Athletics stars share their festive plans

Daley Thompson once said: “Train twice on Christmas Day. Your competitors may only train once…” But not all elite athletes share the two-time Olympic decathlon gold medallist’s view.

For marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge, December 25 offers a 20km run, while for Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi it’s a time for vacation.

Read about the Christmas Day plans of some of our sport’s stars below and then share yours with us on Twitter and Facebook!

Marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge

“Christmas is on a Wednesday this year so an easy day, I’ll just go for 20km.”

British hammer record-holder Nick Miller

“On Christmas Day I tend to try and hit different aspects of my all-round athletic abilities on this special day. In the morning I usually start with a short sprint to the tree, followed by vigorous shoulder raises to rip open gifts. The afternoon I find quite hard, however. After lathering my beard with gravy and brandy sauce I perform the hardest part of my yearly training – trying to do a Turkish get-up without spilling my bowl of chocolate wrappers to move from in front of the fire place to return to my hibernation chamber…

“But on a more serious note, I take Christmas to relax and spend time with family, as all my local facilities are closed so others can do the same.”

Scottish record-holder Eilish McColgan

“I will be training this year but only because we fly out on a family holiday on the 27th so I need to take a few easy days.

“My mum is working over Christmas so this will be the first year I’m spending it in the UK for a while. I’ll get a session done in the morning on my treadmill before heading through to visit Michael’s (Rimmer, her boyfriend) family.”

Two-time world 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm

“Yes I will be training on Christmas Day, I train every day. We always make a plan according to where I am.

“This year I will celebrate Christmas Day at the cabin where there is snow and it is icy. Therefore, I will do some core and strength work with my body as resistance.”

World 50km champion and world record-holder Aly Dixon

“Yes, I’ll be training on Christmas Day. This year myself and my dad will do Herrington parkrun (not actually together!) For me it will be about 10-12 miles in total. I always like running on Christmas Day as it fills the gap between opening presents and eating lunch!”

2019 British 200m No.1 Miguel Francis

“No I won’t be training on Christmas, we’ve got some time off.”

Multiple World Para Athletics sprint champion and world record-holder Sophie Hahn

“On Christmas morning we get up and open our stockings, usually still in our pyjamas. While Christmas lunch is cooking we take the dogs for a walk (we have got dressed at this point!) and then home for lunch. We open our main gifts after lunch and then collapse before playing silly games and trying to force down tea. All in all, usually good fun spent with family.”

Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi

“I will not be training on Christmas Day! We will be taking a little Christmas vacation, in fact.”

European indoor 800m silver medallist Jamie Webb

“I’ll be doing a nice easy long run early on Christmas Day, then back to spend the rest of the day with the family.”

British marathon champion Charlotte Purdue

“I have a 90min run in the morning. I’m in Australia so I’ll be running around here.”

World Para Athletics Championships T64 high jump gold medallist Jonathan Broom-Edwards

“I’m part of a family who think it’s fun to do a parkrun on Christmas morning! As of last year this is part of my regime for Christmas morning, as it was a milestone following my Achilles rupture to be able to run 5km.

“I normally schedule in an active recovery day on Christmas Day as spending quality time with family is really important to me. I’ll hit the grind again on Boxing Day.”

World long jump finalist Abigail Irozuru

“No training for me on Christmas Day. I will be enjoying it fully.”

Welsh half-marathon record-holder Charlotte Arter

“For the past few years I have always gone out for an early morning run on Christmas Day, but for the next few weeks Wednesdays are a high volume day, 70mins in the morning and 50mins in the afternoon.

“So as Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday it looks like I’ll be doing two runs… It’s a good job my family have always had Christmas dinner in the evening!”

World Para Athletics Championships T36 800m champion Paul Blake

“Training on Christmas Day will consist of expanding my stomach with a large breakfast followed by a long run in order to make room for the enormous meal I intend on eating with my family.”

British pole vault record-holder Holly Bradshaw

“Nope! Never do! Christmas Day is the one day of the year that’s reserved for family and I can switch off from pole vault.”

Australian Open organisers have increased the prize money to more than £38m with the biggest gains for those losing in the earlier rounds.

