By Martyn Herman

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to 16 points and set a record in the process as Roberto Firmino's first-half goal secured a battling 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Juergen Klopp's side were not at their best and needed to withstand a Spurs fightback after the break but hung on for a 20th win out of 21 league games this season.

Their total of 61 points is the most after 21 games of a Premier League season, beating Manchester City's 59 two seasons ago, and has never been surpassed in the Spanish, Italian, German or French leagues at the same stage.

Liverpool dominated the first half and it needed a superb block by Tottenham's 20-year-old defender Japhet Tanganga, handed his first league start, to deny Firmino with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hitting the rebound against the post.

Firmino struck in the 37th minute, firing in from close range, and Liverpool ended the half in total control.

Spurs, without their injured talisman striker Harry Kane, were far more lively after the break as Liverpool's pace slowed.

Son Heung-min wasted a great chance to equalise after Liverpool were caught in possession and then substitute Giovani Lo Celso somehow missed the target with the goal gaping as Tottenham threw men forward.

They could not find the equaliser though and Jose Mourinho's side have slipped to eighth in the table on 30 points from 22 games after winning only one of their last five league matches. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Cheteshwar Pujara has started the year by joining a select band of cricketing greats. On Saturday, he scored his 50th first-class century, in the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at his home ground in Rajkot, thereby joining an elite list of nine Indians led by Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

The significance of the landmark can be gauged from the fact that Pujara is fifth on the list of active players with most first-class centuries: behind Essex and England great Alastair Cook (65), former England batsman Ian Bell (57), former South Africa captain Hashim Amla (52), who will be playing for Surrey from the next season, and former India opener and Mumbai stalwart Wasim Jaffer (57), who now plays for Vidarbha as a professional. At 31, Pujara is the youngest in this list.

Among current active Test players, the nearest contender to Pujara is Australia's Steven Smith, who has 42 first-class centuries. Pujara's India team-mates Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane linger in the distance with 34 and 32 first-class centuries respectively.

The Karnataka match is the fourth game Pujara has played in this Ranji season. In the previous matches, Pujara made two half-centuries, against Uttar Pradesh and Railways respectively.

Against Karnataka on Saturday, Pujara walked in at 28 for 1 in the first session and began slowly before accelerating towards his century and beyond. He finished the day unbeaten on 162 as Saurashtra ended the opening day on 296 for 2.

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Pujara has been the biggest thorn for Karnataka in the last decade and even denied them a finals entry during the 2018-19 Ranji knockouts with a century in what was a bitter tussle involving controversial umpiring decisions.

Prior to this match, Pujara had 945 runs in 13 innings at an average of 94.50 against Karnataka. His highest first-class score of 352 not out was also against them at the same venue - Madhavrao Scindia Stadium - during the 2012-13 Ranji quarter-finals.

In the wave of change that has broken over South African cricket in the last month, one thing has stayed the same: the captaincy. But that does not mean Faf du Plessis' leadership has escaped scrutiny.

The skipper, who last scored a Test century more than a year ago and has not crossed 30 in his last seven innings, will be in the spotlight at St George's Park where either South Africa or England could ensure they cannot lose the four-match series, currently locked at 1-1. The other will go to Johannesburg playing catch-up. If it's South Africa in that position, expect questions over du Plessis' future to multiply, much like they did with his counterpart Joe Root in New Zealand.

It's not entirely unexpected that South Africa have to start their succession planning. Du Plessis is 35, has played international cricket for nine years and has identified this year's T20 World Cup as a potential swansong. While he has repeatedly called himself "driven" to continue as captain in all three formats, he has also indicated South Africa should look at other options, especially in ODIs, so the transition is smooth.

ALSO READ: The race for Test selection: How SA's fringe players are faring

The only Tests South Africa will play between the end of this home season and the start of next summer is a winter tour to West Indies. Given the schedule and the circumstances, its not unthinkable that this England series could be du Plessis' last at home, or perhaps his last, full stop. And ultimately the decision may not be his to make.

Form will have to come into the conversation at some stage. It already has by those who took offence to du Plessis saying Temba Bavuma had to force his way back into the Test XI by weight of runs when du Plessis' own load has been fairly light. Du Plessis' last seven innings have brought 79 runs with a top score of 29; Bavuma's last seven have brought 102 runs with a top score of 38.

