Sports

LOS ANGELES — Team LeBron upstaged Team Stephen 148-145 in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday in a thrilling duel that featured spectacular plays at both ends of the court by the game’s premier players.

Playing-captain LeBron James finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to lead all scorers in front of a sold out crowd of 17,800 at Staples Centre arena.

“It was a great weekend and we capped it off the right way,” said Cleveland Cavaliers James, who was also named MVP of the game for the third time in his career.

Team LeBron staged a second half rally and then got the defensive stops they needed in the fourth quarter to win the mid-February classic after trailing by two points at the half.

This year the league decided to go to a new selection format for picking the teams to try and make the game more competitive which  worked.

“We wanted to change the narrative of the all-star game being a joke,” said Team LeBron’s Kevin Durant, who was MVP of the 2014 all-star game. “We wanted to make it a real basketball game.

“Everybody just falls in line when the game tells you to.”

Last year in New Orleans, the Western Conference outgunned the East 192-182 in a game that lacked intensity and especially the clutch defensive plays that brought the Staples Centre crowd to its feet on Sunday.

Under the new format, James and Stephen Curry, the top two all-star vote-getters, got to pick their teams from a pool of 22 available players. The first four picks had to come from the list of all-star starters.

“You got to give credit to the new format,” said Team Stephen’s DeMar DeRozan. “You are playing with guys you normally play against twice a year. That changed it up and gave it a new-found energy.”

Golden State Warriors star Durant tallied 19 points and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George delivered 16 points for Team LeBron.

Four-time all-star DeRozan, of the Toronto Raptors, and Portland Trail Blazers Damian Lillard each scored 21 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds for Team Stephen.

The 33-year-old James, who was playing in his 14th all-star game, scored the eventual winning basket on a finger roll layup with 34 seconds left in the fourth to make if 146-145.

James said the initial plan was to get the ball to Russell Westbrook and let him drive to the basket.

‘Play the right way’

“Sometimes you have to improvise when it breaks down,” James said. “We were able to do that. That’s the beauty of being on the floor with a bunch of all-stars.

“It doesn’t always work out but when you have guys with high basketball IQs, and guys that play the game the right way, it works out for the best.”

After James Harden missed a three-point attempt for Team Stephen, James was able to feed Westbrook for a running layup with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.

Curry was guarded closely by his Golden State teammate Durant and James so he passed off to DeRozan, who missed on a long attempt from the right corner as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

“Once I got the ball and turned and looked to get a shot, I saw LeBron and K.D. try to double team me,” Curry said.

“I was just trying to make a play and nothing surfaced.”

Durant said he is going to enjoy having bragging rights over two-time NBA MVP Curry when they see each other later this week at practice.

“We just wanted to get a stop at the end of the game,” Durant said. “Everybody knows how deadly Steph is around the three point line, especially me. So I just tried to get a hand up and make him pass.

“For sure that was a great defensive play by myself. I’m patting myself on the back.”

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — For some skaters, winning back-to-back Olympic golds for the first time in more than half a century, especially while taking painkillers for a damaged ankle, would be achievement enough for a lifetime. But not for Yuzuru Hanyu.

Barely 24 hours after topping the podium in Pyeongchang just months after suffering an ankle injury so severe it threatened his career, the Japanese phenomenon has a new goal — to land a quadruple Axel, a jump no skater has yet achieved.

“Right now I have no intention to stop skating,” he told a news conference on Sunday, after winning gold a day earlier with a flawed yet nonetheless captivating free skate.

“I’ve already achieved all my dreams and I’ve really done plenty, I feel. But there are still things I want to do in skating. My whole life’s been dedicated to it and that’s been really good — but I want just a little more.”

At the top of that list is to land a quadruple Axel, which is believed to be technically possible but would require an extra half-turn in the air on top of the four already needed for any successful quad. Nobody’s achieved it.

“I want to do one, because nobody else has,” the 23-year-old said. “The jump that has never let me down is the triple Axel. I’ve probably put more time, practice and energy into it than into any other jump. 

“One of my coaches has called the Axel ‘the king of jumps’ and while being grateful to the triple for all it’s given me, I’d like to aim for a quad.”

