Manchester United forward Odion Ighalo is unable to join the rest of the squad for their Spanish training camp for fear of potential travel restrictions due to the threat of the coronavirus.

Ighalo made a shock transfer to United from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua in the final minutes of the January transfer window.

- Premier League winter break: All you need to know

However, due to the outbreak of the coronanvirus in China which has led to over 600 deaths in the country, Ighalo will not be able to train alongside his new teammates during the winter break as there are concerns he may not be allowed to re-enter England.

"Odion will stay in Manchester, because he arrived from China in the last 14 days," manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told United's website.

"Because of the situation in China, we're not sure if he'd be allowed back into England if he leaves the country again, so he's staying here working with a personal coach, individual programme and his family then can settle in England as well. That's a plus.

"Of course he might have liked to have come with the players and got to know them, but the risk [of potential border restrictions tightening], we don't want to take that."

Sources have ESPN Ighalo's absence from the training camp means he is unlikely to feature in United's next game at Chelsea on Feb. 17. His debut could come in the following match against former club Watford on Feb. 23.

Meanwhile, the winter break will allow Solskjaer a closer look at another new January arrival in Bruno Fernandes, who has so far made one appearance for the club, having started the 0-0 draw against Wolves.

"I've kept in touch with him," Solskjaer said of Fernandes. "He's had a few days back home to organise.

"He's going to have to move and say his goodbyes back home, so he's ready. He wasn't 100% happy with his debut and there's more to come, so that's a good sign."

There were two juggernauts in the Premier League last season. As winter gave way to spring, Liverpool and Manchester City ploughed through everything in their path, neither losing a game after the first week in January and not even dropping a point after the second week in March.

But if you'd told someone then that in a year one of those sides would still be relentlessly trampling over every other team in the division, top of the Premier League by a cavernous margin and having taken 100 from the last available 102 points, most would probably have guessed it would be Manchester City.

And yet, here we are. This season's title was lost for Manchester City some time ago, trailing in Liverpool's wake with the rest of them, only relatively recently inching ahead of Leicester for the right to be the second-best team in the land. A win over West Ham on Sunday would take them to within 19 points of Liverpool, and then probably only for a week. Whoop-de-doo.

The rest of the Premier League is now a box-ticking exercise for City. They're 14 points ahead of fifth place, their position in the Champions League secure. Pep Guardiola could follow Jurgen Klopp's lead and hand over the keys of the first team to the under-23s for the rest of the season and they would still end it in the top four.

And that's exactly what he should do. Well, perhaps not exactly. But from this point on, Guardiola should regard Premier League games as high-profile training sessions, opportunities to simply keep his players ticking over in preparation for the more meaningful tasks ahead.

It's a strange old state of affairs when the Carabao Cup, the competition that Guardiola wants to either be abolished or removed from his sight like the needless distraction he believes it to be, is now more meaningful to City than the Premier League (stream the final live on ESPN+ in the U.S. on March 1). The FA Cup too, but of course the Champions League is City and Guardiola's true target.

You get the sense that it's a source of embarrassment for Guardiola -- who is ranked No. 2 behind Klopp among the world's top managers in ESPN's FC 100 --that he hasn't won the Champions League since 2011. He's now in his eighth season since, in which time he has managed three of the most powerful and dominant teams in the world, without even a final to show for it. For City too: this is the most lavishly funded football project in the history of the world, no expense spared in the pursuit of the elite and being the best, which they have yet to achieve.

With the remaining 13 Premier League games now being essentially meaningless to Guardiola and City, the psychology of those remaining fixtures must be quite tricky. But getting used as preparation for the Champions League is their true purpose now, so there are two ways they could approach these games: either rest and rotate, experiment and make sure his squad concentrates on Europe and the tie against Real Madrid in a few weeks, or treat the Premier League as if it's still a live concern, going hell for leather just to keep the competitive spirit up.

