LOS ANGELES -- In an intimate gathering of season-ticket holders on Monday, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss shared how excited she feels to have her team break its six-year postseason dry spell next month, thanks in large part to their offseason trade with the New Orleans Pelicans for the next great Lakers big man.

"In order to get a great talent like Anthony Davis, you have to give up something great," Buss said. "But to have Anthony Davis as a Laker really is just ... he's even more impressive than I ever thought he would be. And so, it's exciting what we have."

A night later, Davis played one of his best games since joining the purple and gold, filling the box score with 37 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks in a 120-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

"AD was going nuts," LeBron James said. "It was fun."

"I think you've seen a little bit of a different Anthony Davis this whole season than we've seen in his prior stop in New Orleans," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said after Tuesday's victory extended his team's Western Conference-leading record to 47-13. "I don't know if it's different today than it's been most of the season. Ultimately, I think we're going to see it when we get to the playoffs."

The playoffs are still more than five weeks away, allowing plenty of time for fine-tuning, but Davis showed the Sixers he has a switch that can be flipped that turns him from big man to beast.

After starting the game 2-for-7 from the field, he caught fire, scoring 18 points on 7-for-7 shooting in the second quarter alone. He finished 13-for-19, including a 4 for 5 mark from 3, but it was his defense that Davis wanted to talk about.

"It started with the defensive end, coming out and just being hungry defensively and making the right plays," said Davis, whom teammates and coaching staff have been touting as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for months. "And then that leads to our offense; and once one guy got it going, kind of contagious and we all just got it going on offense. But it started with our stops."

For James, his recognition of Davis' potential value to the franchise started long before Buss' remarks. After publicly opining to ESPN in December 2018 about what a trade for Davis would mean for L.A., now James gets to see his targeted teammate on his side every game.

"It's everything I expected and more," James said. "Obviously, that's why I wanted him here. When you get a generational talent like that and you got an opportunity to get him, you just try to do whatever you can to get him.

"I gave my opinion on what I thought he could bring to this franchise. I gave my thoughts about the player -- but not only the player, the person. Hopefully, they took my advice to heart. And obviously, ultimately they made the decision to do what we did in the offseason. It's no surprise to me."

"I already knew how incredible the guy is," James continued. "He had 50 [points] in the All-Star Game. You know, 30s, 20s, 40s and 20s he had when he was with the Pelicans and just doing the things he was doing at that size, there's not too many guys who have done that in this league."

Rajon Rondo, who teamed up with Davis in New Orleans in 2017-18, said he is used to seeing Davis go off like he did against the Sixers. L.A. erased an early 13-point deficit against a Philadelphia team that was playing without Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Josh Richardson thanks to a Davis-fueled 15-2 run to finish the first half.

"Typical AD show," Rondo said. "He makes it look so effortless. Very easily can just get the ball in the paint and score against anyone. When he's hitting the 3 like he did tonight, the closeouts become easier. He's able to get to the rim. He made some nice moves, some point guard moves tonight. He's fun to watch and fun to play with."

James, who finished with 22 points, 14 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, continued his MVP-worthy campaign in this his 17th season.

Vogel credited James for being instrumental in Davis' growth in terms of preparation and mental toughness this season.

But Dwight Howard said that the mentee has had just as big of an impact on the mentor.

"Well, AD has had an effect on LeBron," Howard said. "I think the way that he's playing, now LeBron's saying, 'I got to step my level of play up because AD, my running partner, every night he's there.' So I think he's made LeBron, he's given LeBron new life."

Big Picture

Few teams have had more contrasting paths to the semi-finals than Australia and South Africa. The hosts have been a walking news cycle of dramas, unexpected twists and, in the case of Ellyse Perry's hamstring injury, sporting tragedy, all while dealing with the enormous expectations of fulfilling their favourites tag and making it to the final on Sunday at the MCG. For South Africa it has been a far quieter, smoother path, winning three consecutive matches to breeze into the semi-finals then qualifying first in their group thanks to a washout.

That same weather now offers South Africa one of two viable pathways to the tournament decider. As the higher ranked qualifying team, they will make the final if a match cannot be completed at the SCG on Thursday night, an irony that won't be lost on members of the men's South African side who were on the wrong side of a rain-shortened World Cup semi-final at the MCG in the 1992 ODI World Cup.

