Sports

BEIJING — The 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will learn on Monday whether she can remain at the Beijing Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said, as questions grew over why it took six weeks for her failed drug test to come to light.

The doping scandal surrounding the prodigious teenager threatens to tarnish the Games after the build-up was overshadowed by concerns about Covid and human rights in China. 

Valieva’s Beijing Olympic fate is now in the hands of CAS, which said that it would hold a video hearing on Sunday.

“Following the hearing, the panel will deliberate and prepare the Arbitral Award containing its decision,” the top sports tribunal said in a statement on Saturday.

“It is anticipated that the decision will be notified to the parties in the afternoon of Monday, 14 February.”

That is just one day before Valieva is scheduled to compete in the women’s figure skating singles competition.

Valieva, who played a starring role in helping Russia win team gold in Beijing on Monday, tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine after competing at an event in Saint Petersburg on December 25.

However, the International Testing Agency says that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in Stockholm only reported that Valieva had returned a positive case on February 8 — the day after she won team gold in Beijing.

In an interview with AFP, United States Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart questioned the delay.

“The failure to report a test taken in December until after the team event in the Games is a catastrophic failure of the system to protect the public, the integrity of the Games and clean athletes who had to compete,” Tygart said.

“It shouldn’t have happened.”

Tygart said US authorities and other nations routinely expedite test results for athletes due to be participating in major championships, precisely to avoid situations like the Valieva case.

Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA said it had been informed that a sharp rise of COVID-19 infections at the start of the year was to blame for the delay.

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said he had also heard that the pandemic may have been the reason, but could not give confirmation because the testing in this case was the responsibility of WADA.

“I had understood — but I would like to get this confirmed — that there was some issues around Covid, but I don’t know about the exact delivery of the testing and the delivery of the sample,” he said on Saturday, as the doping scandal simmered.

Valieva practised in Beijing on Saturday.

The president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander Gorchkov, said: “I repeat once again that we have no doubts about the honesty of our athlete. This affair should be carefully thought through because this crazy story raises so many questions.

“We have to find out, on one hand, all the circumstances of what happened and on the other, what happened to the December 25 doping sample almost a month and a half after it was sent to a foreign laboratory.”

It is just the latest doping scandal surrounding Russian athletes in recent years at Olympic Games, which led to Russia as a country being banned for two years.

Russian competitors are allowed to take part in Beijing under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) if they have been able to prove they were not tainted by the massive state-sponsored doping programme that targeted a range of summer and winter Olympic sports over a four-year period.

The scheme included manipulating doping tests at its home 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics when Russia topped the medals table.

In Beijing, the ROC team cannot have the Russian flag on its clothing and the Russian anthem is not played.

Golden oldies

Six golds were up for grabs on the eighth day of competition at the Games, in biathlon, cross-country skiing, skeleton, ski jumping, snow boarding and speed skating.

US pair Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner triumphed in the mixed team snowboard cross final.

With a combined age of 76 they were the oldest pair in the event. It was a second gold of the Games for Jacobellis.

The 40-year-old Baumgartner said experience had been key. “That’s something about being the veterans,” he said.

“We are looking younger than everybody,” he added.

In cross-country skiing, Russia’s women took gold in the 4x5-kilometre relay, ahead of Germany and Sweden.

LOS ANGELES — Joel Embiid poured in 25 points and 19 rebounds to power the Philadelphia 76ers to a 100-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

Embiid, who also had five blocks and four assists in front of the crowd of 20,600 at Wells Fargo Centre, recorded his 22nd straight game with at least 25 points.

Philadelphia played their first game since making a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday that saw former league MVP James Harden join his third team in the last two years. 

Philadelphia sent Australia’s Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and two first-round draft picks to the Nets for Harden and Paul Millsap.

Since the players haven’t completed their physicals, the 76ers played without all five, leaving them short-handed. Simmons, of Melbourne, has yet to play in a game this season.

“It sucks to lose some of my teammates. Seth did such a great job for us. 

“But James Harden is one of the best players in the league. It is pretty exciting. You add someone like that and your chances to win the championship are even bigger. I am excited to get on with it,” said Embiid.

Tyrese Maxey added 24 points and Tobias Harris contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Matisse Thybulle added 10 points.

Derrick Favours led the Thunder with 16 points while Luguentz Dort and Aleksej Pokusevski added 15 each. 

Darius Bazley had 14 points and 15 rebounds as Oklahoma City lost their fourth straight.

Embiid scored 11 points in the third quarter as the 76ers led 77-61 going into the fourth. 