The latter approach certainly has plenty of merit, but it's also risky: the chance of losing a key player to injury is increased, and the chances of success in Europe would be dramatically reduced if Aymeric Laporte or Ederson or Kevin De Bruyne were laid low with injury. Reports indicate that Raheem Sterling is already touch and go for the first Real game, so any other injuries would be less than ideal.

The 'all out' approach is also the one Guardiola has adopted in every other league season when league games have meant little, in most of those cases for the opposite reason to now, with his team running away with the title instead of watching it disappear. But that hasn't worked before, so it's not unreasonable to suggest he should try something different.

If you wanted to search long and hard for the bright side of Liverpool's dominance for City, it's that it frees them from the prosaic grind of having to compete for points in the Premier League. They can rest, they can try things, they can experiment with different line-ups and formations and tactical approaches. They don't need to bother with the league anymore, so why should they?

- Premier League winter break: All you need to know
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- Transfer Grades: All the big moves rated

Any other business

- A game when both teams are absolutely desperate for a victory could go one of two ways: either they both go all out for that win and we get a game of entertaining chaos, or both teams become crippled with doubt and fear losing so much that it becomes a nervous stalemate. Brighton vs. Watford is a case in point: the latter have only one win in the past 10, the other have lost the past two and are in slight danger of all the good work done in Nigel Pearson's early days being flushed down the pan. Both need three points to escape the dastardly jaws of relegation, so either way, we recommend you tune in.

- Could Crystal Palace get sucked into the relegation scrap? Instinctively, you would say no, because they have that hardy edge which is usually enough to keep teams out of trouble. But Roy Hodgson's side have the worst attack in the Premier League and haven't won a game since Boxing Day. They're six points clear of the bottom three, which might be enough of a buffer, but it's not a huge one.

- Ryan Fraser made quite a surprising statement last week, admitting that he hadn't been playing for the team while uncertainty over his future swirled. The Scottish winger's contract is up in the summer, and Eddie Howe made clear this week that he didn't expect Fraser to stay. So now there is a little more certainty over where he'll play next season, will that be better or worse for Bournemouth? If it's clear that he's leaving, will he be less motivated, or now that everyone seems at peace with the situation, will he be more settled?

India's 22-run defeat against New Zealand in the second ODI meant they had lost a bilateral series in any format for the first time since March 2019, when Australia beat India 3-2 in ODIs. From that loss, India had gone 12 bilateral series across formats, winning 11 and drawing one.

Despite the reverse, captain Virat Kohli said there were lots of positives for India to take from the defeat, particularly lauding how Navdeep Saini (45 off 49) and Ravindra Jadeja (55 off 73) had reignited a chase that looked buried at 153 for 7 in 31.1 overs. Their fightback mirrored New Zealand's own innings, which reached 273 for 8 after being 197 for 8 at one point.

"Particularly impressed with how we finished the game today. I thought in the first half we let things slip away from us a little bit," Kohli told the host broadcaster at the presentation. "You know 200 for 8 and they got to 270-plus. I thought we gave away 30-40 extra there. But having said that, we were in trouble with the bat as well. I think Saini and Jadeja showed great character to bounce back. Shreyas [Iyer] played really well as well.

"Look, we can take a lot of positives out of this particular game. As I said, one-day cricket in this calendar year is not as relevant if you look at the T20s and the Tests. But having said that, to show that kind of fight and to see who are the guys who can play like that under pressure is a big revelation for us. Pretty happy to see the fight that we showed in the end, but again, a game where we could have taken our chances and capitalised on it."

Kohli said there had been no message sent from the dressing room when Jadeja and Saini were putting together a 76-run eighth-wicket stand at almost a run a ball. "It's up to the individuals. Honestly we didn't send any message to Jadeja and Saini," he said. "They just took control of the situation. We actually wanted guys to figure out what needs to be done in a particular situation themselves, because when you send messages from the outside, it's not really what your instinct is telling you to do. So they followed their instinct.

"I think Saini in particular was brilliant. We didn't realise how good he can be with the bat and the fight he showed is a great sign for this team. If people in the lower order can show that kind of fight then it obviously gives more confidence to the middle order and top order to play in a positive manner from the first ball."

