BALTIMORE -- Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens' historic season abruptly ended with a shocking defeat Saturday night, opening questions about whether the NFL's top team struggled because of rust and postseason pressure.

In a 28-12 divisional-round loss to the Tennessee Titans, Jackson threw two interceptions and fumbled once in an uncharacteristic performance for the front-runner for NFL Most Valuable Player.

As a result, the Ravens suffered their first loss in 104 days (since Sept. 29) and became the first No. 1 seed to fall to a 6-seed since 2010. Baltimore also became the sixth team since the NFL playoffs began in 1933 to win at least 14 games in a season but fail to win a postseason game.

"We just beat ourselves," Jackson said. "I had a lot of mistakes on my behalf. Three turnovers -- that shouldn't happen. But [Tennessee] came out to play."

This marked the second quick exit from the playoffs for Baltimore. Last season, the Ravens lost to the Los Angeles Chargers 23-17 in the wild-card round. On Saturday, Baltimore was once again bounced from its postseason opener.

In the locker room afterward, several players sat quietly with stunned looks on their faces. Others shook their heads as they walked to the showers and training room. Ravens coach John Harbaugh went from locker to locker to shake players' hands.

The last time the Ravens won a postseason game was in 2014, when they upset the Pittsburgh Steelers. That fact led Baltimore cornerback Marlon Humphrey to address "the sad reality" of this team.

"I think you have to look at yourself in the mirror, and I think this team's identity right now is to get in the playoffs and choke," Humphrey said. "It is what it is. This is just the hard truth."

Was it rust? During the week, Jackson scoffed at the idea that he would be affected by a 20-day layoff, but he produced just the second three-turnover game of his career. The Ravens, who sat five Pro Bowl players in the regular-season finale before their first-round postseason bye, scored the fewest points by any team in its first playoff game after leading the NFL in scoring during the regular season.

"I don't have that answer," Harbaugh said when asked if rust was a factor. "It's unanswerable. Our guys practiced really hard and did the best they could. But we didn't play a sharp football game, for sure."

Was it the playoffs? Jackson didn't want to talk about last season's postseason problems. He is 0-2 in the postseason, compared to 19-3 in the regular season. He has five total turnovers in the playoffs after last year's wild-card loss to the Chargers and Saturday's divisional defeat to the Titans. Jackson had only eight turnovers in the entire 2019 season.

Asked about those who point out that he is winless in the postseason, Jackson said, "I don't really care about what they say. This is my second year in the league. Most people [aren't] able to bring it to the playoffs. I don't really worry about [what] people say. We're going to keep going [and] get ready for next year."

In his first full season as an NFL starter, Jackson put up numbers previously unseen in the NFL. He became the first player to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards. He led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes and broke Michael Vick's single-season rushing mark for a quarterback.

But in the end, Jackson could become the first NFL MVP to lose his first playoff game of the season since running back Adrian Peterson did so in 2012. Meanwhile, it has been 20 years since a player won the MVP award and the Super Bowl in the same campaign.

Jackson wasn't sharp while throwing high and behind receivers against a Titans defense that rarely blitzed him. He finished 21-of-59 passing for 365 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His 63.2 passer rating was his second worst this season.

Harbaugh said he isn't worried about the loss hurting Jackson's confidence going forward.

"I won't have to say much to him. We will talk for sure [Sunday], and we will see where that conversation goes, just from a standpoint of two people talking. But I know how he's going to respond," Harbaugh said.

"He is going to respond by being extremely motivated and determined to improve as a football player. And I think the strategy made between last year and this year are pretty indicative of that, and we expect him to get better. That's what he should do. It's simple -- him and everybody else. That's what we all should strive to do, and I just know his character and who he is as a person. That's what he will be thinking about."

Not all the blame falls on the first-team All-Pro quarterback. Running back Mark Ingram was a nonfactor with a strained calf, finishing with a season-worst 22 yards on six carries. The Ravens' wide receivers and tight ends dropped five passes. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman abandoned the run after halftime, calling 39 pass plays in the second half.

In winning a franchise-best 14 games and earning the team's first No. 1 seed, the Ravens watched the Titans use a run-dominated game plan against them, physically pushing the Ravens around. Baltimore, which broke the NFL's 41-year-old single-season rushing record, allowed 218 yards rushing to Tennessee, including 195 yards to running back Derrick Henry.

"Probably first time in my career that I felt like it wasn't much I could do at the time," Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce said of Henry. "The dude is a zone unlike anything I've played against."