After a 9-2 run, the Thunder got within 87-75 halfway through the fourth.

Theo Maledon hit a three-pointer with 2:41 remaining and the Thunder trailed 88-82. But Harris responded with a three pointer of his own and Maxey made a layup to extend the lead to 11 points.

Head coach Mark Daigneault said he was pleased the Thunder did not make a lot of deals at the trade deadline.

“We love our guys. We really like our team,” he said. “We like the direction we’re headed. We’re obviously early in the process. We have a lot of confidence in not only the guys we have right now, but where we’re going.”

Elsewhere, Jayson Tatum scored 24 points as the Boston Celtics withstood a triple double from Nikola Jokic with a 108-102 win over the Denver Nuggets.

The Celtics trailed 88-86 with 8:26 left before outscoring the Nuggets 22-14 to close the game out. 

Marcus Smart delivered 22 points and Robert Williams finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds as the host Celtics stretched their winning streak to seven games.

Former San Antonio guard Derrick White came off the bench to score 15 points in his first game since being acquired in a trade on Thursday. 

Triple-double

Jokic paced Denver with 23 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists in the loss. Jokic has recorded a triple-double in eight of his past 14 games.

Aaron Gordon scored 17 points, Facundo Campazzo had 14, Will Barton added 13, and Bones Hyland had 10 for the Nuggets, who have lost four of their last six. 

In Chicago, DeMar DeRozan finished with 35 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 134-122 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.

Also, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen each scored 22 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from a 21 point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 120-113.

It marked the largest comeback of the season for Cleveland, who stormed back from a 20-point deficit Sunday against Indiana.

AMMAN — Jordan Motorsport announced the official entry for the 2022 Jordan Baja on Tuesday, with competitors from 20 nations set to tackle next weekend’s three-day counting round of the FIA World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas and the FIM Bajas World Cup, according to the Jordan Baja Media Service

The Saudi Arabian duo of Yazeed Al Rajhi and last year’s winner Yasir Seaidan top the FIA T1 category, where they line-up alongside Czech veteran Miroslav Zapletal and fellow Saudi Mohammed Al Tuwaijri. 

The fiercest competition is likely to come in the FIA T3 and T4 categories: 12 Can-Am Mavericks will contest the T3 lightweight prototype section and a further seven will line-up in T4. 

Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al Saif may see himself as the pre-event favourite to win T3 but rivals from the UAE, Spain, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Portugal include Dania Akeel — the 2021 T3 World Champion in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies — Fernando Alvarez, Filipe Nascimento, Pavel Silnov and Thomas Bell.

Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri will arrive in the Hashemite Kingdom straight from competing in this weekend’s Qatar International Rally. He will replace a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X for a less powerful Can-Am all-terrain vehicle and faces the likes of the experienced Dutchman Kees Koolen, Brazil’s Cristiano de Sousa, Lithuania’s Valeiša Egidijus and Spain’s Eduard Pons across some of the most spectacular and challenging terrain in Jordan’s world renowned Wadi Rum and Wadi Araba.

Twenty-three motorcycles, six quads and two SSVs will tackle the opening round of the FIM Bajas World Cup. At the head of the two-wheel field, two-time event winner, the UAE’s Mohammed Al Balooshi (2019 and 2021) lines up against the likes of local rider Abdullah Abu Aisha, Kuwait’s Abdullah Al Shatti and additional bikers from Australia, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. 

Saudi Arabian riders dominated last year’s FIM Bajas World Cup and Haitham Al Tuwaijri, Hani Al Noumesi and Faisal Al Suwayh top a six-strong field that also includes local entrant Saif Al Abbadi on his Yamaha 450 YF.

Jordan Motorsport is also running a National status rally behind the main FIA Baja. A dozen crews have entered this category, with Mashna Shammeri leading the way in his Nissan Patrol from competitors representing Palestine, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Gaith Qubti, Al-Hassan Khatib and Hashem Kalbouneh represent the host nation. 

The Jordan Baja will be based at the Hyatt Regency Aqaba Ayla Resort, while the start and finish will take place at the Old Port in Aqaba City on the Red Sea.

Support for the 2022 Jordan Baja comes from Mountain Dew, Budget, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), the Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), Hala and Bliss FM.

AMMAN — Jordan will play Tunisia on Wednesday in their second match at the Arab Nations Basketball Championship currently under way in Dubai.

The national team is playing in Group 1 alongside Libya and the UAE to whom they unexpectedly lost 85-81 (41-47) in the opening match. 