The series will now move to Mount Maunganui for the third and final ODI, and with the series winner already decided, Kohli indicated India might be open to giving opportunities to those who had been on the bench.

"We could definitely consider it. We're going to talk about it," he said. "We have nothing to lose now so we can really go out there and play the expressive cricket we are known to play and not worry too much about the results. We might look to give a few guys chances in the next game and to make sure that we still have a very good game of cricket."

Among India's reserves are Shivam Dube, Manish Pandey and Rishabh Pant who haven't played in the ODI series yet. Out of them Pant is the only one who didn't get a T20I game either even after India took a 3-0 lead.

Big picture

This is about as big as it gets for the Under-19 cricketers from Bangladesh and India. For India, it's an opportunity to defend their title and claim a record fifth World Cup crown [Australia are next with three]. For Bangladesh, it's a chance to win their first World Cup, any World Cup.

Both sides are unbeaten so far and there's not much to separate them. If India have Kartik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra with the searing pace upfront, Bangladesh have the rapid Tanzim Hasan Sakib and the accurate Shoriful Islam to counter that. For a Ravi Bishnoi, there's a Rakibul Hasan, for a Yashasvi Jaiswal there's a Tanzid Hasan. They are evenly matched all right.

ALSO READ: Where the Under-19 World Cup final will be won and lost

The last time the two sides played each other at an Under-19 World Cup was in 2018, in the quarter-final, and India finished victorious. But they have faced off seven times since then in other competitions, two of those games abandoned because of the weather. India do hold a 4-1 edge in the completed games, but they have been close encounters. At the 2018 Asia Cup semi-final, India sneaked through with a two-run win, while in the 2019 Asia Cup final, India won by five runs. The last time Bangladesh beat India - in England last July - they won by two wickets. If nerves don't get in the way of skills, expect another nail-biter in the final here.

Heavy rain is expected at some point on both Sunday, and Monday's reserve day. Tournament rules say that if both days are washed out, the World Cup will be shared. How the two sides navigate their way while taking the conditions into consideration will be an interesting subplot. Fans of both countries will throng the JB Marks Oval to support their team, emotions will run high, and it's up to the youngsters to make the occasion a memorable one, become heroes, if they can.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)

Bangladesh WWWWW

In the spotlight

Kartik Tyagi, the India bowler who consistently bowls at 135 kph, can be the difference. Bangladesh's top order has been consistent, barring the rain-hit game against Pakistan, and if India are to win, his ten overs - both with the new ball and the older one - will hold massive importance. His 11 wickets in the tournament have come at an economy rate of less than 3.50 and he has taken a wicket every 18.7 deliveries.

Bangladesh's No. 3 Mahmudul Hasan Joy has paid his team back for backing him through the tournament. Despite a poor start to the World Cup, he has grown in confidence as it has progressed, and it was on show during the semi-final, when he struck a match-winning 100 against New Zealand. He's Bangladesh's highest run-scorer here and if he can produce an innings that matches his tournament average of 58.66, Bangladesh will be well placed to win their first World Cup.

Team news

Both sides are likely to stay unchanged for the final. There are no injury concerns for either team.

India (possible): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Divyaansh Saxena, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 5 Priyam Garg (capt), 6 Siddhesh Veer, 7 Atharva Ankolekar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Sushant Mishra, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Aakash Singh

Bangladesh (possible): 1 Parvez Hossain Emon, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Mahmudul Hasan Joy, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shahadat Hossain, 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Akbar Ali (capt, wk), 8 Rakibul Hasan, 9 Shoriful Islam, 10 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 11 Hasan Murad

Pitch and conditions

They will be playing on the same surface as the first semi-final, when India beat Pakistan. There were no demons in the surface; although Pakistan were all out for a sub-200 total, India chased it down with ten wickets in hand. Thunderstorms are expected on Sunday (and Monday) afternoon, although the morning will offer a window of uninterrupted play.

Stats and trivia

• With 312 runs in five games, Jaiswal is almost certain to finish the tournament as the highest run-scorer. Mahmudul, the second-highest run-scorer, is 124 runs behind him.

