India are finally set to play their inaugural day-night Test, starting on Friday against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. While the teams get familiar with the pink ball, there's lots of chatter in the build-up to the match.

November 20

Not only pink ball but better facilities needed to attract crowds - Dravid

The 66,000-plus capacity Eden Gardens is expected to be a full house as BCCI president Sourav Ganguly told PTI on Tuesday that the tickets for the first four days were sold out.

But his former team-mate Rahul Dravid believes that, while the novelty of the pink ball will attract crowds to the stadium, India needs to do a lot more for a better attendance for Test cricket. Especially better facilities for spectators at venues.

"It is not the only solution to rejuvenate Test cricket, but it is one of the things we need to do. If only we are able to control dew, the pink-ball Test can become an annual feature in India," Dravid - currently heading the NCA in Bengaluru - said at an event in Singapore on Tuesday. "However, a number of other factors need to be looked into while trying to understand why Test cricket fails to attract crowds, including facilities available for fans inside the stadium. The Pune Test between India and South Africa in October was one in which those in the crowd complained about the lack of basic facilities for fans across five days. Basic things like toilets, seating, car parking need to be looked into, these are things that will draw [more people]."

Dravid also said that India needed to have a set cricket calendar so that people could plan their itineraries well ahead of the match.

"You can argue that the Ashes are always full and that Test cricket is in good health in England and Australia, but that's because they have a Test cricket calendar and we don't. People can plan for a Boxing Day Test in December and a Lord's Test in July a year ahead. We need this to happen in Indian cricket."

Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar too expressed his views on Twitter.

It's now come down to two choices with regards to Test cricket. Have flawless conditions, stick to tradition & have a few watching OR have less than perfect conditions, tweak tradition & have many more watching. I will take the second option any day.#DayNightTest

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 19, 2019

Wristspinners will have advantage over fingerspinners - Harbhajan

India's domestic players had complained that the pink ball offered little help for bowlers after initial ten overs during the Duleep Trophy trials this year. But apparently it's not all gloom and doom, especially for wristpsinners.

Veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh said it would be difficult for batsmen to spot the wrong'un with the pink ball.

"Wristspinners will have one advantage if you see because it's going to be very difficult to pick the seam [with black stitches] of the pink ball," Harbhajan told PTI on Tuesday. "When a finger spinner bowls, the ball is released with seam so that there is turn and bounce. When you are bowling the googly, the seam will be scrambled and very difficult to pick."

He gave Kuldeep Yadav's example who had picked up 17 wickets in three games - including a nine-wicket match-haul - during the 2016-17 Duleep Trophy. "If you remember Duleep Trophy [2016-17], no one could effectively read Kuldeep from his wrists. Legspinners got a lot of wickets during that edition".

Talking about the effect of dew later in the evening, Harbhajan explained: "A lot of people think that the ball will be like a slippery soap bar as it happens with the white ball in day-night games. It's not the same. The white ball becomes slippery because the white lacquer goes off and the ball gets wet.

"With extra lacquer, pink ball's skin won't get wet but the stitches will be very soggy. And therein lies problem with finger spinners.

"More lacquer means that you will not have a good grip on the ball, especially fingerspinners, and the ball starts skidding," he said. "In 50-over or 20-over cricket, whenever the ball gets wet, you can just alter the length a bit and let the batsmen play on back foot, allowing those singles. But in a Test match, you have to pitch it up. Now landing six deliveries on one spot while trying to grip a wet seam can be a challenge because trying the ODI length will be easy meat for batsmen."

Picking up pink ball 'will be will be as challenging for umpires as well' - Taufel

"You require extra concentration to pick the pink ball suddenly when you're playing with the red ball," India captain Virat Kohli said on Tuesday as both teams stayed back in Indore to get acclimatised to the pink ball. But according to former umpire Simon Taufel, on-field umpires - Rod Tucker and Marais Erasmus in this case - also need to be at their absolute best to see the ball clearly under changing light.

"You have a twilight period when the light changes as it goes from very bright to sunshine to artificial light," Taufel told PTI on Tuesday. "That period is more challenging for the batsmen to pick up the ball. I would expect a similar type of challenge for the umpires. It will be as hard and challenging for the umpires as well.

