Former Brazil striker Pele dismissed talk he is depressed and reclusive on Thursday and assured fans he is doing well and maintaining a busy schedule.

Pele's son Edinho told Brazilan outlet Globo in an interview published on Monday that the three-times World Cup winner was depressed and reluctant to leave his house because he cannot get around properly due to hip problems.

"I am good," said Pele, who will be 80 in October. "I continue to accept my physical limitations in the best way possible but I intend to keep the ball rolling.

"I have good days and bad days. That is normal for people of my age. I am not afraid, I am determined, confident in what I do."

Pele, widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers in history, is the only player to win three World Cups.

He has suffered from hip trouble for years and cannot walk unaided. Many of his most recent public appearances have been in a wheelchair.

However, friends of the former Santos and New York Cosmos player said this January was one of his busiest in years.

He did photos shoots and sponsorship work and he is cooperating with a British director making a documentary about his footballing life.

"I am not avoiding fulfilling the commitments in my always busy schedule," Pele said in his statement.

This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of his third World Cup title, won in Mexico in 1970 with what many rate the greatest team of all time.

The leaders had a weekend off, but there was plenty of room below them. Spain's big two are moving in the right direction, in contrast to the champions of Germany and Italy.

Dropping out: Benfica

Agree? Disagree? Let us know, and watch Shaka defend his picks on ESPN FC TV, which airs daily on ESPN+.

Chris Jordan has insisted that England's fast bowlers do not feel as though they are playing for their places in their series in South Africa.

Jofra Archer is missing from the T20I leg of this tour due to an elbow injury, while Pat Brown, the death specialist who debuted against New Zealand in November, would have joined up with this squad but for a back injury.

But despite two death-bowling specialists lurking on the sidelines, Jordan does not feel that he, Tom Curran and Mark Wood are competing against one another in South Africa.

ALSO READ: 'Experiences like this are so valuable' - Morgan

"One of the hallmarks of this team is that whoever is playing at the time is trying to keep their standards as high as possible," Jordan said.

"I don't think that the environment has been created in such a way to feel that pressure for a playing spot. You have that in any team any way but I don't think that is the focus at all.

"We have a strong squad here and any XI we put out on any given day is strong enough to beat any team so those are the things that we are trying to focus on as much as possible."

England's seamers started poorly in Wednesday's game in East London, with Wood, Curran and Jordan shipping 49 runs between them in three Powerplay overs. They dragged things back at the end of the innings, in part thanks to an eventual adjustment to a pitch that suited cutters but also due to Adil Rashid's tight spell in the middle overs which exposed South Africa's lack of batting depth.

And Jordan suggested that while there was room for improvement, training against a powerful batting line-up provided plenty of scope for that.

"I honestly find our training sessions so beneficial because I am bowling at some of the best in the world," he said. "Literally, if you miss your mark, you go out the park.

"Equally, we have got conversations about what can work and how we can improve slower balls. A big strength of this team is our communication and our will to try to help each other get better."

Jordan found himself stranded at the non-striker's end in the climax of Wednesday's game, striding out to the middle with five runs needed from four balls only to see Lungi Ngidi close out an improbable win by conceding just three. And Jordan admitted that England could have been "a little bit smarter" having required seven runs from seven balls.

"With our batting line-up I am confident of chasing pretty much any score," he said. "Seven off seven should be doable. But credit to Ngidi, he bowled a good last over.

"Potentially we could have been a little bit smarter at times but T20 cricket is one of those things. You try to take the positive option more often than not and some days it goes your way, some days it doesn't."

Jordan impressed at the death in East London, conceding 14 runs and taking three wickets in his final two overs, but had struggled in the third ODI at the Wanderers. His last three overs yielded 40 runs on that occasion, with David Miller taking him for two fours and three sixes.

That said, his record in T20Is has been superb of late. Since the start of 2019, he has taken 16 wickets at 13.00 apiece for England, at a parsimonious economy rate of 7.75. While Archer in particular is almost certain to bowl at the death in the format when fit, Jordan's record in international colours suggests that he need not worry too much about his spot in the side.