Jackson and the Ravens picked a bad time for the worst upset loss in franchise history. The Ravens had been 36-0 in games in which they were favored by 10 or more points; they were the only current team that hadn't lost a game in which it was favored by double digits.

"You never expect to get into a car crash until you get into [one]," Baltimore linebacker Matthew Judon said. "We were riding, and we were rolling high, and it hit us."

The Ravens, though, will bring back the core of a team that ended the regular season on a 12-game winning streak. Baltimore returns 19 of 22 starters, including everyone from its offense.

"We [are] a young team, especially on offense," Jackson said. "We can only get better. We can only get better. It's only up from here."

BALTIMORE -- John Harbaugh was standing in the back of his Baltimore Ravens locker room, trying to assess the damage around him, when an awful thought suddenly hit him from the blind side.

"What am I going to do tomorrow?" he blurted out.

He was wearing a purple, short-sleeve T-shirt and a boyish expression of confusion and dismay.

"I'm not watching those games," he said of Sunday's divisional matchups in Kansas City and Green Bay. "There's no way. That's not even an option."

Sports can be so downright heartbreaking, so impossibly cruel. A good football man refuses to watch two good football games because, well, the whole thing can really cut you in half.

Six years ago, after watching his son Peyton and his Broncos get pounded in Super Bowl XLVIII by the Seahawks in his son Eli's stadium, Archie Manning stood outside the losers' locker room and told a reporter, "That's why I hate football." Yep, a father whose sons had three Super Bowl MVP trophies between them decided he despised the sport that tormented him on that dreadful night in New Jersey.

The Ravens had intimate knowledge of that feeling Saturday night. They had the best player of 2019, the best coach of 2019 and the best roster of 2019 heading into their first game of 2020. Who could fathom that they would go to bed at night knowing that they would spend the rest of their lives trying and failing to explain this magical season that wasn't?

"You don't ever expect to get into a car crash until you get in a car crash," linebacker Matthew Judon said. "And I feel like that's what it is."

The No. 6 seed Tennessee Titans physically overwhelmed the top-seeded Ravens in their 28-12 divisional playoff win, leaving the M&T Bank Stadium crowd in a funereal state. The last time the proud football fans of this proud football town absorbed a gut punch such as this, an owner named Robert Irsay had the Colts franchise loaded into 15 Mayflower moving vans in the dead of a March 1984 night for a getaway trip to Indianapolis.

These Ravens were 14-2 and winners of a dozen in a row. Lamar Jackson didn't just dominate the league in his first full season as a starter. He dramatically altered the calculus of the sport, inspiring forecasts of a new age of athlete at the quarterback position.

The Titans had just beaten Tom Brady, the greatest of them all, on his own turf, but they were a 9-7 afterthought in the regular season and appeared to employ a number of defenders who were likely to zig whenever Jackson zagged.

But even with the kind of point guard (Jackson) and fast-breaking playmakers who would have surely won any best-of-seven basketball series, the Ravens were victimized by the NFL's best-of-one format. They hadn't played all-out since Dec. 22 against Cleveland, and the rust and the rest conspired against them and allowed for one of the most stunning postseason results in recent memory.

Jackson threw for 365 yards and ran for 143 more, but for once, his numbers told a big, fat lie. There was some serious garbage-time padding in the box score. Ryan Tannehill threw for only 88 yards and ran for only 13, but he passed for two touchdowns (Jackson passed for one while trailing 28-6 in the fourth) and ran for the one score (Jackson ran for none) that effectively sealed the upset. Jackson led the league with 36 touchdown passes, yet he threw for the same amount of scores against Tennessee that Derrick Henry threw against Baltimore.

The league's best player and certain MVP was twice picked off and twice stuffed on fourth-and-short rushing attempts. Jackson picked the worst possible time to have a rough night at the office, and hey, that's life. The layoff killed his team, and so did Henry (195 rushing yards) and a Tennessee defensive front that reduced Baltimore's offensive line to a shadow of what it had been all season.

Jackson's fourth-down incompletion with 4:27 left sent scores of fans toward the parking lots and compelled the quarterback to angrily unbutton his chinstrap while Tennessee's dynamic young coach, Mike Vrabel, raised his arms to the sky. Suddenly, the 2019 Titans looked like the 2011 Giants, the only team to win a Super Bowl after going 9-7.

The Ravens? They will learn from this like they learned from Jackson's first playoff defeat to the Chargers last season. For a source of inspiration, they could consider a game that involved a local school, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, which in 2018 fielded a 16th-seeded NCAA tournament basketball team that destroyed the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers. Harbaugh was reminded of that game on Saturday. He was reminded that the Cavaliers rebounded the following year to win the whole thing.