Then again, they have the option of simply beating Meg Lanning's team although this is a rather more complicated assignment for Dane van Niekerk's side, given that they have never won a T20 World Cup match against Australia in four attempts. So while any team would prefer to win their way through to a tournament final by being victorious in a contest, the damage Australia did to themselves by starting the event with a loss to India, plus the vagaries of the World Cup's rules around reserve days and the minimum overs required for a result are very much in South Africa's favour.

Form guide

Australia WWWLW (completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa WWWLW

In the spotlight

Throughout this tournament, Ash Gardner has struggled to impose herself while also looking capable of doing so at a key moment. Against India she was humbugged by the collapse of wickets all around her, and after falling early to the swinging ball in Perth, she made a couple of decent starts against Bangladesh and New Zealand. As critical as her ability to swing freely and powerfully for the fences will be an improvement in Gardner's offspin bowling, which has looked eminently hittable thus far, and will likely be leaned on further in Perry's absence.

Arguably no individual innings of this World Cup has been better than Laura Wolvaardt's slamming 53 from 36 balls against Pakistan, not only as an example of finishing off an innings in resounding and match-winning style, but also as an example of a cricketer finding another level at precisely the right moment. A career strike rate of around a run a ball in T20Is did not suggest that Wolvaardt would have been capable of such a feat, but in doing so she added depth to South Africa's lineup in a way that Australia have always considered a strength.

Team news

Lacking Perry's all-round skills and middle-order presence, Australia can either choose an extra bowler, perhaps of the spin-bowling variety, or draft in the vastly experienced Delissa Kimmince who offers sturdy mediums and handy runs too.

Australia (possible): 1 Beth Mooney 2 Alyssa Healy (wk) 3 Meg Lanning (capt) 4 Ashleigh Gardner 5 Rachael Haynes 6 Annabel Sutherland 7 Nicola Carey 8 Delissa Kimmince, 9 Georgia Wareham 10 Jess Jonassen 11 Megan Schutt

Having sailed much more comfortably into the semi-finals than Australia, it is hard to see South Africa looking past the XI that beat Pakistan comfortably in Sydney three days ago.

South Africa (probable): 1 Lizelle Lee, 2 Dane van Niekerk (capt), 3 Marizanne Kapp, 4 Mignon du Preez, 5 Laura Wolvaardt, 6 Sune Luus, 7 Chloe Tryon, 8 Trisha Chetty (wk), 9 Shabnim Ismail, 10 Ayabonga Khaka, 11 Nonkululeko Mlaba

Pitch and conditions

Sydney's surfaces typically offer more spin the longer a season goes on, but the amount of rain around the city this week may also bring some moisture and the odd tuft of live grass into play.

The weather forecast is for some patches of fine weather amongst the showers, though it remains to be seen whether there will be enough for a game to be completed.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa have never beaten Australia in four previous T20 World Cup meetings, starting in 2009

• The SCG has previously hosted two women's T20I matches, both won by Australia, in 2009 against New Zealand and in 2016 against India

• Not since the first women's T20 World Cup in England in 2009 has the host nation reached the final

Mushfiqur Rahim, the only Bangladesh player to have opted against travelling to Pakistan, will not be considered for the third, and final, ODI against Zimbabwe on Friday as the team wants to prepare for the one-off ODI against Pakistan in Karachi early next month, chief selector Minhajul Abedin has said.

"Mushfiqur will not be playing as we want to see one of the youngsters in this game, before they are picked for the Pakistan ODI next month. We don't want to hand them a debut there," Minhajul said, confirming that there wouldn't be any changes to the existing squad for the last game of the series.

The senior wicketkeeper-batsman, who didn't make the journey for the first two legs of the three-part tour stressed last week that he would not change his mind on the matter despite BCB president Nazmul Hassan's tough stance against him, where he said that Mushfiqur was "contract-bound" to tour with the rest of the team.

Minhajul said that the BCB had met Mushfiqur over the weekend for discussions and that Mushfiqur hadn't budged.

"We saw in separate newspapers that he may go and then he may not go. So we asked him to tell us directly, and he has let us know," Minhajul said.

Hassan, who had stated before announcing the tour dates in January that every player had the right to choose whether he wanted to tour Pakistan or not, made a U-turn after Bangladesh's win over Zimbabwe in the one-off Test match - where Mushfiqur scored an unbeaten 203 - expressing his dismay at Mushfiqur's decision.

"We are expecting that he would go. Not only him, but every contracted player should go," he had said. "Players have to think about the country, and not just themselves. This is what I personally feel. The country comes before everything else.

"Everyone should keep it in mind. We will remind them that the contracted players must play as they are told, when selected. It never occurred to me that one has to tell them this, too."

