue Bay LPGA wraps up a three-tournament swing through Asia for the LPGA with the weakest field of the three. It follows a week in Singapore that had nine of the top 10 in the women's world ranking, missing only Nelly Korda, who again skipped the Asia swing.

Ruoning Yin of China (No. 10) is the only player from the top 10 at Hainan Island. Ruoning, a former Women's PGA champion, opened with a 68.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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The Orlando Magic wrap up a four-game homestand with a non-conference NBA matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.

Orlando lives in the half-court, and my Mavericks vs. Magic predictions expect Dallas to struggle to score consistently tonight at the Kia Center. 

Read on for my NBA picks for Thursday, March 5.

Mavericks vs Magic prediction

Mavericks vs Magic best bet: Mavericks team total Under 109.5 (-110)

The Orlando Magic defense can strand the Dallas Mavericks in the half-court for long stretches, and the visitors aren't explosive enough to score more than 110 points.  

Even if the Mavericks hang around, their scoring comes in spurts, and Orlando is good at taking away easy points, as evidenced by their 109 points-per-game allowed across their last five contests. 

Orlando’s defense is stout, and its snail-paced offense won’t allow Dallas to jack up the tempo or to have enough successful offensive possessions to clear its team total.

Mavericks vs Magic same-game parlay

Orlando lives in the half-court, and that’s a tough setup for both Naji Marshall and Cooper Flagg.

Marshall must score against a physical Magic perimeter and interior defense, and if Flagg plays, he’s likely on a minutes restriction, which makes it hard to reach 19+ points against Orlando.

Mavericks vs Magic SGP

• Mavericks team total Under 110.5
• Naji Marshall Under 16.5 points
• Cooper Flagg Under 18.5 points

Our "from downtown" SGP: Suggs to be You

Jalen Suggs went 0-for-2 from three against Washington, but he’s hit at least two deep balls in three of his previous five games.

Mavericks vs Magic SGP

• Mavericks team total Under 110.5
• Naji Marshall Under 16.5 points
• Cooper Flagg Under 18.5 points
• Jalen Suggs Over 1.5 made threes

Mavericks vs Magic odds

• Spread: Mavericks +8.5 (-110) | Magic -8.5 (-110)
• Moneyline: Mavericks +280 | Magic -360
• Over/Under: Over 228.5 (-110) | Under 228.5 (-110)

Mavericks vs Magic betting trend to know

The Dallas Mavericks have hit the 2H Game Total Under in 13 of their last 18 away games (+7.41 Units / 36% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Mavericks vs. Magic.

How to watch Mavericks vs Magic

Mavericks vs Magic latest injuries

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BOSTON — Jaylen Brown wasn’t at his sharpest Wednesday night against the Hornets. He missed four of his first six shots and four of his final six as the Celtics suffered a lopsided 118–89 defeat at TD Garden.

“I take accountability,” Brown said. “I gotta be better at the rim and play with more energy.”

Brown’s first three shots were all within 12 feet of the rim, and all three missed. He proceeded to miss six more from within six feet before finishing 7-for-19 with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and three turnovers. Both Brown’s scoring and playmaking proved unreliable, turning what began as a first-quarter 7-for-23 Celtics slump into a contagious burden that prevented anyone from finding a rhythm.

Charlotte’s defense smothered Boston so effectively that it held the Celtics to fewer than 23 points for three quarters.

“That wasn’t Celtics basketball,” Brown said. “They had more energy than us. Usually, that doesn’t happen a lot all season long. Today wasn’t the best example of Celtics basketball, and we all can be better. Being the leader, I take accountability.”

Brown tried to revive the Celtics. In the second quarter, he poster-dunked over 6-foot-10 center Moussa Diabaté in an attempt to motivate the rest of the team. The energy lift lasted only a few moments before Charlotte closed the frame with a 64-43 halftime lead. Brown’s latest dunk-of-the-year submission wasn’t enough to swing the pendulum in Boston’s favor. The shooting woes, turnovers, and unlikely brand of basketball that prompted halftime boos among the over 19,000 fans in attendance remained stuck to the Celtics.

In the third quarter, Brown’s right-handed layup attempt was blocked by Ryan Kalkbrenner. Brown immediately looked toward the officials, shouting while holding his right arm. Seconds later, he was charged with a his career-high ninth technical foul of the season, allowing Colby White to visit the charity stripe and extend Charlotte’s lead to 20 points with 11.4 seconds remaining.

No matter where the Celtics looked, they couldn’t find an answer.

Hornets coach Charles Lee’s offense, on the other hand, never took its foot off the gas. Charlotte recorded 26 assists to Boston’s 18 and scored 22 fast-break points, while the Celtics finished with nine.

Part of Boston’s internal makeup that has made the Celtics one of the most dominant teams in the NBA this season is their ability to outwork opponents. Regardless of who’s healthy, they’ve been able to rely on their all-or-nothing commitment to make up for any star-power gap or unfavorable matchup. This time, that wasn’t the case, and Brown called it out.

“We weren’t the harder-playing team tonight on either side of the ball,” Brown said. “Uncharacteristic of us.”

