Pakistan 240 (Shafiq 76, Azhar 39, Rizwan 37, Starc 4-52, Cummins 3-60, Hazlewood 2-46) v Australia

Australia finished the opening day of their Test summer in a strong position on one of their happiest hunting grounds, although for periods either side of a five-wicket surge in the afternoon they were made to work hard by Pakistan.

Whether Pakistan's 240 - boosted by Asad Shafiq's 76 - will be enough to keep them in the contest remains to be seen and rests with their bowling attack. At nine for 75, they would have hoped for much better; at 5 for 94, they probably feared much worse, before Yasir Shah helped Shafiq add 84 for the seventh wicket. For Australia, the feelings might have been reversed.

Mitchell Starc, on his return to the Test side, finished with 4 for 52 - cleaning up the tail as he can do so well - and was on a hat-trick late in the day when 16-year-old debutant Naseem Shah faced up to the first delivery of his career and somehow squeezed the ball to the leg side.

After not quite getting their lengths right in the opening session, Australia's three quicks were excellent after the interval as Pakistan's impressive morning's work unravelled. That was compounded by the controversial dismissal of Mohammad Rizwan, who edged behind off Pat Cummins only for replays to suggest Cummins had no part of his foot behind the line, but third umpire Michael Gough gave him the benefit of some very slim doubt.

That left Pakistan 6 for 143 and still in danger of folding for under 200. However, Shafiq, who scored 137 at the ground on his previous visit, continued his excellent form from the warm-up matches where he made hundreds against Australia A and a Cricket Australia XI. He was eventually cleaned up by a beauty from Cummins with the new ball during Australia's strong finish as they claimed 4 for 13 to end the innings.

Captain Azhar Ali had won the toss and despite a green tinge to the surface, was not lulled into bowling. He and Shan Masood then played superbly during the opening session, happy to give the two hours to the bowlers unless there was a loose delivery to attack in a session that brought just five boundaries. The pair left well, helped by the back-of-a-length approach from the quicks, and a lunch score of none for 57 - by the standards of visiting teams at the Gabba - was a fine start. To show how tough a place it is for visiting sides, their final partnership of 75 was the highest for a visiting team in the first innings of a Test at the ground.

Then, however, things started to change. In the sixth over after the break, Cummins, bowling around the wicket, squared up Masood to take his outside edge. Three balls later, Hazlewood drew a nick from Azhar which carried low to first slip where Joe Burns held on. All of a sudden, two new batsmen were at the crease. One of them was Haris Sohail, who struggled in the warm-up matches, and he did not last long when he flashed at Starc.

The fear that Pakistan were about to completely lose their way increased when Babar Azam played a horridly wild drive at Hazlewood to provide another slip catch. After such a build-up for Azam - including runs in the T20Is and the Australia A match - it was a hugely deflating shot.

Nathan Lyon then returned to the attack for his second spell and struck first ball when a hard-handed Iftikhar Ahmed inside-edged to short leg and it had the feel of a full-blown collapse that could decide the Test by tea on the opening day.

That did not transpire, thanks to a mixture of punchy and pugnacious batting. Rizwan, playing just his second Test, counterpunched strongly either side of tea to score at better than a run-a-ball before the nick off Cummins prompted significant amount of slow-mo replays of the front foot. When it comes to calling no-balls on replays, the benefit of any doubt goes to the bowler. Cummins, though, may still have got lucky.

There was no great expectation that Shafiq would now have much support, but Yasir proved otherwise in a stand that spanned 26 overs. The pair took advantage of a period where Tim Paine sat back a touch, using Lyon and Marnus Labuschagne ahead of the second new ball - Australia's over rate was poor for much of the day, which can now lead to points deductions in the Test Championship.

Shafiq's fifty came from 99 balls and when the pair made it to the 80-over mark there was a chance that if they survived to the close Pakistan could yet eye 300. However, those hopes were dashed in the amount of time it took Starc to get loose as he speared a yorker through Yasir then found Shaheen Afridi's edge first ball, although it needed a review which Paine, perhaps still haunted by his DRS errors in the Ashes, was reluctant to take.

When Shafiq's fine innings was ended by Cummins, it looked as though Australia would bat before the close, but Naseem - who generated one of the biggest cheers of the day when he on-drove Starc for his first boundary - and Imran Khan took the innings deep enough that when Naseem lobbed a short delivery in the air, Australia's openers would not have to contemplate batting until the morning.