"They will be going through their net session and simulation activities. Maybe trying to see some practice session with the pink ball so that they are pretty confident of seeing the right things at the right time."

The pink ball and day-night Tests are here to stay, according to Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand captain who is now Bangladesh's spin-bowling consultant. Vettori said the game in Eden Gardens could give a glimpse of how Test cricket could, in the future, be played in front of crowds similar to those that attend T20s and ODIs.

"I think pink ball is a big part of Test cricket," Vettori said. "I think you have to appreciate the fact that there's going to be so many people here. You have to acknowledge that. If you can extend the Test match into the night time, it brings more and more people into the game. I think it has a big part of the future but has to be balanced with day games.

"It could almost have a T20 or a one-day atmosphere. [Virat] Kohli or Rohit [Sharma] going out to bat is going to feel like a T20. I think there's going to be an atmosphere no player has played in Test-match conditions. I think that brings another element to the game."

Vettori said the most positive aspect of the day-night Test, from a Bangladesh perspective, is how it has excited the team's fast bowlers, who generally have a minor role in home Tests and have struggled abroad. With up to 6mm of grass expected to be left on the surface to help maintain the pink ball, Bangladesh are likely to play three quicks, with Mustafizur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain likely to come into the XI.

"The four fast bowlers are very excited," Vettori said. "It is a nice thing. Bangladeshi fast bowlers don't get to be excited a lot. I think they are coming to grips with a slightly different ball. It is the SG pink ball. I think most guys have limited experience with the Kookaburra one.

"But I think there's real optimism. There's going to be a big crowd, so for the whole time it is a real joy to play in this first pink-ball Test."

The main challenge, Vettori indicated, would come during twilight, though the period doesn't last for too long in the eastern part of India, where the light fades quickly and the sun sets early in the evening in winter.

"Pink ball plays normal [during the afternoon]," he said. "I think the challenge will be when the Test is under lights. Sunset is quite early here. I think that'll be the time when we see the pink ball come into play. The twilight hour, dusk, is when it seems to do a little bit more, but my experience is only from watching on TV.

"It will be the period of the Test match when tactically teams might do a few different things. The wicket will be pretty good and that last session will be very interesting with the pink ball."

Vettori said he had heard from the Bangladesh players that sighting the ball may be an issue from square of the wicket. "Visibility is fine, but the only anecdotal conversation I have heard is around being a little bit hard to pick up from point and square-leg.

"It will be interesting to find out if slips, gully and umpire is picking it up well. They say there's a small halo effect [around the ball]. We are excited to play rather than think about the negatives."

Bangladesh have had two sessions at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, where the local authorities gave them access to centre-wicket practice. They had one full session under lights there, but it is a different perspective in Kolkata where the light towers are different.

"We have only had one session when it is slightly dark, so tomorrow will be our first full session under dark with lights on," Vettori said. "So far so good. Because the pink ball plays well at this time of the day, it has generally been positive about the Test."

He also acknowledged the limited role for spinners, particularly against an Indian batting line-up that has been dominant against spin. Vettori said the best a spinner could hope for is to bowl economically in the first innings, without thinking too much about wickets. "In the last three or four years, overseas spinners have been put under a lot of pressure [in India]," he said. "It is because of the nature of wickets, expectations that spinners have to do a job, and the Indian batsmen's skills.

"We saw the pressure Mayank [Agarwal] and [Ajinkya] Rahane put our spinners under. There wasn't a lot to do in the good wicket in Indore. It will probably be similar here. The overseas spinners can't look to dominate here like they do back home. They should try to take 2-60 or 2-70 in the first innings, and then see what the second innings presents to you. It is the right way to go about it."

India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha reckons the extra lacquer on the pink ball could affect its ability to reverse swing. With visibility, particularly during twilight, being such an important peg during a day-night Test, a lot of the preparation has been geared towards how long the pink ball retains its lacquer. A "carpet" outfield and about six inches of grass on the pitch are expected at the Eden Gardens for Friday's match, which will increase the amount of time it takes for the ball to rough up. Add dew to the equation, and reverse swing will be harder to induce. Saha concurred.

