SPORTS DIGEST

BASKETBALL

Anthony Davis had another huge game as the New Orleans Pelicans continued their winning streak with a 125-116 victory over the struggling Phoenix Suns. Davis has been in a rich vein of form recently but he managed to reach even greater heights against the Suns as he poured in 53 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in a dominant display. It was a season-high points return from the 24-year-old and the fifth time in the last seven games that he has scored at least 38 points. Jrue Holiday added 20 points for the Pelicans as they made it six wins on the trot to turn up the heat on the top four in the Western Conference. The Houston Rockets still dominate that division, however, and they extended their winning streak to 13 with a 96-85 triumph over the Utah Jazz. James Harden led the way with a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds as Houston remained narrowly ahead of the Golden State Warriors, who made it three wins on the bounce with a 125-111 victory over the New York Knicks. At the other end of the form spectrum, the Memphis Grizzlies joined Phoenix in crashing to a 10th successive defeat as they were beaten 109-98 by the Boston Celtics. NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: Atlanta Hawks 104 LA Lakers 123, Boston Celtics 109 Memphis Grizzlies 98, Brooklyn Nets 104 Chicago Bulls 87, Dallas Mavericks 109 Indiana Pacers 103, New Orleans Pelicans 125 Phoenix Suns 116, New York Knicks 111 Golden State Warriors 125, Oklahoma City Thunder 112 Orlando Magic 105, Sacramento Kings 100 Minnesota Timberwolves 118, Toronto Raptors 123 Detroit Pistons 94, Utah Jazz 85 Houston Rockets 96.

ICE HOCKEY

Brayden Point was the hero as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Point scored the deciding goal in a shootout for the second consecutive game to extend the Lightning’s winning streak to four games. Tyler Johnson, Chris Kunitz and Adam Erne scored in regulation for Nhl-leading Tampa Bay while James van Riemsdyk, Mitch Marner and Tyler Bozak netted for Toronto. Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and two assists as the Columbus Blue Jackets saw off the Washington Capitals 5-1. Artemi Panarin also racked up a goal and an assist while Sonny Milano and Mark Letestu got on the scoresheet, with Alex Ovechkin grabbing the goal for Washington. Nathan Mackinnon scored twice as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1. Mackinnon also supplied an assist for Mikko Rantanen while Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves in an impressive display from the Avalanche. Daniel Sedin was the scorer for Vancouver but he was unable to prevent Colorado winning for the 11th time in 12 home games. NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: Colorado Avalanche 3 Vancouver Canucks 1, Columbus Blue Jackets 5 Washington Capitals 1, Los Angeles Kings 3 Vegas Golden Knights 2 (OT), Montreal Canadiens 0 Philadelphia Flyers 1 (SO), Tampa Bay Lightning 4 Toronto Maple Leafs 3 (SO).

SNOOKER

WELSH OPEN (Cardiff) 1st rd: Ronnie O’sullivan (Eng) bt Robin Hull (Fin) w/o, Kurt Maflin (Nor) bt Jimmy Robertson (Eng) 4-0, Sam Craigie (Eng) bt Leo Fernandez (Irl) 4-0, Martin Gould (Eng) bt Michael White (Wal) 4-2, Luca Brecel (Bel) bt Josh Boileau (Irl) 4-2, Noppon Saengkham (Tha) bt Ross Muir (Sco) 4-2, Lyu Haotian (Chn) bt Paul Davison (Eng) 4-2, Jak Jones (Eng) bt Mei Xiwen (Chn) 4-3, Stuart Carrington (Eng) bt Peter Lines (Eng) 4-3, Mike Dunn (Eng) bt Hamza Akbar (Pak) 4-0, Kyren Wilson (Eng) bt Robert Milkins (Eng) 4-1, Xu Si (Chn) bt Alan Mcmanus (Sco) 4-0, Mark Williams (Wal) bt Mark King (Eng) 4-2, Jack Lisowski (Eng) bt Mark Joyce (Eng) 4-3, John J Astley (Eng) bt Zhang Anda (Chn) 4-2.

TENNIS

ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 1st rd: Jan-lennard Struff (Ger) bt Andreas Haider-maurer (Aut) 6-2 6-4, Borna Coric (Cro) bt (5) Richard Gasquet (Fra) 6-4 6-3, Pierre-hugues Herbert (Fra) bt Joao Sousa (Por) 4-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8), (7) Filip Krajinovic (Ser) bt Thomas Fabbiano (Ita) 0-6 6-2 6-2, (2) Lucas Pouille (Fra) bt Ernests Gulbis (Lat) 6-4 6-4, (8) Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Ilya Ivashka (Blr) 7-5 6-1, Karen Khachanov (Rus) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-0), Malek Jaziri (Tun) bt (1) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 4-6 7-5 6-4.