Pakistan's emergence from international purgatory is slowly but surely coming to fruition. In recent years the growth of the PSL, and the willingness of its overseas stars to put themselves forward for the knock-out stages in Karachi and Lahore, has helped to accelerate a process that culminated, late last year, in Sri Lanka's arrival for the first Tests on Pakistan soil in more than a decade.

Bangladesh too have decided the time is nigh to get the show back on the road, with the second Test of their two-part tour due to take place in Karachi in April, after last week's innings win at Rawalpindi was lit up by a hat-trick for Pakistan's latest teenage sensation Naseem Shah.

But for sheer symbolism, few matches will resonate more than the one taking place under the Gadaffi Stadium floodlights on Friday, when Kumar Sangakkara leads his MCC side in a T20 contest against Lahore Qalanders. In doing so, he will return to the scene of the most shocking atrocity to be visited on an international sporting team since the Munich Olympics in 1972.

The events of March 3, 2009 are all too well known to cricket's tight-knit global community. As the Sri Lanka team bus approached the stadium for what should have been the third morning of the second Test against Pakistan, they were ambushed by 12 gunmen on the Liberty Roundabout, sprayed with bullets and subjected to rocket and grenade assaults, in an attack that left six policemen and two civilians dead, as well as the driver of the minibus carrying the match officials.

Heroically, the Sri Lankans' bus driver, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, kept their vehicle moving towards the stadium compound despite having his tyres shot from beneath him, but amid the chaos, seven of the team suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds - most seriously, Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera, who only the previous day had completed his second double century in a fortnight.

Sangakkara himself had a shockingly near miss. As he related in his MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture in 2011, in the very moment that he turned his head to attend to Samaraweera, he felt the wind of a bullet fizz past his ear and strike his seat. The last time he and his team-mates departed the Gadaffi Stadium, it was as evacuees in a military helicopter. His return, more than a decade later, provides closure on the one hand, and hope on the other.

"I don't think I need any flashbacks, because I remember that day and those moments so very clearly," Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo, on the day of the team's arrival in Pakistan. "It's not something I relive or wallow in. But it's an experience you should never forget, because it gives you perspective in terms of life and sport, and you learn a lot about your own values and characters, and those of others.

"I have no reservations about talking about it, it's not something that upsets me, but these sorts of experiences can only strengthen you. Today I consider yourself very fortunate to be able to come back here to Lahore, and at the same time remember the sacrifice of all those who lost their lives that day."

The emotions among the Sri Lankans ran understandably wild in the immediate aftermath of the attack, though as Sangakkara recalled, their innate resilience shone through first and foremost, along with a certain grim humour too. Within minutes, Ajantha Mendis, himself injured in the attack, was reaching for his poker chips and setting up a card school, while Sangakkara's own thoughts somehow kept coming back to Paranavitana's terrible first taste of international cricket - a golden duck on debut, and now hospitalised with a bullet in his chest.

"I think everyone deals with it in their own personal way," Sangakkara said. "But at the same time, what really unites us is that you face adversity and you face challenge, and you have to get past it, and you've got to do that successfully. It's about moving forwards and upwards and being part of cricket. Being Sri Lankan you learn those lessons quite well, because throughout our civil war, cricket was a unique vibe.

"We speak about the attack at various times," he added. "We even have a laugh about it, in terms of what we went through, because it helps sometimes to look at it with a bit of humour, even though there was a tragic loss of life, and other serious injuries within that incident.

"And I think for us also, it's brought home the fact that being a cricketer on the international stage, you are not immune to real-life situations and the experiences of other people that you might not otherwise connect with. It's really a strengthening experience for us, a humbling one as well, and it puts a lot of things in perspective."

That said, Sangakkara had no reason to think he'd ever come back to Lahore after the attack, certainly once it became clear that international cricket would not be returning to Pakistan before his retirement in 2015. But as MCC president - an office that speaks, in his words, of "stewardship and legacy" - he felt a compunction to lead a side back to the country to help to spread the word that one of the game's "powerhouses" is open for business once again.

