LOS ANGELES, United States: Kawhi Leonard scored 33 points and Ivica Zubac added 28 on his 28th birthday on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to hand the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers a second straight defeat, 132-119.
The Cavs, the runaway leaders in the Eastern Conference, got off to a hot start as they launched a five-game road trip in Los Angeles, scoring 45 points in the first quarter on the way to a 73-68 halftime lead.
But the Clippers, with coach Tyronn Lue absent because of back spasms, held the Cavs to 46 points in the second half in a gritty performance that saw Cleveland drop a second successive game for the first time since January.
Max Strus scored 24 points to lead the Cavaliers, whose 16-game winning streak was ended Sunday by Orlando.
“It’s my birthday, I had to bring it,” Zubac said, adding that the Clippers “wanted this one bad” as they chase the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves for sixth place in the West and direct entry into the playoffs.
Golden State star guard Stephen Curry was a spectator as the Warriors rebounded from a Monday loss to Denver with a 104-93 victory over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in San Francisco.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said his “exhausted” superstar needed some rest after a lackluster performance in the loss to Denver.
In Curry’s absence, Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Brandin Podziemski added 17 as he started at guard, and the Warriors thwarted the Bucks’ second-half comeback bid.
Draymond Green scored just three points but was a defensive force. He had three of his four blocked shots in the first quarter and finished with two steals to go with his 10 rebounds.
“Draymond, that defense tonight on Giannis was incredible,” Kerr said. “To hold him to five field goals — Draymond showed why he’s one of the great defenders in the world.
“It wasn’t just the defense,” Kerr added. “It was the leadership, the energy.”
Kyle Kuzma led the Bucks with 22 points, Antetokounmpo scored 20 and Damian Lillard added 16.
Trailing 58-44 at halftime, the Bucks took a six-point lead late in the third quarter as the weary-looking Warriors coughed up 10 of their 19 turnovers.
But Butler’s three free throws to end the third put the Warriors up by two going into the fourth quarter and the Bucks couldn’t get back in front again.
The Celtics were also short-handed in Boston, where Kristaps Porzingis and rookie Baylor Scheierman stepped up as the reigning champions shook off the absence of star duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to beat the Brooklyn Nets 104-96.
Porzingis scored a game-high 25 points with 13 rebounds, a steal and three blocked shots.
Scheierman scored 12 of his career-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Celtics finally pulled away in a game in which they struggled to find their offensive footing without Brown and Tatum — both rested with nagging knee injuries.
It gave Scheierman a chance to shine, and he took it. He connected on seven of eight shots, including six of seven from three-point range.
His three-pointer to end the third quarter sent Boston into the final period with a 71-70 lead.
The 30th pick in the NBA draft drilled back-to-back threes midway through the fourth that gave the Celtics a four-point lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“Probably a top-three environment I’ve ever been a part of,” said Scheierman, who left the court to a huge ovation. “It’s just special.”
The playoff-bound Celtics notched their 50th win of the season. Trailing only the Cavs in the East they have a comfortable lead over the third-placed New York Knicks.
Clippers rally to beat Cavaliers, Warriors and Celtics win
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Clippers rally to beat Cavaliers, Warriors and Celtics win
- Los Angeles Clippers hand the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers a second straight defeat
- Golden State’s Stephen Curry was a spectator as the Warriors beat the Milwaukee Bucks in San Francisco
Treble-chasing Inter sweat over Thuram’s fitness
“The tests revealed fatigue in the adductor muscles of his left thigh,” Inter said
MILANO: Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram has a thigh injury, the Serie A leaders said on Friday as they wait to see if he can recover in time for their Coppa Italia semifinal against AC Milan next week.
The Frenchman, Inter’s top scorer in Serie A with 14 goals, is likely to miss Sunday’s Serie A match at fifth-placed Bologna, Italian media reported as the club confirmed Thuram underwent medical tests this morning.