"I also think that there's less chance of reverse swing in this game," he said. "Because of the shine and the wetness. But our bowlers are quite skilled so we have to wait and see."

Saha and Mohammed Shami have previously played in a pink-ball match at this venue, both representing their club Mohun Bagan in the final of the CAB Super League in 2016. Saha said he couldn't remember what the dew situation was in that game, he said that on current form, he fully expected Shami to adjust to any challenges.

"The ball is not really the factor for Shami, and even the [other fast bowlers]. He has been consistent, and deadly with his reverse swing. We still need to see what happens in the match but given his form, the ball doesn't matter."

During the training sessions in Indore the Indians are understood to have been concerned about a few things during their fielding drills. This included the pink ball being slippery due to the extra lacquer, In addition to travelling slightly quicker as compared to the red ball.

It has been an almost unanimous opinion among players that the pink ball is harder to pick up during twilight. While most of that talk has been from batsmen, Saha was wary that the slip cordon would face some challenges of its own. In particular, he mentioned that the colour of the sightscreen was an important factor, and a major difference compared to the experience of playing with the white ball.

"There is black backdrop for the white ball so we have to see how different a white backdrop is going to be," Saha said. "If the background isn't clear for the white ball, it can be difficult to pick for the keeper and slips. With the white ball there's still the feeling that this is a white ball even when its old. I am not sure how different it is going to be with the pink ball.

"[The biggest challenge] is going to be the slip cordon. There will be more chance of the ball coming to us in a Test match than ODIs or T20s."

At training, both India nets had white sightscreens for the batsmen.

Moeen Ali insists he has not put a timeframe on his return to international action with England, despite hints from Joe Root, the Test captain, that his comeback could happen as soon as the South Africa tour next month.

Moeen opted out of travelling to New Zealand for the two-Test series which gets underway in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, and has instead been plying his trade on the white-ball franchise circuit - first with a two-match stopover with Cape Town Blitz in the Mzansi Super League, and now as captain of Team Abu Dhabi in the T10 League.

Speaking on the eve of the first Test, Root had said that England were "very open" to Moeen's return to action, but admitted that the player himself would need to be in the right frame of mind to resume a Test career that was put on indefinite hold after he was dropped midway through this summer's Ashes.

However, speaking to ESPNcricinfo in Abu Dhabi, Moeen himself said that, after a gruelling few months of high-pressure cricket with England, he was enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere on the franchise circuit, and indicated that his international comeback could even be delayed until next summer's visits of Pakistan and West Indies.

"I want to play at some stage but I haven't decided when or anything," Moeen said. "I'll just take it as it comes. Obviously Leachy [Jack Leach] is in the side and bowling really well, so I've also got to get back in the side as well.

"It could be South Africa, could be Sri Lanka [in March], it could be just the summer," he said of his anticipated return. "There's no sort of timeframe on it. I'll be speaking to Rooty after the series in New Zealand, and to Chris Silverwood [England coach], and we'll have a bit more clarity and more idea about it then. But at the moment I'm not thinking about it too much."

Though Moeen's winter hasn't exactly been restful, with long-haul flights to South Africa and the UAE and yet more nights away from home, he is adamant that the demands of franchise cricket are far removed from those at the very highest level of the game, and consequently, more players are going to have to decide how they want to prioritise their professional careers.

"There is a lot of cricket played around the world, but in the franchise stuff the pressure is not quite the same as international, particularly Test cricket," he said. "Players will have to pick and choose depending on what they really want to play, and the stages they are at in their careers because playing so much cricket is difficult, with all the travelling and flying.

"Franchise cricket is a lot more relaxed," he added. "Obviously you get the whole day to do what you want, then play in the evening, whereas in international cricket, Test cricket, everyone's watching, the pressure is on you to go and do well for your country. It is mentally and physically harder than any sort of franchise cricket."

Asked if he would feel any pangs of regret when England take the field against New Zealand on Thursday, Moeen was adamant.

