Sports

If Leicester’s rise to the top of English football is the most bewildering aspect of this chaotic season in the Premier League, then the implosion of Chelsea runs a close second.

A 3-2 loss to Sunderland on Saturday made it official: Chelsea will end the season with the worst title defence in the 24-year history of the Premier League.

The Blues can finish no higher than ninth place and could still drop as low as 11th.

That’s much worse than Manchester United’s seventh-place finish under David Moyes in his woeful 10 months in charge in 2013-14, which is some achievement in itself.

And there’s still one ignominy left in this sorry campaign for Chelsea: On Sunday, the team will give a guard of honour to Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri and his players when the new champions come to Stamford Bridge on the final day of the season.

Ranieri was the coach fired by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in 2004 as he chased the signature of Jose Mourinho.

Chelsea started as the runaway champions from the previous season, with a squad to envy and a manager widely regarded as one of the world’s best. It’s turned into an absolute mess.

There’s the Eva Carneiro saga from the opening day of the season that left the club in a bad light and will drag on into June in the courts; the firing of Mourinho in December; the fall from grace of top players like Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and sulky striker Diego Costa; relinquishing the league title with barely a whimper; and on Saturday, the sight of long-time captain John Terry trudging to the dressing room after being sent off late against Sunderland in what likely was his 703rd and final match for Chelsea.

The 35-year-old Terry, who has been at Chelsea since he was 14, hasn’t been offered a new deal.

“Captain. Leader. Legend” reads the banner about Terry draped across one of the stands at Stamford Bridge.

“We know what he has done for this club and what he has won,” Matic said of Terry. “All of us in the team wish him all the best for the future and of course this is not a good way to finish in a club.”

Stamford Bridge is going to be a very different place next season. With Terry set to leave — it’s unclear whether for the United States, China or another English club — the last member of Chelsea’s old guard and spine (Petr Cech, Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba) disappears. Losing all that experience and winning mentality leaves a massive hole in the team.

There’ll be no Champions League football at Chelsea for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

And there’ll be another new manager in situ — current Italy coach Antonio Conte.

Where to start on Conte’s to-do list. Replace Terry; attempt to keep hold of Hazard; decide whether Diego Costa is worth the effort and strengthen the forward line; try to attract players to a club no longer in Europe’s elite; and assess how big a role youngsters like Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy and Bertrand Traore should have next season.

If Italy reaches the European Championship final on July 10, Conte will have barely a month before the new English season starts. Planning is surely under way already, but he’s still got precious little time to get his feet under the table at the club’s training base at Cobham.

A huge rebuilding job appears necessary at Chelsea but will Conte get the funds from Abramovich to do so? Mourinho didn’t last year, perhaps precipitating his decline. And for Chelsea to get top stars without the lure of the Champions League, it might have to spend extra for players.

With Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United also likely to be in the market for world-class players this offseason, Conte will have to be astute and could end up turning to Italian players in the transfer market. And there’s no knowing how that will turn out.

The soap opera that is Chelsea Football Club has always guaranteed drama and headlines in the Abramovich era, but also a regular supply of silverware and European football.

Maybe no more.

PORTLAND, Oregon — Golden State’s Stephen Curry returned from a sprained right knee to score an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, finishing with 40 as the Warriors won 132-125 at Portland on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

The day’s other game also went to overtime, with Miami downing Toronto to square that series at two games apiece.

Curry, playing for the first time since he was injured in the first-round series against Houston, was rusty for three quarters but sensational in the closing stages as the Warriors came from 16 points down to force overtime.

Originally expected to play about 25 minutes off the bench, Curry picked up a heavier workload in the second half after Shaun Livingston, who had been starting in his absence, was ejected in the second quarter after arguing a call and picking up two technical fouls.

His victorious return came hours after a person with knowledge of the award told The Associated Press that Curry would repeat as NBA MVP, with the announcement coming as early as Tuesday.

The Warriors can win the series Wednesday at home in Game 5.

Damian Lillard finished with 36 points and 10 assists for Portland.

Curry’s fast-break lay-up gave the defending NBA champions a 120-118 lead with 2:21 left in the extra period, and he followed with a 3-pointer.