• The average first-innings score at the ground this World Cup has been 201.5.

• India have bowled their opponents out in every World Cup game.

• The team batting second has won four of the last five Under-19 World Cup finals.

Sydney Sixers 5 for 116 (Philippe 52, Silk 27*, Maxwell 2-17) beat Melbourne Stars 6 for 97 (Larkin 38*, Lyon 2-19) by 19 runs

The rain clouds parted in the nick of time and the Sydney Sixers took the Big Bash title without it being handed to them in a washout courtesy of a handsome 19-run victory over the Melbourne Stars in a 12-over contest, which meant the Stars' wait for the crown will enter the tournament's tenth edition.

After two days of heavy rain, gaps in the weather teased for a while on Saturday afternoon before clearing to allow a reduced match, but not the complete lottery of a five-over game that the Sixers had feared. Josh Philippe anchored - if there can be such a term in a shortened hit - the Sixers' innings, while there was useful striking from Steven Smith and Jordan Silk either side of the Stars' spinners putting a hold on the innings.

The key period, however, was the first three overs of the Stars run chase, which saw them lose their two big guns - Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell - for a combined total of 15 off eight balls either side of Josh Hazlewood taking 1 for 1 in his first over. Even in the reduced match, the result was clear well before the finish as the Sixers claimed their first BBL title since the inaugural season in 2011-12 and no one will be able to say they didn't do it properly.

Philippe keeps his cool

Philippe has been very impressive in the latter part of the tournament as he overcame a run of low scores to string together three half-centuries in his last four innings. This one was another very mature display because he did not lose his head under the pressure of the final and also when he wasn't getting much of the strike. It meant he was still there at the end of the innings, able to deposit Adam Zampa over the deep-midwicket boundary to reach another fifty.

Silken finish

After six overs (not the Powerplay, that was just three overs), the Sixers were 2 for 60. However, they then entered a period of 26 deliveries between boundaries as the Stars spinners - Zampa and Maxwell - proved difficult to hit. A very pumped-up Maxwell had cut off Smith's promising innings when he was caught in the deep for 21 and also got Daniel Hughes lbw when the left-hander missed a pull. Moises Henriques was beaten by a Zampa delivery that slid on and the Sixers were scoring in ones and twos - acceptable for the middle overs for a full T20, but a problem in a shortened game. Silk had reached 12 off ten balls when he broke the boundary-less streak with a mow over midwicket and managed 15 off his last five deliveries.

Stars' top order blown away

Stoinis, the competition's leading scorer by a distance, clubbed an early four and a six off Nathan Lyon, who was given the first over, and then could not believe it when he picked out deep square-leg. He could barely haul himself off the ground. Still, in a short chase, the Stars might have been able to compensate for one of their key figures going early. But it didn't stop there for them. The horribly out of form Nic Maddinson faced three dot balls against Hazlewood before lobbing a slower delivery to cover but the worst blow came next when Maxwell was given lbw sweeping at Steve O'Keefe. When Peter Handscomb was run-out in a horrible mix-up, as he jogged a single but Nick Larkin wanted two, you just knew this was going to be added to the list of nights where it went wrong for the Stars.

Sixers wrap it up

The back of the Stars' batting was well and truly broken and it would have taken something miraculous to turn the chase around. When O'Keefe bowled the final ball of the fifth over to Larkin, it meant a completed match. The Sixers just had to avoid any slip-ups. Ben Dunk, who had been brought into the side for Clint Hinchliffe when the match was reduced, managed one six before being lbw to Lyon. After all the talk that the weather would cause the damp squib it was the Stars' limp batting that made for a subdued finish despite a late flurry from Larkin and Nathan Coulter-Nile - the latter suggesting he could have been used earlier. Not that anyone in magenta - or the majority of the 10,121 crowd that had ignored the weather forecast - was worrying about such things.

Match abandoned: New Zealand v Pakistan

The New Zealand and Pakistan players could only wait and watch, and hope for the rain to go away so they could have a contest to determine who should finish third - behind Bangladesh and India, the two finalists - at the Under-19 World Cup.