His immediate priority, however, is healing an ankle he damaged in November during a practice fall that forced him into an eleventh-hour withdrawal from the NHK Trophy and then an extended hiatus from competitive action. 

Remarkably, his first competition since the injury was Friday’s short programme in Pyeongchang.

Complicated injury

Hanyu said on Sunday that the initial damage to his “really painful” ankle was so complicated that nobody really knew how to treat it or even give an accurate prognosis.

“Everything depends on my ankle. I’ve been taking painkillers, injections would have been better but that wasn’t possible. So I’ve just taken lots and lots of painkillers.

“To be honest, the situation is unclear even now. All I can say is that if I wasn’t taking painkillers, I couldn’t do the jumps or land them,” he said. “I need some time to recover.”

Although Hanyu did not rule out a world title defence in March, he said decisions concerning future competitions would have to wait.

During the months after his fall, the usually upbeat Hanyu, an advocate of focusing on the present, admitted he had struggled.

“Mentally, I wasn’t in a bad state but the environment, the situation, the conditions all dragged me in a negative direction,” he said.

“I’d put a lot into skating, given up a lot for it. If I had to stop, I didn’t know what I’d do.”

But a series of physical issues in the four years since his Sochi triumph, including several sprains, surgery and a succession of illnesses on top of the asthma he has had since a child, all worked towards strengthening his resolve.

“But honestly, if there hadn’t been anything before I got hurt at the NHK Trophy, I don’t think I could have won Olympic gold,” he said.

“It’s because I had so many experiences that I was able to think and learn a lot.”

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Sarah Hoefflin claimed the Olympic gold medal in women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle in a Swiss one-two at Pyeongchang’s Phoenix Park on Saturday.

Compatriot Mathilde Gremaud won silver, while Britain’s Isabel Atkin took the bronze in a final that had confounded many pre-competition predictions.

Sochi gold medallist Dara Howell was eliminated in qualifying, while none of the top-10 of the World Cup standings got on the podium.

In glorious sunshine at Phoenix Snow Park, fans were treated to an entertaining final and it was Swiss pair Gremaud and Hoefflin who made the early running to lay down the two highest scores of the first round.

Norway duo of Johanne Killi and Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen both fell on the rails in first run. Sweden’s Emma Dahlstom, who qualified in first place with a 91.40 — the highest score of the day — also fell on the first kicker.

Further falls for Sjaastad Christiansen and Dahlstrom and a disappointing run for Killi in the second round meant the top three in the world were all struggling going into the final runs.

Hoefflin, currently 12 in the FIS World Cup, then raised the bar further as she improved her score to 91.20, taking the lead off her compatriot.

Gremaud, who admitted afterwards she had been suffering from a head injury in the build-up to qualification, went for the switch double 1080 on the final kicker of her last run to take back the gold, but fell going for glory.

Britain’s Atkins produced a clean third run to score 84.60 and move into third place. She then faced a nervous wait as the final three athletes took their final runs.

After neither of the highly-touted Norwegians could break into the top three with their final attempts, it was down to world championship silver medallist Dahlstrom in the final run of the afternoon.

However, the Swede couldn’t deliver and Switzerland got their first freestyle skiing gold since Evelyne Leu won the aerials in 2006.

“I think there were a lot of girls who could have won,” Hoefflin told reporters afterwards.

“But one thing that is so great about women’s free skiing is it really is anyone’s to win.”

“But I was really lucky in the finals because I didn’t have any wind in my runs, compared to some of the others. That helped me a lot.”

Atkin, who is also a FIS World Championship bronze medallist, celebrated with friends and family after sealing the bronze medal. In doing so, Atkin won Britain’s first Winter Olympic medal on skis.

“I wasn’t aware that was the case until someone told me earlier in an interview,” said the 19-year-old.

“I was just stoked I got to ski with my team-mate Katie [Summerhayes] today.”

“I wasn’t too concerned about the result [coming in the final] but I am so pleased to come away with the bronze.”

It was a disappointing afternoon for many of the world’s top skiers.