But go back, even just to the beginning of 2019 and compare the numbers. In the first nine innings of the year, du Plessis scored a hundred and four fifties, Bavuma only had one half-century. Despite tailing off at the end of the year, du Plessis averaged 41.41 in 2019 (by way of comparison Bavuma averaged 19.84) which is nothing to scoff at, especially when considering everything else the captain had to deal with.

In the build-up to this series, du Plessis spoke about the "burden," of being the buffer between the players and the crumbling administration. He did not provide concrete examples of exactly what he had to do during the crisis but said he took on more responsibility than usual. After the coaching overhaul, he indicated he was looking forward to simply leading on the field, which is when he believes he is at his best.

Though du Plessis has often claimed captaincy has improved him as a player, the numbers don't emphatically agree. As captain, he averages 40.32 compared to 41.02 when being captained. Instead, we have to turn elsewhere for evidence of du Plessis' ability to steer a ship, like the Mzansi Super League (MSL).

While eyes were initially on Bavuma's Jozi Stars and Quinton de Kock's Cape Town Blitz, as both those men have been mentioned as future national captains, it was du Plessis' Paarl Rocks who won the title. Despite losing two high-profile players, Aiden Markram and JP Duminy, to injury before the competition began and playing with a squad that had almost no recognisable names (had anyone outside of South Africa heard of Kerwin Mungroo or Ferisco Adams?), the Rocks were the best-organised and strategised team in the tournament, a testament to the coaching of Adrian Birrell and the captaincy of du Plessis.

The same clear thinking has not always been on display in the Test series. While du Plessis followed his gut feel in keeping Keshav Maharaj on for an extended spell in the second innings at SuperSport Park - where Maharaj got the wicket of Ben Stokes - the captain did not use his spinner as effectively at Newlands.

Maharaj often bowled to poorly set fields and leaked runs, causing Mark Boucher to call him a "work in progress", which seems a strange thing to say about the second-most successful spinner since readmission. Similarly, Anrich Nortje, known for his bounce, operated without a short leg, Dwaine Pretorius was underused and du Plessis delayed in taking the second new ball in England's second innings, when South Africa needed quick wickets.

Those tactical errors have nothing on the shot du Plessis played on the final day, when South Africa needed him to be at his most defensive in an attempt to save the game. Minutes before lunch, with a second new ball due in under four overs, du Plessis swept hard at a Dom Bess delivery and sent it straight to square leg.

Du Plessis later said he made a "mental error," and that he understood South Africa's senior batsmen need to step up to support the younger players in the top six. The reality is that nobody needs to step up more than du Plessis and history suggests he knows how to do it.

In 2015, the year South Africa hosted West Indies, toured Bangladesh in the monsoon and were heavily defeated in India, du Plessis averaged 16.75. Du Plessis was dropped early in 2016 for the final fixture of a four-match series against England but returned as captain seven months later and scored a century to win a series against New Zealand.

Since then, leadership rather than runs, has been the standout feature of du Plessis' career. In 2018, he averaged just 24.36 but led South Africa to two crucial series wins, over the No.1 ranked Indian side and to a first victory at home over Australia since readmission.

That South Africa lost a rubber in Sri Lanka four months later and a home series to Sri Lanka seven months after that was incidental. With the 2019 World Cup looming, attention was elsewhere. Besides, du Plessis had already saved face with a century in the New Year's Test against Pakistan to take some of the heat off himself, something he has been good at throughout his career.

That's the way he started, with a century in the block-a-thon to draw a game that was all but gone in Adelaide in 2012. That's the way he embraced his promotion to the captaincy with a century to seal his first series in charge, against New Zealand at Centurion in 2016. That's way he responded two months later, with a century in South Africa's first pink-ball Test with the series won and the aftertaste of 'Mint-Gate' still fresh in the mouth. And that's the way he signed off from the World Cup, with a century in South Africa's last hurrah, victory over the much-fancied Australians.

Du Plessis has scored big runs when it matters and the situation he is in now, with South Africa craving a fresh start and his career on the brink of the end, it matters most of all.

Mark Wood is used to sitting on the sidelines. Injury has been such a regular companion during his career that, here we are on his 30th birthday, and he has played fewer first-class or T20 games than Sam Curran, who is 21.