Harrison Barnes’ lay-up extended the lead to 125-118 and Portland couldn’t catch up. Klay Thompson finished with 23.

In the fourth quarter, Draymond Green dunked to keep Golden State within 109-108. Mason Plumlee’s finger-roll layup extended Portland’s margin but Barnes tied it with a 3-pointer for Golden State with 51 seconds left, and both Lillard and Curry missed to force the OT.

Curry led the Warriors to an NBA-record 73 wins in the regular season, a year after leading the team to their first NBA championship in 40 years. He averaged just over 30 points per game this season.

The Blazers started strongly and led 16-2 when Curry came off the bench with 5:56 left in the first quarter.

Portland led 67-57 at half-time, scoring a franchise play-off record 41 points in the second quarter alone.

Miami’s Dwyane Wade saved the Heat in regulation, then finished off overtime with an emphatic dunk as the hosts beat Toronto 94-87 on Monday to tie their NBA second-round play-off series at 2-2.

Wade scored 30 points and Goran Dragic had a huge three-point play with 22.4 seconds left in overtime.

Dragic and Joe Johnson each scored 15 for the Heat, who rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Game 5 is in Toronto on Wednesday.

Terrence Ross and Cory Joseph each scored 14 for Toronto, which shot 39 per cent. Bismack Biyombo and DeMarre Carroll added 13 apiece, while starting guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry combined for 19 points on 6-for-28 shooting.

Miami was down 77-68 midway through the fourth quarter, and still trailed 79-72 with 5 minutes left.

Wade scored the next five points for Miami, getting the Heat within 79-77. The deficit was still two when Toronto’s Lowry fouled out with 1:58 left. The Heat finally got the equaliser with 12.6 seconds left.

Joseph missed a jumper to end regulation and the Raptors scored a mere four points in the extra session.

Wade tried a scoop shot from the right side of the lane in overtime. The ball bounced on the rim a few times, and stayed there, resulting in a jump ball that Toronto won with 58 seconds remaining. DeRozan scored on that possession to get Toronto within two, but the Raptors would not score again.

Heat rally

Miami’s Dwyane Wade saved the Heat in regulation, then finished off overtime with an emphatic dunk as the hosts beat Toronto 94-87 on Monday to tie their NBA second-round play-off series at 2-2.

Wade scored 30 points and Goran Dragic had a huge three-point play with 22.4 seconds left in overtime.

Dragic and Joe Johnson each scored 15 for the Heat, who rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Game 5 is in Toronto on Wednesday.

Kevin Durant tied a playoff career high with 41 points, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 111-97 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday that tied the Western Conference semi-final series at 2-2.

Down by four points after three quarters, Durant and the Thunder outscored the Spurs 34-16 in the fourth to pull away. Durant personally outscored the visitors 17-16 over the last 12 minutes.

Durant shot 14-for-25 from the field and was 10-for-13 from the free-throw line. In the second half alone, he scored 29 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

“When you have a deep team, those 40-point nights, they don’t come a lot,” Durant said.

“I just try to be consistent in what I do. I know that at any given moment, I can go off and hit a few shots. I just try and stay with it and play as hard as I can on both ends of the floor and leave it all out there and live with the results.”

Russell Westbrook added 14 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds for the Thunder. Steven Adams racked up 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Dion Waiters came off the bench to score 17 points.

Tony Parker paced the Spurs with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Kawhi Leonard posted 21 points and six rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points and grabbed six boards in the loss.

Game 5 is on Tuesday in San Antonio.

“You have to give him credit, he was great,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Durant. “I don’t know what else to say. He was fantastic.”

Waiters buried a 3-pointer to put the Thunder up 98-91 with 5:36 left, but Parker answered with a lay-up in traffic.

An Enes Kanter fastbreak dunk put Oklahoma City up by seven. With 3:14 left, Parker completed a three-point play to close gap to 100-96.

Durant was fouled and hit one of two from the line. Aldridge did the same when he went to the free-throw line.

Oklahoma City led by four before Durant scored four consecutive points to put the Thunder up 105-97 with 2:04 left.

“I just tried to stay in the moment,” Durant said. “We still had a couple of minutes left in the game, our crowd was phenomenal tonight. Probably the loudest I’ve ever heard them.”