Fifteen-year-old Jennie-Lee Burmansson, first in the world cup rankings, was aiming to become Sweden’s youngest ever winter Olympic medallist, but could only manage an eighth place finish.

Birthday girl and Sochi silver medallist Devin Logan could not repeat her feat from four years ago and finished in 10th.

MADRID — Zinedine Zidane has been questioned for his failure to repeat Real Madrid’s magnificent feats of last season, but the Frenchman showed he still knows how to manage a big game as his side beat Paris St Germain 3-1 on Wednesday in the Champions League.

Zidane was expected to match PSG’s 4-3-3 formation and field Gareth Bale in the last 16-first leg at the Bernabeu, but instead opted to play Isco to give his team numerical superiority in midfield.

“We wanted to control the game and we did that,” Zidane told reporters.

“We did that by playing four in middle against their midfield three, Isco had a great game and gave us greater possession and the game went as we had envisaged it.”

Real made the stronger start although they fell behind to Adrien Rabiot’s strike, which Cristiano Ronaldo cancelled out from the penalty spot.

Zidane looked to his bench to win the game and made ultra-attacking changes by throwing on Bale and wingers Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez.

The injection of fresh legs startled the tired visitors and after Bale came close to scoring from the right-hand side Asensio made two darting runs down the left which led to Ronaldo putting Real ahead in the 83rd minute and Marcelo’s late strike tightened their grip on the tie.

“Despite all the speculation, we showed that you can never presume Real Madrid are dead,” Real captain Sergio Ramos said.

After sweeping to the Liga and Champions League double last season and becoming the first coach to successfully defend the trophy since the tournament changed format, Zidane has seen his reputation as a coach nose-dive as his side fell way behind Barcelona in the Liga and were eliminated from the King’s Cup.

Their hopes for the season entirely rested on the blockbuster tie against PSG and with their supporters fully behind them in a competition they have won an astounding 12 times, Real delivered.

“The Champions League turns us on,” said Zidane. “This club has won this competition 12 times for a reason.” 

Marca newspaper hailed Zidane’s strategy.

“Zidane struck back and turned the tie on its head with a statement of authority from the tactical board,” the paper said.

“It was a masterstroke which gave his team wings and came off perfectly.” 

The late goals gave Real a big advantage going into the second leg in Paris on March 6 and Ramos called on his side to produce a repeat performance to continue their quest for a third consecutive Champions League triumph.

“We were effective in a way we haven’t been for much of the season and we played a complete game,” he said.

“This is the example we need to follow in the second leg, we need to play as serious as we did and keep showing that desire to keep defending this title.”

In the night’s other match, Sadio Mane grabbed a hat-trick and Mohamed Salah scored with a mesmerising piece of ball-juggling as Liverpool demolished Porto 5-0 away with an irresistible attacking.

Roberto Firmino completed the scoring to hand the Portuguese league leaders their heaviest-ever home defeat in European competition and virtually guarantee Liverpool a quarter-final place.

Mane opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a shot which slipped through goalkeeper Jose Sa’s hands and Salah struck four minutes later to take his tally to 30 this season in all competitions.

Mane snapped up a rebound eight minutes after halftime, then Firmino finished off another lethal move before the Senegalese completed his hat-trick with a shot from outside the area to bring Porto’s 24-match unbeaten run crunching to a halt.

AMMAN — Jordan dropped a further three spots to 116th when the latest FIFA Rankings were issued on Thursday.

Jordan had dropped six spots to 113 in January after it lost 2-1 to world’s 66th ranked Finland and beat 12th ranked Denmark’s second tier U-21 team 3-2 during a training camp in Abu Dhabi amid the preparation agenda for the 2019 Asian Cup finals.

Observers pointed out that facing second tier lineups and not senior teams might not give coaches the outcomes expected.

The team is still out of the Asian top 10, trailing Iran (33) Australia (36), Japan (55), South Korea (58), Saudi Arabia (64), China (68), Uzbekistan (72), Palestine (73), Syria (75), the UAE (78), Lebanon (82), Iraq (85), Oman (101), Qatar India (102). Qatar (103), Vietnam (112), Turkmenistan (113) and Kyrgyzstan (115).