As it turned out, the Benoni rain that had prevented the Australia v West Indies fifth-place playoff from being completed didn't allow even a single ball to be bowled in this game, meaning Pakistan finished third and New Zealand fourth, because of their five points to New Zealand's three in the group stage.

Pakistan had a strong run through the group stage, beating Scotland and Zimbabwe before their game against Bangladesh was rained off with Pakistan in a strong position, having reduced their opponents to 106 for 9. They then trumped Afghanistan by six wickets to enter the semi-final where they lost to India by ten wickets, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena, the India openers, chasing down the target of 173 without much fuss.

New Zealand, meanwhile, had a rain-affected campaign to start with, their game against Japan called off with them very much in pole position, before they beat Sri Lanka but lost to India via the DLS method. West Indies were then beaten by two wickets in a close finish before New Zealand fell short against Bangladesh in the semi-final.

Interestingly, the third-place playoff at the last edition of the World Cup, in 2018 in New Zealand, was also washed out without a ball bowled, and Pakistan finished third then too, pushing Afghanistan to fourth place.

Glenn Maxwell admitted Melbourne Stars' defeat in this year's Big Bash final hurt more than their shock collapse against the Melbourne Renegades last season, after they had dominated for much of the regular season.

The Stars booked their spot in the final as table-toppers well before the end of the league stage, having won 10 of their first 11 matches. But they then lost their last three games heading into the Qualifier final against the Sydney Sixers, and needed the second chance that offered them to reach the final when they overturned the Sydney Thunder on Thursday to clinch a place at the SCG.

For much of the last 48 hours it appeared they would not even have a chance to claim their maiden title, but the weather cleared to allow a 12-over match only for their batting - which has been overly reliant on Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis - to come unstuck against a high-class Sixers attack as they chased 117.

"Last year was pretty tough to take," he said, "but the fact we had such a dominant season - we played so well throughout the whole tournament and we were able to play a lot of our list and get some game time into different people - it was just such a successful season, to see different guys stand up at different times. To fall short in a game where we thought we were right in it, even at the end we had Nathan Coulter-Nile and Nick Larkin hitting the ball beautifully, we never felt out of it, even when it was 20 an over, we still backed these guys to get this, it's hard to take."

Although Maxwell felt they had let the Sixers, through Josh Philippe and Jordan Silk, escape a little towards the end of their innings - after a period where they had gone 26 balls without a boundary - he thought the chase was well in the Stars' range. However, he was one of a clatter of early wickets, lbw to Steve O'Keefe, which blew their hopes away with Stoinis falling in the first over and Peter Handscomb run out.

ALSO READ: Stars' tales of woe in Big Bash finals

"If we got off to a half-decent start and got going, it's comfortably chaseable but losing three wickets in the first three overs probably hurts you," he said. "Stoin picked out the one bloke on the fence and I got the one ball that Steve O'Keefe spins all tournament. It happens.

"I thought we bowled okay, [but] I thought we still gave them about 15 or 20 too many. Through the middle then we just leaked a bit, we just mis-executed and got Jordan Silk into the game. We take one more wicket there and it's probably around 100 off 12 overs and quite comfortable, we don't have to play around with the batting order too much, we could go in the way we've been going. But when it's around 10-an-over, we had to probably go a bit more aggressive. Hence why I went up to three and tried to take it on."

Maxwell also noted how the inclusion of Steven Smith and Josh Hazlewood for the Sixers, after their one-day duty with Australia, plus the availability of Nathan Lyon had boosted their side and cited the absence of Adam Zampa in the Stars' team for a period, although in reality the two matches they lost without Zampa were when they had already qualified for the finals.

"They got all their big guns back, so it makes it hard when they've obviously got three high-quality international players that come into the mix," he said. "To have those three big inclusions after the Test summer and one-dayers were finished, they're a formidable side."

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers were livid Friday night after a missed goaltending violation near the end of their game against the Utah Jazz denied the Blazers a shot at tying the score.

