BASKETBALL
NBA clarifies seeding
The NBA on Friday told teams that playoff seeding will be based on winning percentage and that any tiebreakers necessary after that would follow the usual procedures. It was an issue that needed clarity, because the 22 teams that are to go to the Disney complex near Orlando, Florida, for the planned resumption of the season next month will not have played the same number of games. Based on the league plan for the restart, the Dallas Mavericks are to play an NBA-high 75 games. Most others will play 72 to 74. The low total will be 71, which the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers will finish on if the NBA’s plans for teams to play eight games at the Disney complex before the playoffs begin comes to fruition. The NBA has not yet revealed how team schedules will be adjusted once play resumes without the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks taking part in the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.
CRICKET
Gower urges cooperation
David Gower has urged the rest of world cricket to follow the West Indies in demonstrating a “spirit of cooperation” as the global game looks to get back on its feet amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The West Indies are due to arrive in England this week, ahead of a three-match Test series rescheduled for next month. International matches are central to the financing of the game at all levels, with the England and Wales Cricket Board estimating it could lose ￡252 million (US$316 million) if there are no fixtures at all this summer. “The West Indies have done us a favor,” former England captain Gower told Britain’s Press Association. “It is a unique situation and one with huge pressures. It will be a huge relief for these games to happen because getting going again is the key.” Gower, the newly installed president of the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket-related charity that supports disabled and disadvantaged young people, added: “Let’s face it, last year was extraordinary with the World Cup win [by England] and an exciting Ashes, but the problem for any sport is that the public consciousness only lasts a short while.” Gower said that the sport had been grappling with a number of major issues prior to the pandemic. “There were lots of problems in cricket before COVID-19, particularly in terms of the nations outside India, Australia and England, and issues around finance and structure. They won’t go away on their own, but if all this does help foster a spirit of cooperation, so much the better.”
SOCCER
Chinese players sanctioned
The Chinese Football Association said that six members of the national under-19 squad have been suspended for six months for violating COVID-19 control measures by leaving training camp at midnight to go drinking. The 35-player training camp in Shanghai began on May 17 and ended on Saturday. “It was a severe violation of the team’s epidemic control regulations and caused negative impacts on the whole team,” the association was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency. The six players will have to sit out all matches through Nov. 30. They also face further punishment from their respective clubs.
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
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