The 24th edition of the championship has only seven teams competing after Qatar and Syria declined. Lebanon, Somalia and Algeria are playing in Group B. The top four teams will move to round 2 following which the winners will advance to the semifinal round.

Jordan’s squad is missing Zeid Abbas and Mousa Awadi due to injury as well as Ahmad Dweiri who plays in the Turkish league and Dar Tucker the naturliased pro, as well as,  Mahmoud Abdeen.

The Arab Championship precedes window two of the Asian qualifiers for the world’s premier basketball competition, the Basketball World Cup, in which Jordan will play Lebanon and Indonesia on February 24 and 27.

“We have a hard task against Lebanon in the upcoming qualifiers, but hope that the line-up will be up to the challenge. The league does not allow for better preparation, and the Arab Championship will hopefully help us put finishing touches on all preparations,” the team’s coach, former team star Wisam Al Sous, who played in the 2010 World Cup, noted. Sous underlined “the squad has their eyes set on reaching the World Cup.”

Jordan is now second in Group C after winning 68-61 and losing 72-64 against Saudi Arabia window 1 of the Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers as national sides play home and away games across three windows in Round 1. Lebanon lead the group with two wins.

Twelve teams will make it to Round 2, which will also have three windows up to February 2023. From the sixteen Asian nations competing there will be seven representing the continent at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. 

The Asian/Oceania qualifiers are Group A: India, South Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Group B: Australia, China, Chinese Taipei and Japan. Group C: Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Group D: Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan and Syria.

Jordan previously reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2010 and 2019, becoming the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.

The next edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup will take place from August 25 to September 10, 2023 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines with seven nations from Asia and Oceania qualifying for the 32 country field. As event hosts, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines have automatically qualify. Asia was last on the World Cup podium back in 1954 when the Philippines placed third.

The tournament will serve as qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics, where the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, will qualify alongside the tournament’s host France.

Last year, Jordan qualified to the FIBA Asia Cup  after an unbeaten streak in qualifiers hosted in Amman. The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia, but is now rescheduled to July 2022, right after the window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers.

Jordan, playing without its well-known stars and without a naturalised pro, beat all odds after an inconsistent preparation period marred with the COVID-19 outbreak and postponements. However, then coach, former national team star Marwan Ma’touq led the team to qualification, enlisting Sous and Mohammad Hamdan as his coaching staff, and relying on a new line-up of players that promise well for Jordan’s future in the game.

The relatively new line-up managed to seal the qualifiers with an unbeaten run and moved alongside Kazakhstan from Group F to be one of 16 teams in the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup. 

AMMAN — Jordan will play Tunisia on Wednesday in their second match at the Arab Nations Basketball Championship currently under way in Dubai.

The national team is playing in Group 1 alongside Libya and the UAE to whom they unexpectedly lost 85-81 (41-47) in the opening match. 

The 24th edition of the championship has only seven teams competing after Qatar and Syria declined. Lebanon, Somalia and Algeria are playing in Group B. The top four teams will move to round 2 following which the winners will advance to the semifinal round.

Jordan’s squad is missing Zeid Abbas and Mousa Awadi due to injury as well as Ahmad Dweiri who plays in the Turkish league and Dar Tucker the naturliased pro, as well as,  Mahmoud Abdeen.

The Arab Championship precedes window two of the Asian qualifiers for the world’s premier basketball competition, the Basketball World Cup, in which Jordan will play Lebanon and Indonesia on February 24 and 27.

“We have a hard task against Lebanon in the upcoming qualifiers, but hope that the line-up will be up to the challenge. The league does not allow for better preparation, and the Arab Championship will hopefully help us put finishing touches on all preparations,” the team’s coach, former team star Wisam Al Sous, who played in the 2010 World Cup, noted. Sous underlined “the squad has their eyes set on reaching the World Cup.”

Jordan is now second in Group C after winning 68-61 and losing 72-64 against Saudi Arabia window 1 of the Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers as national sides play home and away games across three windows in Round 1. Lebanon lead the group with two wins.

Twelve teams will make it to Round 2, which will also have three windows up to February 2023. From the sixteen Asian nations competing there will be seven representing the continent at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. 

The Asian/Oceania qualifiers are Group A: India, South Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Group B: Australia, China, Chinese Taipei and Japan. Group C: Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Group D: Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan and Syria.

Jordan previously reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2010 and 2019, becoming the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.