"Yeah, we could do that," he said.

Earlier, as he was leaving the podium at his postgame news conference, the coach stopped and hugged his quarterback. "This is our beginning, right?" Harbaugh told Jackson as he patted his back. "This is our beginning."

Jackson later cut through the locker room with a white towel wrapped around his neck, embracing teammates and others in his path. As he approached his stall, the quarterback took the towel and threw it into the locker manned by his backup, Robert Griffin III. Harbaugh followed soon after, hugging players and thanking them for everything they had given him since training camp.

"I can't be upset," the losing coach said after making his rounds. "Every single day, they gave us everything they had. It really was the best we could be. We just played like s--- today."

Because of that, Harbaugh won't bother watching Texans-Chiefs or Seahawks-Packers. Maybe he will hit some golf balls on Sunday, or maybe he will shoot baskets with his teenage daughter, Alison, who has committed to play lacrosse at Notre Dame.

The sun will come up for the Harbaughs and for Jackson and for all of Baltimore. Because it always does eventually. But without question, the pain of this night is something these 14-3 Ravens will take to their graves.

Life isn't fair. Neither is sports.

BOSTON -- During the Celtics' three-game losing streak, Jayson Tatum -- like the team overall -- was in a funk. He shot terribly from the floor and wasn't putting up the totals people have grown accustomed to.

That changed in a big way on Saturday night as the 21-year-old posted a career-high 41 points in Boston's 140-105 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

And he didn't even need a full game to get it done. Tatum checked out at the end of the third quarter as the Celtics carried a 32-point lead into the fourth.

"Shots were going in," Tatum said. "Felt good. Felt like we played with a purpose today from the beginning of the game. I felt we did our job."

Tatum, whose previous career high was 39 points, shot 16-of-22 from the field and 6-of-9 from 3 and hit all three of his free throws. He also chipped in with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

"Obviously, it feels good for sure, but, you know, I never get high or too low if I play well or I don't," Tatum said. "I feel like I have a long way to go. The guys I look up to, they have nights like this more often than not. Obviously, it feels good, but I just want to try and do it more often and be consistent. Just continue to get better.

"Tonight, I have to forget about it and move on to the next one."

Boston forward Gordon Hayward was impressed. He said Tatum's "super-efficient" night was something that came in the flow of the game, and that Tatum wasn't pressing or forcing shots up at all.

"I'm happy for him," Hayward said. "Anytime you can get to 40 in this league, that's a big number."

With the performance, Tatum joined some pretty elite company. According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, Tatum is the first Celtic to score 40 through three quarters in the past 20 seasons, and is the second Celtic to score 40 in a game while 21 or younger. Antoine Walker did it twice for Boston.

There's more. According to the Celtics, Tatum became the first player in franchise history to have 41 points and six or more 3-pointers while shooting at least 72% from the field and also registering a career-high six triples.

His big night came as Boston tied a season high with 140 points, and the 35-point margin of victory was the largest of the season. The Celtics had 114 points through three quarters, the most since scoring 118 in three quarters against the Charlotte Hornets in February 1990. And Tatum scored on all eight defenders New Orleans threw at him in the half court.

"Today was really two things on the board: pressure the ball the way we want to pressure the ball on defense, and get the ball to the second side," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "So, we tried to run a little bit more of our movement, a little bit more of our stuff that generates that. Few more touches across the floor. And guys did a really good job kind of sticking with it."

Along the way, Boston perhaps built some momentum for a week that includes winnable home games against Chicago (Monday) and Detroit (Wednesday).

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With LeBron James and Anthony Davis sitting out the same game for the first time all season, there was a new big two for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 125-110 win Saturday over the Oklahoma City Thunder: Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma.

The pair combined for 57 points -- 4.5 points more than James' and Davis' combined averages, mind you -- as L.A. led by as many as 32 points and extended its winning streak to eight games, taking down a Thunder team that came into the night having won 11 of its past 13.

"I knew it was going to be about another 54 extra shots, and Kuz was going to take 45 of those," Rondo, who scored a season-high 21 points to go with 12 rebounds and eight assists, deadpanned. "So I knew I was going to have at least nine more to get up and be a little aggressive."

Rondo started the game 6-for-6 in the first six minutes as the Lakers -- who had a group text message, following a lackluster win against the New York Knicks earlier in the week, imploring one another to dominate opponents and honor their group talents -- took control.

