SPORTS DIGEST

BASKETBALL

Golden State Warriors recorded a seventh straight victory as they pulled clear of the Memphis Grizzlies in the fourth quarter to secure a 106-94 win. Klay Thompson scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half of the game and Stephen Curry added 21 points and 11 assists. The victory enabled the Warriors to extend their lead over the San Antonio Spurs to two and a half games in the battle for top spot in the Western Conference. Isaiah Thomas led the way with a 30-point haul as the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 112-108 to move within percentage points of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the top of the Eastern Conference. Boston have one more win than the Cavaliers but have also been beaten one more time and the battle for top spot is set to go down to the wire. The New Orleans Pelicans boosted their fading play-off hopes with a 115-90 win over the Denver Nuggets. Anthony Davis led the way with 31 points but the Pelicans, currently sitting in 11th spot in the West, face a tough task to climb above the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Denver for the final play-off spot. Damian Lillard had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists to steer the Trail Blazers to a 97-81 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul George scored 21 points to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 107-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers and Lou Williams scored 31 points off the bench in the Houston Rockets’ 137-125 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Sacramento Kings battled back from an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to squeeze out the Los Angeles Clippers 98-97. Willie Cauley-stein’s follow shot with just two seconds remaining completed the comeback. Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 109-94, the Charlotte Hornets got the better of the Phoenix Suns 120-106 and the Brooklyn Nets saw off the Atlanta Hawks 107-92. NBA: Atlanta Hawks 92 Brooklyn Nets 107, Boston Celtics 112 Miami Heat 108, Charlotte Hornets 120 Phoenix Suns 106, Denver Nuggets 90 New Orleans Pelicans 115, Golden State Warriors 106 Memphis Grizzlies 94, Houston Rockets 137 Oklahoma City Thunder 125, Indiana Pacers 107 Philadelphia 76ers 94, LA Clippers 97 Sacramento Kings 98, LA Lakers 81 Portland Trail Blazers 97, Milwaukee Bucks 94 Chicago Bulls 109.

CRICKET

3rd TEST (Hamilton) South Africa 314 (Q de Kock 90, F du Plessis 53, H M Amla 50, M J Henry 4-93) v New Zealand 321-4 (K S Williamson 148 no, jaraval88, twmlatham50) 4th TEST (Dharmasala) Australia 300 (SP D Smith 111, M S Wade 57, D A Warner 56, K Yadav 4-68) & 137 v India 332 (R A Jadeja 63, K L Rahul 60, C A Pujara 57, N M Lyon 5-92) & 19-0.