The next edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup will take place from August 25 to September 10, 2023 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines with seven nations from Asia and Oceania qualifying for the 32 country field. As event hosts, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines have automatically qualify. Asia was last on the World Cup podium back in 1954 when the Philippines placed third.

The tournament will serve as qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics, where the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, will qualify alongside the tournament’s host France.

Last year, Jordan qualified to the FIBA Asia Cup  after an unbeaten streak in qualifiers hosted in Amman. The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia, but is now rescheduled to July 2022, right after the window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers.

Jordan, playing without its well-known stars and without a naturalised pro, beat all odds after an inconsistent preparation period marred with the COVID-19 outbreak and postponements. However, then coach, former national team star Marwan Ma’touq led the team to qualification, enlisting Sous and Mohammad Hamdan as his coaching staff, and relying on a new line-up of players that promise well for Jordan’s future in the game.

The relatively new line-up managed to seal the qualifiers with an unbeaten run and moved alongside Kazakhstan from Group F to be one of 16 teams in the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup. 

BEIJING — Japanese figure skating icon Yuzuru Hanyu was “shocked” after making a shaky start to the defence of his Olympic crown on Tuesday while Californian-born teenage freestyle skier Eileen Gu won a thrilling gold for China on her Games debut.

Reigning champion Hanyu has won the last two Olympic titles and his showdown with American triple world champion Nathan Chen is one of the most eagerly anticipated events in Beijing.

But Hanyu has a fight on his hands to win a third gold medal after Chen smashed his Japanese rival’s world record in the opening programme, scoring 113.97 to comfortably beat Hanyu’s previous short programme best of 111.82.

The all-important free skate is on Thursday.

Chen, 22, performed a fist pump after his skate and said afterwards of his reaction: “I have no idea what came over me.

“I don’t generally do stuff like that but it just felt right... I was just really happy and I guess that just came out.”

Hanyu, 27, made a mistake on his first jump and told reporters he thought the error might have been caused by a hole in the ice made by another skater. 

“Actually, I feel really shocked today,” he said. “But I have one more chance in the free programme.”

Ten gold medals were up for grabs on the fourth full day of competition in the Chinese capital, in sports including curling, luge, snowboarding and speed skating. 

But the day belonged to 18-year-old Gu, who justified all the pre-Games hype by nailing her third and final run in the Big Air to snatch gold from Tess Ledeux and force the French competitor into silver.

Gu — known in China as Gu Ailing — collapsed to her knees on the snow and screamed in delight at the Big Air Shougang, where enormous industrial cooling towers provide a stunning backdrop.

“That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever... of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened,” she said.

The grade-A student and part-time model, who switched allegiance from the US to China in 2019, had been touted as one of the faces of the Beijing Olympics — and she did not disappoint despite the huge pressure on her young shoulders. 

Needing something special for gold, Gu nailed a left double cork 1620 — four and a half rotations in the air — before landing backwards.

“I have never done the ‘left 16 before’, I hadn’t prepared much for it apart from two days on the air bag,” Gu said.

“My mum called me before my last jump and told me not to, but I was adamant I wanted to do the ‘left 16’.”

Gu, born to an American father and Chinese mother, has captivated China and could yet win more gold. She is also competing in the freeski halfpipe and slopestyle.

She won her gold in front of several hundred spectators including Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis player who on Monday claimed there had been a “huge misunderstanding” over an online post in which she alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a senior Chinese politician.

Peng, who sparked international concern when she fell silent after making the allegation in November, was seen sitting next to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

In the mountains of Yanqing, north of Beijing, Matthias Mayer successfully defended his super-G title to become the first men’s alpine skier to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympics.

It was a remarkable result for the Austrian, who won this title four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games but has had little World Cup success in the discipline since.

American Ryan Cochran-Siegle took a surprise silver just 0.04sec behind, with Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde claiming bronze.

Mayer, who also won a bronze medal in Monday’s downhill, said: “I saw Kilde’s run on TV at the start and it was really good so I knew that I had to go all in.”

Dual winter sports champion Ester Ledecka also successfully defended her snowboard parallel giant slalom title.

Czech Ledecka made history four years ago when she became the first woman to win gold in two different sports at a Winter Olympics, taking skiing and snowboarding titles.

She will again switch from snowboard to skis on Thursday as she goes in the super-G.

Other golds went to Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger, who won the women’s singles for a luge record-equalling sixth Olympic medal, while Italy enjoyed a historic triumph in curling.

Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini’s victory in the mixed doubles was their country’s first Olympic medal in the sport.