"There is history and tradition galore at MCC but to actually use that to benefit the game, not just in the UK and within the club framework, but beyond that, internationally, will edify the philosophy of MCC," Sangakkara said. "We feel we have a role, not just as the guardians of the spirit and laws, but of the game itself. We leave a legacy of trust and support in all the countries that we tour."

The 12-man squad, which will be coached by Ajmal Shahzad and also features the likes of Ravi Bopara, Ross Whiteley and Roelof van der Merwe, is due to play four fixtures in the space of six days - three of them in the leafy environs of Aitcheson College, the so-called "Eton of Pakistan", which counts Imran Khan among its most illustrious old boys.

Most of the trip, in fact, will be a far cry from the hustle and hype of a full international tour, and Sangakkara was at pains to point out that MCC's presence was not about pointing fingers at any Test nations that might still be having doubts about committing fully to a return to Pakistan - least of all the next scheduled visitors South Africa, who are due to tour the country next month, pending security clearance.

"Our message is very simple," said Sangakkara. "We are here because we are confident that we will have a great tour. There's been a huge effort by Wasim Khan [managing director] at the PCB, and the government, to get us here, and once we are able to show that this tour has gone off successfully, that message will resonate beyond Pakistan, and go a long way towards strengthening the purpose of other sides who are making the decision to come back.

"These things take time. You have to build confidence by sending the right message, then you need the right protocols and the right arrangements in place. But it's great to see it all gathering momentum. More and more teams are talking about it, and more teams are coming back."

As for Sangakkara's own return, his first 24 hours back in Pakistan have turned out to be improbably relaxing.

"I did spend some time thinking what it would feel like, coming back to Lahore, going to the ground and staying at the Pearl Continental Hotel," he said. "But the reception at the airport was brilliant, everyone was so passionate about us coming here. It really made us relax, getting into the bus. It feels lovely to be back, and I'm glad I made the decision to come back to Lahore and be part of this tour.

"It's about reigniting the passion and the spark of inspiration for young Pakistani boys and girls, who want to be able to watch their heroes, playing at home in front of them in the flesh. The best in the world, competing and winning and doing great things.

"There's no greater legacy can be left behind than that, and for MCC to be part of that effort to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, I think we can all be quite proud."

68 overs Indians 217 for 4 (Pujara 87*, Vihari 85*, Kuggeleijn 3-40) v New Zealand XI

Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill. On a green Seddon Park pitch that offered the new ball steep, tennis-ball bounce, Scott Kuggeleijn took just 3.2 overs to rip out the three contenders to open for India in the first Test in Wellington next week.

From 5 for 3, which became 38 for 4, the Indians recovered courtesy an unbroken stand of 179 between Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, and were 217 for 4 at the drinks break midway through the final session. Both saw off the early discomfort before bedding in against the older ball, on a pitch that flattened out once it lost its early moisture.

It was far trickier to bat on at the start, however, and it may be harsh to read too much into the scores of 0, 1 and 0 against the names of the three opening candidates.

Four balls after the two teams agreed to let the Indians bat first, Shaw was out for a duck, caught at short leg, fending one that rose unexpectedly towards his throat from short of a length. In Kuggeleijn's fourth over - the seventh of the Indians' innings - Agarwal fell for one that left him outside off stump, and edged behind to Dane Cleaver.

On the eve of this match, Gill had spoken about the need for India to ensure New Zealand don't take too many wickets with the short ball in the Tests. A short ball sent him on his way here, though it was a hard one to negotiate, climbing awkwardly in the fourth-stump channel. Gill, who had made 83, 204* and 136 in his last three innings, was out first ball, opening up and fending to gully.

The ball continued to nip around for the next half hour or so, and seam movement consumed Ajinkya Rahane, caught at slip off James Neesham, after he had looked reasonably solid in a 33-run fourth-wicket stand with Pujara.

More to follow…

The Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks head into the All-Star break as the favorites to win the NBA title at sportsbooks around the nation.

The Lakers are +180 to win the title at Caesars Sportsbook, followed by the Bucks at +275. The LA Clippers, at +325, are the only other team with single-digit odds at most sportsbooks.