"Rondo set the tone for us," said Kuzma, who stayed up until nearly 5 a.m. talking with Rondo and several other teammates about basketball after getting into OKC well past midnight on Friday. "Going right at CP [Chris Paul] right out the gate, being a scorer."

And then Kuzma shut the door on any comeback designs the Thunder might have had, extending L.A.'s lead from 13 to 16 with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a tough, pull-up 3 from 26 feet out.

"Ever since I was a kid, playing in open gyms at the YMCA, probably score is 10-10 or 11-11, I'm taking that shot," said Kuzma, who finished with 36 points. "So it's something that I just enjoy doing, and I'm confident in myself."

It's something James liked seeing, too, getting up from his seat at the end of the bench to greet Kuzma as he came off the court after his dagger from deep caused Oklahoma City to call timeout.

"That's what I'm talking about, Kuz," James said after the two shared an intricate handshake. "Yessir, that's what I'm talking about."

After the game, James shared Kuzma's stat line to his Instagram story and typed the caption, "Tough Tough Young King!" accompanied by seven fire emojis.

The performance by Kuzma came on the heels of scoring 26 points in a win against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday that Davis also missed -- which was Kuzma's season high until he surpassed it against the Thunder.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel was asked how much he's reading into Kuzma's breakout road trip, considering how up and down Kuzma's first couple of months of the season were after he entered training camp with a lingering left foot and ankle issue he suffered with USA Basketball in the summertime.

"I think it's real," Vogel said. "A lot of people are trying to create sort of an issue, like, 'What's going on with Kuz?' or 'Why aren't we getting more out of Kuz?' and all that stuff. To me, it's just a matter of time. Everybody just has to be patient, wait, it's going to continue to grow. The role's going continue to grow, his comfort level's going to continue to grow and you're going to see performances like you saw tonight from him."

While Kuzma played the closer, Rondo's night cooled off. Rondo strained the fourth finger on his right hand in the first half -- the same hand on which he had two surgeries last season -- and required X-rays after the game that came back negative.

"That's probably why I missed my last 15 shots," said a self-deprecating Rondo, who shot 10-for-22 from the field (but did miss his last five 3-point attempts).

He was less playful when talking about the encounter he had with Paul -- with whom he got into a fight in the Lakers' home opener last season -- early in the third quarter. Paul was called for a common foul, and play ensued after an inbounds play.

"I just felt like if that was me, I would have been thrown out. Or it would have been a hell of a (thorough) review," said Rondo, who wouldn't detail the nature of the contact Paul made with him.

"It's in the past," he added. "I don't really want to talk about it. I don't think it was a clean play. But like I said, I guess it's reputation: his versus mine."

Rondo's tiff with Paul fit the theme for the night for L.A., as the Lakers' backup lineup came out with a point to make. It wasn't just Rondo and Kuzma scoring -- L.A. had seven players in double-digit scoring, including Quinn Cook (13 points) and Troy Daniels (12 points), who are both seldom-used reserves.

"Everybody on this team has something to prove," Kuzma said. "You know AD's trying to win a ring, Bron's trying to win in L.A., I'm trying to establish myself. ... [Go] down the line -- Dwight [Howard], redemption. Everyone's got something. [Alex] Caruso [making a name for himself]. So we don't take games lightly. ...

"We want to go out and dominate every game. We don't see why we can't win every game."

The Milwaukee Bucks boarded their private plane to take them to San Antonio sporting a 32-5 record, the best in the NBA this season. Their .865 win percentage had them on pace to win 71 games, putting them on par with the 1996-96 Chicago Bulls (72-10) and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73-9). The Bucks' reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was already looking like a threat to repeat.

Milwaukee embarked on a four-game trip, matching its longest stint away from home this season. For the first and only time all season, the Bucks were set to play three consecutive games in the Pacific Time Zone.

Buckle up as we take you inside the chronicles of Milwaukee's Western expedition through Texas, California and Oregon.

Jan. 6: San Antonio Spurs 126, Milwaukee Bucks 104

All-Star small forward Khris Middleton sat silent, glued to the game on his cell phone, with his legs buried in NormaTec recovery boots. But he perked up when asked about his experience with legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich through Team USA at the FIBA World Cup this summer.

"He helped me tremendously," Middleton told ESPN, pausing the game prior to tipoff. "He's one of the best coaches that's been around the game ever, so a lot of what he had to say was something I wanted to listen to, whether it was to me or somebody else.

"He definitely tried to push me defensively and just wanted me to become a better, more complete player, especially on that side of the ball."

