HOUSTON -- Rookie of the Year front-runner Ja Morant appreciates point guards who combine extreme aggressiveness and extraordinary athleticism, which is why his favorite player as a kid was Russell Westbrook.

In fact, Morant argues that Westbrook should have more fans.

"I still feel like he's highly disrespected," Morant told ESPN on Wednesday before playing against Westbrook for the first time. "People take his play for granted. I mean, he averaged a triple-double for the last three or four years, and I'm pretty sure they see what he's doing this year, but it's still the same thing. I just love that he still just goes out and plays and handles his business and doesn't worry about it."

Westbrook, the 2016-17 MVP and a nine-time All-Star, didn't disagree with Morant's opinion. Westbrook dismissed the matter as any sort of concern.

"I don't really care what nobody else thinks about my game," Westbrook said. "I appreciate guys like [Morant] and other guys, but as long as I'm OK and satisfied with what I bring to the table, I'm going to keep busting everybody's ass."

Westbrook delivered another performance of that sort in the Houston Rockets' 140-112 win over Morant's Memphis Grizzlies. Westbrook led the Rockets with 33 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals, and Houston outscored the Grizzlies by 37 points in his 34 minutes.

It was Westbrook's first game against Morant, who had 12 points and nine assists. Westbrook sat out the Rockets' previous two meetings with Memphis because of Houston's season-long plan to rest him on back-to-backs.

Such dominance has been routine for Westbrook recently. He has averaged 31.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.1 assists in his past 25 games while shooting 50.2% from the field.

"The excitement that he brings to the game, I just don't know another player in the league who brings that kind of intensity and is actually skilled," said Westbrook's Rockets co-star, James Harden, who had 30 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the win.

Westbrook's production has been even more impressive since the Rockets fully committed to a small-ball approach. He has averaged 34.0 points on 56.9% shooting in six games since the Rockets traded center Clint Capela in a four-player, 12-team deal that brought forward Robert Covington to Houston, ensuring that the Rockets would play without a traditional center in the starting lineup for the rest of the season.

The Rockets have won five of those six games, the lone loss coming when Utah's Bojan Bogdanovic made a tightly contested, 29-foot buzzer-beater. Westbrook, who was 15-of-24 against the Grizzlies, has shot better than 50% from the field in all six games, the longest such streak of his career.

"It makes it even harder to guard him because this small-ball lineup that we have on the floor now is just all shooters, so you have no help," said Rockets guard Austin Rivers, who scored 23 points off the bench. "It's just one-on-one, and you can't guard him one-on-one. He's too explosive. He's too strong. They try putting bigs on him because of that, and he just has the quickness advantage. There's just really nothing you can do."

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Kyle Lowry was as headstrong as any Villanova star to wear the uniform, and nearly wore out his welcome with coach Jay Wright before he ever hit the court. The two have since become extremely tight, and when Lowry returned for a night in his honor, Wright requested a picture with Lowry and his two young sons, and a trio of former Wildcats. When the fussy kids were still shooting hoops, Lowry wrangled them over for a quick picture.

"They listen way better than you did," Wright cracked.

"They know I don't play," Lowry said.

The photo op still fresh in his mind, Wright smiled as he said, "That was my favorite part of tonight."

But No. 12 Villanova's 70-61 survive-to-the-finish victory over St. John's on Wednesday night was certainly a close second. The Wildcats had 13 turnovers, two offensive rebounds and trouble shaking the Red Storm until late on a night the program saluted Lowry by retiring his No. 1 jersey at halftime. Lowry, a five-time All-Star guard for the NBA champion Toronto Raptors, might have provided a dose inspiration for the young Wildcats (22-6, 11-4 Big East).

"We were commentating on his toughness and competitiveness," Wright said. "That's something the young guys have to learn."

Saddiq Bey hit four 3-pointers and scored 23 points and Justin Moore had five 3s for 21 points for the Wildcats.