The overall prize fund for the tournament has increased by 14% to 71m Australian dollars (£38.1m).

Players who exit in the first round will receive 20% more than last year while money for losers in the opening qualifying round is up by a third.

The tournament proper begins in Melbourne on 20 January.

Tournament director Craig Tiley says the Australian Open is committed to "improving the pay and conditions for a deeper pool of international tennis players".

"We worked with the tours to establish the weighting for prize money increases round by round, and we pushed to reward players competing early in the tournament in both singles and doubles," added Tiley.

"We strongly believe in growing prize money at all levels of the game and we will continue to work with the playing group to create viable career paths in the sport and enable more players to make more money."

Singles champions at the 2020 tournament will take home 4.12m Australian dollars (£2.21m).

The prize money for losing in the first round of qualifying is 20,000 Australian dollars (£10,707) and 90,000 Australian dollars (£48,183) for exiting in the first round main draw.

Justin Langer has kept the door ajar for Australia employing the rare tactic of playing five frontline bowlers should they be confronted by a flat-looking MCG surface on Boxing Day which could hand a Test debut to Michael Neser.

James Pattinson will fill Josh Hazlewood's role, but Langer is conscious of the toil Australia's attack has faced in the previous two Boxing Day Tests against England and India. The final decision may be taken as late as the morning of the game with Travis Head the most likely to make way should the bowling unit be bolstered by Neser's inclusion.

There has been much discussion on what the nature of the MCG pitch will be following the abandoned Sheffield Shield game earlier this month, but groundsman Matt Page has promised a decent covering of grass and two days out there was still a good layer on the surface.

ALSO READ: James Pattinson awaits favourite opponents on Boxing Day return

In the previous two Melbourne Tests Australia have had Mitchell Marsh in the team but he was out of contention after breaking his hand punching the dressing room wall earlier this season.

While the change would give Australia a lengthy lower order - with Tim Paine elevated to No. 6 - Pattinson, Neser, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are all handy with the bat; Neser has a first-class average of 25.13 (plus a domestic one-day hundred) and Pattinson 23.07.

Peter Siddle, who was added to the squad after Hazlewood's injury, is the other bowler available but Langer has made clear he favours consistency in selection and rewarding those who have previously been around the squad.

The last time Australia fielded five genuine bowlers at home (as opposed to an allrounder in a five-man attack) was January 2013 against Sri Lanka, at the SCG, when Matthew Wade batted at No. 6 and Mitchell Johnson was used at seven.

"We'll work out what the set-up of our team is going to be, whether we play an extra bowler," Langer said. "We'll have a look at the wicket, it looks pretty good two days out.

"The only reason we'd do it is if the wicket looks anything like it has the last few years here on the Boxing Day Test because you have to get 20 wickets. The Australia cricket team doesn't usually go down that path of the extra bowler, but if we are to play on wickets like we have the last two years at the MCG we've certainly got to find a way of taking 20 wickets.

"There's been so much discussion about the wicket we are hopeful that's not the case, but if we were to turn up on Boxing Day and it looks really flat we have the flexibility to be able to do it. In most circumstances you don't need it which is why we don't do it."

Australia have not needed a great deal from their middle order so far this season with Marnus Labuschagne filling his boots at No. 3 and David Warner being prolific against Pakistan. Wade and Head have a fifty apiece - with Head's coming in the previous Test in Perth - and it is a curious fact of the summer that the one member of the top six who has yet to reach a half-century is Steven Smith.

"Great, isn't it," Langer said. "If you are playing good cricket, the team is winning, and Steve Smith isn't doing well it puts a smile on everyone's face because you know it's not far away. He loves the big stage, looking forward to watching him bat."

Smith twice fell to Neil Wagner's short ball in Perth - one of the few overall successes for New Zealand in the match - and has worked on combating that angle of attack ahead of the Melbourne Test where he has a formidable record. Prior to missing last year due to his ban, Smith had made hundreds in his previous four Boxing Day Tests dating back to 2014 against India.

His twin dismissals in the opening Test continued a little bit of a trend against New Zealand having also fallen in that manner during the World Cup match at Lord's.

