SPORTS DIGEST
BASKETBALL
Julius Randle scored 36 points as the Los Angeles Lakers swept aside the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-113. The Lakers had not won in their last seven outings against Cleveland, but they dominated the third quarter, outscoring the visitors by 11. Randle added 14 rebounds and seven assists, while Kentavious Caldwell-pope and Isaiah Thomas contributed 20 points each in the win. Lebron James had 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Cavaliers. The Houston Rockets became the first side in the Western Conference to secure a playoff spot with a 105-82 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Chris Paul scored 24 points in the win and had 12 assists while Dwight Powell had 20 for Dallas. Another team guaranteed post-season action is the Toronto Raptors, who saw off the New York Knicks 132-106. Seven Raptors players hit more than 10 points, with Kyle Lowry finishing on 16, four rebounds and seven assists. Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 129-122, Kevin Durant hit 39 points but the Golden State Warriors lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-103 and the Utah Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans 116-99. Nikola Jokic’s triple-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists helped the Denver Nuggets beat the Sacramento Kings 130-104, while the Indiana Pacers edged the Boston Celtics 99-97 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 120-97. NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: Atlanta Hawks 122 Chicago Bulls 129, Boston Celtics 97 Indiana Pacers 99, Brooklyn Nets 97 Philadelphia 76ers 120, Dallas Mavericks 82 Houston Rockets 105, Denver Nuggets 130 Sacramento Kings 104, LA Lakers 127 Cleveland Cavaliers 113, Minnesota Timberwolves 109 Golden State Warriors 103, New Orleans Pelicans 99 Utah Jazz 116, New York Knicks 106 Toronto Raptors 132.
CRICKET
SECOND TEST (Port Elizabeth) Australia 243 (D A Warner 63, K Rabada 5-96) & 239 (U T Khawaja 75, K Rabada 6-54) v South Africa 382 (A B de Villiers 126 no, D Elgar 57, H M Amla 56) & 1024. South Africa beat Australia by 6 wkts.
GOLF
OFFICIAL WORLD RANKING: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 10.52, 2 Justin Thomas (USA) 9.32, 3 Jon Rahm (Spa) 8.56, 4 Jordan Spieth (USA) 8.09, 5 Justin Rose (Eng) 7.36, 6 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 7.13, 7 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.39, 8 Brooks Koepka (USA) 5.88, 9 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.80, 10 Jason Day (Aus) 5.76, 11 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 5.51, 12 Paul Casey (Eng) 5.47, 13 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 5.39, 14 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 4.93, 15 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 4.85, 16 Marc Leishman (Aus) 4.84, 17 Alex Noren (Swe) 4.83, 18 Phil Mickelson (USA) 4.51, 19 Pat Perez (USA) 4.35, 20 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.20, 21 Rafael Cabrera-bello (Spa) 4.07, 22 Brian Harman (USA) 3.88, 23 Patrick Reed (USA) 3.64, 24 Xander Schauffele (USA) 3.48, 5 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.40, 26 Charley Hoffman (USA) 3.35, 27 Branden Grace (Rsa) 3.30, 28 Gary Woodland (USA) 3.24, 29 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.19, 30 Ross Fisher (Eng) 3.14, 31 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 3.10, 32 Daniel Berger (USA) 3.09, 33 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3.03, 34 Tony Finau (USA) 3.03, 35 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 3.02, 36 Kevin Kisner (USA) 3.02, 37 Kevin Chappell (USA) 2.78, 38 Bubba Watson (USA) 2.77, 39 Brendan Steele (USA) 2.70, 40 Haotong Li (Chn) 2.70, 41 Webb Simpson (USA) 2.63, 42 Adam Hadwin (Can) 2.62, 43 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 2.56, 44 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 2.54, 45 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 2.49, 46 Jason Dufner (USA) 2.46, 47 Chez Reavie (USA) 2.45, 48 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 2.39, 49 Shinji Ikeuchi (Jpn) 2.36, 50 Cameron Smith (Aus) 2.34. EUROPEAN TOUR RACE TO DUBAI Prize money in Euros: 1 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 978,199, 2 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 755,254, 3 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 739,700, 4 Rafael Cabrera-bello (Spa) 719,709, 5 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 653,160, 6 Haotong Li (Chn) 575,650, 7 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 561,032, 8 Chris Paisley (Eng) 530,525, 9 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 502,230, 10 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 476,480, 11 Joost Luiten (Ned) 461,527, 12 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 450,818, 13 Ross Fisher (Eng) 415,830, 14 Matt Wallace (Eng) 377,391, 15 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 327,538, 16 Alexander Levy (Fra) 323,797, 17 Andrew Johnston (Eng) 320,294, 18 Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 305,058, 19 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 298,123, 20 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 273,979.
ICE HOCKEY
The Pittsburgh Penguins took back top spot in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars. The Pens had lost their placing to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night but went a long way to going back to the summit of the standings in the first period with goals from Patric Hornqvuist and Jamie Oleksiak, who scored against his former club. Alexander Radulov scored his 25th of the season for Dallas midway through the second period on the powerplay, but Evgeni Malkin rounded off the scoring late in the third, meaning Pittsburgh have won four of their last five. The Calgary Flames were dealt a blow to their postseason aspirations as the New York Islanders goaltender Christopher Gibson made 50 saves in their 5-2 win. The Islanders struck twice in the third minute of the game and were 3-1 up after 20 minutes, and 4-1 up 50 seconds into the second through Anders Lee. Lee got his second on 19:49 in the third period after Mark Giordano reduced the deficit to two late on. Elsewhere, the Chicago Blackhawks ended the Boston Bruins’ six-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory. Patrick Kane got the go-ahead goal on the powerplay on 16:44 in the third and Brent Seabrook sealed the win two minutes later. The Arizona Coyotes won the battle between two of the NHL’S basement sides with an Oliver Ekman-larsson powerplay goal in the second enough to see off the Vancouver Canucks 1-0. NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: Arizona Coyotes 1 Vancouver Canucks 0, Calgary Flames 2, New York Islanders 5, Chicago Blackhawks 3 Boston Bruins 1, Pittsburgh Penguins 3 Dallas Stars 1.