“The tests revealed fatigue in the adductor muscles of his left thigh. His condition will be assessed day by day,” Inter said in a statement.
Champions Inter lead the Italian top-flight standings on 71 points after 32 games, three ahead of Napoli.
They host Milan in the second leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Wednesday, after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw.
Inter, one of eight teams who have won a league, cup and European Cup treble, could repeat the feat this season.
They face Barcelona, another treble-winning side, in the Champions League semifinals after advancing to the last four of Europe’s elite club competition with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern Munich.
Thuram, who has started 26 league games and missed only one this season, recently dropped out of the France squad due to an ankle injury.
Klopp ‘happy’ in new job despite Real Madrid rumors: agent
- Agent Marc Kosicke said 57-year-old Klopp was enjoying his new job
- RB Leipzig coach Zsolt Low said he “could not imagine” Klopp moving to Real Madrid
BERLIN: Jurgen Klopp is “very happy” in his current post at Red Bull despite rumors linking him to a return to management with Real Madrid, his agent said Friday.
The former Liverpool manager became Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer in January, taking care of a stable of clubs including RB Leipzig, the New York Red Bulls and Bragantino in Brazil.
Real Madrid’s quarter-final elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Arsenal this week has led to speculation manager Carlo Ancelotti is headed for the exit at the end of the season.
German media reported that Klopp was one of the names that the Spanish giants want to take over in the Bernabeu dugout.
Asked about the rumors, his agent Marc Kosicke said 57-year-old Klopp was enjoying his new job.
“Jurgen is very happy with his new role with Red Bull,” Kosicke told Sky Deutschland.
Also speaking on Friday, RB Leipzig coach Zsolt Low said he “could not imagine” Klopp moving to Real Madrid, adding the German was “very happy in the job.”
Low praised Klopp’s impact, saying “he’s shown that he can bring a club together, a group of 40, 50, 60 people, and take them with him.
“He adds incredible value with his experience, his human quality and his energy.”
In a 23-year career as a top-flight manager with Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz, Klopp left each club of his own accord, a rarity in coaching.
“No matter where he’s been, he’s given 100 percent,” Low said, adding “regardless of where he is he’s stayed and done the job. It’s important to him to make a clean exit.”
Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso is considered a leading candidate for the Real Madrid job. Alonso, a former Madrid player, said Friday it was “not the time” to discuss his future.
Morocco ex-football club chair denies seizing villa in drug case
- Said Naciri is being tried alongside the head of a regional council in eastern Morocco, Abdennabi Bioui, in a vast drug trafficking case
- Naciri denied the allegation in court on Friday, saying he legally purchased the villa
CASABLANCA: The former president of Morocco’s most successful football club maintained in court Friday that he legally acquired a villa he is accused of seizing from a convicted Malian drug trafficker dubbed the “Escobar of the Sahara.”
Said Naciri, who was chairman of Casablanca club Wydad AC and president of the city’s prefectural council, is being tried alongside the head of a regional council in eastern Morocco, Abdennabi Bioui, in a vast drug trafficking case related to the jailed kingpin.
Both defendants — former officials of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), a member of the country’s ruling coalition — have been in custody since the end of 2023, and face charges of “possession, marketing, and export of drugs,” as well as corruption and related offenses.
Naciri was accused by the Malian trafficker, Ahmed Ben Brahim, of having wrongfully dispossessed him of a villa in an upscale Casablanca neighborhood, one of Naciri’s lawyers told AFP.
But Naciri denied the allegation in court on Friday, saying he legally purchased the villa though a real estate company in 2017 before finalizing the acquisition in 2019.
“I am taking advantage of my hearing before the court to refute the false allegations being made,” he told the court, presenting documents and testimony that he said supported his version of events.
The trial is the first in Morocco to see prominent political figures accused in a drug trafficking case.