"I've changed a little bit in that I've been facing a fair bit of short stuff in the nets because I'm expecting a bit," he said of his preparation. "It's going to be completely different with the red ball as opposed to the pink ball, especially the second innings in Perth when it was a bit up and down, that's never easy at any time, so it will be different but I'm looking forward it.

"In the first innings, think I was 40 off 160 rocks, I got underneath them for a while there, and it got to a point where it was about moving the game forward a little quicker and I just didn't execute [the shot] very well. The second innings was a bit harder, but we'll see what happens out here. Certainly looking forward to the red ball."

Ben Stokes' father, Ged, has been admitted to hospital in Johannesburg after suffering from what the ECB has termed "a serious illness".

Ged, who has travelled to South Africa with other members of the Stokes family to watch Ben in action, was taken ill on Monday night. He remains in a critical condition.

Ben Stokes is expected to spend Tuesday at his father's bedside and will not attend training. A decision on his participation in the Boxing Day Test will be made in due course.

Ged, a former New Zealand rugby league player, is in his early 60s and lives in Christchurch. He is a regular and popular figure at matches involving Ben and, on the face of things, appeared to be in robust good health.

A four-nation limited-overs tournament comprising India, England, Australia and one other invited nation has been proposed by the BCCI in part as a way of defying the ICC's prohibition of bilateral tournaments comprising any more than three teams in current and future Members Participation Agreements (MPA). The Super Series - as announced by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly over the weekend - is proposed to be rotated annually between the boards of cricket's three major financial powers, starting 2021, and span two weeks.

As players and officials around the world reacted to the Super Series proposal, Ganguly toned down his language by telling the Times of India that "nothing is confirmed yet" and "nothing is concrete".

However, ESPNcricinfo has learned that, as was the case in the lead-up to the Big Three breakaway move by the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia in 2014, a central issue is the terms under which India will be prepared to sign the MPA. Back then, the issue was primarily a larger slice of ICC tournament revenue for the BCCI, and the resultant reshaping of the global scene saw millions of dollars pushed back India's way, a scenario that remained even after many of the reforms were rolled back after 2015.

Nevertheless, Ganguly stated even before he was formally installed as BCCI president that one of his agenda items would be to increase India's share of global cricket revenue, an uncannily similar ticket on which N Srinivasan vaulted to the top of world cricket's hierarchy before he was sidelined as a result of the IPL corruption scandal. Srinivasan is now back in circulation as a senior figure behind many of the recent machinations.

This time around, the four-nation bilateral series concept has risen in direct opposition to the idea floated by the ICC's chief executive Manu Sawhney of two "Champions Trophy-style" ODI events in the next tournament cycle to begin in 2023. This would be geared at providing a global event in each calendar year and thereby allow greater and more consistent flows of ICC revenue to nations other than India, England and Australia, all of whom are increasingly reliant on this central funding for their operations.

Linked to this is the intention for the MPA to limit the types of tournaments that member boards can stage, in order to raise the value of ICC broadcast rights as the global governing body would be the only source of events that collected all of the game's most attractive teams and players at once for international tournaments.

At the same time, this would serve to raise bilateral revenue for all nations via league structures for Test matches and ODIs that require all nations to at least maintain some pretence of playing each other an equitable amount, rather than the rich nations simply playing off against one another every year or two. Asked recently whether there was any danger of India, England or Australia not signing the MPA as a result of their reservations about an extra ICC event, CA chairman Earl Eddings had said he hoped such a scenario could be avoided.

"We're a long way off - this is post 2023 so we've got a number of years to work through it, but you can't do one thing without the other," he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month. "To be able to work on your Future Tours Programme, you need to know where that fits in with an ICC schedule, so you can't just look at an ICC schedule in isolation, just as you can't look at a bilateral or Future Tours Programme in isolation."

There has been some anxiety among member nations about the direction of the ICC, pushing aggressively for an increase in global events revenue, since Sawhney took over from David Richardson at the end of this year's ODI World Cup in England, and Eddings and chief executive Kevin Roberts recently met with Sawhney in Melbourne to discuss the issues of the moment. Eddings and Roberts are due to travel to India to meet Ganguly and the new BCCI administration in Mumbai in January around Australia's first of three ODIs against India.