In addition to getting outworked, key contributors to Boston’s offense became complete non-factors. Payton Pritchard went scoreless for the second time in three games, this time shooting 0-for-6, including 0-for-5 from three. Nikola Vučević scored only eight points, shooting 2-for-10 with only four rebounds. Everyone on Charlotte’s sideline whom Lee played registered a positive plus-minus, as the Hornets outscored the Celtics 44-26 in bench points.

“We just didn’t have it tonight,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

Failing to convert at the rim wasn’t just Brown’s problem; it plagued Boston’s entire offense.

“We went 4-for-18 from layups, so I don’t really know what else to tell you,” Mazzulla said. “That was in the first half. We went 11-for-33 in the game, and brought it up to 33 percent.”

As Mazzulla saw it, Boston’s misses constantly turned into fast-break opportunities for Charlotte, who capitalized on easy baskets. The Celtics committed 15 turnovers, which the Hornets converted into 21 points. Poor ball protection and the inability to finish at the rim quickly caught up to Boston. Charlotte had little trouble maintaining its double-digit lead, as the Celtics were unintentionally blueprinting their own undoing.

Nobody in the locker room was overly concerned with the loss. They were more focused on learning from their mistakes. That’s the Mazzulla way.

“I think we had a lot of good looks,” Derrick White said. “There’s a lot of layups we missed, a lot of open looks that we missed, and honestly, we’re gonna look back and see some things that we should’ve done better. But I think overall it was pretty good. We just gotta execute better.”

The Phoenix Suns have a very good big-picture “problem” right now.

The status of Mark Williams’ injury does not change the point of this piece. He has, to this point, been the healthiest he has of his career. This article was in progress before this announcement came out, for what it’s worth. This is more about this trio of centers coexisting in the short-term, but also discussing a tough decision this summer.

Oso Ighodaro is routinely looking like the best center on the Suns roster of late, and Jordan Ott is rewarding him. That reward comes to the detriment of Mark Williams’ time on the floor. With Williams out tonight and Nick Richards now out of the picture, that leaves Khaman Maluach as their backup center to Oso Ighodaro, who will shift into the starting lineup.

In Tuesday’s win over the Sacramento Kings, Ighodaro delivered one of his strongest games of the season, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds in a performance that helped Phoenix complete a season series sweep and fortify a balanced attack on both ends.

Last night’s performance wasn’t a fluke or one-off. It’s who he has morphed into after a slow start to the season.

This season has seen Ighodaro evolve from a role player into something closer to a defensive anchor and offensive facilitator, the kind of glue guy that isn’t always obvious in highlight reels but impacts the flow of a game. He is one of the few Suns players to see consistent minutes across most of the schedule, and his ability to set screens, read cuts, make plays out of short rolls, and contest at the rim has made the Suns tougher to dissect for opposing defenses. He’s an easy player to take for granted.

At just 23 years old, Ighodaro has the length, motor, and IQ to be a disruptive presence on both ends of the floor. His season averages (around 5.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on about 63.5 percent shooting) may not jump off the stat sheet, but they hide the nuance of his role, especially how he makes life easier for Phoenix’s primary creators and how his activity on defense frequently leads to transition opportunities.

Ighodaro’s rise, however, complicates things when you look at the other pieces at the Suns’ disposal.

Mark Williams entered this season as Phoenix’s presumptive starting center and center of the future after they dealt two first-round picks to acquire him. As we all know, he will be a restricted free agent this offseason, which means the team will have to weigh his performance, fit, and injury history when negotiations come. At full strength, Williams offers size, finishing ability, and rebounding that a contending team needs, but that same size and impact are now being challenged by Ighodaro’s ascendance. Williams has been solid, but he has his moments where he can fade. I’m not sure a heavy investment at the center position makes sense with Oso Ighodaro and lottery pick, Khaman Maluach patiently waiting.

Maluach has not been rushed. His development has been methodical, with much of his early seasoning coming through the G League and spot minutes in Phoenix. That approach was intentional, and Maluach was seen as raw when he arrived, and the team has tried to ease him into physical NBA action rather than bury him under early expectations. With Richards shipped out and Williams out, this will serve as an opportunity for him to show he can make an impact in meaningful minutes.

For now, Ighodaro sits at the tip of the spear in Phoenix’s frontcourt. His performances have changed how Ott deploys personnel, how opponents match up, and how the Suns think about the position going forward. Williams’ contributions give the team stability, and Maluach’s development provides optimism for years beyond this one.

Balancing all three is not simple. But it is a sign of organizational depth, and the kind of complexity a team on the rise usually welcomes, even if it keeps fans talking. In the meantime, all the focus is on optimizing this current version of the Suns’ center rotation, which looks as strong and promising as ever.

Oh, man, am I ready for the Spurs to be home. Probably not as ready as they are after all the time on the road, but excited all the same.

The Rodeo Road Trip was a huge success and nearly perfect, sans the loss in Madison Square Garden.