More than twice as much money has been bet on the Lakers to win the title than any other team at Caesars sportsbooks in Nevada.

While the Lakers are the consensus favorites -- and attracting the most bets -- sportsbooks that primarily operate on the East Coast like FanDuel and DraftKings have the Bucks as the favorites. Milwaukee owns the best record in the league at 46-8.

At Caesars, the Houston Rockets, with 12-1 odds, lead a second tier of title contenders that includes the defending champion Toronto Raptors (20-1) and the surprising Miami Heat (20-1). The Heat, who are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, opened at 200-1 to win the title last summer and began the season at 75-1.

The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets also are 20-1 at Caesars.

Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans have seen some recent interest at the betting window. Sportsbooks PointsBet said it took a $1,000 bet on the Pelicans at 500-1 in January.

Williamson is the second favorite, behind Memphis' Ja Morant, in Caesars' odds to win Rookie of the Year.

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- In his first comments since the Los Angeles Chargers announced a mutual parting of ways with longtime quarterback Philip Rivers, head coach Anthony Lynn said Tyrod Taylor, last year's backup, could have an opportunity to earn the starting job in 2020.

Lynn recently signed a one-year contract extension that puts him with the Chargers through the 2021 season, according to a source.

"Tyrod Taylor is a heck of a quarterback," Lynn told AM 570 LA Sports. "We couldn't have a better backup right now, and now he has an opportunity to maybe step up into a starting role. I've had Tyrod before [in Buffalo], and I know what this young man brings to the table, in the passing game and the running game.

"One of the things he does very well is take care of the football. I believe every year he's started in this league he's been the No. 1 quarterback in taking care of the football. I believe more games are lost than won. So if we can just take care of the football and take it away, we'll be OK."

Rivers turned the ball over 23 times during last season's 5-11 campaign. Taking care of the football is a top priority for Lynn. The Chargers finished 2-9 in games decided by one score in 2019.

Taylor signed a two-year, $11 million deal last offseason and will make $5 million in total compensation in 2020. The Chargers also have another mobile quarterback, Easton Stick, a fifth-round selection from last year's draft.

In his last full season as a starter, Taylor turned it over just six times in 2017, leading the Buffalo Bills to the postseason for the first time in 18 years.

Taylor also helped the Bills lead the league with 2,630 rushing yards in 2016 when Lynn was his offensive coordinator.

"There are some guys that can win from the pocket, but when you look around the league, most of these guys are mobile quarterbacks that can move," Lynn told 570 AM, when asked what style of quarterback he prefers. "All you have to do is watch high school football on Friday nights. High school football told me 10 years ago the direction the NFL was headed.

"So that's just the world that we're in right now -- you can do more things and be more cutting edge [with a mobile quarterback]. But that guy that can stand back there, pick up all those protections, throw the ball from the pocket and use the quick passing game [instead of] his legs, you can still win with a classic pocket passer."

Lynn also talked about the process of moving on from Rivers after 16 seasons as the face of the franchise.

"We looked at a lot of things with Phil and where he's at in his career," Lynn said. "And Phil had a say-so in it as well. We agreed to split. And we couldn't have done it any classier or better. My conversation with Phil was one of the best I've had with him, I can tell you that.

"I'm a big fan of his. And if he decides to continue to play, I'm going to root for that young man and Tiffany; they are two special people. But it was just time. It happens. Brett Favre left Green Bay. Joe Montana left the 49ers. Peyton Manning left Indy. It happens."

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett again alleged that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph used a racial slur toward him just prior to the brawl at the end of their November game.

"He called me the N-word," Garrett told Outside The Lines' Mina Kimes during an interview that airs Thursday night on SportsCenter. "He called me a 'stupid N-word.'"

The NFL suspended Garrett indefinitely for ripping Rudolph's helmet off and hitting him in the head with it during the Browns' 21-7 win on Nov. 14. The incident ended up costing him the final six games of the regular season and roughly $1.2 million in pay, plus a fine of $45,623.

Garrett was reinstated by the league on Wednesday.