Rudy Gobert committed goaltending by blocking Lillard's shot off the glass as he drove for a layup with 11.2 seconds left in Portland's 117-114 loss in Salt Lake City.

"We get to the last play of the game, and they miss an easy call," Lillard said. "And then they tell us that's an easy no-call, like that was obviously not a goaltend. Cost us a f---ing game, man. Cost us a game."

Crew chief Josh Tiven later told a pool reporter the officials had indeed missed the call.

"We've since looked at it via postgame video review and unfortunately saw that we missed the play, and a goaltending violation should have been called," Tiven said, according to the pool report.

The missed call could not be reviewed during the game because no goaltending call was made on the floor.

"Three referees out there, and they don't call that," Lillard said. "I don't wanna see no report about, 'Oh, we should've called it' or none of that. They cost us the game. We in a playoff race, and they cost us the game on an easy call."

Blazers coach Terry Stotts and guard CJ McCollum echoed Lillard's outrage.

"It's just a shame it was decided on an inexcusable missed call," Stotts said. "There's no other way to describe it. They could've called goaltending and reviewed it, but they swallowed their whistles on a play that was so pretty obvious. ... It's disappointing that such a great effort was decided by that."

McCollum agreed.

"Just makes me think you're not capable of doing the job the way you are supposed to do it," he said. "Which means you should be reprimanded; you should be fined accordingly. When we make mistakes, we're fined."

Lillard could be facing a fine for criticizing the officiating, both to the media and later on Twitter. When a Twitter user pointed that out to Lillard, he didn't seem concerned:

Plenty money https://t.co/8F9sGrfVQp

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 8, 2020

Even Utah's Mike Conley admitted the last call was "tough."

"It's unfortunate that it happened that way, but we'll take them how we can get them right now," Conley said.

Gobert said he was trying to make a play on the ball and that he felt the no-call overshadowed a memorable Jazz comeback from a 14-point halftime deficit.

"Obviously it's a big play because it's the last play and it's what everyone is going to remember," Gobert said. "But I think we did a great job playing in the second half. Mistakes are made. Officials are human. I feel like it's all part of the game."

The ending and loss overshadowed a 42-point performance by Lillard, who has been on a historically hot streak in recent weeks, and the effort from the Blazers, who had only seven healthy players available for the bulk of the final three quarters.

"There ain't no way to take the sting out of it," Lillard said. "We can't have the game back. They cost us the game. It's a loss on our record. We in the playoff race and we need every game we can get and we had that type of effort, and they missed an easy call like that. And then you want us to walk away and say nothing. Cost us the game. Of course we gonna have something to say about it. Man, that's B.S."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The entire viewing audience that tuned into Friday night's matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz was looking for a show. What the people got was a controversial finish in a game the Jazz would win 117-114.

The odds were already stacked against the Trail Blazers when Friday started. Portland beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-117 at home Thursday night, led by All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, who had 26 points and 10 assists. But Utah had the night off, putting the Trail Blazers at a rest disadvantage.

The Trail Blazers had only nine available players for Friday night, with center Hassan Whiteside (left leg contusion) and power forward Nassir Little (left ankle sprain) unable to suit up. The number of available players dwindled to seven, after backup point guard Anfernee Simons left the game in the first quarter because of a concussion, and starting small forward Trevor Ariza was ejected for the first time in two years in the second quarter after disputing a non-call.

Despite Portland's lack of depth, Lillard had 27 points in the first half, and the Trail Blazers led the Jazz 74-58 with 11:07 left in the third quarter.

The Jazz ultimately led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers appeared to be wearing down. But Lillard sparked the Trail Blazers on a 12-5 run inside the last three minutes of the game, tying the score at 114 after a tough floater with 42.6 seconds left. "Dame Time" appeared to be underway once again for the reigning NBA Western Conference Player of the Week.

Utah Jazz All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell answered Lillard's tying field goal with a bucket of his own with 19.5 seconds left, forcing a Portland timeout. Out of the timeout, Lillard went to work and appeared to have a layup that hit the right side of the backboard before Utah All-Star center Rudy Gobert blocked it away.