Germany leads World Rankings at No. 1 followed by Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, France and Chile. Tunisia are the top-ranked Arab team in the 23rd spot, followed by Morocco (42), Egypt (43), Algeria (60) and Saudi Arabia (64).

Jordan ended 2017 at 107th — a position they did not better throughout last year. The team now at 19th in the AFC lagging behind relatively uncompetitive Asian teams compared to their best FIFA Ranking of 37th in 2004. Their lowest ranking of 152nd in 1996.  

Jordan qualified to the 2019 Asian Cup finals after topping Group C eliminating relatively unknown teams in the Asian continent. The Kingdom beat Cambodia 7-0, Afghanistan 4-1, and was held 0-0 with Vietnam. In the return leg, Jordan managed a 3-3 draw with Afghanistan and beat Cambodia 1-0 to qualify alongside second place Vietnam.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972. Jordan reached the Asian Championship three times. the pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup when it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals. It also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015.

After elimination from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, trying to qualify to the Asian finals was a priority for Jordan, which has steadily slid down FIFA rankings and the team has had an inconsistent two years compared to 2013 when Jordan was on the verge of qualifying to the 2014 World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie. It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in qualifiers. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers since 1986. 

TURIN — On the ropes after Gonzalo Higuain struck twice for Juventus in the opening nine minutes, Tottenham Hotspur launched a Harry Kane-led fightback to draw 2-2 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

When Argentina striker Higuain volleyed Juve in front after two minutes and fired home a penalty seven minutes later the hosts, runners-up in two of the last three season, appeared to have one foot already in the quarter-finals.

Tottenham were wobbling but responded to dominate for long periods, and Kane halved the deficit in the 35th minute with his ninth goal in nine appearances in the competition.

The outstanding Christian Eriksen beat veteran keeper Gianluigi Buffon with a free kick 20 minutes from fulltime to give Tottenham the advantage going into next month’s second leg at Wembley Stadium where they have already beaten champions Real Madrid in the group phase.

Juve, who had conceded only once in their previous 16 games in all competitions, will rue Higuain’s missed penalty on the stroke of halftime but could have few complaints after being shaken to the core by a vibrant Spurs side.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino even sounded disappointed his side had not gone on to end Juve’s near five-year unbeaten run at home in European competition.

“The character we showed today was fantastic,” he said. “Two down against a side who are so difficult to break down and in the end we deserved to win more than to draw.

“This showed the team is more mature. The first minutes were difficult but it was amazing how we reacted.”

Tottenham arrived full of confidence after winning a group containing Real and Borussia Dortmund.

But they were caught cold as Juventus were awarded a free kick and Miralem Pjanic cleverly picked out Higuain who swivelled to volley right-footed past Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham had barely put two passes together when they fell further behind. Ben Davies was caught napping and his rash tackle sent Federico Bernardeschi flying to give the referee an easy decision to point to the spot.

Higuain duly converted despite Lloris guessing the right way and getting a touch on the ball.

From a position of control, however, Juve began to retreat and allow Tottenham’s creative department of Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela and Dele Alli to pull the strings.

Eriksen’s sublime pass should have resulted in a goal for Kane but his header was superbly saved by Buffon, who also got down well to deflect another Kane shot wide.

Juve were dangerous on the counter-attack with Higuain almost scoring a third, but Tottenham were back in the tie when Alli picked out Kane after 35 minutes and the England striker rounded Buffon before sliding home.

Tottenham had a huge let-off on the stroke of halftime when they were caught on the counter-attack and Douglas Costa enticed Serge Aurier into a desperate lunge to concede another penalty.

Higuain took the ball but rather than celebrate a first-half hat-trick his penalty rattled the crossbar.

Juventus played more like the away side in the second half with Tottenham again pressing, although the hosts went close with Lloris saving well from Bernardeschi and Mario Mandzukic then heading straight at the thankful French keeper.

There was barely a dull moment and when Tottenham were awarded a foul 25 metres from goal Eriksen drilled a low shot that deceived Buffon and nestled into the corner.