Leonard tried to answer, but he missed back to back 3-pointers. Durant made the Spurs pay with a corner 3-pointer. Westbrook and Durant then put the game away with consecutive scoring trips.

“I think down the stretch in the fourth quarter, we made too many mistakes,” Popovich said. “Just not remembering who we were guarding and how we wanted to play.

“But having said that, they out-toughed us. They battered us on the boards. At the same time, they had some other players that joined in and made shots.”

The Thunder won the rebounding battle 40-34. Each team turned the ball over 14 times.

Westbrook started Game 4 with an agenda to be even more aggressive and intense. That led to him taking some questionable shots in the first quarter and getting into a verbal confrontation with referee Danny Crawford in which he had to be pulled away by assistant coach Mo Cheeks.

More than anything else, it was the Spurs’ defence that controlled the contest in the early stages.

San Antonio did not allow the Thunder any easy or open shots in the half-court and forced five turnovers as it took a 27-17 lead through one period.

It was a completely different story in the second quarter.

The Thunder defence locked down San Antonio. Oklahoma City went on a 28-17 run to take a one-point lead, but the veteran-laden Spurs answered with a 9-0 run to close out the half with a 53-45 advantage.

“Our defence wasn’t as good as it was in past games,” San Antonio’s Boris Diaw said. “We’ve been relying on our defence all regular season, so it should be the same in the play-offs.”

After a slow first half, Durant picked it up in the third quarter. He scored 12 points in the period and attacked the Spurs’ defence with his jump shot and drives to the basket.

Whether it was Danny Green or Leonard guarding him, Durant had his way in the second half.

“My teammates set great screens for me,” Durant said. “Just moving around. If I stay stationary, I’m easy to guard. They are going to send two or three people at me.

“I have to be strong the next game. Shots were going in. I just have to stick to my routine and next game, hopefully it’s better.”

LAUSANNE — Suspended European football boss Michel Platini will resign as head of governing body UEFA after losing a top level appeal against a ban for ethics violations, but said he would continue his fight to clear his name.

One of the finest players of his generation who went on to become a powerful sporting official, Frenchman Platini had been suspended after his dealings with fallen world football chief Sepp Blatter dragged him into the scandal which engulfed governing body FIFA.

Sport’s highest tribunal, The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), upheld Platini’s suspension on Monday, although it reduced the term from six years to four.

“The CAS Panel was of the opinion that a severe sanction could be justified in view of the superior functions carried out by Mr Platini [FIFA vice-president and UEFA president], the absence of any repentance and the impact that this matter has had on FIFA’s reputation,” the CAS statement said.

The ruling means that European football body UEFA, which has not replaced Platini since he was initially banned in October, will have to elect a new president.

Platini, though, pledged to continue his campaign to overturn his ban. His only remaining recourse is to appeal to the Swiss federal court, but this can only overturn the verdict if it finds procedural irregularities.

“I see this [decision] as a profound injustice... As agreed with the national associations I am resigning from my functions as president of UEFA in order to pursue my fight with the Swiss courts to prove my integrity in this affair,” Platini said in a statement.

A lawyer for Platini, Yves Wehrli, said the Frenchman would resign from UEFA “in the coming days”.

Platini had hoped to be absolved in time for the European championship which will take place in his native France in June and July.

UEFA’s next executive committee meeting will be in Basel on May 18 where they will look at when to hold a new presidential election to choose Platini’s replacement. So far, nobody has publicly stated that they intend to stand.

The French Football Federation (FFF) said it would respect the CAS decision but said: “The FFF nevertheless salutes the work of Michel Platini and the quality of a man who has always worked in the interest of football, particularly while he was UEFA president.”

Platini was banished along with Blatter over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.08 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

FIFA’s ethics committee said the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented conflicts of interest. Both men denied wrongdoing.

Platini had been favourite to replace Blatter at the time. Instead, his former general secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, entered the FIFA presidential race in his place and won the election in February.

Platini and Blatter were provisionally banned in October while FIFA’s ethics committee investigated the case, then suspended for eight years each in December, reduced to six years by the FIFA appeal committee in February.