That said, following up the loss with a throttling two nights later put some icing on the cake. Sure, the 76ers were on a limited roster, but it was how the Spurs played that transcended the rival or location of the opponent.

One interesting fact- Victor Wembanyama took only five shots.

When your top player can have a lower scoring game and your team is up by over 30, you’ve got the gears turning nicely. It’s not that Wemby had a bad game — he was hinting at a 5×5 pretty early on — but he certainly didn’t have to be the scoring focal point to make his presence known.

In fact, at the end of it all, Devin Vassell walked off the court with the second highest plus/minus in franchise history. His +43 was only two points below Tim Duncan’s +45. You’re always in good company when being roped into a conversation with The Bog Fundamental.

In addition, eight Spurs scored in double digits, which is closer to par for the course considering that eight Spurs players currently maintain scoring averaging in double digits. If this trend stands, it will be the first time in NBA history for that accomplishment.

But shared scoring and even keeled playing has become more the norm for the Silver & Black. The Spurs are winning over 70% of their games whether Wemby suits up or not. The team went 10-4 when he was sidelined in from mid-November to mid-December. By comparison, they are 34-13 when he has been available.

No matter who starts, who plays, or who serves as the team’s high scorer, it will be great to be back in the Frost Bank Center, celebrating the team’s return, and cheering them on with 18,418 fans.

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Gap year, huh? Who cares! No one is turning down the volume on the Lakers. No one is turning down the heat.

The scrutinizing and psychoanalyzing continues like Luka Doncic screaming at the refs — incessantly, and with impressive stamina. About as loudly too. “Our losses,” Lakers coach JJ Redick recently said, “are louder than other teams' because we’re the Lakers.”

Every other team in the NBA gets graded on a curve; bad breaks and reasonable expectations are accounted for in the score at season’s end.

The Lakers are a pass-fail upper-level course; they either win a championship or they fail.

They’re 37-24 but still would consider dropping the class if they could — but they can’t. So they’re forging on, trying to figure it out, their window closing and their fans’ frustration growing.

“I think it's awesome,” guard Austin Reaves said of the bright — no, blinding — lights trained constantly on the team.

“I think it's one of the best — if not the best organization — in all of sports. With that comes …”

Great responsibility? Golden opportunity?

“… honestly, chaos.”

By which Reaves meant: “If it’s good, it’s great. And if it’s bad, it’s miserable. They expect to win games, the fans do. And that’s what we’re here to do, we’re here to win and win at a high level. We know that.”

That’s why Redick signed up to come coach them, he said. “My own personal psychosis,” he called it. He swears he wants the smoke.

Read more:All five starters score in double figures as Lakers defeat the Pelicans

“The reality is everybody is going to always have an opinion,” Redick said Tuesday before his team toughed out a 110-101 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans, who are healthier than they have been but still are 19-44. “Since pro sports have existed, everybody has always had an opinion. There’s been sports talk, there’s been barber shops, chat rooms. Everybody’s had an opinion. Now, everybody’s opinion is more easily accessible. It’s just more amplified now, but it’s normal.”

And then he interrupted a question to return to a previous query about his play calling, needing to rebut the strangers on the internet picking apart his work. “I’m always fascinated by that, by the way,” Redick said. “How do you know we’re calling plays or not calling plays? … That’s fascinating. That’s really interesting.”

That’s the Lakers. Interesting, even when they aren’t necessarily, basketball-wise. The front office chose to protect future cap space and draft capital rather than substantively improve the team now around Doncic and LeBron James. And the players play like they realize most of them likely are not part of long-term plans.

And who else but the Lakers to provide some spice during the drab stretch of the season between the trade deadline and the playoffs?

There’s no team with a greater ratio of molehills turned into mountains, so of course it was national news when Redick and Doncic had a disagreement on the bench during Saturday’s win at the Golden State Warriors. It was no big deal, and they laughed about it later, Redick insisted Tuesday.

“I didn’t feel any tension. He was like, ‘Nah, I didn’t care about it,’" Redick said of Doncic. "You do it and you move on.”

Move on, knowing every interaction and play call and result will be dissected and debated.

So Doncic can lead the league in scoring (32.4 points per game) and average the third-most assists (8.6) but have his defensive limitations and incessant and unproductive banter with officials get the most attention from some critics.

And so the Lakers, 1½ games out of third place, are impressing no one. Not when they’re 14-18 against teams that are .500 or better. Not when they’re 1-8 against the league’s top four teams, those losses against the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics coming by an average of 20 points.

A bummer for the Lakers that they’ll have to face good teams in the playoffs.

Competent teams with heart and want-to, like the Denver Nuggets, who are next on the docket Thursday.

Read more:Lakers hope comeback win over Pelicans gives the team a timely boost

At 38-24 and a half-game ahead of the Lakers, star center Nikola Jokic’s squad is always formidable — and looking to avenge a loss to Redick’s team in their first matchup, 115-107 in a game Jokic didn’t play.

An ‘A’ game from the Lakers in Denver? Now, that would be worth talking about. That would be pretty interesting — though we’ll be digging in and discussing it, either way. With the volume cranked all the way up.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.