But this time, at least, the frustration is abated by the satisfaction of achievement. Whatever happens in the remainder of his life, Wood will always be a World Cup winner. And with 18 wickets in the tournament - only Jofra Archer took more for England - he knows he played a significant part in the victory.

More than that, he has also proved his value at Test level. Last February, he produced a blistering spell of pace bowling - the Telegraph's Scyld Berry, who may well have watched more days of England Test cricket than anyone in history, reckoned it was the fastest he had seen by an England bowler - to claim a maiden Test five-for and put England on course for victory over West Indies.

The problem is, Wood has not played a Test since. And his last game at any level was the World Cup final on July 14. Knowing he had sustained a side strain during the game, he took the decision to complete his spell - his team needed him and the game was on a knife-edge - in full knowledge that by doing so he risked exacerbating the problem. The fact that, six months later, he has yet to return demonstrates the consequences.

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It's still not 100 percent. Which is disappointing bearing in mind another Test starts on Thursday and England know they will be without James Anderson. There's no certainty that Archer, who missed the last match with a sore elbow, will be ready to return, either. So if Wood was fully fit, he could probably be confident of playing.

Wood hasn't yet built up the volume of overs required to be confident of getting through another Test. And, given that he has also had knee surgery since the World Cup and his ankle has been operated on so often it should be fitted with a zipper, it seems unlikely the England management will take any risks with him. For that reason, it may be that his return is postponed to the final Test in Johannesburg at the earliest.

"I wouldn't say that I'm 100 percent because I haven't bowled the full amount of overs that I should have," Wood said from Port Elizabeth on Saturday. "I got through 35 overs last week, which is probably similar to a Test match week, but having not bowled competitively since the World Cup, I have to keep building.

"Jo'burg might suit me better. It is at altitude and it is a bit of a bouncier pitch. But Port Elizabeth does reverse swing so that could bring me to the fore. Hopefully I'll be ready if needed.

"If I'm honest I think Jofra and Chris Woakes are ahead of me in the pecking order. Jofra got five wickets in the first game and Woakesy did really well in the warm-up games and out in New Zealand."

"It's not just potential now. I know I can perform. I know now I can deliver if called upon." Mark Wood

Despite this frustration, Wood says he is "much happier within myself".

"I'm not even in the team at the minute but I feel much happier within myself," he says. "I feel I'm an England cricketer rather than just someone that's always pushing to try and get into the team. I feel a slightly different cricketer to what I did before.

"I have the World Cup and the St Lucia Test under my belt. The West Indies was a huge trip for me. I really felt I was in the last chance saloon; I'd had a lot of injuries.

"I have felt that if I get fit then there's no reason why I can't do that again. The St Lucia Test is lodged in my mind as one of the best days I've had. If I can replicate that I'll be pretty happy.

"And confidence is a massive thing. Now I know that I can do it. There's been games where I've played for England where I shouldn't have played and that's affected my record and my confidence. With those good performances and having some success under my belt, it means that I can go into rehab knowing how it feels when it's good.

"It's not just potential now. I know I can perform. I know now I can deliver if called upon."

The prospect of Wood and Archer bowling together in Test cricket is mouthwatering. During the World Cup, with both keen to bowl the fastest delivery, they seemed to spur each other on. And while Archer bowled more deliveries over 90 mph, it was Wood who bowled the fastest single deliveries. Albeit, with consequences.

"I do like the idea of the two of us operating together in a Test match," Wood said. "As long as he's not at mid-off asking me if I'm just warming up when I've bent my back.

"Playing alongside him did spur me on so maybe it will help. We have a friendly rivalry over the speed gun. In the World Cup when I put one up on the speed gun that was quite quick I'd just look over to Jofra and give him a little wink. Then he'd do the same to me.

"In the World Cup final I knew that I'd pipped him. I was clocked at 95.7 mph and he was 95.6 mph and as we came off the field and into the dressing room I was dying to tell him.

"I said to him as he walked in 'Jofra! I've got you! I've done you on the speed gun' and he strolled past fresh as a daisy and looked me up and down with an ice pack on my side, an ice pack on my knee and an ice pack on my ankle and just said 'yeah but I think I'd rather be me'. I was like 'yeah, fair enough mate.'