AMMAN — Wihdat and Faisali play their final Round 1 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup matches on Tuesday.

Wihdat need a win over Lebanon’s Ahed hoping that Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr lose their match in order to secure qualification. They are now third in Group A and nearly out of the competition after a crushing 6-2 defeat by Bahrain’s Hidd. On the other hand, two-time AFC Cup champ Faisali play Iraq’s Naft Al Wasat having already booked one of two qualifying slots from Group B after a 4-2 win over Turkmenistan’s Istiklol Dushanbe. 

Jordanian Professional League champ Wihdat started off the competition with unstable performances. Wihdat retained the league title with difficulty and were closely chased by Faisali and Ahli. Wihdat’s Ziyad Shilbayeh had stressed the team “needs to work as one to win locally and regionally”.

A two-time AFC Cup winner, Faisali aim to return to the forefront of competitions this year while Wihdat hope the AFC will make up for elimination from the Asian Champions League — the premier Asian competition — where they lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Jeddah.  Wihdat have taken part in the past eight AFC editions but have not won an Asian title. Wihdat have been league champs for the past three seasons. This year, they conceded the season opening 33rd Super Cup to rivals Faisali while Ahli won the Jordan Cup.

The 14th AFC Cup has 40 clubs from across the continent competing in eight groups with the top two from each group going on to the Round of 16 when Round 1 ending on May 24. The second tier Asian club competition has been won three times by Jordanian teams: Faisali won titles in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007.

Jordanian clubs hope to win back the title this season after record winning Kuwaiti teams were suspended by FIFA. Prize money includes $1 million for the champ, $500,000 for the runner-up, $40,000 for semifinalists, $25,000 for quarter-finalists and $15,0000 for teams reaching the Round of 16.

In 2015, Jordanian teams were absent from advanced stages of Asian competitions as Wihdat and Jazira were knocked out of the AFC Cup Round of 16. While it was the first time for Jazira, who finished runner-up in the Jordan League and participated in the event after two-time AFC Cup champs and Faisali declined, Wihdat were hoping to advance and win the AFC Cup for the first time after taking part eight times.  

In 2014, Jordan Cup champs That Ras exited the Round of 16 in their inaugural AFC participation while former AFC Cup champs Shabab Urdun exited in Round 1.

LEICESTER, England — In scenes that would have seemed absurd a year ago, Leicester captain Wes Morgan collected the English Premier League trophy on Saturday after one of the most improbable turnarounds by a sports team.

“It’s the best time of my life,” Morgan, who joined Leicester as a second-tier club four years ago, said on the field. “You just want to enjoy every minute.”

After the preseason 5,000-1 title longshots got their hands on the biggest prize in English football, fireworks erupted on the King Power Stadium pitch before yellow and blue streamers cascaded from the roof. Ticker-tape emblazoned with the lyric to fans’ song “Jamie Vardy’s having a party” also covered the seats.

The top-scoring striker has powered the 132-year-old Foxes to their first top flight title by contributing 24 goals, with two of them coming in a swaggering 3-1 victory over Everton before the trophy presentation.

The striker, who signed from non-league Fleetwood Town four years ago, only missed out on a hat trick on his return from a two-game suspension when he missed a second penalty.

It was apt that midfielder Andy King was also on the score sheet. The lifelong Leicester player has been on the journey as the club climbed back from the third tier in 2009 to the top flight only two years ago.

Just a year ago, King and his teammates feared they were going to make an instant return to the second tier, and were relegation candidates at the start of this season.

But powered by Vardy’s goals, Riyad Mahrez’s trickery, and Kasper Schmeichel’s saves, Leicester confounded the odds to surge to the summit.

Leicester has embarrassed big-spending clubs from Manchester rivals United and City to Chelsea by winning the world’s richest football league without lavish spending.

Although Leicester have been owned for six years by Thai duty free group King Power, the squad is largely a collection of bargain buys and players cast off by bigger clubs.

At times, club chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, seemed to hold onto the trophy longer than his players on the field as he was followed by a picture of the Thai king.

“I always believed in the power of our spirit,” he wrote in Saturday’s matchday magazine. “It is a spirit that has spread beyond Leicester, taking our story to the hearts of the world.”