It opened last May, and involves 25 people alleged to have played roles in the trafficking network of Ben Brahim, who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Ben Brahim, whose complaint initiated the proceedings against Naciri and Bioui, accuses the pair of helping him smuggle drugs to elsewhere in North Africa and the Sahel.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 25.
CAF fines its president’s club $100,000 after African Champions League fan disorder
- Motsepe has been president of African soccer’s governing body CAF for four years and was re-elected unopposed last month
- Esperance was fined $150,000 for the fan misconduct
CAIRO: CAF fined its president’s club $100,000 after violent fan clashes at an African Champions League game between two teams that are going to the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
Mamelodi Sundowns, owned by Patrice Motsepe — a South African mining billionaire and FIFA vice president – breached safety and security rules hosting an April 1 game against Esperance of Tunisia, the Confederation of African Football said in a disciplinary ruling late Thursday.
Motsepe has been president of African soccer’s governing body CAF for four years and was re-elected unopposed last month.
The African soccer body said Sundowns “is required to strictly implement the safety and security measures specified in the CAF regulations, guidelines and directives, particularly in their upcoming matches.”
Esperance was fined $150,000 for the fan misconduct, CAF said, related to clashes in the stands at the quarterfinal, first leg game.
Sundowns won the first leg 1-0 in Pretoria and advanced to the semifinals after the return game ended 0-0 in Tunis one week later. The South African team on Saturday hosts Al Ahly of Egypt — another Club World Cup team — in the first leg of the semifinals.
Sundowns and Esperance are both coming to the US in June as two of Africa’s four entries in the first 32-team Club World Cup organized by FIFA.
Both qualified because of consistently good results over four years in the CAF Champions League through 2024.
Sundowns has been drawn in a Club World Cup group with Ulsan of South Korea, Borussia Dortmund of Germany and Fluminense of Brazil, playing games in Orlando, Cincinnati and Miami.
Esperance is in a group with Chelsea of England, Brazil’s Flamengo and a third team that was to be Leon, which FIFA disqualified because it is in the same ownership as another Mexican team that qualified, Pachuca. Those games are in Philadelphia and Nashville.
Leon has a May 5 hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Madrid in its appeal against FIFA’s ruling. The Club World Cup is played in 11 US cities from June 14 to July 13.
Champions PSG eager to preserve unbeaten league run, says Luis Enrique
- “We’re preparing for future games in the same way. We can break a record, it’s within the team’s grasp,” Enrique told reporters
- “It doesn’t happen very often, and that’s our main motivation”
PARIS: Paris St. Germain have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare but the French champions remain highly motivated as they look to end their campaign unbeaten, coach Luis Enrique said on Friday ahead of a meeting with Le Havre.
PSG, who have 74 points from 28 games, won their fourth straight Ligue 1 title earlier this month and have also reached the Champions League semifinals and French Cup final.
They host relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday and Luis Enrique insisted that his side could not take it easy and let their standards slip if they are to become the first team to win the French top-flight title without tasting defeat.
“We’re preparing for future games in the same way. We can break a record, it’s within the team’s grasp,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“It doesn’t happen very often, and that’s our main motivation. We’re already champions. If you want to play for PSG and be here for many years, you have to play at the highest level at all times.
“Le Havre has a lot at stake. It will be one of the most difficult games of the season.”
PSG play three league games in the span of eight days — taking on Le Havre, Nantes and OGC Nice — before meeting Premier League side Arsenal in a Champions League semifinal first leg at the Emirates Stadium on April 29.
Asked about the possibility of finally ending PSG’s wait for a European Cup, the Spaniard said: “We haven’t achieved our objective yet. Since we arrived, our objective has been to make history.
“To make history, you have to win everything, especially the trophy you all know. We’re going to give everything we’ve got to achieve that. What’s important to me is the road to get there. It depends on us...
“We already played Arsenal at the start of the season. We know who we have to eliminate. They’re one of the best teams in Europe. They’ve developed very well with (Mikel) Arteta, they’re performing very well.”