"I actually don't," he said. "I'd obviously love to be there and playing Test cricket but at the stage I was at, I felt like I needed that time away from Test cricket, so I don't feel like I'm missing out. Obviously I'm supporting them and I've been in contact with the players, but I'm just trying to enjoy my cricket and the franchise stuff.

The stint in Abu Dhabi had helped to rejuvenate him, he added. "I really love it, I'm enjoying my batting and captaining here, I'm enjoying that too. It's different, the pressure's off almost. It's a different type of pressure, and it's nice to get away from that a little bit just to refresh myself."

On the lessons he had learnt from his time in the T10 competition, Moeen said there was plenty that he'd picked up that could help to enhance his T20 game, especially with consecutive T20 World Cups looming in 2020 and 2021.

"When you don't play or you look from the outside, it's just a slog, but there's a lot more to it," he said. "You can't play it like a T20, the tempo's faster and the batter's under the pump from the start. I really like it.

"Every dot ball can bring a wicket, pressure builds massively on batters and bowlers, and as a bowler you're just bowling for survival, really, and you can take that to T20 too.

"It will help improve T20 cricket, even though it's played really well already, but it's more for the power guys, because there's no time to knock the ball around. Particularly the Windies guys are bigger and stronger, and on a different level when it comes to hitting sixes."

A CROWD FORMS on the shores of Waikiki Beach, gawking at a procession of extremely tall passengers preparing to board the bright yellow and blue "Manu Kai" catamaran.

At the front of the line, Paul George anticipates the waves and darts up the staircase, hopping aboard the boat just as the water recedes to avoid getting his white Air Force Ones wet.

Not far behind, Kawhi Leonard, Patrick Beverley, Landry Shamet, Ivica Zubac and a few other teammates board for a sunset boat ride. There are some ominous clouds on the horizon and the waves are extremely choppy. Even though the Hawaiian sun shines brightly, rain drizzles as the "Manu Kai" takes off for its one-hour journey signaled by the sound of a booming horn from a crew member's conch shell.

The rain dissipates after a couple of minutes and a rainbow beams brightly from the middle of Honolulu's downtown skyline to the base of nearby Diamond Head crater. And as the LA Clippers take in the moment -- with rookie Mfiondu Kabengele blaring "Pink Toes" on his iPhone -- George and Leonard are seated next to each other, chatting, laughing, getting to know each other.

George didn't make his Clippers debut until Nov. 14, but spent ample time with Leonard in the weeks and months prior. They attended a Hollywood dinner party. They sat next to each other at the first training camp team dinner. They attended Lou Williams' Halloween birthday party; George appeared as the Night King and Zubac as Jon Snow from "Game of Thrones," Montrezl Harrell was the Wolfman, Patrick Patterson was King Tut and Williams was Michael Jackson from "Thriller". Leonard arrived as himself; the board man did not dress up.

They've shared inside jokes on the players' group text chain. And the two have stayed at the practice facility talking basketball in the locker room after the others were gone.

"He really is a fun guy," George says of spending time with Leonard. "... The legend is true, man. The legend is true. He laughs, he jokes, he talks mess."

Hawaii already counts as their second boat trip together -- the Clippers had a deep-sea fishing expedition earlier in the offseason.

"This is what these opportunities and these moments right here are for: just getting out, being around each other," George says. "Just hanging. It's going to happen again. Nothing's rushed. That's the beautiful part about it... It's just great when we get in the gym together, we bounce, we feed off one another. We listen to each other's mind, we speak about basketball."

Neither Leonard nor George were five-star prep recruits. Neither has the blue-blood university pedigree -- George went to Fresno State and Leonard attended San Diego State. Though the two Southern California natives are only now getting comfortable with each other off the court, their paths have crossed since high school in ways that have left the two All-Stars believing they were destined to play together. And they understand that their developing chemistry will be vital in contending for a championship.

"It's going to happen," George says.

AS THE CATAMARAN navigates through rough waters, George leans on the railing and admires the picturesque view of a rainbow-splashed downtown Honolulu.

In June 2017, George was dreaming of different scenery. When the All-Star forward informed the Indiana Pacers that he wanted to be traded, reports came out that he wanted to return home and be moved to the Los Angeles Lakers. But George had another team on top of his wish list.