Thousands of fans gathered outside the stadium more than four hours before kick-off, before a deluge washed out the sunshine.

Hundreds of Italians also travelled by bus and plane to Leicester without tickets just to be part of a story that has enthralled the world beyond football fans. They have been captivated by how compatriot Claudio Ranieri turned the team into England’s first first-time champions since promoted Nottingham Forest’s 1978 success — an era before the financial disparities were so vast.

The most famous Italian at the celebrations was tenor Andrea Bocelli, who serenaded Ranieri on the field before the game to sing “Nessun Dorma”, the aria popularised in England during the 1990 World Cup.

“The cameras want to see if you cry,” Ranieri later recalled thinking. “Today I said, ‘No.’ But emotions inside me were at the top... I tried to stay calm without the emotion.”

Ranieri’s managerial career has taken in some of Europe’s biggest clubs — from Juventus to Chelsea — but only at Leicester with its modest budget has he become a title winner.

For the crowning moment of his career, Ranieri was joined by family, friends and former players.

“He has always been a calm manager in all circumstances, both when the team is doing well and when they’re not,” Vittorio Pusceddu, who played for Ranieri at Napoli and Fiorentina in the 1990s, said as he walked through Leicester to the stadium in the afternoon sun. “A manager has to do that, he has to instil calm in the environment. He’s very good at that and that’s what happened (at Leicester).”

Leicester’s ownership was ridiculed for hiring the 64-year-old Ranieri last July. He had been out of work since the previous year after being fired by Greece. And his only job in the Premier League at Chelsea ended 11 years earlier.

Ranieri’s prospects of avoiding relegation were written off. How he has proved his critics wrong and beguiled even non-Leicester fans with his command of the team and entertaining asides that shifted the focus away from players chasing history.

Above the Cank Street Gallery in central Leicester was written one such sound-bite. “Dilly ding, dilly dong” was uttered by a giddy Ranieri last month as he conveyed his excitement that a first career title was looming. The nonsensical but endearing one-liner has been turned into a fans’ song and also featured on ticker-tape that covered fans in the stadium.

Leicester has lost only three times in 37 games in the title bid. Not bad for a season when survival was the objective.

“We’ll show this wasn’t a fluke,” fan Alan Sewell said. “I don’t think it was a fluke but the rest of the world does.”

Damian Lillard scored a career play-off-high 40 points and dished out 10 assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers past the Golden State Warriors 120-108 on Saturday night at the Moda Centre.

Al Farouq Aminu collected 23 points and 10 rebounds and C. J. McCollum added 22 points for the Trail Blazers, who narrowed Golden State’s lead in the Western Conference semifinals to 2-1. Game 4 takes place Monday night in Portland.

Lillard was 14 for 27 from the field, including 8 for 13 from 3-point range. Aminu was 8-for-9 from the field, making four of his five 3-point attempts.

Draymond Green contributed a career playoff high 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Klay Thompson added 35 points for the Warriors, who were without injured star Stephen Curry.

Green finished with 13-for-23 shooting, going 8-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Lillard scored 25 points and Aminu contributed 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the second quarter as Portland carried a 58-46 lead into half-time. Thompson had 24 in the half for the Warriors, who were outscored 36-18 in the second period.

Portland increased its lead to 63-50, but Green buried back-to-back 3’s to whittle the margin to 63-56. The Blazers regained control with a 12-4 run that upped the advantage to 76-60. With Aminu leading the way, the Blazers took a 93-80 edge into the fourth quarter.

The Blazers increased the difference to 105-85, but Golden State used a 9-0 run to close within 105-94 with 5:25 remaining. Portland scored the next five points, and the Warriors never came closer than 12 the rest of the way.

Golden State jumped to a 16-9 lead as the Blazers started 4-for-16 from the field. Thompson scored 18 points as the Warriors carried a 28-22 advantage after the first quarter. Lillard had 11 for Portland.

The Blazers scored the first seven points of the second period to go in front 29-28. A Lillard 3-pointer pushed them ahead 42-36, and they extended the margin to 12 points at the break.