The ECB confirmed its leaders recently met Ganguly and other BCCI office bearers, during which time the concept of the four-nation event was discussed. "We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport," the ECB said in a statement. "A four-nation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop."

CA has been tight-lipped about the proposal, with some conjecture as to how much of it has yet been shared with the governing body by the BCCI. Australia's coach Justin Langer admitted that the tightness of the current schedule made any attempts to slot in extra tournaments extremely problematic.

"We all understand the schedule in world cricket is really tight," Langer said. "So I am sure there will be lots of negotiation and there are people, that's their role to negotiate and get that right. But we all know it is a tight schedule."

Struggles for other ICC member nations have been underlined by the fact that New Zealand's board has returned a financial loss each of the past three years, while Ireland have recently been forced to cancel a host of matches due to a lack of funds. This after the leaders of the Big Three proposals of 2014 had promised to make all nations better off.

MINNEAPOLIS -- No one talks about the Green Bay Packers, and it isn't hard to understand why.

In a regular season dominated by young quarterbacks, the Packers have an old one who might have seen better days. In a year when we've seen the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints innovate dominant offenses, the Packers are boring and predictable and rank ninth in scoring among the 10 teams that have qualified for the playoffs.

The Packers dare you to sustain patience beyond any reasonable measure. I lost mine around midseason, when they fell flat against the Los Angeles Chargers, were blown out by the San Francisco 49ers and struggled to beat the likes of the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and Washington Redskins.

But here they are. The Packers have made a season of winning "ugly" games. They've won 12 of them -- as many as any NFL team this side of the Ravens has won -- and it's getting tougher to overlook them.

The Packers, after all, didn't just clinch the NFC North title with a 23-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday. They also put themselves in good position to earn a first-round playoff bye and have a decent chance -- 30%, according to ESPN's Football Power Index -- to wind up with home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

It isn't out of the question that the path to the Super Bowl will go through Lambeau Field.

"There's a lot of emphasis on looking pretty or dominating in the way that fits expectation," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "But ... it doesn't matter how we get it done as long as we get it done."

That was certainly true Monday night. Rodgers finished with a 36.8 Total Quarterback Rating, his seventh sub-40 performance of the season. The Packers trailed until 2:03 remained in the third quarter. They gifted the Vikings all 10 of their points through turnovers, and coach Matt LaFleur refused to abandon a plan to establish running back Aaron Jones. His patience was rewarded, even if it tortured the game's viewers. Jones' rushing production increased by every quarter, and he had 109 yards and two touchdowns after halftime on the way to a 154-yard game.

It helped, of course, that the Packers' defense overpowered the Vikings' offense line and limited them to 57 rushing yards and seven first downs, their lowest total in a home game since 1971. If you want to be snarky, you'll note that the Vikings were missing their top two tailbacks, Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison, and that quarterback Kirk Cousins was stumbling through his usual Monday night jitters. Regardless, Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari said, "Our defense kept us in the game and let us be us for four quarters."

"We've had a change in our identity," Bakhtiari added. "I think everyone around us is used to a high-powered offense that is going to light up a scoreboard. But we're a balanced team."

Twelve victories in 15 regular-season games proves, by definition, that the Packers have a winning formula. There is a fine line between being balanced and being mildly capable on either side, and the Packers have straddled that line for most of the season. But most of their players jaunted through the locker room Monday night with shirts that read "The North is not enough." They argued that winning in unassuming fashion has built a battle-tested team that is primed for a deep playoff run.

Kicker Mason Crosby, who has played in every Packers playoff game since 2007, said he has no doubt that this team has the same ingredients as some of the franchise's best teams of the century.

"We are one of those teams that finds ways to win," he said. "We've had a couple unfortunate ones get away from us when we didn't play our best. But this team has a passion and energy that is hard to describe. I look back at some of our really good teams here, and we just kind of have that X factor, the thing that tells you that any game we play, we can find a way to win."

It's one thing to find a way to beat the Panthers or Redskins or Giants -- or even a Vikings team playing without one of its best players. But can the Packers really beat the 49ers, Saints or Seahawks in the playoffs?