St. John's came in 12½-point underdogs and kept the deficit within single digits for most of the second half. Greg Williams Jr. buried a 3 for the Red Storm (14-14, 3-12) with 4:37 left that pulled them within six.

Moore, though, steadied the Wildcats with his fifth 3 of the game, a driving layup and a pull-up jumper in succession that stretched the lead to 13 and sealed another win for the perennial Big East power. "They had guys who made plays," St. John's coach Mike Anderson said. "We had guys who almost made plays."

Lowry made plenty of big plays in his two seasons with the Wildcats as one of the early pieces that helped build Wright's program into a national power.

Lowry was flanked by former teammates and called the jersey recognition honor a "once in a lifetime" experience that he was able to share with his wife and two young sons. His sons, Karter and Kameron, played with the microphones at a halftime news conference.

Lowry played from 2004 to 2006 when the Wildcats made their first two NCAA tournament trips of Wright's young tenure.

"From the time I got here, he was kind of on that proverbial hot seat," Lowry said. "Now, he's never going anywhere and he's one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball."

Wright has since won two national titles at Villanova and was named the AP Coach of the Decade. Wright has related how Lowry skipped classes and was disruptive at practice, so much so that it got to the point where the feisty guard might not have made it to a second season. Lowry laughed when he recalled his rocky relationship with his coach.

"My freshman year, I was such an immature kid and I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what I wanted or what I could do or what my abilities were off the court," Lowry said. "I didn't know what I was, I didn't know who I was. Me and Coach never talked about basketball. We always talked about these things off the court. That's why me and Jay, to this day, have the relationship that we have. It wasn't nothing about basketball. He didn't worry about me on the court. He worried about me as a man."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

WILMETTE, Ill. — The new racing season is upon us, hope and excitement fill the pits and garage areas around the globe.

While most of the spotlight will be on the highest levels of professional motorsports, lots of action takes place at the grassroots level.

This month we will take a look at the role of the gentleman racer in the motorsports ecosystem.

Top-tier series require big budgets to compete. Funds are used for cars, engines, parts, tires, shop space, haulers, salaries and related expenses. Additional money is spent for track rental, travel and entry fees.  Most teams will have sponsors paying to support the team in return for media exposure and activation opportunities.

Sponsorship and in-kind exchange may cover up to two-thirds of the team budget with the remainder coming from purses, prize money and merchandise sales.

At lower levels of racing, the ability to generate sponsorship revenue may be limited. This leaves a gap to be filled. We know that racers typically spend everything they have, and often exceed all available resources. Speed costs money and all racers want to go fast.

Teams are left with the decision to limit budgets or be creative in covering the shortfall.

This is where the paying driver enters the equation. Instead of being paid by the team, they will drive for free. In most cases, they will bring with them money in the form of sponsorship or funds to pay for the seat. This money goes directly to the team budgets.

One aspect of the driver bringing money that may not be looked on as favorable involves moving out an existing driver in favor of a sizeable sponsorship with another wheelman. Existing contracts may be honored and paid out, but this still unsettles fans.

A driver may be trying to gain experience through seat time and paying for the ride will give them an opportunity. The ultimate goal for many is to advance through the ranks of racing to the highest level.

Another form of pay to play may be the aspiration of individuals to be part of the racing lifestyle, usually on a part-time basis. Spending the weekend in the paddock away from the office is not a bad option. Flying to the race track with a helmet bag as carry-on is the ultimate trip.

The goal for drivers may be to learn how to use their performance vehicles at their limit or work on obtaining competition licenses in larger racing series.

Many teams and manufacturers offer “arrive-and-drive” packages.  These inclusive packages offer a race-prepped track car and hospitality packages.

There are several series that host events on the world-renowned race tracks. Access to the iconic venues is limited, but participation with a track day school can provide that access. Similar to golf, many racers have that “bucket-list” of tracks they would like to drive on.

What does it cost to be a gentleman racer?