CHICAGO -- Chicago State University said late Tuesday its men's basketball team will not travel for two regularly scheduled conference games this week and its women's team will not host two games, citing the spread of the coronavirus, and with the "health and well-being of the campus community in mind.''

The cancellations are believed to be the first by a major sport in the United States.

The university said the men's team would not travel to Seattle in Washington or Utah Valley for Western Athletic Conference games on Thursday and Saturday. The school also said the women's team would not host Seattle or Utah Valley at the campus' Jones Convocation Center on the same days.

"Chicago State athletics views our decision as a reaffirmation of our commitment to the well-being, health and safety of our student athletes," Chicago State athletic director Elliott Charles said in the statement.

The Western Athletic Conference and Seattle declined to comment about Chicago State's decision.

Chicago State said it is also evaluating whether to attend next week's WAC tournament in Las Vegas. The school said it would make a decision about participation later this week. The school also said it is reviewing travel plans for intercollegiate sports teams.

Chicago State men's basketball team is 0-14 in WAC play and 4-25 overall this season. The women's team is 1-13 in conference and 1-26 overall.

BOSTON -- With the Celtics leading by 17 points at the end of the third quarter Tuesday night, Brooklyn Nets guard Caris LeVert wasn't even sure he'd get a chance to play in the fourth.

"I thought [Nets coach Kenny Atkinson] was going to pull [me], too," LeVert said. "[But] he put me back in there, so I just made one more run at it."

Did he ever.

By the time the dust had settled, not only had the Nets erased that deficit, LeVert -- who had scored 14 points through the first three quarters and taken just 10 shots -- had outscored the Celtics 37-36 by himself over the course of the fourth quarter and overtime to produce a stunning 129-120 win in front of a sellout crowd at TD Garden.

LeVert finished with a career-high 51 points, making him the second Nets player to have a 50-point game this season, joining Kyrie Irving. No player in the past 20 seasons has scored more than LeVert's 37 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

"It's really hard to even comment," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said afterward. "I'm still trying to process it all."

He wasn't the only one.

The story of this game began in the fourth quarter, which started with the Nets playing three little-used bench players -- Chris Chiozza, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Rodions Kurucs -- with LeVert and DeAndre Jordan.

But it wasn't long before LeVert -- who scored 26 of his team's 51 fourth-quarter points, including burying three free throws with 0.2 seconds left to ensure the game would go to overtime -- got cooking. He finished the fourth going 7-for-10 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and 8-for-11 from the foul line, as well as assisting on three of the other eight made field goals Brooklyn had during the quarter.

"He [wasn't] missing," Luwawu-Cabarrot, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds himself, said of LeVert. "He couldn't be stopped.

"When you've got a guy like that, it's easy. You play defense, give him the ball on offense, and do what you have to do."

Still, for all of LeVert's brilliance, the Celtics provided him and the rest of the Nets plenty of help. Brooklyn shot 15-for-23 as a team in the fourth quarter while also pulling down seven offensive rebounds. The Nets were able to overcome a 17-point deficit while the Celtics still shot 50% (10-for-20) from the floor and scored 34 points themselves.

The Nets' 51 points are the most the Celtics have allowed in a quarter since February 1970, when the San Diego Rockets scored 54 in the fourth.

"We didn't have any defensive intensity," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "I should have subbed a couple of guys out that normally play, and I just kept them in.

"We had the right intensity for most of the game and we just let our foot off the gas. But we got four stops in the fourth quarter. They scored 51 points. ... We made a lot of plays today that were just not winning plays --and very simple, basic parts of our defensive system.

"But they deserved to win. I guess if you're in this game long enough you'll see it at some point. And we saw it tonight."

Meanwhile, the Celtics committed multiple gaffes in the closing seconds. Rookie Grant Williams nearly committed an inbounds violation before calling timeout. Then, on the ensuing inbounds play, Kurucs tied up Kemba Walker, forcing a jump ball that was easily won by Kurucs, who is nearly a foot taller.

That gave the ball back to Brooklyn, trailing by three, with 1.4 seconds left. After the ball was inbounded to LeVert, he was fouled while shooting a 3 by Marcus Smart with 0.2 seconds left, giving himself the chance to tie the score at the line.

"Never have I ever before," LeVert said when asked afterward if he'd ever been in that position. "That was very unique, but I was confident when I stepped onto the line that I was going to hit all three."

He was right -- and, as a result, the game went to overtime.