Unfortunately, that didn't translate on this night.

Middleton and the Bucks allowed the Spurs to score 126 points en route to a 22-point defeat, their largest regular-season loss in two campaigns. The Spurs, who had lost in Milwaukee two nights earlier, made a season-high 19 3-pointers. The Bucks made multiple runs, but Popovich -- the same coach Middleton had grown to respect over the summer -- would kill Milwaukee's momentum with a key timeout each time, irking Antetokounmpo.

"It drives me crazy," Antetokounmpo said after finishing with a team-high 24 points. "Whenever you try to get the momentum and you knock down a 3, you get a steal, get a dunk or something, he just calls a timeout, and the momentum goes away. But it's smart. That's how they do in Europe; that's what he does, and he definitely helps his team."

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer shouldered the blame for the loss, saying he "could've done a better job at coaching," but the team didn't get too caught up in one night's struggles. A long trip still awaited them, and they were still well ahead of their competition in the Eastern Conference.

"At the end of the day, we're sitting in a good place right now," Bucks point guard Eric Bledsoe said.

Jan. 8: Milwaukee Bucks 107, Golden State Warriors 98

The Bucks' first game in San Francisco in 50 years also -- likely by no coincidence -- came as the Warriors celebrated Greek Heritage Night.

That didn't go unnoticed by Antetokounmpo, who was more excited about the shortened commute from the team hotel to the Chase Center prior to the Bucks' 107-98 win.

"It was 15 minutes," Antetokounmpo explained. "Usually, it's like an hour and 15 minutes."

After the game, the chatter on social media was about something that had taken less than 15 seconds. Injured Warriors star Stephen Curry chatted with Antetokounmpo as the two teams walked off the floor, and lip-reading led to all sorts of speculation that Budenholzer was happy to ignore.

"I think the team has been incredibly focused. He's been incredibly focused just on each day, getting better, competing with his group and being respectful with what we're doing now," Budenholzer said when asked if Antetokounmpo's free agency wears on the team. "Maybe there's more than I realize, but he seems in a great place, the group's in a great place, and we'll hopefully keep it rolling."

Antetokounmpo himself has tried to shut down free-agent talk throughout the season, calling it "disrespectful" to teammates on media day. But the chatter has lingered, with the Warriors rumored to target him.

Curry appeared to tell Antetokounmpo, "Let's do it, c'mon man," though the context of the reference is unclear. And while the reigning MVP wasn't about to shed any light on that, he did point out how weird it was to face a Warriors team without Curry and fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson.

"I've been in the league for seven years now. I've never seen a team go from being in the NBA Finals and now being not as good. But at the end of the day, once they come back they're going to be right back up there," Antetokounmpo said. "The up and down is going to be crazy, but I talked to Steph. Klay wasn't out there, but I wish him a fast recovery, and he's going to be back and he's going to be helping his team win and doing what he did last year and the previous years."

Jan. 10: Milwaukee Bucks 127, Sacramento Kings 106

"Not today guys," Antetokounmpo told a postgame scrum of reporters as they entered his direction in the visitors locker room.

After posting a season-low 13 points during Milwaukee's 21-point victory over the Kings, the reigning MVP strolled out of the locker room without addressing the media for the first time this season.

Back soreness hampered Antetokounmpo ahead of Wednesday's Warriors game, but Budenholzer didn't express any concern with it after the Kings' win on Friday.

"Not much. It's kind of a normal routine," Budenholzer said. "He does so much for us every night, but it was great to finish off the game the last four, five, six minutes without him. He's just kind of in the normal early-January state."

Middleton and Bledsoe had Antetokounmpo's back on this night, combining for 51 points. Donte DiVincenzo also posted a career-best 18 points, while Sterling Brown finished with his first double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.

The Bucks entered the Sacramento contest shooting 40.1% over the previous two tilts -- well below their 47.9% average. They connected at 49.5% from the field against the Kings.

"It's huge. This is a long season, an 82-game season," Bledsoe said of stepping up for Antetokounmpo. "We're almost at the halfway mark, and to have his back when he's not playing well. He have our back all the time, damn near all 30-something games. So just to have his back this one time says a lot about this team."

Brown agreed.

"We always gotta do that. We've got each other's back," Brown said. "Whenever somebody is down, it's just the next man up. Whenever somebody isn't feeling their best, we know we've just got to bring another component to the game. If he's struggling a little bit, we just keep encouraging him; but at the same time, we feed off each other."