It is not cheap. Renting a seat for a weekly show at a local dirt track might run $1,500 to $3,000. A Chili Bowl ride may cost as much as $15,000. A fully-equipped McLaren may cost $30,000 for a weekend of racing, while a ride in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship may cost as much as $2 million.

Away from the track, many are using driver simulation rigs to hone their skills.

Participation in iRacing.com has exploded, with many professional drivers competing alongside aspiring esports gamers and grassroots racers. The ultimate strategy is to have a fully equipped setup rig with moving seats and multiple screens.

Not all gentleman racers compete on the track. Fastball Racing co-owner and driver Bobby Patton is a successful businessman and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His team carried the Major League Baseball team’s colors in the Baja 1000 and the Dakar Rally with limited manufacturer support from Toyota.

As racing gets more expensive, entities will look at deals that will provide them with the resources necessary to stay competitive on the track.  The other option is to cut costs and manage expenses, resulting in team parity.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Renowned German manufacturer BMW will be the featured marque at this year’s Historic Sportscar Racing Classic Daytona presented by IMSA, the classic 24-hour race at Daytona Int’l Speedway that runs for the sixth time Nov. 4-8.

“BMW has been a fixture on the international sports car racing scene for 50 years and is also a popular and competitive car of choice for HSR competitors,” said HSR President David Hinton. “It is rare for an HSR race weekend to go by without numerous podium appearances by competitors in BMWs. The HSR Classic Daytona in particular draws a diverse lineup of BMWs each year, and we hope the 2020 race’s featured status will bring even more of these impressive racing machines to Florida this November.”

The spotlight on BMW at the HSR Classic Daytona celebrates the Munich-based manufacturer’s past and current sports car racing success at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

An overall victory by Peter Gregg, Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick in a BMW CSL in 1976 broke up what would have been a run of 13-straight 24-hour race wins at Daytona by Porsche.

Two more overall victories were earned by Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2011 and 2013 runnings of the Rolex 24 At Daytona with BMW-powered Riley Daytona Prototypes.

More recently, BMW Team RLL has won the GT Le Mans class in each of the last two runnings of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The Bobby Rahal-led team’s No. 24 BMW M8 GTE took the class win in last month’s 58th running of the Rolex 24 while the sister No. 25 entry won in 2019.

BMW has also seen some success in the HSR Classic Daytona since the 24 Hours of Daytona tribute race was introduced in 2014. Tireless BMW racing legend Dieter Quester earned a B.R.M. Chronographes watch as the top GT finisher in Group B in the 2017 HSR Classic Daytona. Quester co-drove with Luca Riccitelli to a third-place overall finish in a rare 1979 BMW M1 Procar.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom underwent a minor lower-body procedure Wednesday and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, Canucks general manager Jim Benning announced.

Markstrom underwent an MRI on Monday after suffering the injury in a 9-3 win over Boston on Saturday.

Backup Thatcher Demko will receive the bulk of the workload in Markstrom's absence. He started and made 37 saves en route to the Canucks' 4-3 overtime win Tuesday in Montreal.

"I want the guys to have confidence in me," Demko said after the win over the Canadiens. "This being the first game of the stretch, it was an important game for me to come in and just kind of calm the group. If I don't play well, maybe they get a little bit nervous for the next handful of games. It was good for me to kind of get in a rhythm. Obviously, there's a lot more games that I'm going to be playing. I just want to keep getting better as we go."

With concern over Markstrom as the postseason push continues in a congested Western Conference, Benning dealt for New Jersey goaltender Louis Domingue just before the NHL trade deadline on Monday. Domingue, who has rotated between the Devils and their AHL affiliate this season, should slide in as the interim backup.

Markstrom stopped 34 of 37 shots in Saturday's victory over the Bruins, but briefly exited in the first period after taking a stick to the mask in a different injury. He missed 1:48 of the period. Markstrom improved to 23-16-4 with a 2.75 GAA and a .918 save percentage with the win. He has made 43 starts.