From there, it was clear before long Brooklyn was going to close this out. Having already lost Gordon Hayward (knee) and Jaylen Brown (hamstring) to injury during the game, and with Jayson Tatum already sidelined by an illness, the Celtics then found themselves without Walker -- who hit his minutes limit in his return from left knee soreness at the end of regulation -- in overtime.

Then, shortly after overtime began, Smart fouled out, and Boston was without all five of its top perimeter players. As a result, LeVert was easily the standout player on the court, and he played like it. He scored all 11 of Brooklyn's points in overtime, with only rookie Carsen Edwards managing to hit one pull-up jumper for Boston.

Smart was very upset with the officials afterward, and Celtics security had to steer him back toward Boston's locker room. Smart didn't speak to reporters after the game.

No matter Smart's frustrations, however, there were plenty more reasons why Boston lost -- none bigger than LeVert's masterful performance. He simply got whatever he wanted down the stretch and in overtime, including at one point hitting three straight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Atkinson said he simply found himself trying to stay out of the way.

"It was all him," Atkinson said. "We didn't run anything, really. He just kind of took over. He called what's in our playbook, but I was definitely not calling plays.

"That's where as a coach you just have to get back [out of the way]."

It was a formula that led the Nets to a desperately needed win, one that snapped a four-game losing streak for a Brooklyn team still trying to hang on to one of the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference -- and on the same day one of the team's two tentpole stars, officially underwent season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. The other, Kevin Durant, tweeted after Tuesday's game about LeVert's performance, calling it "a masterpiece."

That 50 was beautiful, Vert. Thank you for that masterpiece

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) March 4, 2020

On this night, though, LeVert more than made up for their collective absence.

"It was just play after play," Atkinson said. "He got a big deal, he obviously hit the three free throws at the end. ... It's just a miracle.

"It was just a classic performance. A very great performance."

Shafali Verma's sparkling batting at the top of the order for India has seen her vault 19 places to be the No.1 ranked batter in the world in T20Is. India have marched into the semi-finals of the Women's T20 World Cup, progressing unbeaten through Group A, with Shafali playing a central role.

Only 16 years old, Verma has dethroned Suzie Bates from the top spot, with the New Zealand batter having been ranked No. 1 since October 2018. She is only the second Indian women, after Mithali Raj, to top the T20I rankings.

She has hit 29 off 15 against Australia, 39 off 17 against Bangladesh, 46 off 34 against New Zealand, and 47 off 34 against Sri Lanka. She is the third highest run-getter in the tournament ahead of the knockouts, and has by far the highest strike rate of any batter (minimum 10 runs).

Sophie Ecclestone meanwhile, has jumped to the top of the bowlers' rankings, having gained two spots through her consistent showing in the T20 World Cup for England. Eccelestone is the second-highest wicket-taker so far, with eight wickets in four matches, but her average of 6.12 and economy rate of 3.23 mark the left-arm spinner out as the best bowler in the tournament so far.

Ecclestone is the first England bowler to be No. 1 since Anya Shrubsole in April 2016, and the first England spinner at the top since Danielle Hazell in August 2015.

England too have made it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, along with India, Australia and South Africa. Eccelstone and Verma will go up against each other in the first semi-final on March 5.

There's never a bad time to hit career-best form, but finding it at a World Cup is especially handy. England allrounder Nat Sciver is playing as well as she ever has in the T20 format, having ended the group stage in Australia as the leading run-scorer in her new role at No. 3.

Half of Sciver's eight T20I fifties have come in her last six innings: one in the tri-series which preceded the World Cup and now three in four knocks in the tournament itself, against South Africa, Thailand and West Indies, the latter in the match that secured a semi-final berth for her team.

Sciver picked out one of the key reasons behind her form as the volume of cricket she has played in the last few months - the WBBL for the Perth Scorchers (where she was coached by Lisa Keightley shortly before she took the England job) followed by a series against Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur before arriving in Australia.

"I think previously when she's gone in during the powerplay, she's felt like she's had to go mad and gone a bit too high risk. In this World Cup, she's been accepting that she might have a few more dots in the powerplay but can catch up" Heather Knight on Nat Sciver

"Consistency of playing, it's a bit like running in with the ball, you get a little bit of rhythm," she told ESPNcricinfo. "I was lucky enough to play in the Big Bash which probably helped a little bit and through the winter we didn't really stop. So been feeling pretty good and nice to get the results."