"I wanted to be traded to San Antonio," George says. "We wanted to go to San Antonio first, and we didn't make that happen."

A league source confirmed that the Pacers and Spurs talked, but San Antonio lacked the assets to pair George with Leonard. The Lakers also wanted George, but then team-president Magic Johnson would not trade the 2017 second overall pick (which would become Lonzo Ball) and Brandon Ingram, believing they could eventually sign George as a free agent.

"As far as the Lakers, I wanted to go to L.A.," George says. "They didn't make that happen. They didn't put nothing together. So that's in the back of my mind [when I became a free agent]. That was in the back of my mind."

Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder would eventually swoop in and acquire the Pacers star, but the idea of teaming up with Leonard lingered.

"Since that moment, we were trying to pair up with one another," George says. "We were trying to make it work. [After being traded to Oklahoma City] I had obligations that I wanted to come back to Oklahoma and give it another shot... And then I felt that I needed to move on, I needed to go in another direction and I needed to at that point do what I wanted to do my whole career."

GEORGE AND LEONARD coincidentally were both drafted by the Pacers, George selected 10th in 2010 and Leonard going 15th in 2011 before being dealt to the Spurs.

George recalled watching that 2011 draft and being confused by the Pacers' pick. Before learning of the trade, he wondered why the Pacers would pick a player who played the same position and displayed similar strengths. George was entering his second season with the Pacers and was feeling unsettled and nervous that Leonard could take his job.

Leonard was wondering the same thing.

"I'm like, 'They already got a two-way player,' " Leonard said in July at their introductory press conference. "But as our careers moved forward, I see how he developed -- how I developed -- and I wonder [what] if we would have stayed in Indiana."

It was only two summers earlier that George first remembered hearing of Leonard. George had just finished his freshman season and, while attending the LeBron James Skills Academy in the summer of 2009, heard a buzz about a young player with gigantic hands heading to San Diego State.

"I heard he was good," George says. "They were talking about his size because he was younger than everybody. All of us were going into sophomore, junior, senior years. He was the freshman, the young guy there. Everybody was kind of wanting to feel him out."

But an injury prevented George from meeting and playing against Leonard at the camp.

"I didn't get to see him and [thought] that was the end of that story," George recalls.

Four months later, Fresno State was preparing to play San Diego State in the fourth game of the season. One name immediately stood out to George on the Aztecs' scouting report: Kawhi Leonard. And once they matched up on the floor, George felt like he was staring at a clone.

"Right away I knew what I was up against," George says. "He played the game the same way I did. He was going to challenge every play. He wanted to be the best player on that floor the same way I did.

"I took a personal matchup to him, a personal vendetta that I wanted to be the best player on that floor. And I got that same feeling from him and I knew right away how special he was going to be."

Leonard, too, was using this matchup as a measuring stick.

He remembered George as a senior at Knight High School when Leonard was a junior at Martin Luther King High in 2008, and George's name circulated through Southern California basketball circles. The two even played at the Honda Center on the same day during the 2008 high school division championships in Anaheim, though Leonard didn't get to see George play because of game scheduling.

"You know, AAU circuit. People talk. Kids talk to each other, say who they seen in certain games or had the college camps," Leonard said after the Clippers' Nov. 13 loss at Houston. "Yeah, I know a lot about him."

"His sophomore year, he was a top-10 pick or supposed to be top 10," Leonard added. "So I just knew he worked his way up. When we played, I just wanted to match up so scouts could see me."

WHILE SITTING OPPOSITE George on the other side of the "Manu Kai," Leonard's curiosity gets the better of him. The reigning Finals MVP asks to watch his new teammate being interviewed on a high-tech wireless monitor. Holding the monitor with both hands, Leonard spends a few minutes interested in not only the device but seeing everything from the perspective of the Red cameras.

Later, as the sun sets off the coast of Oahu, Leonard and George move to the front of the boat. George, wearing a green Hawaiian lei around his neck, sits with his teammates facing the shores before moving toward Leonard, who is standing against a railing talking to other Clippers.