Except, Gobert wasn't called for goaltending. Utah small forward Bojan Bogdanovic (team-high 27 points) split a pair of free throws to give the Jazz a 117-114 lead, which was the final score after Portland fill-in center Caleb Swanigan missed a corner 3 at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.

Lillard finished with a game-high 42 points on 16-of-30 shooting, including 8-of-14 on 3s and 2-of-3 of free throws. As expected, Lillard was upset about the missed call. He would not be the only one, as players such as fellow Team LeBron All-Star Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks as well as former Trail Blazer Dorell Wright were wondering how the officials could prevent another classic Lillard finish:

how you miss that call???‍♂️

— Luka Doncic (@luka7doncic) February 8, 2020

That's all folks pic.twitter.com/R0pGTUPwt3

— Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) February 8, 2020

This is unbelievable!!!!!!

— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) February 8, 2020

Wow

— Dorell Wright ? (@DWRIGHTWAY1) February 8, 2020

Foul an goaltending

— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) February 8, 2020

In between explaining his issues with officiating over the game as a whole, Lillard had one refrain: We're in a playoff race and this cost us a game.

— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) February 8, 2020

Mood ? pic.twitter.com/iQ6yJa942g

— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) February 8, 2020

Portland's loss dropped its record to 24-29, one spot outside the top eight in the Western Conference, and 2½ games behind the Memphis Grizzlies.

In a pool report, crew chief Josh Tiven said that Lillard's shot was "not reviewable since no goaltending call was made on the floor." Tiven also added that "we've since looked at it via postgame video review, and unfortunately saw that we missed the play, and a goaltending violation should have been called." Even Gobert admitted it was goaltending.

Not that Lillard wants to hear that now. After the game, while Gobert expressed respect for Lillard, it appeared that tensions were not reserved for just the officiating. Mitchell suggested that the Jazz shouldn't be "punked" by some of Portland's players, specifically naming second-year shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. Lillard took umbrage with that assessment.

I have nothing but respect for @Dame_Lillard and he knows it. Love to compete against him. Everyone go report this account for posting lies. https://t.co/vEbGAaZO6k

— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) February 8, 2020

Lol.... ????? https://t.co/9ljDQjczns

— GARY x TRENT x JR ? (@gtrentjr) February 8, 2020

I said what I said... https://t.co/IrhB83kkVY

— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) February 8, 2020

Plenty money https://t.co/8F9sGrfVQp

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 8, 2020

Earlier Friday, the NBA announced that Orlando Magic head coach Steve Clifford would be fined $25K for verbally abusing game officials following Orlando's loss on Thursday to the New York Knicks, though the NBA also admitted that its officials missed two calls late in that game that would have been to the Magic's advantage.

This also isn't the first time that Lillard has been irate with officials after a game this winter, nor is it the first time that Gobert wasn't involved in a controversial blocked shot. Lillard was upset last month at the end of a 133-125 loss to the Mavericks, drawing a technical foul. And earlier in January, the New Orleans Pelicans were victimized by a Gobert block on All-Star forward Brandon Ingram that the NBA admitted the next day should have been a foul at the buzzer in what was ultimately a 128-126 Jazz win.

None of this will placate Lillard or the Trail Blazers, who will try to get back on the winning end of things Sunday night against the Miami Heat.

On the other side, the Jazz will take a win that snaps what was a season-worst five-game losing streak.

The Jazz will visit Portland on April 2 for the final meeting of the season, one that might have playoff implications for both teams.

Whether it’s 100 miles over the trails and hills or a track 10,000m, the GB international believes that mixing things up helps him to succeed

Tom Evans is an athlete who loves a challenge. This is a man who discovered his talent for running huge distances in 2017 after a bet with his friends saw him taking on the famously gruelling Marathon des Sables. He shocked the ultra running world by finishing third.