"Deep down he's trying to prove that he's the meanest, toughest fast bowler out there. And so am I. We both want each other to do well, but we both want to be the quickest guy on show. But he's more talented than I am."

He may well be. But the possibility of the pair of them in tandem is something every England cricket lover - perhaps even every cricket lover - would love to see. They might even prove to be the fastest pair of England seamers ever to bowl together in a Test.

There are many things Alex Carey is primed to achieve, including the possibility of captaining Australia in the future. But above all, the wicketkeeper-batsman hopes to mirror MS Dhoni, whom he observed at close quarters during India's tour of Australia in 2018-19. While his team were at the wrong side of a tightly contested series, he took silent pleasure from watching Dhoni guide India to series-clinching wins in Adelaide and Melbourne.

"I guess if you look at the likes of the best in the world in MS Dhoni, you want to learn as much from him. And I was lucky enough last year to play against him and just the way he took the game deep and won games for India, so I aspire to do that one day," Carey said.

At the time, Carey was Australia's T20I joint vice-captain but by no means a World Cup certainty. The batting order itself was a bit of a revolving door, and Carey had found himself in four different positions in his first nine ODIs for Australia. He even opened against India at home. Though not unfamiliar with the job, having done it for his state side, just 47 runs in three matches could have hurt his chances so close to World-Cup selection.

Besides, Australia had enough options in the top order even before David Warner and Steven Smith's return, which meant that Carey had a lot to lose. But as has often been the case In Carey's life, things changed pretty quickly.

He was pushed down to No. 7 - something he said he enjoyed even at the time - from where he made an impression in India and the UAE, earning praise from batting consultant Ricky Ponting and, crucially, a ticket to the World Cup, where he went as the vice-captain.

He made 375 runs in the tournament, finishing just four runs behind Smith as the team's fourth-highest run-getter. Two innings stood out: a counterattacking 85 against South Africa that eventually ended in defeat, and a gritty 46 against England in the semi-final that also ended in defeat. But the contrasting circumstances and the manner in which those two knocks were wrought encapsulated the range of requirements of the finisher that has been identified in him. Carey is motivated to get better at the job.

"I still have lots of areas of my game that I want to improve and get better at. I know I will probably bat middle to lower order, so it's trying to finish games off for Australia," Carey said.

"We have some world-class players at the top of the order with [Aaron] Finch, Warner and Smith, and Marnus [Labuschagne] is playing so well. Peter Handscomb had a great series here [in India] last year. I see myself coming in anywhere from five to seven. It's one of those roles I want to get better at and hopefully win games for Australia. I had opportunities in the World Cup to take it a bit deeper - one against South Africa stands out for me - to be that matchwinner for Australia"

Carey's importance in Australian cricket has risen exponentially over the last seven months. A push for greater exposure in a leadership role had him captain Australia A against the touring Pakistan side, after which he also led South Australia in two Sheffield Shield games in the absence of Travis Head. He has also led Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash this season.

In fact, there has been something of a clamour for his Test selection from past greats, including Adam Gilchrist, with debate persisting over Tim Paine's spot. In fact, at the start of the season, Paine himself admitted that this could be his last home summer. But, with Australia winning all five Tests, it seems more likely that Paine will continue to lead Australia in the foreseeable future. However, whenever the time comes, Carey is not just seen as Paine's replacement behind the stumps, but at least in some quarters of Australian cricket, also the heir apparent to Paine, the Test captain.

Carey - who bagged an IPL deal at Delhi Capitals this year - himself is happier staying in the moment. Perhaps he is acutely aware of how quickly things can change.

"When Australian cricket teams are winning, it's hard to change. For me, it's to do my absolute best here in the one-day team and hopefully be a part of the T20 World Cup, which is not too far away. I don't look too far ahead. From my previous experiences with football, you know things can change pretty quickly.

"It's about focusing on the important stuff and that's playing good cricket in the coloured clothes, hopefully win a series in India and then go back and play some Big Bash cricket. Not too fazed by the external pressure of when and if. For me the last 12 months have been really enjoyable with a lot of learning, but still a long way to go."

With cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander and Mike Hughes on injured reserve, the Minnesota Vikings worked out Terence Newman, their former nickel/cornerback coach and player, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter and Field Yates on Saturday.

The 41-year-old Newman worked out for the team this week, and the Vikings considered signing him before promoting cornerback Nate Meadors from their practice squad.