Just three months before, they were meeting at an undisclosed location to hatch a plan. Leonard reached out to George "a good four or five days" before the July 5 trade, recruiting him to do what they couldn't back in 2017 -- join forces.

"We met up and we talked," George said recently. "Before the trade, [even] before everything was in talks."

Together, they have a chance to do something never done with the Clippers.

"Paul has always been a player that I wanted to play with," Leonard said while sitting next to George and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer back in July. "... And I think we got something special. We can make history here."

Shortly after the "Manu Kai" returns to shore, George walks through a crowd of tourists back to the team hotel. Leonard isn't far behind, their paths that intersected previously are now the same.

"Just seems like it was destined," George said when officially introduced to L.A. "We were supposed to play together."

Even with the postmodern realities about size and space in the NBA game, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens' shift toward featuring skill and speed has been remarkable.

Marcus Smart in the trenches defending centers six-plus inches and many pounds heavier than him? So be it. Playing at times with a point guard and four wings? So be it. Bucking the conventional wisdom they can't win big without getting more size? Maybe that, too.

It's been working. The Celtics are at the top of the East. Even while losing Gordon Hayward to a broken hand, Stevens has filled his lineups with shooters and unleashed an offense that ranks near the very top of the league.

Over the first month of the season Stevens has leaned into his roster and his preferred style of play, taking advantage of Kemba Walker's high-efficiency play and the defensive versatility and offensive talents of Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Smart. The ball is moving, the players are working together and equal-opportunity offense is back after a little Kyrie Irving-involved hiatus.

Celtics No. 2 in Power Rankings | Smart turns ankle in win over Suns

But it raises the question: Can the Celtics win in the postseason when they face some of the most talented big teams in the league?

What would they do with the Philadelphia 76ers and their enormous lineup featuring Joel Embiid? How would they manage in a series against the Milwaukee Bucks or Toronto Raptors, two teams stacked with size?

Is this just an awesome regular-season story? Will that Embiid-sized hole in their lineup prevent a run to the Eastern Conference championship?

"We're just trying to play to our strengths. And our strengths are, without Gordon here, Marcus, Jaylen [Brown], Jayson [Tatum], Kemba, those are our best players," Stevens said. "So we're going to have them out a lot, and they'll be out a lot together. And when Gordon's back, all five of those guys, [there will] be four of them on the court a lot."

Stevens has long believed that, when in doubt, you should put your most mobile and versatile players on the floor. He didn't have to worry about size as much over the last few seasons because he had Al Horford, both mobile and big, in there. Before Horford arrived in 2016 for his three-year stint, though, Stevens experimented with players like Jonas Jerebko at center.

To manage it, he designed a defensive system where the players are asked to continually analyze the matchups and swap out size mismatches. It's a challenge in the heat of the game, but the Celtics have players who take on defensive challenges. Major competitors like Brown and Smart make this more feasible. The Celtics stand at sixth in defensive rating, making them the only team in the top six on both offense and defense.

But then you go back and recall the season opener at Philly when the bruising Sixers outrebounded Boston 61-41 and won relatively easily. The Celtics double teamed Embiid aggressively, and it limited his overall production, but that didn't change the outcome.

The Celtics are going with a committee at center. There's holdover Daniel Theis, rangy but undersized; newly signed Enes Kanter, who has size and is a good rebounder but a weak defender; and young Robert Williams, who is super athletic and can defend the rim but is inexperienced. All three have had injury issues. None of them make anyone in Philadelphia worry.

But just a few days after losing to Philly, the Celtics beat the Bucks, tying them in rebounds, holding Giannis Antetokounmpo to a pedestrian 22 points and shutting down Brook Lopez.

"I think Milwaukee's a really interesting one, because if you're too big there, you're just too spread out," Stevens said. "So the more that you can be fast the better, but it's still easier said than done. And then Philly's size obviously was a big factor against us in Game 1, and we'll see how that goes throughout the course of the year."

The "we'll see how it goes" line might be the crux of the Celtics' season.

The reality is, the Celtics don't have easy options even if they were determined to upgrade in the middle. While one could have some fun with the Trade Machine, Boston has made it clear to anyone who has asked that their core players are absolutely not available. That includes, sources said, both Hayward and Smart, players who have been floated as possible trade chips in the past.