It took 2,000 years to build the Great Wall of China and 1,600 years to build Stonehenge. The Sagrada Familia - started in 1882 - is still not complete. And let's not even mention Brexit.

The point? Sometimes it takes time to build something worthwhile (which is very much not a political statement about Brexit). And sometimes, during that process, you have to be patient.

Certainly spectators at the Bay Oval were obliged to be patient on the first day of the series between New Zealand and England. While there were moments during the tenure of Trevor Bayliss when England were accused of reacting to every adversity by playing ever more aggressively - like speeding through fog to get past it - there were moments here when their caution was like deciding to park the car and walk. Joe Root and Joe Denly took 21 balls to get off the mark. Ben Stokes took 15.

England spectators, in particular, have probably been spoiled in recent times. Many of their Test wins have been almost impossibly unlikely and, as a consequence, entertaining. Take the victory against Ireland that was achieved despite being bowled out by lunch on the first day. Or the victory against Australia at Leeds that came despite having been bowled out for 67 in their first innings. Even when they are bad - and they were pretty bad in Barbados - they are entertaining. And all those games were just this year.

But this is what Test cricket used to be like. And, on a slow wicket, against a disciplined attack this was probably the best approach they could take. So while there were moments - and by moments, think of several hours - with bowlers aiming wide of off stump in the hope of tempting the batsmen and England simply letting the ball sail through, when it seemed the game was in something approaching stalemate, England eventually started to pull away from New Zealand in a final session that realised 120 runs. There had only been 121 in the first two combined.

You do wonder what Bayliss, no doubt keeping an eye on scores from his hotel room in the UAE, would have made of it, though. He used to reason that the dangers of such a cautious approach were that it only took a couple of wicket-taking balls and all that work was wasted with little to show for it. And maybe, had Stokes been held at slip on 63, or Rory Burns taken in the slips on 37, Bayliss would have been proved right. But they weren't and, with Stokes starting to wrestle the initiative away from New Zealand, the day finished with England perhaps slightly the better placed of the two teams.

That's not just a reflection of the scores, either. It's a reflection of the amount of work invested by both sides. The New Zealand bowlers, despite their obvious stamina, are human. And there is a quick turnaround - just three days - between games. The miles put in their legs here could yet turn out to be crucial in the coming days. There is every chance they will be pulling their boots on for a fifth session here.

Maybe there were times on day one when we witnessed an over-correction from England. Times when it became apparent that they were learning a new approach and times when they got it slightly wrong. Take Root's innings: he is masterful at rotating the strike; as adept at anyone of nudging and deflecting and picking up singles. Yet here, perhaps wanting to provide an example to his team, he became almost stroke-less and was eventually persuaded into a loose shot.

Such moments are inevitable. It doesn't mean the approach is wrong. It just means England have to get better at the way they execute such plans. Because despite all their patience, three of the wickets that did fall in the day - Burns', Root's and Joe Denly's - all owed a little to frustration. But it's worth remembering that England tried the Bayliss approach for the best part of five years. It gave them great days and some decent success. But they are the No. 3 side in the Test rankings and, if they want to rise higher, they probably have to show a more sophisticated approach. What we saw here was the start of a new era for England cricket. Nobody should mistake them for the finished article.

Several batsmen can feel satisfied with their day's work. Denly, in particular, may well have done enough to secure his trip to South Africa. This was his fourth half-century in six Test innings and was, perhaps, as assured as any of them. His six off Mitchell Santner, a bit of a luxury player at this stage, was the shot of the day: a perfectly timed lofted drive that he bore plenty of beauty and no brawn.

And while Denly and Burns, in particular, may feel they failed to capitalise on the foundations they had built, they can console themselves with the knowledge that they resisted a fine attack and built a strong platform for their team. There's a lot of work left to do - 400 might be considered par in such conditions - but with Stokes set and more batting to come, England could be quietly satisfied with their first day of Test cricket under Chris Silverwood.

LOS ANGELES -- The LA Clippers had to wait 138 days but they finally got to see what life is like with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the court together.

"That s--- was fun as hell," an amped Patrick Beverley said coming off the court.

The Clippers needed to overcome a sloppy game that went to overtime, but they got their first victory with their two prized All-Stars and handed the Boston Celtics only their third loss of the season, 107-104.