YANQING, China — Sweden’s Sara Hector won the women’s Olympic giant slalom on Monday in a race stripped of a showdown with Mikaela Shiffrin after the American slid out in the first leg.

Hector, fastest down on the opening run of two, clocked a combined total of 1min 55.69sec to finish 0.28sec ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone, with current world champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland rounding out the podium.

“I really tried to push it and give it all I got. It’s just amazing,” Hector said.

“It’s been so much all day. I’ve been so nervous. It’s so much feeling, it’s crazy. It’s for sure a lot of joy.”

Defending champion Shiffrin’s bid for a third Olympic gold medal lasted only a handful of gates before she slipped wide and was unable to regain her line.

“The day was finished basically before it even started,” the 26-year-old said.

It was a hammer blow for Shiffrin, who also won slalom gold at the 2014 Sochi Games, but the American vowed to quickly refocus on Wednesday’s shorter technical event in which she is a four-time world champion.

World Cup slalom standings leader Hector, however, lived up to her own billing as one of the favourites, holding her nerve in a drama-packed second run down the Ice River course that caught out many of the pre-race favourites.

Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund took a convincing mid-field lead as Slovakia’s six-time world championship medallist Petra Vlhova, 13th fastest in the first run, failed to make any impression in the second, with Austria’s world bronze medallist Katharina Liensberger also fading.

The race moved into the top 10, starting with a fourth Swiss in the diminutive figure of defending world champion Gut-Behrami.

The 30-year-old made no mistake with the fastest second leg, in 57.24sec, to take the temporary lead.

Two-time former world champion Tessa Worley of France and Nina O’Brien both then crashed, the American leaving on a stretcher sledge. 

The waiting top five then had a nervous wait, but Hector held her form magnificently to bring home the gold.

Silver medallist Brignone said she was happy to have improved on her bronze from 2018.

“Before coming here I said if I come back with one medal that would be a great dream for me. Doing it at the first race, it’s amazing,” she said.

‘Not going to cry’

Shiffrin had warned before the race that her performance would have to be “full gas, full precision”, but she admitted her start to her Beijing Olympics campaign had been a “huge disappointment”. 

“I will never get over this,” she said. “I’ve never gotten over any.”

She said the Yanqing course was “beautiful yet unforgiving”.

“I rarely go out in GS [giant slalom]. The easiest thing to say is that I skied a couple of good turns and one turn wrong and I paid the consequences.”

A lack of giant slalom training, a back injury and 10 days spent in isolation after contracting COVID-19 before coming to China also hindered her preparations, Shiffrin added.

“I’m not going to cry about this because that’s just wasting energy. My best chance for the next races is to move forward, to refocus and I feel like I’m in a good place to do that.

“I don’t know about the medals, but I know my skiing is good and I know that even my GS skiing is good... But you just don’t know what’s going to happen.

“I’m going to do my very best to keep the right mentality and keep pushing, and that’s it.”

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James returned from a five-game injury absence with a triple-double on Saturday fueling the Los Angeles Lakers’ thrilling 122-115 come-from-behind overtime triumph over the New York Knicks.

James, who had been sidelined by swelling in his left knee, scored 29 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and handed out 10 assists as the Lakers authored their biggest comeback of the season after trailing by as many as 21 in the first half and by 15 at the interval.

“Feels good to be out there with my teammates, trying to put guys in position both offensively and defensively and giving what I’ve got,” James said.

“It was a great win for us,” added James, who watched the Lakers go 1-4 while he was out.

It was a sweet one, too, for a team that heard boos from Lakers fans rain down on Russell Westbrook after he clanked a shot off the rim in the first half amid the team’s struggles.

Centre Anthony Davis scored 28 points and pulled down 17 rebounds and rising star Malik Monk was instrumental in the second-half turnaround with 25 of his 29 points coming after halftime.

“That third quarter was electrifying. He got hot,” James said of Monk’s 18-point outburst in the period. “We needed that”.

The Lakers took their first lead of the contest late in the third and went into the fourth with an 87-84 lead.

They pushed the advantage to as many as nine points, but RJ Barrett’s three-pointer with 8.1 seconds left knotted the score at 111-111 and James missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

The Lakers dominated the extra session, James setting a tone with a thundering dunk after a steal by Talen Horton-Tucker for a 113-111 edge.

Julius Randle’s two baskets accounted for all four of the Knicks’ points in overtime.

