The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 23 points from NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, rallied to beat the Miami Heat 105-104 on Wednesday and book a first-round playoff clash with the New York Knicks.Miami, who emerged from the play-in to reach the NBA Finals last year, can still make the playoffs.
Harry Kewell said his Yokohama F-Marinos side must be more clinical if they are to reach the Asian Champions League final following a 1-0 defeat in their semi-final first leg.Al Ain won 4-2 at home in their semi-final first leg with Morocco striker Soufiane Rahimi hitting a hat-trick. bur-pst/lb
Ukraine's sole Olympic champion from the Tokyo Games, Zhan Beleniuk, is looking forward to defending his Greco-Roman wrestling title in Paris but has told AFP he believes the Russians will stay away in protest at the IOC's hardened stance on their participation.They told the papers they were thinking about boycotting this competition (the Olympics) because of IOC's new conditions," Beleniuk told AFP from Ukraine.