Newman, who is close to Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, played 15 NFL seasons before he became an assistant coach with Minnesota.

Had he signed, Newman could have played in the NFC divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.

Newman, who retired as a player just before the 2018 season, played for Zimmer on three teams (Dallas 2003-06, Cincinnati 2012-13, Minnesota 2015-17) and appeared in 221 career games with 205 starts.

Before his retirement, Newman led the league with the most career interceptions (42) among active players.

NEW ORLEANS -- LSU passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Joe Brady, who has reportedly drawn interest from the NFL following a highly successful season in which he won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant, said Saturday that his "intentions are being at LSU."

"I hope I'm a Tiger as long as they want me at LSU," Brady said at a media day appearance ahead of Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship against Clemson (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App). "My intentions are being at LSU."

LSU coach Ed Orgeron said the interest in Brady is "part of it" but that they have been working on a plan with athletic director Scott Woodward to help entice Brady to stay.

"You want guys coming after your coaches," Orgeron said. "That means you're doing something right. I believe in Joe, I believe in Scott Woodward. Scott put a plan in place a long time ago. I do believe that we're almost finalized with the plan. I do believe that Joe's going to be a factor, but you know in coaching football, anything can happen.

"But I do believe the talks we've had with Joe are very, very positive and he's going to be at LSU."

Brady is making $410,000 in the first year of his three-year, $1.3 million deal with LSU after coming from the New Orleans Saints to join Orgeron's staff. He has helped lead the Tigers' offense to new heights with Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.

He is the seventh-highest paid assistant on Orgeron's staff.

"Me and Coach Orgeron, nothing's ever wavered on our end," Brady said. "He's been all-in on me. It's so easy now to not have to think about anything else besides a national championship. I don't know what's going on necessarily in the media and the world; I just walk into the office. Now I get a little hotel room I can go into, and I can start game-planning and focus on that. I'll handle everything else when the time comes."

Asked about a report that new Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule has interest in hiring him as offensive coordinator, Brady said he hadn't even thought about an NFL coordinator position and had yet to be contacted personally.

"From my standpoint, whether talks are happening with other people, for me I have no idea," said Brady, who said he has hired an agent on recommendation so he could concentrate on football.

"For me to think about anything besides winning a national championship right now, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind," Brady added. "I'm just excited for Monday. And after the season, we'll figure everything out after that."

ESPN's Mike Triplett contributed to this report.

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables has moonlighted as the team's scout team quarterback over the years, and he was pressed into duty again to portray Heisman winner Joe Burrow during practice leading up to Monday's showdown with LSU.

It's not because his scout team alter ego, "Jimmy Greenbeans," wanted extra reps ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship (8 p.m. ET Monday on ESPN/ESPN App). It's because the usual scout team quarterback, Patrick McClure, got hurt celebrating Travis Etienne's game-winning touchdown against Ohio State in the CFP semifinals at the Playstation Fiesta Bowl.

McClure was on the sideline watching as Etienne took a pass from Trevor Lawrence and scored a 34-yard touchdown to go up 29-23 with 1:49 remaining.

"It was a freak accident," said McClure, who had portrayed Justin Fields in practice leading up to the semifinals. "I was skipping, jumping, fist-pumping down the sideline when he scored, and somebody hit me down my left-hand side while I was skipping.

"I fell on it funny. It was snap, crackle, pop. I looked down and it was nasty. It was a freak thing."

After Clemson returned home from Arizona, McClure was put on bed rest for a week and was unable to attend practice. Dating to the 2016 season, if not earlier, Venables has combined with the scout team quarterback to give his defense the best possible looks as they prepare for their opponents.

McClure handled most of the reps during game week preparation this season, but Venables was always involved as a second scout team quarterback option. He'd call on his "Jimmy Greenbeans" persona to come in and run plays when he wanted the tempo to be faster, or slower, or to give his defense a more precise look.

"There's no system to it," McClure said. "It's just whenever he sees something he wants to jump in and do it."

With McClure out, all the scout team reps fell to Venables as the Tigers worked to prepare for LSU's Burrow.

Venables said he approached it the same way he always does when he goes behind center. "You're not going to emulate [Burrow]," Venables said. "Good luck."