Raptors douse Heat

In a game in which both starting centres did not return after sustaining leg injuries, Kyle Lowry scored 33 points as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Miami Heat 95-91 on Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Raptors lead the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is Monday in Miami.

Lowry, who had been slumping in the first two games of the series, scored 15 points in the third quarter, going 3 of 3 on 3-pointers. He then added 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a jumper over Dwyane Wade with 31 seconds left to give Toronto a three-point lead.

The Heat’s Joe Johnson missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 16.8 seconds left that would have tied the score.

Miami were led by Wade, who scored 18 of his 38 points in the third quarter. He had 11 points in the fourth quarter but missed a contested 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds left with Miami down by four.

However, Heat centre Hassan Whiteside reinjured his right knee with 10:53 left in the second quarter. He had hurt the knee in Game 1 but kept playing.

This time, Whiteside, who led the NBA in blocked shots this season and finished third in balloting for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, left the game with six points and no rebounds in eight minutes,

Toronto centre Jonas Valanciunas, who averaged 19.5 points and 13 rebounds in the first two games, had 16 points and 12 rebounds when he sprained his right ankle with 8:53 left in the third quarter.

The Raptors led 55-42 when the injury happened to Valanciunas, who was hurt when he tried to block a Wade layup and fell awkwardly.

Toronto led early, taking a 23-19 lead after the first quarter and 49-40 at the half. The Raptors heated up in the second quarter, shooting 68.8 per cent from the floor and leading by as many as 11 points.

The Heat, which shot just 46.2 per cent from the floor in the first half, had one rather unexpected highlight in the second quarter. That’s when back-up centre Josh McRoberts, playing for Whiteside, blocked a dunk attempt by Valanciunas, leading to a Luol Deng lay-up.

In the third quarter, Wade had a sensational play, following his own missed mid-range jumper by dunking the ball with his right hand, all in one motion. That seemed to ignite Wade for his huge quarter as the Heat rallied to tie the score 68-68.

AMMAN — Nasser Al Attiyah may have eased his pace over the closing stages of the Jordan Rally, but the Qatari was still in inspired form and a whitewash of each of the 19 special stages was enough to give the Skoda Fabia R5 driver a staggering winning margin of 18min 18.4sec, according to the Jordan Rally News Service.

A 10th victory in the Kingdom and 63rd of his FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) career was never really in doubt once eventual runner-up Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari left the road on Friday afternoon, before clawing his way back from fifth to second place in a second Skoda Fabia R5.

Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel rarely seemed to break sweat after a dominant weekend. “It was important that I came here with a focus to win the rally and claim the maximum 39 points for winning both legs and the event,” said Attiyah, who now has a massive MERC series lead after three rounds.

“I was able to control the race from the very start and set my own pace. Whoever wants to compete outside in the World Championship needs to first beat Nasser Attiyah in the Middle East,” he added.

On an event held in conjunction with the celebrations of 100 years since the Great Arab Revolt, it was fitting that two Jordanian drivers should be involved in the fight in the desert to decide the winner of MERC 2. Khaled Juma held all the aces in the pack at the start of the day, but Husam Salem returned with a vengeance and a rebuilt car and began to eat into his rival’s advantage throughout the morning.

Salem was closing fast on Juma when the latter’s Mitsubishi reached a real low point at the Baptism Site and spluttered to a halt in the water splash, the 17 minutes lost wrecking the local national championship’s podium dream and handing Salem the lead.

But Salem lost five minutes in the penultimate stage before retiring ahead of the last stage, depriving the host nation of a second successive podium finish after one of the most dramatic rallies in recent regional history.

This left the door open for Abdullah Al Kuwari, the Qatari duly confirming a 1-2-3 podium finish for the gas-rich state. It was also the first all-Qatari podium outside Qatar in MERC history.

Khalid Al Suwaidi overhauled Juma in the 17th stage to snatch fourth position after Salem’s late demise, while Juma managed to reach the finish in fifth after Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri withdrew three stages from the end with transmission issues.

Lebanon’s Rodolphe Asmar was sixth, Jordan’s Ihab Al Shorafa finished seventh and Qatar’s Rashed Al Nuami recovered from a second stage crash to collect points for eighth overall. Only eight of the original 15 cars reached the end.