For Bucks power forward D.J. Wilson, it was homecoming. He returned to his old stomping grounds, having played in high school at Sacramento's Capital Christian. The former University of Michigan star chatted with old coaches and relatives ahead of the tipoff, then left his game-used jersey and sneakers with those close to him from the area. Wilson even got a signature from Antetokounmpo on the sneakers, despite the latter not speaking to reporters.

"That's everything," Wilson said. "It was like I was in high school. Seeing my old coaches sitting courtside, a bunch of my boys. I think I had more family out in the Bay, but I've got a lot of friends and coaches out here that helped me get to this point."

Milwaukee was also off to its best 40-game start in franchise history with a 34-6 record.

Jan. 10: Milwaukee Bucks 122, Portland Trail Blazers 101

Drenched in sweat, more than an hour ahead of the tipoff, even before most fans were allowed to enter the Moda Center, Antetokounmpo erased any doubt that his previous back soreness was of any concern.

His teammate Kyle Korver was a different story, and he sat out Saturday's contest, also with back soreness.

Antetokounmpo went through his normal pregame routine with no problem and without being listed on the injury report. It was all about business. That ferocity also carried over into the game.

On the second night of a back-to-back, the Greek Freak matched his season low from the Sacramento game in the first 6 minutes, 21 seconds in Portland -- with 13 points and seven rebounds.

"Usually when I'm not aggressive the previous game, the next game usually I'm a little bit more aggressive," Antetokounmpo said. "I've been doing that since I could remember, since I started playing basketball, and that's what I did tonight."

He would end with 32 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, joining Bledsoe (29 points) and Middleton (30 points) to combine for 91 points.

Bledsoe even left with an autographed, game-used jersey from Carmelo Anthony, who ended with 19 points on the night.

"It's unbelievable, a dream come true," Bledsoe told ESPN. "I'm fortunate to be able to play against him. The story behind this jersey is he fought to get back in the league. It's special."

Bledsoe, Antetokounmpo and Middleton are making their own history, as well, becoming the first Bucks trio since Glenn Robinson, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen to post 25 or more points in the same game on multiple occasions.

"We wanted to finish strong," Middleton said.

Despite arriving at their five-star Portland hotel in the wee hours after taking off from Sacramento late Friday night, the Bucks came out sharp.

For Wesley Matthews, Pat Connaughton and Robin Lopez, they were able to return to a familiar setting after previously experiencing stints within the Blazers franchise.

Fans showed their appreciation as Matthews received the largest ovation of Bucks players during player introductions, and Connaughton caught up with Damian Lillard and Blazers assistants on the bench prior to the game.

Milwaukee's win wrapped up their second four-game road trip of the season, with this one stretching along for a full week.

Exactly halfway through the season, Milwaukee is now 35-6 -- on pace to a historic 70 wins. Overall, the West Coast trip brought highs and lows, but the Bucks were able to block out the lip-reading and speculation by staying tight-knit.

"I really try not to think about it. Sometimes you've got to take yourself out of the media and try not to pay as much attention, because it can mess with you," Antetokounmpo said of the outside noise. "But I think I'm doing a great job, the team is doing a great job of just focusing on what we've got to do and focusing on us and what our goal is -- which is to play good basketball and play the long season."

Kipruto clocks 26:24 to smash the global mark, while Sheila Chepkirui wins in 29:46, Julien Wanders improves European record and Callum Hawkins runs Scottish best

The men’s world 10km record fell and the women’s record came under threat on Sunday as Rhonex Kipruto and Sheila Chepkirui stormed to success at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja.

World 10,000m bronze medallist Kipruto clocked 26:24 while his fellow Kenyan Chepkirui ran 29:46 on a bright morning in the Spanish port city.

Kipruto, who is aged just 20, also broke the official world 5km record with his half-way split of 13:18, although faster times (such as Sammy Kipketer’s 13:00 from Carlsbad in 2000) were set before it became an official world record distance.

Kipruto’s second half was an even faster 13:06 but is not eligible for record ratification and his overall time takes 14 seconds off the world 10km record set by Joshua Cheptegei in the same city just six weeks ago.

Given the current discussion around Nike’s Vaporfly shoes, the world record performance was met with some comment on social media that Kipruto had achieved it while running in adidas shoes, rather than Nike.

Un podium con un WR y un Récord de Europa.