George had 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer for the second game in a row. Leonard, playing for the first time following a three-game absence due to a bruised left knee, shot 7-for-20 but provided the game-clinching block on a Kemba Walker 3 at the buzzer. Leonard registered 17 points, six rebounds and one arena-shaking dunk over Daniel Theis.

Defensively, the two-way stars helped the Clippers (10-5) live up to the preseason hype of being a smothering unit, as Boston (11-3) managed to shoot just 39.4% from the field, including only 12-of-45 (26.7%) from behind the arc.

"It was fun to see what this team can look like on the defensive end," George said, "and offensively, it was fun to see how we can play off each other.

"The fact of the matter is we are going to have growing pains, and I think the most positive thing is we understood that. Nobody was pointing fingers or dropping their heads in huddles ... at no point was this team ever dysfunctional."

The Clippers had just one shootaround rehearsal with Leonard and George walking through together in the starting unit, and that came on the morning of the Wednesday's tilt. With George having just returned Nov. 14 following surgeries on both of his shoulders and Leonard sitting the past three games, the Clippers haven't had any practice time with the two in their starting lineup.

It showed, as the Clippers turned the ball over 23 times, with Leonard and George combining for 10 of them as the Celtics sent traps at the duo.

But what the other Clippers players learned was just how open they would be playing alongside the two stars. Lou Williams scored 27 points, while Beverley was left alone on several shots, drilling four 3-pointers, two of them coming in overtime. Beverley finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.

"I remember I was telling [coach] Doc [Rivers], I came off one pick-and-roll, I was so open, I didn't know what to do," Beverley said. "They get so much attention, it's crazy."

But Leonard and George showed flashes of why that defensive attention is deserved. With just over three minutes left in regulation, Leonard blew by Marcus Smart before ascending and throwing down a vicious one-handed dunk all over the 6-foot-8 Theis.

The dunk already rivals the one LeBron James had at Staples Center on Nov. 15 when he posterized Sacramento's Nemanja Bjelica in a Lakers win over the Kings.

"It's crazy," Clippers center Ivica Zubac said of the dunk. "... He just jumped over him."

That dunk and the game-ending block on Walker are reasons why George told ESPN that he has wanted to play alongside Leonard since 2017, when he asked the Indiana Pacers to trade him to San Antonio. The Spurs didn't have enough assets to strike a deal, according to league sources.

"I mean, that's the Finals MVP, man," George said of Leonard. "He knows when it's time to take over. He's been there and he's won championships with multiple ballclubs, so he knows how to stomp and put that foot on opponents' neck, and that's what you saw him do tonight."

It wasn't pretty for much of the game as the Clippers stumbled over themselves at times. Rivers felt the players were trying too hard to share the ball. Leonard missed 7 of 10 3-point attempts, and he tried to get some shots off before traps came. And George lost his footing and fell when Jayson Tatum (30 points) drilled a step-back 3-pointer to tie the game at 97 and force overtime.

"It's pretty much just finding each other's spots and knowing the plays," Leonard said of what the Clippers have to improve on. "It's still tough. We are both kind of on a minute restriction; hard to get into a flow. But just knowing plays and each other's spots and the language on the defensive end [will help]. Repetition is what we need right now."

Leonard and George each logged 37 minutes, not only earning this win but needing all the help they got from their teammates.

"Load management definitely wasn't in effect tonight," George cracked.

"We need everybody," he added. "This is not a two-headed monster."

The British and Irish Lions squad that beat South Africa in 1997 was full of giants.

The towering physical presence of Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio, the dominant personalities of Scott Gibbs and Keith Wood. And a diminutive, quiet, loose-head prop called Tom Smith.

Tom was an unsung hero. He shunned the limelight. But he started every Test on that tour, and every Test on the Lions tour four years later in Australia. He was a key part of the great Scotland team that won the final Five Nations Championship in 1999.

I covered a lot of Scotland games that year, but I never met Tom. Press officers knew not to ask him; in the well-worn phrase, he did his talking on the pitch. But now I'm sitting opposite him, across the kitchen table of his house in France, doing the interview no-one ever wants to do.

Because Tom has stage four cancer.

It's in his colon, and it's spread to his brain and liver. He's having painful, intrusive treatment with the aim of extending his time with his family for as long as possible.

Tom is 48 and has three children - aged 18, 17 and nine. As autumn began this year, he and his family were on a canoe trip on the Dordogne river, seemingly without a care in the world.