Everyone has an opinion, and here's mine: They can't do it by following Monday's formula. To wear out an opponent with the running game requires a defense that holds a high-end offense at bay. It's true that the Packers held their past four opponents to 15 or fewer points per game, but those opponents included the No. 31 scoring offense (Redskins), the No. 30 (Bears), the No. 19 (Giants) and the Vikings without Cook and Mattison.

To win playoff games, the Packers will need something from Rodgers that they haven't gotten or even asked for: a performance that matches some of his singular playoff games, from the 2010 divisional playoff against the Atlanta Falcons to the 2016 divisional game against the Dallas Cowboys. That'll get us all talking about the Packers again, not for aesthetic reasons but for competitive ones, instead of noting that Rodgers now ranks 21st in the NFL in QBR (52.2).

"I've always just tried to do what the team needed," Rodgers said. "There have been times over the years when I needed to do some of those things I've done over the years. This year it's different, based on the personnel we have and the scheme that we're running. I'm trying to be opportunistic, but we've got a pretty good run game going."

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Minnesota Timberwolves lost their 11th straight game in a 113-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday. After it was over, both players and coaches wore a look of frustration while trying to describe what it will take to get the group back on track, besides getting star center Karl-Anthony Towns back on the floor. Towns missed his fourth straight game because of a left knee injury, but the Timberwolves' issues go far beyond his health.

"They played harder," Timberwolves swingman Andrew Wiggins said. "That was it. We missed easy shots, though. Shots we should have made, but for the most part they just played harder. They ran us."

The Warriors, who came into the game with six wins on the season, took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Timberwolves 35-21. Then they never really looked back, leading by as many as 24 points in the second half.

"It's no secret, we're in a funk right now," Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders said. "But one thing I will say, for those of you who are around our team, we're still positive for the most part, but it hurts still. But we also need to understand, young team or not, we got to learn lessons in this league because you got to go through hard times to get to where you want to be. And we're in a hard time. And you come out of it together, and you learn about people, and you learn about individuals in that time."

The Timberwolves locker room was extremely quiet as players dressed quickly after the game, but with the team at 10-19, it doesn't seem like better days are in the near future. Former G-Leaguers Jordan McLaughlin and Kelan Martin, both of whom were called up prior to Monday's game, provided the group with a jolt of energy, combining for 27 points off the bench. Saunders praised the pair's effort but was disappointed that his group did not play better.

"It's hard to win in this league, and we got to understand that, too," Saunders said. "Hey, they don't check your paycheck or your birth certificate when you step on the floor, so we're adults competing here, and we got to make sure that we're out there and we're growing, but we're also coming out there competing, no matter how young we are or how old we are. I think sometimes when you get into a losing streak, it feels very heavy, and we need to find a way to take the heaviness off and play together."

What exactly is the biggest change the Timberwolves need to make?

"It's something we got to figure out," Wiggins said.

On the other side of Chase Center, Warriors forward Draymond Green wore a big smile as he discussed what it meant for his beleaguered group to win two straight games.

"It feels f---ing amazing," Green said. "I never thought I would be so excited for two regular-season wins in my life."

Wiggins is hopeful that his team can find its way again soon.

"We just need a perfect game," Wiggins said. "That's it ... you win one game, end that little streak, and I feel a door will be open for us."

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Green Bay Packers aren't just going back to the playoffs. They're going back as NFC North champs. A week after they ensured they'd end their two-year playoff drought, they wrapped up their first division title since 2016.

By doing so with their 23-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, they assured that they won't have to come back to U.S. Bank Stadium in the playoffs. Before Monday, they had never won in the building.

It wasn't pretty until the fourth quarter, when Aaron Jones scored the second of his two touchdowns to run his season total to an NFL-leading 19. Then again, when it wasn't Jones or Davante Adams, it hasn't been pretty on offense for a good portion of the Packers' 12-3 season.

"Winning is always beautiful," Aaron Rodgers said after the game. "Defense wins NFC North championships."

Rodgers said two weeks ago that he "wouldn't mind winning ugly all the way to the Super Bowl."

