Sunday, 28 February 2016

MVP Curry Strikes Again with Thunder

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Stephen Curry’s 3-pointer from beyond 30 feet with 0.6 seconds left in overtime gave the Golden State Warriors a 121-118 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.

Curry finished with 46 points as his winning shot was his 12th 3-pointer, tying the NBA single-game record. He also broke his own NBA record for 3s in a season, leaving the new mark at 288.

Curry, the league’s scoring leader and reigning MVP, missed about six minutes of the third quarter with a left ankle injury. He drove to the basket and rolled the ankle before Thunder guard Russell Westbrook stepped on it.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 37 points, but he fouled out in the first minute of overtime.

The Warriors won the previous meeting with the Thunder 116-108 at home on 6 February. The teams play again Thursday at Golden State.

Oklahoma City led by 12 in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors rallied. Klay Thompson made a 3 from the left corner to cut Oklahoma City’s lead to 100-99. It was the first 3 of the game for any Warriors player other than Curry.

Durant responded with a 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds left to put the Thunder up 103-99.

Thompson quickly scored a layup, then the Thunder turned the ball over, and Andre Iguodala was fouled with 0.7 seconds left. Iguodala made both free throws to tie the score at 103 and force the extra period.

Saturday, 27 February 2016

Lindsey Vonn Crashes in Switzerland


Lindsey Vonn fell heavily during a women's alpine skiing World Cup super-G at Soldeu on Saturday and was evacuated on a ski-stretcher after lying prone for several minutes.

The American speed queen, who has a history of knee injuries sustained in competition, was in a battle with Switzerland's Lara Gut for the overall World Cup title and was 23 points clear at the start of the race. 

She started well in poor visibility but failed to hold a corner in the latter stage of the course and crashed off the piste.

The race was interrupted for several minutes as assistance was sent to the American with Gut next in line to take the start.

Vonn was unable to stand and was taken away down the slope on a ski-stretcher to be taken to an Andorra hospital.

The race had been due to start in mid-morning, but was delayed for three hours because of the difficult conditions.

There was no immediate word on the extent of Vonn's injury.

Considered one of the greatest skiers of all time, Vonn has won Olympic and world titles in the speed disciplines during the course of her career and she has taken the overall World Cup crystal globe four times, the last being in 2012.

But she has been beset by knee injuries since then, missing most of the 2013 and 2014 seasons to undergo surgery.

But she had been back to near her best this year at the age of 31 and last month claimed her 76th World Cup victory, taking her closer to the overall record of 86 held by Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark.

The race was won by Italy's Federica Brignone who went out early before the snowfall increased in intensity.

She clocked 57.33secs on a shortened course, 0.13secs clear of American Laurenne Ross and 0.37secs better than Tamara Tippler of Austria.

Gut could only place 16th meaning that she took 15 points to move to within eight points of the stricken Vonn in the overall standings.


O'Connor Dismisses Heart Attack Reports

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Former Australia back James O'Connor has denied French media reports he suffered a heart attack on the Toulon team bus last weekend.

Reports in France claimed O'Connor was given emergency treatment by team-mates on Toulon's return journey from their Top 14 match against Oyonnax on Sunday.

However, O'Connor posted a message on Twitter to say that he is fine, and will be out of action for two weeks.

The 25-year-old wrote: "No heart attack.. Hypoglycemia & game/training fatigue. All tests were very positive. Wish I could play 2moro but Toulon resting me for 2 weeks!"

Toulon coach Bernard Laporte had also played down the heart-attack reports during an interview with RMC radio on Friday, although he believes the player will be sidelined for a little longer.

He said: "James O'Connor felt unwell in the bus taking the team back from the Oyonnax game.

"The medical staff decided to take him to hospital and he underwent a considerable series of tests.

"I can reassure everyone he's fine. He will play rugby again but he will undergo further tests next week. James will miss three weeks, maybe four weeks of competition."


England v Ireland - Preview


England make two changes to the side who beat Italy, with Maro Itoje and Joe Marler coming into the pack.

Itoje makes his first start at lock and prop Marler replaces Mako Vunipola, while uncapped centre Elliot Daly is on the bench.

Ireland hand debuts to centre Stuart McCloskey and flanker Josh van der Flier as they make five changes to the side who lost to France.

Also coming in to the side are Keith Earls, Donnacha Ryan and Mike Ross.

England head coach Eddie Jones: "Playing our first game at Twickenham after two away fixtures will be huge for us. We're determined to put in a strong performance against a clever Irish side who are the benchmark of European rugby."

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt on attempted mind games by Jones: "I think we're probably less affected by those extraneous things than you people are.

"That's because if we're distracted by that, then that's something that we're wasting energy and time on.

"We get little enough time together as it is. And we're all about making sure that we can be organised, enthusiastic and well-recovered, not distracted.

"People are within their rights to make whatever observation they like from outside the environment. But we know how things are inside the environment."

Head-to-head
England have won four out of the last five meetings against Ireland after only winning one out of the eight games preceding that.

So far in this Six Nations, England have scored more points (55) than the games involving Ireland have provided in total (51).

England are yet to concede a try in this year's Six Nations - restricting both Scotland and Italy to nine points apiece in their two matches so far.

They have started the Six Nations with successive victories for the sixth time in seven years.

Ireland have failed to win their opening two matches of the Five/Six Nations for the first time since 1998, a year in which they picked up the Wooden Spoon.

They scored 82 points in their three away games in the 2015 Six Nations, but managed just nine against France.

England
Mike Brown, Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell, Jack Nowell, George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Paul Hill, Courtney Lawes, Jack Clifford, Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Alex Goode.

Ireland
Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, Keith Earls, Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Jamie Heaslip (captain).
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Simon Zebo.

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (WRU) & Alexandre Ruiz (FFR)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (SARU)


Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid - Preview

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Real Madrid will not give up on the La Liga title race even if they lose to city rivals Atletico on Saturday, says boss Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane's side, who are without the injured Gareth Bale, are nine points off leaders Barcelona and one point behind Atletico with 13 games left.

"Whatever happens, we won't be saying goodbye to La Liga," said Zidane.

"We're not going to give up until the end because there are points to play for."

Atletico had three days fewer to prepare, having faced PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"I don't organise the fixtures," said Zidane. "The important thing is to prepare well for the game.

"Every week it's someone's turn to prepare with not a lot of time to rest."

Real forward Cristiano Ronaldo said: "It is an important game, at home, in front of the fans, against a tough opponent that defends well. It is a game that we have to win.

"We know that La Liga is difficult but we need to fight until the end."