But Tom was trying to ignore pains in his abdomen which wouldn't go away. He lost weight, couldn't sleep because of the discomfort, and started passing blood. Deep down, he knew it was bad.

Finally his wife Zoe dragged him to A&E at Bordeaux hospital, and the Smith family's life turned upside down.

"I played rugby for 15 years professionally," Tom says. "Aches and pains are part of the deal as you get older. I think I wrote it off until it got to the point that I needed to do something.

"I try to get on with things and that's probably my downfall."

Even though he now regrets that pragmatism - "I was an idiot to ignore the symptoms", he tells me on the phone later - that uncomplaining nature was typical of him as a player. It helped him cope with epilepsy during his playing career, and it's something he will need a lot of in the weeks ahead.

He has already had two gruelling sessions of chemotherapy, and a course of radiotherapy, with more to come. The prognosis is not good. The tumour in his colon has meant his diet is severely restricted; he lost 10 kilos in 10 days. And alcohol is banned.

Tom recalls an early Scotland tour, when coach Jim Telfer had imposed a no-booze rule. His room-mate Doddie Weir had other ideas, and Tom was inducted into 'whisky club'. He felt well and truly welcomed to the team.

Doddie has motor neurone disease, and along with many in the rugby community, Tom has been closely involved with fundraising to support motor neurone research, as well as the Weir family. He even played in a benefit game before the Ireland v England match during this year's Six Nations in Dublin.

Just a few short months ago, the future seemed clear; his elder children, Angus and Amelie, planning for university, his younger son Teddy looking forward to secondary school in a couple of years. He and wife Zoe bought their dream house in France, which they are hoping to do up and run as a business. But the speed of Tom's illness has been frightening.

Now he's hoping some of the generosity of spirit which imbues the sport he loves will be sent his way.

"Life has changed very quickly," he says. "I want to do the right thing for my family; this all leaves you a bit exposed. I'm lucky enough to have a good group of friends and a strong community helping and supporting."

A fundraising dinner is planned in London, in March 2020, to which his team-mates from the 1997 Lions and 1999 Scotland squad have committed their time. Tom doesn't know whether he will make it himself.

In addition, a fundraising page has been set up, with charities focusing on bowel cancer, and supporting families in financial hardship as the result of cancer, set to benefit. But it's clear that asking for help runs completely against the grain for this humble and low-key man.

I suggest to him this interview will unleash an outpouring of love from across the rugby world, including in Northampton, where he played for eight successful years and was awarded a testimonial game before which both teams ran out wearing number one shirts in front of a packed Franklin's Gardens.

He squirms slightly when I suggest he is among the legends of the game, and ask him what he would say to the fans who supported him during his playing career.

"Just... thank you," he says. "I've always had a good relationship with the fans. This is such an accessible sport, and it feels nice to have people pulling in my direction. Whatever you want to do - send a prayer, some positive vibes - it's all appreciated."

Back on that Lions tour of 1997, Tom - all 5ft 10in and 16st of him - put his body on the line against a South Africa front row which featured the giant prop Os du Randt - 6ft 3in and weighing 21st. To all watching, he appeared nerveless and indomitable, but he admits the fear of failure drove him in his playing career. So what is his greatest fear now?

"The uncertainty is something which provokes fear," he says. "I'd like to bring as much certainty as I can to the future of my family. That will help me.

"It's quite daunting because some of the treatment is very unpleasant. But I've faced some tough opponents, and the least you can do is fight. So let's fight."

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – They say sometimes that it’s better to be lucky than good, and Evan Margeson was both on Wednesday night at Placerville Speedway during the Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 finale.

After running second for more than half of the 40-lap Wicked Energy Gum Northwest Focus Midget Series feature, Margeson took advantage when race-long leader Garrett Thomas slowed with a broken brake bracket on lap 36.

Once out front, Margeson never looked back and beat Tuesday night winner Tristan Thomas to the finish line by .675 seconds for the $1,000 payday in a car making just its second start of the year.

It was his third Northwest Focus Midget Series win of the season.

The feature was slowed by three red flags – including a 16 minute, 24 second stoppage for the violent frontstretch flip of Hannah Lindquist – and numerous cautions which forced it to be shortened from its originally-scheduled distance of 50 laps down to the 40-lap distance it ultimately finished at.