With 74 points, Vancouver was tied with Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division as play began on Wednesday night.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods isn’t playing his hometown event again this year.

Rory McIlroy lives in South Florida, and he’s passing on the Honda Classic, too.

The 49^th edition of the event will feature No. 3 Brooks Koepka as the only player among the top 10 in the Official World Ranking, but Honda Classic executive director Ken Kennerly is promising fireworks nonetheless.

The skies above PGA National will light up with rockets amid concerts after play on Friday and Saturday, with Kennerly believing the stars that do show up are more than capable of putting on as spectacular a finish as they did a year ago.

Keith Mitchell won last year making a clutch birdie at the last to beat Koepka and Rickie Fowler by a shot.

“We always get a good field,” Kennerly said. “Can it be better? Of course, it can always be better, but we continue to hear and feel the enthusiasm for the Honda Classic from our community. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We just need another great finish, which we have a long history of getting.”

Kennerly rebuilt the Honda Classic into an elite event, but the revamped schedule put in place last year, with more big events loaded at the front of the PGA Tour calendar, continues to squeeze some star power from the tournament.

Honda falls in the middle of a strong five-event run, with the Genesis Invitational and WGC-Mexico Championship preceding it, and with the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship following it.

“We are always having discussions with the powers that be about what opportunities there might be for us,” Kennerly said. “I also recognize we are part of a great organization with the PGA Tour, and regardless of where we fall in the schedule, we are going to continue to have a successful Honda Classic product.”

Joining Koepka as main attractions are world No. 12 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 13 Justin Rose, No. 17 Gary Woodland, No. 18 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 19 Shane Lowery and No. 25 Fowler.

A year ago, just six of the top 25 showed up, the weakest showing since Kennerly moved the event to PGA National in 2007. At the height of Honda’s resurgence in 2014, it featured four of the top five players in the world, seven of the top 10.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Cristie Kerr was asked in a media scrum Wednesday if she was looking forward to her transition to television with her duties this week as an on-course reporter for  Golf Channel’s telecast of the Honda Classic.

Transition?

“I’m not done yet,” Kerr said of her LPGA career. “I just finished sixth last week in Australia.”

Yeah, Kerr is 42 now, but make no mistake, the 20-time LPGA winner is looking to pad her totals in a bid to play her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame. She’s also interested in developing some of the promising TV skills she has shown in previous Golf Channel appearances. She did some guest analyst studio work during the PGA Tour’s Sony Open last year and some on-course and some analyst work in the booth during the telecast of the LPGA's CME Group Tour Championship at the end of last season.

With three LPGA Asian events canceled because of coronavirus, and the LPGA off for a month, Kerr is taking advantage of an opportunity.

What should we expect?

“I think I'm going to have a blast this week, because I know I can't play,” she said. “When I was doing CME last year, it was a great experience. I was there, but part of my heart hurt that I wasn’t playing. But I did a great job, and I learned a lot. Being here, knowing I can't play in the tournament, it's going to be a lot more fun for me, I think.”

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior said "everyone knows" Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus fouled Sergio Ramos in scoring the crucial equaliser in City's 2-1 Champions League win at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

The visitors were trailing 1-0 to Isco's second-half goal in the round-of-16 first-leg match when Jesus beat Madrid captain Ramos in the air to head Kevin De Bruyne's cross past Thibaut Courtois.

"Jesus commits the foul, and everyone knows it was a foul," Vinicius said, speaking in the mixed zone after the game. "They always take decisions against us. I didn't need to see it again in the dressing room. It was a foul. Every game it's the same."

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane also admitted to speaking with referee Daniele Orsato of Italy about the incident.

"He said there wasn't anything, he hadn't seen anything, there was no push," Zidane said in his post-match news conference. "It's the referee's decision and that's all. What annoys me is what we did, playing well and then 10 minutes at the end changed the game. The mistakes we made, it hurts, we don't deserve it, but that's football. That moment was key."