The star defensive player first asserted during his appeals hearing for the suspension that Rudolph incited him with a racial slur, ESPN reported previously. Garrett later said he never intended for the accusation to become public, but added: "I know what I heard."

An NFL spokesman said the league "found no such evidence" that Rudolph used the slur and upheld the suspension.

Rudolph has called the allegation "totally untrue."

"I couldn't believe it," the quarterback said Nov. 24. "I couldn't believe he would go that route after the fact."

In Thursday's interview with ESPN, Garrett recounted a different version of events and blamed Rudolph for starting the fight that led to the discipline of 33 total players and fines amounting to $732,422.

"When he said it, it kind of sparked something, but I still tried to let it go and still walk away," Garrett said. "But once he came back, it kind of reignited the situation. And not only have you escalated things past what they needed to be with such little time in the game left, now you're trying to reengage and start a fight again. It's definitely not entirely his fault; it's definitely both parties doing something that we shouldn't have been doing.

"I don't say the N-word, whether it's with 'a' [or] 'er.' To me personally, just shouldn't be said, and whether it's by family, friends, anyone. I don't want to use it because I don't want [people to] find that appropriate around me for anyone to use."

The Steelers ran a final play with eight seconds left on the clock. Rudolph initially tussled with Garrett on the ground, then charged at him after Garrett forcibly removed Rudolph's helmet. At that point, Garrett slugged Rudolph over the head with it.

The league fined the Browns and the Steelers $250,000 each. Without Garrett, Cleveland's defense cratered down the stretch en route to a 6-10 finish.

Reached for comment, the Steelers on Thursday deferred to their November statement, which read in part, "Mason vehemently denies the report of being accused of using a racial slur during the incident."

Rudolph's agent and attorney, Tim Younger, was unavailable for comment Thursday.

ESPN's Brooke Pryor contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- Tiger Woods produced the kind of start that has been so often lacking in his rounds at Riviera Country Club over the years.

He just couldn't quite sustain it.

After eagling his opening hole and making two more birdies over the first nine holes to shoot 31, Woods cooled off in the first round of the Genesis Invitational and settled for a score of 69 on Thursday.

It was a disappointing back nine after so much good over the first nine holes.

"I got off to a nice start on the front nine and just didn't hit many good shots on the back nine," Woods said. "Made a couple loose swings and made a couple good saves on the back nine for par, but just wasn't able to get any birdies on the back nine."

Woods noted that he had not practiced on site much this week, especially on the driving range.

"I was trying to piece it together on the range and I did a good job of figuring out how to make solid contact and get the ball heading in the right direction and was able to get off to a quick start there with a quick 3,'' he said. "A lot of good shots on the front nine. The ones I did miss today were generally left and obviously didn't hit 'em right.''

During his red-hot front nine, Woods had a couple of Kobe Bryant-related moments in his first full event since Bryant's death last month in a helicopter crash. The first was his eagle putt on the par-5 opening hole, which measured at 24 feet, 8 inches (Bryant's numbers).

Then on the eighth hole, which has a Kobe No. 8 flag in Lakers colors this week at Riviera, he paid tribute to Bryant by doing a one-handed basketball-like shot of his ball back to his caddie after making birdie.

All in the flick of the wrist!

Tiger Woods with a subtle tribute to Kobe✊

(via @GolfDigest) pic.twitter.com/bQFXEoGHw1

— ESPN (@espn) February 13, 2020

"It's ironic, isn't it? It was a nice way to start," said Woods, who was good friends with Bryant. "I didn't know about the putt being that long. As I said, ironic that having those two numbers. And then No. 8, happened to hit one in there close and had a nice little kick in there for birdie.

"No matter what we do, I think for a while we're going to always remember Kobe and what he meant, and especially here in SoCal and the entire sports world. Like I said, very ironic that I happened to have those numbers on those holes and those exact measurements.''

Matt Kuchar's opening-round 64 has him four ahead of a slew of players under par, and Woods might rue not taking advantage of a picture-perfect day in Southern California.

For the first time since 2004, Woods shot a front nine of 4 under or better, and it was only the second time he shot under par over holes one through nine in his past eight attempts.