“The way that race was going, man, I wasn’t sure if it was ever going to be over,” said Margeson, who led only the last five laps, in victory lane. “It seemed like it was taking forever. But I definitely didn’t have the best car, Garrett did. Fortunately for us, we were a little bit more lucky than good tonight, and it paid off.

“I didn’t have a ride for this thing, so the only way I was going to get down here was to try and put something together for myself,” he added. “So we ended up doing it. Luckily, PMI Truck Bodies helped us out, along with Triple X Race Company. I couldn’t do without any of those guys.”

Behind Margeson and Tristan Thomas, Seth Hespe, Shane Smith and Chance Crum completed the top five.

Sawyer Lind finished sixth, followed by Michael Vollbrecht, Matt Loving, Guy Tow and Colton Heath.

Nick Evans, who crossed the line 11th, earned the overall event title for the Northwest Focus Midgets.

The finish:

Evan Margeson, Tristan Thomas, Seth Hespe, Shane Smith, Chance Crum, Sawyer Lind, Michael Vollbrecht, Matt Loving, Guy Tow, Colton Heath, Nick Evans, Mike Stryker, Adam Elbert, Ashley Thompson, Aaron Leffel, Brian Aune, JD Dryden, Jeremiah Franklin, Nik Larson, Garrett Thomas, Alden Ostrom, Chris Greene, Hannah Lindquist, Kenny Ferris.

CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose wasn't the only visitor to receive a big reception at the United Center on Wednesday during the Chicago Bulls' 109-89 win against the Detroit Pistons. So did his former teammate Luol Deng.

In October, Deng signed a one-day deal to retire as a Bull after playing 10 of his 15 seasons in Chicago. The Bulls honored him in the second quarter Wednesday night, when Deng received a standing ovation from 18,119 fans from his seat in a mid-level suite.

"It's what made sense," Deng said of retiring as a Bull. "Chicago means a lot to me when you look back, just at my career as a basketball player coming here as a young man, 19, but it's a lot of history here and I wanted it to end the right way. The best way to do it is with familiar faces and people that know me very well."

Rose, who played the first seven years of his career in Chicago, scored 18 points for the Pistons. Deng said he picked Wednesday's game because he wanted Rose to be among those present.

Deng's ex-Bulls teammates Jannero Pargo, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, John Lucas III, Ben Gordon, Aaron Gray and Nazr Mohammed were also in the house in support of the two-time All-Star.

"It's very refreshing to get his flowers while he can still smell them," Pargo told ESPN. "The only thing I'm surprised about is that there's not more guys here. Luol is beloved."

Part of the reason more teammates weren't in attendance is because Deng, who's enjoying retirement, didn't go out of his way to call a bunch of people.

In 2014, he also didn't leave the franchise on the best of terms following his trade from Chicago to Cleveland for the throwaway contract of Andrew Bynum and draft picks, but he let bygones be bygones. Nothing but good memories were shared inside that suite with some of the guys he went to war with for many years.

"First of all, it goes by so fast. All you have at the end of this is just your memories," Noah told ESPN. "What happened with Loul, he got traded out of here after playing a lot of minutes. He gave his heart to the organization.

"When it ended, it was bittersweet, but for him to put away all that negativity and to realize that the special memories are more important than that and putting your ego to the side and being able to say, the group that we had is special and this is where he wanted to end his career," he added. "It says a lot about who he is as a person. I'm just proud to be here -- these were the best times of my life."

Deng, 34, played in Chicago in 2004-14 and averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 46% shooting. He spent 15 seasons in the league total, including seven playoff appearances, and still ranks fourth on the Bulls' career leaders list in points (10,286).

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

DALLAS -- Perhaps the most impressive thing about Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic's statistical line Wednesday night was that it wasn't surprising.

Doncic lit up the depleted Golden State Warriors for 35 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the Mavs' 142-94 win. Doncic exited the game for good with a few minutes left in the third quarter, playing only 25 minutes, 30 seconds, the least playing time in NBA history by a player to produce a 30-point triple-double, according to Elias Sports Bureau data.

This outing came on the heels of Doncic's 42-point triple-double in Monday's home win over the San Antonio Spurs when he joined LeBron James as the only players in NBA history to score 40 points in a triple-double before their 21st birthday.

"Look, he's a very special player on a special roll," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "There's not much else to say. This isn't a big news flash now. This is getting to be pretty normal."