"Greenbeans does not change his quarterback style, but he's very good at stressing you out and trying to create game environments," Clemson linebacker James Skalski said. "People don't understand he can put one on the money every now and then. He'll back-shoulder a ball, and everyone looks around and is like, 'That was a good throw.' Mentally it's not about the throws."

McClure said Venables can get a better look at the defense's alignment when he's watching from a quarterback's perspective.

"The one thing he enjoys about doing the quarterback position is just standing right behind me seeing where everybody's at," McClure said. "And when [Venables is] playing quarterback, he can see it also, seeing if everybody's in the right position."

There had been speculation that Clemson early enrollee D.J. Uiagalelei, the No. 1 ranked quarterback in the 2020 class, would play Burrow in practice after he told reporters in late December that coach Dabo Swinney mentioned it during Fiesta Bowl preparation.

However, by the time Uiagalelei and other enrollee freshmen arrived on campus, there was not enough time to get them involved with the scout team. Instead, Uiagalelei was more focused on watching the Clemson offense and trying to learn what would be asked of him in spring practice.

So with Venables taking charge, Clemson's defenders believe they got the best possible look to prepare for Burrow.

"As always, he knows where the holes are and what he wants us to do," safety Tanner Muse said. "He'll be like, 'Yeah, I really carved y'all up yesterday, didn't I?' He studies so much, he knows all of Burrow's mannerisms, so he has everything but the athletic ability."

McClure, who is still on crutches, opted to hold off on ankle surgery so he could be with his teammates for the national championship game. His ankle is in a hard cast and he's still in significant pain, but he couldn't miss the game -- or watch how Venables measured up as the full-time scout team quarterback.

"Coach V does such a great job," McClure said. "I know that defense is prepared and had a good week of practice."

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Back in 2017, if somebody had told you Kirk Cousins would be playing in a Vikings-49ers NFL playoff game here in January 2020, you'd have assumed he was playing for the 49ers.

That was Kyle Shanahan's first season as San Francisco coach and Cousins' final season in Washington. Cousins' pending free agency led many people around the league to connect him with Shanahan, who had been his offensive coordinator at the start of his career.

But in late October of that season, the Niners traded a second-round draft pick to the Patriots for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who was going to hit free agency in 2018, setting in motion a chain of events that results in Cousins as the visiting quarterback Saturday and Garoppolo under center for the home team.

"I remember thinking, 'Second-round pick, that's a lot of capital,'" 49ers general manager John Lynch said Thursday. "But we felt like it was worthwhile. And I remember Kyle and I talking and saying, 'Hey, let's just assure each other that this doesn't mean he's our guy going forward; this means we're going to take a look, and we've got the rest of this season.'"

Garoppolo had been on the 49ers' minds for a while. During that 2017 season, which was Shanahan's first as San Francisco's coach and Lynch's first as general manager, it was clear the quarterback of the 49ers' future was not on the roster. They opened the season with veteran Brian Hoyer as the starter, then used rookie third-round pick C.J. Beathard when Hoyer got hurt. The expectation was that they'd find their guy, either via trade, the draft or free agency, that offseason.

Shanahan had a clear idea of what he wanted in a quarterback, from a physical-traits standpoint, and the rest of the 49ers' front office and coaching staff knew that Garoppolo was one of the guys who fit the description. At the time, he had thrown just 94 NFL passes, but he had completed 67% of them and was averaging a respectable 7.3 yards per attempt.

"I remember Kyle had teach tapes and profile tapes on what we were looking for in quarterbacks, and some of it's the quick releases, and Jimmy was often on that tape even though he was the backup quarterback in New England," Lynch said. "So I found that interesting. And I'd been through New England as a broadcaster and you can't help but see it: 'Wow. Who's that?' and talking to people there and how high they were on him."

The key to the trade was what happened after Garoppolo got there. Shanahan didn't start Garoppolo in any of the first three games after the trade. Beathard started a home loss to Arizona and a victory over the Giants, then the Niners had a bye week, and Beathard started the first game after that, at home against Seattle.

But Beathard got hurt on that game's final drive, forcing Garoppolo into the game for the final three plays, the third of which was a touchdown pass. Garoppolo would start the final five games of that season and win all five, which was one of several factors that led Lynch and Shanahan to sign him to a long-term contract before he hit the free-agent market that offseason. The first year of that contract was a washout after Garoppolo tore his ACL in the third game. But his healthy return this season is a major part of the reason the 49ers are the top seed in the NFC playoff field.