“Motor sport has a rich tradition here in Jordan from the legacy of King Hussein. [His Majesty] King Abdullah is also keen on motor sport and we work as a team to promote the sport,” said HRH Prince Feisal, the chairman of Jordan Motorsport.

“We are surrounded, here in Jordan, by war and political problems, but we want to see sport thrive in the region. We are keen for the World Rally Championship to return here and want to see what the promoter requires for this to progress. I am delighted with the work done this week by my team at Jordan Motor sport.”

ATLANTA — Channing Frye scored 27 points and the Cavaliers kept up their 3-point barrage Friday, dominating down the stretch for a 121-108 victory that gave Cleveland a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Two nights after setting an NBA record with 25 baskets beyond the arc, the Cavaliers were nearly as good in a 21-of-39 performance from long range that moved them within one victory of their second play-off sweep over the Hawks in two years.

It was tighter in Oklahoma City as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Thunder 100-96 to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Kawhi Leonard had 31 points and 11 rebounds, LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Tony Parker added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who regained the home-court advantage they had surrendered with a loss in Game 2.

Russell Westbrook scored 31 points for the Thunder, but he made just 10 of 31 shots. He also had nine rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Serge Ibaka added 15 and Steven Adams had 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City.

The Thunder shot just 41.5 per cent from the field.

The Spurs ran out to a 35-20 lead after a 3-pointer by David West, but the Thunder responded with a 9-2 run to creep back into the game. San Antonio led 47-42 at half-time after making 7 of 11 3-pointers. Westbrook made just 6 of 17 shots before the break.

Back-to-back 3s by Ibaka and Westbrook gave the Thunder an 81-77 lead with just over 7 minutes to play. San Antonio regained the lead 91-89, then Westbrook and Durant turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions. West’s bucket in close pushed the Spurs ahead 96-89 with 1:19 to play.

The Thunder trimmed San Antonio’s lead to 98-96 on a floater by Dion Waiters with 4.5 seconds remaining, but Leonard made two free throws with 2.7 seconds left.

Game 4 will be Sunday in Oklahoma City, while the Cleveland travels to Atlanta to try and complete a sweep of the Hawks.

Certainly, the Cavaliers will be hard to stop if Frye plays like he did in Game 3.

Acquired from Orlando in February to provide another outside threat and extend defences, the 32-year-old played that role to perfection. He made 10 of 13 shots, including 7 of 9 from 3-point range.

It was a devastating blow for an Atlanta team that already was outgunned by the Cavaliers and couldn’t cope with someone else stepping into a lead role.

“We brought him here to shoot,” said forward LeBron James. “And shoot and shoot and shoot.”

Atlanta turned in a much more respectable showing after getting blown out in Game 2. But in the end, it was the same result for a team that has lost 10 straight to the Cavaliers going back to last year’s conference final.

Game 4 is Sunday in Atlanta, but this was likely the last chance to make it a competitive series.

“We’re fighting for our play-off lives right now,” Al Horford said. “At this point, we have to do some changes, because what we’ve done hasn’t worked.”

James scored 24 points, as did Kyle Irving, while Kevin Love chipped in with 21.

The Hawks led 103-99 with just over 8 minutes remaining, but the Cavaliers were relentless and the home team — which had matched Cleveland shot for shot — suddenly went cold.

Cleveland went ahead for good when the Hawks inexplicably left James all alone outside the 3-point stripe. He had time to step up to the line, set himself, and put up the jumper.

“We’re a team that’s destined for greatness,” James said.

AMMAN — Ahli beat Shabab Urdun 1-0 to win their first Jordan Cup title on Friday, ending the 2015-2016 season. Ahli advanced to the final after they beat titleholders Faisali 1-0 in Leg 1 and drew 0-0 in Leg 2. A long-time veteran and founder of the game in Jordan, Ahli were relegated to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history.

They were back among the Jordan Professional League clubs in 2014, finished 5th in 2015 and third in the league this season as Shabab Urdun finished fifth. Ahli will receive JD45,000 for the win, play in the Asian Cup and take on Wihdat in the Super Cup at the beginning of the next season.