But after making the turn, Woods missed the fairway well left at the short par-4 10th while trying to drive the green; he settled for a par. After hitting a tree off the tee at the par-5 11th, he was in position to make a birdie when he wedged to 10 feet but couldn't get the putt to drop.

His first bogey came at the par-4 12th, where his approach rolled just over the green. At the 13th, his tee shot was again left, forcing him to chip out, but he got it up and down from the fairway, making a 5-footer for par. He also saved par from 7 feet at the 15th.

Then at the par-5 17th, Woods found a fairway bunker, had to wedge down the fairway and still had 200 yards left for his third shot, leaving himself a 70-footer that he managed to two-putt to save par. Woods hit only one of seven fairways on the back nine and made no birdies over the closing 10 holes.

Woods is the host of the tournament, which this year was given elevated status, making it like the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial. The closest PGA Tour stop to Woods' childhood home in Cypress, California, Woods has never won at Riviera in 12 tries, the most of any tournament he has played without a victory.

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics played a surprise video during the first quarter of their double-OT win against the LA Clippers on Thursday night, previewing Kevin Garnett's No. 5 jersey joining the team's retired numbers in the rafters at TD Garden.

A nearly two-minute video of Garnett highlights -- set to the rap song "I Got 5 on It" by Luniz -- played out of the blue. Toward the end, the video showed a banner with the message "COMING 2020-21 SEASON" followed by Garnett's No. 5 in a banner and then a shot showing the 23 retired Celtics numbers on the banners hanging at the top of the Garden.

Garnett was not in the building for the announcement that his number will be retired, but the Celtics had a statement from their former All-Star big man, who is expected to be named as a finalist Friday along with Tim Duncan and the late Kobe Bryant to the star-studded 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class.

"I'm honored and thankful to have my number retired with the Celtics," Garnett said in a statement that was shown on the big screen. "I will always have immense respect and appreciation for ownership, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, my past teammates and Celtic Nation!"

Energy and intensity unmatched. #KG5 pic.twitter.com/jg8knc3HGq

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 14, 2020

Before the game, standing in the hallway of TD Garden, where he coached Garnett for six seasons from 2007 to '13 with the Celtics, Clippers coach Doc Rivers reflected on his former player ahead of the anticipated HOF finalist announcement.

Rivers said Garnett will go down as one of the most unselfish superstars to ever play the game.

"I've often said about him, he's the greatest superstar role player ever," Rivers said. "He was a superstar, but he played his role for the team anyway, somehow. I don't know how he did that, but he did it.

"He changed the culture of this franchise. He really did. We needed a guy like that to come to the franchise, and he did that and it's still here. It hasn't left since. That was all Garnett."

The fifth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1995 and the first player drafted out of high school since Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby were selected in 1975, Garnett averaged 17.8 points, 10 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals per game over 21 seasons.

Garnett, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone are the only players with 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists in their careers, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. During the 2002-03 season, Garnett led the Timberwolves in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. He is one of only five players to lead their respective teams in those five categories since blocks and steals became official in 1973-74.

The 2004 MVP won a championship in 2008, shortly after joining Rivers in Boston, and was a 15-time All-Star and 12-time All-Defensive performer.

"I think he was a great teammate," Rivers said. "I don't think that gets enough play. He was a phenomenal teammate. He's all about winning. His IQ was incredible. It was off the charts."

On Thursday, Rivers returned to Boston with his two new superstars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (who ended up exiting the game with a hamstring strain). Rivers said the pair reminds him of having Garnett and Ray Allen.

"Kawhi is nowhere near outward like Kevin, but there's a lot of Kevin in him as far as how serious he approaches the game and sees the game and prepares for the game," Rivers said. "That is very similar. And then PG, just watching him shoot and work reminds you of Ray in some ways in that way.

"He takes a lot of shots and then you wonder -- you laugh with some of your young guys, with Ray, Ray would take 100, 200 more shots than everybody in the gym, and I would always think, how could you be better than Ray if he's already a better shooter and he's still taking more practice shots? It just makes no sense to me. I would tell the young guys that, and some of them never caught on to that, that you get better by working at it."