For a while, this one looked like it would qualify as another step along that path.

Consider:

• The Packers turned the ball over three times in the first half. It was their second three-turnover game of the season. Both came on Monday Night Football, the previous being in Week 6 against the Lions.

• Week 6 was when Rodgers last threw an interception before Monday. He had a streak of 277 straight passes without one until he badly underthrew Adams on a pass into the hands of Vikings safety Anthony Harris in the second quarter. That ended the second-longest interception-free streak of Rodgers' career. He once threw 402 passes without a pick, which remains the longest such streak in NFL history.

• The Packers had allowed 29 points off turnovers entering the game, the second-fewest in the league, behind only the Vikings' tally (26). The Vikings' first 10 points came off turnovers (Jones' fumble and Rodgers' pick).

• Rodgers couldn't get much going deep, especially early. He completed just one of eight passes on throws of more than 10 yards in the first half, tied for his second-worst half since 2008 (minimum eight attempts), according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The one he completed was fumbled away by Adams.

• It was Rodgers' third game this season without a touchdown pass, though the Packers have won all three. Entering this season, the Packers were 4-10 when Rodgers fails to throw a touchdown. Monday's game marked the first time Rodgers won a game in which he threw an interception and no touchdowns.

Thanks to Jones' 23 carries for 154 yards with two touchdowns and Adams' 13 catches for 116 yards -- and thanks to Za'Darius Smith, whose monster season included a monster game Monday, with 3.5 sacks as part of a seven-tackle (five for loss) game -- the Packers survived without the best day from Rodgers.

"Feels great to win these kinds of games, these are playoff style games -- obviously we're both going to the playoffs," Rodgers said, "but to be back on top of the North after a couple years of being down, feels great to win it in this stadium where a couple of years ago I was jeered leaving the field after breaking my collarbone. Feels pretty good."

Still, the Packers will face questions about how much damage -- if any -- they can do in the postseason. As division champs, they are guaranteed at least one postseason game at Lambeau Field, but if the season ended the way it stands now, the Packers would have the No. 2 seed in the NFC. With that come a first-round bye and a divisional-round game at home. And the Packers are still in play for the top overall seed in the NFC. If they win the regular-season finale at Detroit and the San Francisco 49ers lose at Seattle on Sunday night, the Packers would earn the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

That's not bad for a team that wins ugly.

Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins made the most of his first action on the court in nearly two months on Monday, scoring 27 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 121-118 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Collins hasn't played since Nov. 5, when he began a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy. The league said the 22-year-old tested positive for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-2 (GHRP-2).

"It knocks the rust off, going against a guy like Kevin Love," Collins said after Monday's game. "I felt good, OK."

Collins, in his third season and a key member of the Hawks' young core, averaged 17 points and 8.8 rebounds in the first five games of the season.

Atlanta went 4-21 without Collins.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In 2019, Tacko Fall went from being an undrafted free agent in the summer to making his NBA debut with the Boston Celtics in the fall. On Monday, the 7-foot-5 rookie center added another milestone to his whirlwind year: symphony conductor.

Fall stepped on the podium at Symphony Hall and led the famed Boston Pops as a guest conductor during the holiday classic "Sleigh Ride."

Fall wore a size-48 double-extra-long tuxedo. He threw in a spin move and waved his arms during his performance, to the delight of the crowd.

Fall told The Boston Globe that it was the first time he wore a tuxedo, and he prepared by studying Shaquille O'Neal's 2010 performance conducting the Pops. Fall used a baton presented to him by Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, who wrote "Congratulations to Tacko!" on the bulb of the instrument, according to the Globe.

Fall, who played at Central Florida, went undrafted by NBA teams in June. He delighted fans by playing for Boston in the summer league, and the Celtics signed him to a one-year agreement paying the minimum salary. His deal was converted in October to a two-way deal, which allows him to spend 45 days in the NBA this season.

Fall made his NBA debut on Oct. 26 and played in two games this month, including Friday, when coach Brad Stevens put him in to honor a request from his daughter and "give the people what they want" during a 114-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

When not with the Celtics, Fall plays for Boston's G League affiliate in Maine.