Barrett led the Knicks with a career-high 36 points. Former Laker Randle scored 32 points with 16 rebounds and seven assists, but the Knicks fell to 12th in the East, outside the post-season play-in berths.

At ninth in the West, the Lakers are in play-in position and hoping they can improve to grab direct entry into the play-offs.

“It’s all about taking accountability for your own actions,” James said of what the erratic Lakers must do to improve. “If you want change, you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror and demand more out of yourself.”

In other games, the league-leading Phoenix Suns bounced back from Thursday’s defeat in Atlanta that ended their 11-game winning streak with a 95-80 victory over the Wizards in Washington.

Deandre Ayton scored 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds and Chris Paul scored 14 points and handed out nine assists for the Suns, who improved to 42-10 and moved 2 1/2 games ahead of the Golden State Warriors for best record in the league.

Phoenix led by 27 points at halftime, allowing the Wizards just 11 points in the second quarter and 32 in the first half.

Ja Morant was the star of the Memphis Grizzlies’ 135-115 blowout over the Magic in Orlando.

Morant scored 22 points in the first half and sat out the fourth quarter with the Grizzlies well on their way to a fifth victory in six games.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 points and Steven Adams contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds for Memphis, who out-scored the Magic 68-34 in the paint.

Morant handed out seven assists, and his many highlights included a third-quarter behind-the-back pass to Ziaire Williams, who found De’Anthony Melton for a dunk that put the Grizzlies up by 31.

It was another lopsided result in Charlotte, where Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler scored 27 points and centre Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 104-86 victory over the Hornets.

Adebayo also handed out three assists, came up with three steals and blocked two shots and the Heat produced a 35-8 scoring run in the third quarter to rally from a 51-46 halftime deficit.

YAOUNDÉ — Hosts Cameroon finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday after wiping out a three-goal deficit against Burkina Faso to draw 3-3, then win 5-3 on penalties.

Ambroise Oyongo scored the decisive penalty in Yaounde as the Indomitable Lions atoned for missing three kicks when losing a semi-final shootout against Egypt 48 hours ago.

Goals by Steeve Yago and Djibril Ouattara either side of an Andre Onana own goal gave the Burkinabe a 3-0 lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Stephane Bahoken reduced arrears and then substitute Vincent Aboubakar netted on 85 and 87 minutes to force a shootout.

Cameroon coach Toni Conceicao made nine changes to the team that lost on penalties to Egypt after extra time just two days ago at Stade Olembe, the main Yaounde stadium.

The Portuguese retained only goalkeeper Andre Onana and midfielder Samuel Oum Gouet, who was replaced at half-time by leading tournament scorer Aboubakar.

Burkina Faso boss Kamou Malo altered five of the team that started a 3-1 semi-final loss to Sadio Mane-inspired Senegal 24 hours before Cameroon played.

Two of them were enforced with injured goalkeeper Herve Koffi replaced by Farid Ouedraogo while suspended midfielder Adama Guira gave way to Ismahila Ouedraogo.

The countries had met three times before in the flagship African tournament with Cameroon winning twice, including in the opening match of this Cup of Nations, and drawing the other.

It was the third bronze medals play-off for both teams with each winning and losing once in a fixture that Africa has retained while Europe has ditched. 

Similar goal

Farid Ouedraogo made saves in quick succession from stand-in captain Oyongo and Jean Onana that led to him needing treatment for an injury as Cameroon threatened to score first.

Burkina Faso barely looked menacing before taking the lead on 24 minutes when Yago crept in at the far post to half volley an Issa Kabore cross into the roof of the net.

It was a similar goal to that scored by Burkinabe Gustavo Sangare in the opening match on January 9 before Aboubakar converted two penalties to give Cameroon maximum points.

The Stallions doubled their lead in the final minute of regular first half time when Andre Onana let a Kabore cross slip from his grasp into the net for an own goal.

Initially, the referee disallowed the goal because he incorrectly believed the ball had crossed the line, but the VAR official convinced him to change his decision.

Burkina Faso, who edged Ghana to finish third in their last Cup of Nations appearance five years ago, added a third goal just four minutes into the second half.

Aston Villa forward Bertrand Traore crossed from the right and a powerful header from Djibril Ouattara gave no chance to Andre Onana, who is set to move from Ajax to Inter Milan in July.

Bahoken pulled one goal back for the Indomitable Lions on 71 minutes when the Burkinabe failed to clear a corner and the forward fired into the net from point-blank range.

The goal triggered a remarkable comeback with Aboubakar netting twice in quick succession as full-time approached to force a penalty shootout.