It was Doncic's seventh triple-double of the season for the 9-5 Mavs, the most by a player in the first 14 games of the season since Oscar Robertson had 11 in 1961-62. Robertson had been the youngest player to record back-to-back 35-point triple-doubles as a 22-year-old, but that distinction now belongs to Doncic, who won't turn 21 until Feb. 28.

Doncic has established himself as a legitimate threat to join Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. Doncic is averaging 29.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.4 assists per game, as he is the lone player in the league to rank among the top five in scoring and assists as well as the lone player to rank in the top 15 in all three categories.

"Unbelievable. But we were talking about if he can keep this up, and I was like, 'Yo, if somebody can keep this up, it's him,'" said veteran Mavs guard J.J. Barea, who serves as a mentor for Doncic. "He plays on the ground. He's super smart. He's shooting the ball well. He's finishing really well. I see him keeping it up.

"It's not hard for him to do this right now. He's not forcing crazy s---. It's just coming. That's why I think he can keep this up. He's making it look easy."

The first quarter against the Warriors appeared especially easy for Doncic. He had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists while playing all 12 minutes in the quarter, which ended with the Mavs leading 44-16.

According to Elias data, Doncic became the first player to register more points, rebounds and assists than an opposing team in one quarter since the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson on Feb. 19, 2003, against the Chicago Bulls. Iverson had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in a quarter in which the Bulls managed to score only eight points.

Doncic was 7-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the first quarter. He also had only his second dunk of the season, which he celebrated with a big smile while running by the Mavs bench as he got back on defense, much to the amusement of his teammates.

"He's out there having fun," said Mavs guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who had 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the win. "That's the most important thing in this game, is to have fun and to go out there and compete on both ends of the floor. He's doing that."

With Doncic's name already being mentioned among some of the league's elite players, Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson cautioned that it isn't fair to compare him to the NBA's all-time greats this early in his career.

"Luka is getting compared to all-time greats and it's nice, but he's 20 years old," Nelson said Wednesday night on ESPN Radio's Freddie and Fitzsimmons Show. "He's just starting his career out. He's got a long, long way to go, and we've had a soft early schedule. So I'm not going to be jumping on this all-time great this, that and the other. He's got the potential ... yes ... but he's got to win at the highest level."

Doncic acknowledged that he is aware of the exclusive company he has joined with his historic production so far this season. However, he has no interest in discussing his individual statistics.

"I'm glad we're winning games. That's all," said Doncic, who was 11-of-18 from the floor and 6-of-10 from 3-point range in Wednesday's win, with the Mavs outscoring the Warriors by 45 with him on the floor. "We've got three in a row, and we've just got to keep going like that."

LOS ANGELES -- When the LA Clippers moved heaven and earth last summer to acquire a pair of the league's most lethal small forwards, the early glimpses of their ugly 107-104 overtime win over the Boston Celtics were what they imagined.

In the game's opening possession, the Celtics opted to trap Paul George on his pick-and-roll with center Ivica Zubac. And why not, given that George scored an obscene 88 points in 73 minutes in his first three games as a Clipper over the past week. When George delivered the pass to Zubac, Celtics guard Marcus Smart had to move off Kawhi Leonard over to pick up the big man. Zubac kicked the ball out to Leonard, who drained the 3-pointer.

Three possessions later, George and Leonard traded places. Again, the Celtics trapped the ball-handler -- this time, it was Leonard. Smart stunted between Zubac in open space and George out on the perimeter at the same spot Leonard had previously knocked down the 3-ball. At the moment of peak opportunity, Leonard zipped the ball between the trap to George on the weak side -- and George replicated the earlier result from long range.

It's one week before Thanksgiving and the Clippers' interminable preseason had finally ended, as Leonard and George finally took the floor as teammates for the first time. Their inaugural effort wasn't a perfect display in symbiosis -- at times, it was a slog -- which isn't a surprise for two players who've shared exactly one full-contact practice together, when they were on opposing teams. The Clippers' star wings ran zero pick-and-roll or dribble-handoff plays together on Wednesday, according to Second Spectrum tracking data.

"We need a lot of work, you can see that," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "We were trying to get the ball to guys instead of trying to score."

If the Clippers appeared like a team still getting acquainted, that's because they are. Yet the presence of the full squad as constructed, marked a cause for satisfaction, punctuated by a fierce fourth-quarter comeback.