Before the series in Malaysia against Pakistan, Sciver had only batted at No. 3 five times in 66 T20Is. She briefly returned to No. 4 in the tri-series, in a match where she scored 50 against India, when Katherine Brunt was promoted to No. 3, a tactic they have sensibly shelved during the World Cup. The best players need to face the most balls in T20s and for England, Sciver is certainly one of those.

Being self-critical, she believes there have been innings where she hasn't got it quite right at the start but by not giving her wicket away has been able to catch up in the latter stages, something she admitted she can forget is in her armory.

"I probably would have liked to get going a bit quicker in some of the innings but feel like I'm adapting and reading the game pretty well to play to the tempo the game needs," she said. "I've been a bit guilty of not remembering that previously. It could be different on Thursday but at the moment it's coming out of the middle nicely so need to look after that."

Her captain Heather Knight praised how Sciver has adapted to her new position by realising that she has the ability to hit through as well as over the field.

"That's been a key learning for her, I think previously when she's gone in during the powerplay, she's felt like she's had to go mad and gone a bit too high risk," Knight said. "In this World Cup, she's been accepting that she might have a few more dots in the powerplay but can catch up. She's a phenomenal striker of the ball and has been very calm, trusts her game, and think she has enjoyed having a few balls to face."

One of the innings where Sciver showed her ability to catch up the scoring rate was against South Africa where she went from 24 of 29 to 50 off 41 but it wasn't enough as England lost in the final over. It gave their campaign an early jolt and, like the hosts, meant they could not afford another slip. Sciver admitted there were a few waves of doubt personally, but the team believed they were not far away from the level they needed to be at.

"I think everyone was a bit deflated. As an individual, you probably have a bit of doubt," she said. "Can we really do this? But in terms of everyone believing, in the team we weren't far away. We knew if we'd done just a few things differently we would have got over the line. Even with not as many runs as we'd have liked we managed to take it to the last over. The language we used was no different to what we are using now, it was just a case of getting it done in the middle."

England's reward for their three straight victories is a semi-final against India, who went unbeaten through their group. The defeat to South Africa could yet prove critical, though, with a poor forecast looming and a washout meaning group winners progress. "Not having a reserve day isn't ideal, but so be it," Sciver said.

There is the prospect of a healthy crowd at the SCG and then the promise of something far greater if they can reach the final at the MCG with 60,000 tickets sold as of Wednesday. Sciver recalled the 2017 World Cup final Lord's, when England beat India in front of a sellout crowd, a match where she made a crucial half-century.

"I loved it," she said. "You still get some jitters going out to bat or waiting to bat, but once I'm out there being in that noise lifted me a little bit so I'm looking forward to that energy if we are there."

England have a 5-0 record against India in T20 World Cups. Sciver could have a big role to play in making it 6-0.

NEW ORLEANS -- For the first time since Zion Williamson debuted on Jan. 22, the Pelicans are facing back-to-back games.

And, despite initially saying he wouldn't play on back-to-back nights, the Pelicans will let their star rookie play on Wednesday against the Dallas Mavericks, just one night after he put up 25 points in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters pregame that the plan would be for Williamson to play in back-to-backs but that the team's medical staff would continue to monitor him.

Throughout his recovery process from knee surgery that wiped out the first three months of Williamson's rookie season, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said the team would play it safe when they played on consecutive nights but the Pelicans haven't had to play in that scenario since Williamson's debut.

Technically, Williamson has played on back-to-backs once this season -- on Feb. 13 against Oklahoma City with the Pelicans and then the following night in the Rising Stars Game in Chicago.

Williamson, who played 33 minutes against Minnesota, said he felt fine following the game.

"We got a great training staff," Williamson said. "We'll do the next day recovery things, and they'll have me ready for tomorrow."

Williamson said it was "a little bit of both" in terms of who pushed for him to play back-to-backs, but added the recovery process is important.

"I gotta do the recovery if I wanna be able to perform the way I do every night," Williamson said.

New Orleans fell to 26-35 on the season with Tuesday's loss and is now four games back of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk left Tuesday night's 6-2 loss to the Canadiens after he was hit in the face by the skate of Montreal's Artturi Lehkonen.

Both players were in front of the New York net when Lehkonen appeared to lose his balance and fall forward, causing his legs to kick back and his right skate to connect with Boychuk's face as he looked downward.

Boychuk immediately went down to the ice with his hand covering his face, before skating off in pain.

Isles coach Barry Trotz did not have an update on the veteran blueliner after the game.

"It's pretty scary obviously around the facial/eye area. He's being evaluated," Trotz said.