Further evidence of his endurance ability followed with victory at the CCC 101km race which forms part of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc week in France, while there was also a bronze medal at the IAU/ITRA Trail World Championships in Spain in 2018.

Last year, he became the fastest non-American to complete the Western States 100, with his time of 14 hours, 59 minutes and 44 seconds also making him the fifth quickest athlete in history on the iconic ultra-distance course in California as he finished third.

But it is not just mammoth, epic assignments which get Evans’ competitive juices flowing.

Last year he was also to be found competing on the track at the English 10,000m championships, on the road at the Granollers half-marathon in Spain or revelling in the muddy challenges of a number of cross country events.

Evans enjoyed himself so much, in fact, that his sixth-place finish at the British Athletics Cross Challenge in Liverpool last November saw him qualify for the British team which competed at the European Cross Country Championships in Lisbon. Senior men’s team gold was a treasured souvenir from a trip to remember.

Varying distances, speeds and terrain is part of what Evans loves about his chosen sport. Yes, the ultra running takes top priority but the former army captain believes that, by regularly mixing things up in training and racing, he is becoming a more rounded runner.

“People have seen ultra running as something that older people do and that the training for it is very much ‘you just need loads of volume’. But my training is hilly marathon training with a couple of longer runs and then some really specific, targeted sessions,” says Evans, who is based in Loughborough. “Those will be as specific as possible to the race I’m training for because whether you
run London or Berlin your training could be almost identical.

“But if you compare a 100-mile race with 5000m of climbing or a 100-mile race with 10,000m of climbing, the way you approach it is very different. That could be a 15-hour race or a 22-hour race and it’s completely different.

“Then for something like cross country I want to be as fit as I possibly can – and efficiency and economy are everything.

“If I can comfortably run six-minute miles for four hours in hills, then brilliant. But if you don’t ever run faster than that, you’re never going to be able to do it so for me this was shifting my lactate curve, shifting my efficiency. If six-minute miles has become easy then what if I can make it 5:50? For the same effort, the same heart rate, if I can run a mile 10 seconds quicker every mile … over 100 miles that’s a lot!”

He adds: “I ran in the English 10,000m track championships, then I did a 100-mile race and then I got to the European Cross Country Championships.

“If you look at other trail runners, mountain runners and marathon runners – someone like Robbie Simpson – it works! Robbie is a Commonwealth Games medallist at the marathon but he’s a mountain runner and I think people forget that.

“If you look at runners from the US like (Western States winner) Jim Walmsley, who has run a 64:00 half-marathon, that’s awesome. He’s a mid-13 5km runner.

“My next ultra marathon is in New Zealand in February and the last 10km is on a canal path. So if I can put myself in a position where, after 90km, I am able to run the last six miles at six-minute miling…no-one else is going to be doing that. I hope!”

“If I can comfortably run six-minute miles for four hours in hills, then brilliant. If six-minute miles has become easy then what if I can make it 5:50? For the same effort, the same heart rate, if I can run a mile 10 seconds quicker every mile … over 100 miles that’s a lot!”

Evans’ passion for what he does is undeniable. Asking questions of his body is where he seems to find greatest satisfaction.

“With something like the European Cross or the Cross Challenge, I think it just sets foundations,” he says. “Similar to a marathon runner, I have two or maybe three ‘A’ races a year but I love racing so if I can show people that you can juggle (different styles and distances) then great.

“Even if I wasn’t winning races or doing as well, then I would still be doing this. For me to get this opportunity to be able to compete on the world stage in the mountains or in a 100-mile race at Lake Tahoe or at the European Cross Country – it’s incredible. I get to travel the world, doing something that I love.

“When you break it down I am just trying trying move my legs as quickly as I can over a certain distance. For 100 miles it’s significantly slower while for 10km it’s significantly faster but it’s all relative.

“I moved to Loughborough and I’ve trained with Andy Butchart quite a lot. To be able to train with him is amazing. At the beginning we were both slightly uneasy ‘how’s it going to work?’ but actually it’s just running. We are running at this pace, for this distance ‘can you do it or can you not do it?’. If you don’t try you’ll never know.”