1.- Rhonex Kipruto 26:24 (WR)
2.- Bernard Kimeli 27:12
3.- Julián Wanders 27:13 (AR_Europa) pic.twitter.com/71cehn7u7P

— 10K Valencia Ibercaja (@10KValencia) January 12, 2020

His countryman Benard Kimeli was second in 27:12, while Switzerland’s Julien Wanders improved his own European record with a time of 27:13 for third, having also beaten the previous official European 5km mark with 13:29 on his way to that time.

Britain’s Callum Hawkins, who has been pre selected for the Tokyo 2020 marathon, started Olympic year in fine style as he ran a big PB of 28:02 in 11th, improving on his previous best of 28:55 set at this event last year and breaking the Scottish best of 28:13 set by Allister Hutton in 1984. He went through half way in a PB of 13:59.

His fellow Briton Ben Connor also ran a PB of 28:10 in 16th, with those times moving them to equal 10th and equal 18th on the UK all-time list respectively.

Chepkirui was one of three women to dip inside 30 minutes as she came close to the women’s world record of 29:43 set by Joyciline Jepkosgei in Prague in 2017.

She went through half way in 14:54.

Her fellow Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru and Norah Jeruto ran 29:50 and 29:51 respectively for second and third place in the women’s race, which was held at the same time as the men’s race, with those times moving them to third and fourth on the world all-time list behind Jepkosgei and Chepkirui.

Nuestro podium femenino

1.- Sheila Chepkirui 29:46
2.- Rosemary Wanjiru 29:50
3.- Norah Jeruto 29:51 pic.twitter.com/4VniCJQhU4

— 10K Valencia Ibercaja (@10KValencia) January 12, 2020

Ethiopia’s Bosena Mulate finished fourth in 30:50 and Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter was fifth in 31:09.

Britain’s Jenny Nesbitt was ninth in a PB of 32:42.

WASHINGTON -- Braden Holtby allowed four goals on just 21 shots and the Washington Capitals, who entered the night leading the NHL in points, authored an uncharacteristic 5-1 loss to the last-place New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Washington allowed New Jersey to race out to a 3-0 lead in losing back-to-back games in regulation for the second time this season. The Capitals have dropped four of seven -- and combined with Boston's 3-2 overtime win over the Islanders -- now find themselves tied with the Bruins atop the league standings with 65 points.

"We're going through a time in the season right now when we're not executing and we're not outworking the opponent," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "That's not our identity."

Defensive-zone miscues continue to haunt the Capitals, who watched Nico Hischier score twice for the short-handed Devils, still without this season's No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes (upper body). Hischier, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017 by New Jersey who has flourished since the team traded Taylor Hall last month, has six goals since Dec. 27, and four in 2020.

"Right now I'm playing with a little bit more confidence, but I think the whole team is playing with more confidence," Hischier said. "It's just simple. For me and for the team, we know what kind of team we are, I know what kind of player I am, so I've just got to try to keep skating and some things will open up.''

Blake Coleman scored a short-handed goal for the Devils, and backup goaltender Louis Domingue made 33 saves en route to the win.

"I felt great from the start, and I thought we played really hard in front of me,'' Domingue said. "Teams don't like the checking game, so if we can get that on our side, we're going to be tough to play against.''

Despite Jakub Vrana's goal in his first game since a promotion to the first unit, the Capitals' power-play struggles continued. They allowed a short-handed goal for the second consecutive game and went 1 for 5 on the power play, including a botched 5-on-3 chance in the third period. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had 5:07 of power-play time on the ice, but finished a minus-2 overall on 21 shifts.

"Obviously you can't give up a short-handed goal and a breakaway right after it,'' Reirden said. "It's definitely a work in progress. The execution has got to improve all over the ice for us, in all situations, if we want to be the type of team we expect to be."

The Devils, meanwhile, rebounded from a three-game losing streak and a 6-3 loss to the Rangers in New York on Thursday, a game in which Domingue had to replace starter Mackenzie Blackwood.

"You talk about a team playing hard tonight in a tough building, against a tough opponent, and special teams came through," Domingue said. "That was a key tonight."

The Devils have secured points in six of the past eight games and have posted surprising wins, during that stretch, over three teams comfortably in the Eastern Conference playoff picture: Washington, Boston and the New York Islanders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Just one month after the playing of the Presidents Cup in Australia, the International team announced Saturday that it will donate $125,000 from its charitable fund toward bushfire relief efforts.

Per NBC News: "Twenty-seven people have been killed and thousands subjected to repeat evacuations as monster fires have scorched through more than 25.5 million acres, an area the size of South Korea."

The fires have been especially devastating to wildlife, with as many as one billion animals killed in the blazes, according to an estimate from a biodiversity expert at the University of Sydney, as climate change wreaks havoc on Australia's ecosystem.