GOLF

OFFICIAL WORLD RANKING: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 12.80, 2 Rory Mcilroy (Nir) 9.01, 3 Jason Day (Aus) 8.86, 4 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 8.18, 5 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 8.05, 6 Jordan Spieth (USA) 7.74, 7 Adam Scott (Aus) 5.56, 8 Justin Thomas (USA) 5.55, 9 Rickie Fowler (USA) 5.31, 10 Alex Noren (Swe) 5.15, 11 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.12, 12 Patrick Reed (USA) 4.69, 13 Justin Rose (Eng) 4.59, 14 Jon Rahm (Spa) 4.53, 15 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 4.33, 16 Paul Casey (Eng) 4.18, 17 Danny Willett (Eng) 4.10, 18 Bubba Watson (USA) 3.95, 19 Phil Mickelson (USA) 3.93, 20 Branden Grace (Rsa) 3.72, 21 Matt Kuchar (USA) 3.69, 22 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 3.62, 23 Russell Knox (Sco) 3.62, 24 Jimmy Walker (USA) 3.58, 25 Brooks Koepka (USA) 3.57, 26 Rafael Cabrera-bello (Spa) 3.44, 27 Marc Leishman (Aus) 3.36, 28 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.35, 29 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 3.32, 30 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3.27, 31 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.24, 32 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 3.22, 33 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 3.22, 34 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 3.05, 35 Kevin Kisner (USA) 3.05, 36 Gary Woodland (USA) 3.05, 37 J.B. Holmes (USA) 3.04, 38 Ryan Moore (USA) 3.03, 39 Bill Haas (USA) 2.99, 40 Daniel Berger (USA) 2.95, 41 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 2.89, 42 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 2.75, 43 Kevin Chappell (USA) 2.71, 44 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 2.63, 45 Adam Hadwin (Can) 2.58, 46 Scott Piercy (USA) 2.58, 47Jeunghunwang (Kor) 2.58, 48 Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 2.57, 49 Ross Fisher (Eng) 2.56, 50 Zach Johnson (USA) 2.55. WOMENS WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 9.45, 2 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 8.12, 3 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 6.56, 4 In Gee Chun (Kor) 6.53, 5 Shanshan Feng (Chn) 6.26, 6 Ha Na Jang (Kor) 5.89, 7 Inbee Park (Kor) 5.56, 8 Amy Yang (Kor) 5.51, 9 Lexi Thompson (USA) 5.48, 10 Sei Young Kim (Kor) 5.24, 11 Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 5.18, 12 Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 5.08, 13 Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 4.78, 14 Mi Rim Lee (Kor) 4.38, 15 Stacy Lewis (USA) 4.27, 16 Charley Hull (Eng) 3.80, 17 Gerina Piller (USA) 3.55, 18 Bo-mee Lee (Kor) 3.41, 19 Minjee Lee (Aus) 3.33, 20 Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 3.29, 21 Suzann Pettersen (Nor) 3.24, 22 Haru Nomura (Jpn) 3.05, 23 Brittany Lang (USA) 2.83, 24 Jiyai Shin (Kor) 2.77, 25 Jessica Korda (USA) 2.75.

ICE HOCKEY

The Philadelphia Flyers scored four times in the third period to boost their play-off hopes with a 6-2 victory over state rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers though still have it all to do as they sit six points adrift of the Boston Bruins for the second wildcard in the Eastern Conference with both franchises having seven games left in the regular season. Dale Weise, Jakub Voracek, Radko Gudas and Shayne Gostibehere scored for Philadelphia in the third after earlier goals from Jordan Weal and Valtteri Filppula. Matt Cullen and Patric Hornqvist replied for the Penguins. Patrick Eaves scored twice and Ryan Getzlaf had four assists as the Anaheim Ducks beat the New York Rangers 6-3 to climb to the top of the Pacific Division. The win enabled the Ducks to move two points clear of the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers. Adam Lowry scored midway through the third period to earn the Winnipeg Jets a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks and Tyler Seguin’s overtime goal gave the Dallas Stars a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. Andreas Athanasiou’s 17th goal of the season in overtime saw the Detroit Red Wings edge a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: Anaheim Ducks 6 New York Rangers 3, Detroit Red Wings 3 Minnesota Wild 2 (OT), New Jersey Devils 1 Dallas Stars 2 (OT), Pittsburgh Penguins 2 Philadelphia Flyers 6, Winnipeg Jets 2 Vancouver Canucks 1.

SNOOKER

CHINA OPEN (Beijing) 1st rd: Shaun Murphy (Eng) bt Allan Taylor (Eng) 5-2, Eden Sharav (Sco) bt Ross Muir (Sco) 5-0, Stuart Bingham (Eng) bt Scott Donaldson (Sco) 5-3, Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Irn) bt Joe Perry (Eng) 5-2, Gary Wilson (Eng) bt Graeme Dott (Sco) 5-3, Michael White (Wal) bt Yu De Lu (Chn) 5-3, Zhang Anda (Chn) bt Mark Williams (Wal) w/o, Rhys Clark (Sco) bt Mark Davis (Eng) 5-4, Mike Dunn (Eng) bt Andy Hicks (Eng) 5-3, Ben Woollaston (Eng) bt Kurt Maflin (Nor) 5-3.