For weeks, Leonard and George have been two ships passing in the training room. George missed the preseason and the first 11 games of the regular season while recovering from a pair of shoulder surgeries. The night before George's first game as a Clipper last Thursday in New Orleans, Leonard suffered a contusion on his left knee in Houston. When healthy, each has shown his individual brilliance -- Leonard as the bully who can use brute force to manufacture space for any shot, George as the all-purpose wing who can score in just about any offensive capacity.

The fully constituted Clippers showed the most promise on the defensive end, where they stifled what was the NBA's fourth-ranked offense entering Wednesday for much of the night. The Clippers' roster features a platoon of long and agile defenders capable of guarding multiple positions, playing the gaps, pressuring ball handlers and covering ground in transition.

To wit, the Clippers had both the flexibility and confidence to stick 6-foot-7 Maurice Harkless on Celtics' All-NBA point guard Kemba Walker, knowing that Patrick Beverley -- their own diminutive guard -- can hold his own against Boston's lanky wings, and that there was reliable help if necessary. Determined to thwart Walker, the Clippers threw traps at him selectively. The Clippers' rotations behind those aggressive attacks were variable -- again, not a surprise for units that hadn't previously logged minutes together -- but the Clippers are so athletic, so long and endowed with so much veteran savvy, they were able to perform damage control.

And when the Clippers went with a closing lineup late in the game of Beverley, Leonard, George, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, they switched against the Celtics' actions. Boston led LA 86-76 with 6:15 left to play, but the Clippers finished the last 11:15 of the game on a 31-18 run. Outside of two minutes of Harkless time for situational defense, Rivers rolled with that group to lead the charge.

For all the fanfare of Leonard and George making their debut as a tandem against a marquee opponent on national television, the Clippers staged a furious rally in the fourth quarter that was reminiscent of their scrappy teams of recent seasons. Offensively, Leonard and George drew gravity from the Celtics' defense, but it was the holdovers -- Beverely and Williams, in particular -- that propelled the Clippers.

"I thought he, literally, single-handedly willed that game with his effort," Rivers said of Beverley, who was a recipient of a rare game ball.

With the Clippers clinging to a 2-point lead with less than a minute remaining in overtime, the Celtics trapped Williams in his pick-and-roll with Harrell. This is one of the league's most dangerous pick-and-roll combos -- a tandem that helped a Clippers team in flux win an improbable 48 games last season. So when Williams shuttled the ball to Harrell, Jayson Tatum had to leave Beverley in the weak side corner to tag Harrell in open space. That left Harrell with an open pocket in the right corner, where he promptly sent the ball Beverley's way.

There they were, the three remaining castaways from the fateful 2017 Chris Paul trade, stitching together the kind of sequence that helped a transient Clippers team build an identity that attracted a pair of top-line superstars. Leonard and George were the headliners on Wednesday, and represent the Clippers' best hopes for their first title. Yet as Beverley drained the 3-pointer to seal the win, it was the spirit of the overachievers that carried the night.

India women 134 for 3 (Krishnamurthy 57*, Rodrigues 50) beat West Indies women 793 for 7 (Knight 22, Patil 2-3) by 61 runs

Veda Krishnamurthy produced the highest score of her T20 career, her unbeaten 57 along with a fifty from Jemimah Rodrigues as well helping India to a resounding 61-run victory over West Indies women in Providence. India were able to put up 134 on and it proved plenty more than enough as Anuja Patil, in her 50th T20 game, picked up incredible figures of 3-1-3-2.

India needed to recover from a poor start after they elected to bat, with the openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana dismissed for single-digit scores. But that only meant more time for Krishnamurthy and Rodrigues to influence the game. They put on a 117-run partnership, hitting seven fours together. It appeared to be a tough pitch for run-scoring but Krishnamurthy rose above it. Of all the batters to face at least 10 balls, she was the only one with a strike-rate above 100.

India's bowlers made use of those conditions well, Patil picking up both her wickets in the fourth over to hurt West Indies in the chase. After that opening, which left the hosts 13 for 2, the spinners took over, each of Radha Yadav (1-10), Poonam Yadav (1-15) and Harleen Deol (1-13) picking up a wicket each. West Indies could barely get any momentum in the case; they were 31 for 4 in the 11th over and the game was pretty much done there. Kyshona Knight top-scored with 22 off 39 balls.

India end the tour having won nine out of 10 matches as they continue preparing for the T20 World Cup in February 2020.