Marc Leishman, a member of the International team who is also pledging $500 for every birdie and $1,000 for every eagle he makes this week at the Sony, spoke with Golf Channel's Todd Lewis after his third-round 71 Saturday.

"We were obviously in Australia for the Presidents Cup and saw a lot of the devastation on the news and heard about it and you could see the smoke," Leishman said. "So it means a lot to me, personally, that [the International team] is doing that. I know Wildlife Victoria and the Victorian Bushfire Appeal are going to use those funds wisely. It's a huge effort."

Asked how the crisis is impacting him from afar, Leishman said his focus on the victims.

"It's not even on the scale compared to the victims, the people who have lost their lives, lost family members, lost their homes. I mean, all the animals, they don't get told it's coming. There's so much going on and, yeah, really, you do feel helpless. We're over here, playing golf for a living, doing what we love, happy to do it, and they're there fighting for their lives or fighting to save their homes."

Leishman and fellow Aussie Cameron Smith headline the list of players donating money from birdies and eagles this week, with the PGA Tour agreeing to match the funds raised up to $125,000.

"It's a tough week, but we're going to donate as much as we can, and that's what they need right now," Leishman added. "They've got houses to rebuild and lives to rebuild. So, hopefully we can raise as much as possible."

HONOLULU - Brendan Steele went from lagging behind to seizing control Saturday in the Sony Open when he birdied his last three holes for a 6-under 64 to take a three-shot lead into the final round.

Steele had a share of the lead to start the day, with 23 players separated by four shots.

Now he's at 12-under 198, and only Cameron Smith (66) is within three of the lead. Steele will be going for his fourth PGA Tour victory, and first since repeating at the Safeway Open in the fall of 2017.

Each day, the wind has lost a little strength. Each day, the top score has been a little lower.

Steel, Kevin Kisner and Mark Anderson each shot 64. Kisner was tied for the lead when he finished his round, feeling a lot better about his chances than the previous week at Kapalua, a big golf course where power players thrive. Kisner is more about iron play, and Waialae suits him well.

He just wasn't expecting Steele to take off the way he did.

Steele went from a share of the lead to two shots behind when he went long of the green on the third and fourth holes, both time making bogey. He was still trailing when his round turned on the par-5 ninth with a second shot into 8 feet for eagle. He added two birdies early on the front nine, and then had his big finish.

Smith, who made his Presidents Cup debut last month and beat Justin Thomas in singles, did well just to stay in the game. He was even par for the day through 13 holes, four shots behind, when he birdied four of his last five holes.

The way Steele played, that only allowed Smith to cut into the lead by one shot.

Webb Simpson had a 66 and was five shots behind, along with former Sony Open winner Ryan Palmer and Collin Morikawa, who each had a 68.

Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Renegades

Our XI: Marcus Harris, Jake Weatherald, Sam Harper, Shaun Marsh, Jonathan Wells, Beau Webster, Michael Neser, Rashid Khan, Cameron Boyce, Peter Siddle, Richard Gleeson

NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates.

Captain: Shaun Marsh

The Renegades have had a gloomy season so far and are yet to open their account, but Shaun Marsh has been in good touch with the bat. He has five 40-plus scores this season and has made 298 runs in eight matches. He is currently third on the batting charts.

Vice-captain: Rashid Khan

Rashid rarely has an off day and he's constantly proved why he's one of the most sought-after players in the T20 circuit. His fine skills were on display on Wednesday, when he collected his third T20 hat-trick against Sydney Sixers.

Hot picks

Jake Weatherald

Weatherald has been among the runs for the Strikers this season, making crucial contributions at the top of the order. He's their joint highest run-scorer this season alongside captain Alex Carey.

Beau Webster

The 26-year old allrounder is Renegades' second-highest run-scorer of the season but has flown under the radar. Pick him in your team for some valuable middle-order runs.

Value picks

Jonathan Wells

A handy middle-order batsman, Wells can contribute quick runs especially in the slog overs. He averages 78 in seven games for Strikers this season, having contributed a total of 234 runs.

Peter Siddle

The veteran fast bowler has been impressive for the Strikers in all the games he's been part of this season. He's picked up some crucial wickets, with his best figures (3 for 24) in the ongoing season coming against Melbourne Stars

Points to note

Adelaide Oval's last game involved a difficult chase of 136 for Sydney Sixers. Try and pick in-form top-order batsmen and allrounders to cover for the possibility of another such score.