"The best quarterbacks, the best players, make everyone around them better, and that's what we saw with Jimmy right away," Lynch said. "And we saw tremendous room for growth. He already was playing at a high level, but with time, we knew that there was tremendous room for growth in terms of understanding, and I think this season has illustrated that. You just have to have experiences, I think especially at that position, and that's what we were so coveting last year, and it was taken from him. But this year, he's worked through it, and he's been tremendous."

The next experience for Garoppolo will be his first playoff game, Saturday against the Vikings and the quarterback who, had that 2017 season and offseason gone a different way, could have taken his spot. Cousins and Garoppolo posted identical 69.1 completion percentages this season and near-identical numbers in Total QBR (Garoppolo 58.8, Cousins 58.7) and touchdown passes (Garoppolo 27, Cousins 26).

Cousins won his first playoff game last week, engineering a game-winning drive in overtime against the Saints in New Orleans. Garoppolo is the 10th quarterback since the current playoff format began in 1990 to make his playoff debut for a team seeded first in its conference. The previous nine went 4-5, and Kurt Warner was the only one among them who reached the Super Bowl.

"Nothing's been too big for him," Lynch said of Garoppolo. "I don't think he needs to change anything. He needs to be who he's been all year. And day one, since he's been him, he's impressed with his ability in big moments. It's just never too big for him."

LOS ANGELES -- After erasing a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, Kawhi Leonard drove left around Glenn Robinson III and put the punctuation on his big night with his second monster dunk of the game as Omari Spellman thought about challenging before floating away from harm.

The LA Clippers had four days off between games, and their All-Star forward clearly benefited from the time off. Looking fresh, with extra "thrust" in his game Friday, Leonard was explosive and had 36 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals to lift the Clippers to a 109-100 victory over the stubborn Golden State Warriors.

Leonard, who has not played in a complete back-to-back set of games this season due to left knee soreness he's managing, admitted that he's feeling stronger and on an upward trend. He dunked four times against the Warriors.

"I feel better," Leonard said. "Feeling better. I'm able to jump without it grabbing too much. And hopefully I just keep going uphill from here."

Last weekend, the Clippers (27-12) struggled and surrendered a total of 272 points to split back-to-back home games with the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks.

Leonard did not play in that Sunday afternoon win over the Knicks as he sat out the second of the back-to-back set, as has been the routine this season. With Monday and Tuesday off, the team practiced Wednesday and Thursday and had four days off from games, while Leonard made the most of his five-day game-free break after sitting out against the Knicks.

Playing without the injured Paul George (left hamstring tightness), the Clippers struggled early Friday night, but Leonard had 15 points in the first half.

He also displayed his deceptive explosiveness when he drove around Eric Paschall and dunked on Alen Smailagic with authority in the second quarter. Paschall challenged from behind but Leonard still threw down the one-handed slam despite being sandwiched by the two Warriors.

"You know, he's been doing it a lot lately," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "I think he is in a far better place now than he was in Game 1 [of the regular season], let's just put it like that.

"You can see it with him, you can see it in the practices, it's just going up," Rivers continued of Leonard's health. "You can feel it, you can see it, he has a better thrust now. And it's good, it has been really good to see."

Still, the Clippers trailed 83-73 against the D'Angelo Russell-less Warriors at the start of the fourth quarter. But Leonard scored 10 of his points in the fourth -- eight coming in the final 5 minutes, 40 seconds against the team he helped the Toronto Raptors beat in the NBA Finals last June.

The Finals MVP stole the ball from Jordan Poole and took it in for a left-handed dunk early in the quarter to help spark a 19-6 run. Leonard then put the game away with his second monster dunk of the night to give the Clippers a six-point lead with 1:16 remaining.

The Clippers outscored the Warriors 36-17 in the final quarter to escape what could have been a dreadful loss to the 9-31 team.

"That left hand is strong, man," Clippers guard Lou Williams said of Leonard. "He goes in there with his left hand, his right hand. We were just talking about it -- I think he dunked on three different groups of guys during this game.

"Just playing aggressive, going to the rim and doing the things we needed him to do. That was special."