Gabriel Jesus himself said the referee made the right decision in allowing the goal to stand.

"Football is a contact sport," he told Movistar. "I didn't push him, I barely put my hands on him. It's not a foul."

The Brazilian forward was praised for his performance in an unfamiliar left-wing role by coach Pep Guardiola, who was meeting counterpart Zidane in a competitive game for the first time.

"There isn't another striker in the world to bring that intensity," Guardiola said. "He makes incredible runs in behind. When he's on the wing making a diagonal run, he's so fast and so good. We decided to play without a proper striker because of the way they defend. We made the pitch wide."

Guardiola sounded a note of caution with the second leg to come in Manchester.

"It's still not over," he said. "If there's one team in the world that can overcome it, it's [Real Madrid] with their experience and their history. Hopefully we can give a good performance and go through."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Aaron Rodgers was one of the 14 dissenters among the 32 NFL player representatives Tuesday, when they narrowly voted to send the new collective bargaining agreement to the full NFL Players Association membership, and he made it clear that he was voting not only on his own behalf but also based on concerns among the players who elected the Green Bay Packers' quarterback as the team's union representative

Less than 24 hours after the 17-14-1 vote, Rodgers explained his thinking by posting it to Twitter on Wednesday.

Perhaps most telling was his opening line, in which he said his "decision to vote 'No' is based off conversations I have had with the men in my locker room that I'm tasked to represent."

Ultimately, the full union of approximately 2,000 players -- if all choose to vote -- will decide whether to approve the new CBA, which could go into effect this year.

One of Rodgers' most prominent teammates, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, thanked Rodgers after he posted his explanation.

??Thank you?? #Knowyourworth #strengthinnumbers https://t.co/QYQmdFsob3

— David Bakhtiari (@DavidBakhtiari) February 26, 2020

According to ESPN's Brooke Pryor, Rodgers was "a force" in Tuesday's meeting. Also, some players thought there was more negotiating to be done when it came to the offseason program, and those players were disappointed when told there would be no more discussion of that matter.

At issue for Rodgers and his constituents, he wrote, was the added 17th regular-season game, along with an extra playoff game for every No. 2 seed. Rodgers noted that had that been the case for the 2019 season, the Packers would have played on wild-card weekend rather than having a bye.

Rodgers wrote "16 games to me, was never something to be negotiated. The owners made it clear that the 17th game is about paying for the 'added' benefits, and had nothing to do with the positive feedback received about any extra risks involved with the added regular season game."

He continued: "There were also many issues raised about the workplace, the workload and the offseason program. Some have been addressed, while others have not."

Shortly after Rodgers' post, 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman explained his "no" vote.

Health and Wellness of our men is always the most important aspect. There is no price you can put on that and that is why I Voted No. I respect the Men that have been part of this discussion and stood up for their locker rooms. https://t.co/mL0Yj3E6d9

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 26, 2020

"Health and Wellness of our men is always the most important aspect," Sherman wrote on Twitter. "There is no price you can put on that and that is why I Voted No. I respect the Men that have been part of this discussion and stood up for their locker rooms."

The current CBA expires after the 2021 season.

CLEVELAND -- Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid left Wednesday night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first quarter and was ruled out with a left shoulder sprain.

Embiid appeared to collide with Cavaliers center Ante Zizic while being fouled late in the first quarter. The 7-footer held his shoulder when he went to the foul line and was in obvious pain as he missed two free throws.

Embiid was removed at the next time stoppage and walked to the locker room. He briefly returned to the bench in the second quarter but then went back to the locker room.

Embiid, who scored a career-high 49 points Monday against Atlanta, is averaging 23.8 points and 12 rebounds.

Philadelphia is also playing without All-Star guard Ben Simmons, who missed his second straight game because of a nerve impingement in his lower back.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.