Their best assets are as many as three first-round picks in the 2020 draft, including a valuable Memphis pick that is top-6 protected in 2020 and unprotected after that.

But finding a deal that works will be complicated in most scenarios by the need to send out equivalent salary without harming the team. Outside of their core five, only two players make more than $4 million: Theis and Kanter, who play the position Boston would be hoping to strengthen. Perhaps the Celtics can find a deal by the Feb. 6 trade deadline, but making a major move will be a challenge.

Stevens knows this, of course. The way he's developing this group shows it. Among his core beliefs is that if you can't handle an opposing player straight up, you have to figure out way to change the nature of the matchup.

If the Celtics don't have a great answer for Embiid or Toronto's Marc Gasol, the answer is to make it just as hard for the opposing teams in other ways.

Scouts who have tracked the Celtics this season say Stevens has impressed with the way he's opened up his offense for Walker and the way he patches defensive holes by getting his guys to work together. But they also note the 76ers have one of the biggest rosters the league has ever seen and going small is an audacious play against it.

"Would I favor them in a playoff series right now against Philly or Milwaukee? Maybe not," one scout said. "You can focus on what they don't have, but if you look at what they do, you see they present you a lot of problems. Who knows what the matchups will be or who will be healthy in the end."

Indeed, ESPN's Basketball Power Index currently estimates that the Celtics and Sixers are only 28 percent likely to meet at any point in the postseason. For Boston and Milwaukee, the estimate is 44 percent. Even if those numbers rise a little, those matchups might never materialize for a variety of reasons.

Say whatever you want about the Boston coach -- his performance been a bit polarizing over the last couple of years -- but you cannot deny Stevens' creativity. His peers do not. At the end of Game 6 of the Finals last season, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr drew up a brilliant play to get Steph Curry an open 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won the game.

Curry missed it, and the Toronto Raptors charged the floor, but the misdirection design gave his team a great chance. Kerr had stolen the out-of-bounds play from Stevens.

This is Stevens' counter to the bigger contenders: run something creative and give it a chance. A month ago, most deemed the Celtics a second-tier contender. As Stevens' work with this reshaped roster and Hayward's outstanding play (before his hand injury) led the Celtics to the top of the standings, observers began hedging their preseason predictions.

The Celtics, after all that has happened to them, may have a real chance.

ESPN reporter Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

TOKYO -- Veteran outfielder Gerardo Parra has agreed to a contract with the Yomiuri Giants.

Parra, 32, has a career .276 batting average with 88 home runs and 522 RBIs over 11 seasons in the major leagues.

A native of Venezuela, Parra hit .250 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs in 89 games for the World Series champion Washington Nationals after spending the first 30 games of the 2019 season with the San Francisco Giants.

After arriving in Washington and wanting to break out of a slump, Parra changed his walk-up song to "Baby Shark" after seeing his 2-year-old daughter dancing to it. The children's song became an anthem for the Nationals as they rallied from a 19-31 start to make the playoffs and eventually win their first World Series title.

Parra, a two-time National League Gold Glove Award winner, started his MLB career with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009 and also played for the Brewers, Orioles and Rockies.

The Yomiuri Giants are Japan's oldest professional team and won the Central League pennant this season for the first time in five years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Paralympic and world long jump medallist replaces Donna Fraser in the role

London 2017 world para athletics long jump champion Stef Reid has been appointed vice president of UK Athletics.

The 35-year-old, who has also won two Paralympic T44 long jump silver medals for GB, replaces former sprinter Donna Fraser in the role.

Reid previously served as an athlete representative on the London 2017 board and is also a member of the BPA Athletics Commission. As well as being an ambassador for the Leprosy Mission UK, she trains in Loughborough alongside her husband, Canadian wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos, and takes up her new position alongside current UK Athletics president Jason Gardener.

“I am honoured and excited to be working with the UKMC (UK Members Council). I love athletics, and there are lots of really great things going on in our sport,” said Reid.

“When done well, sport creates great people and great communities, and I want to help this cycle to continue.”

Gardener said: “I am delighted that Stef Reid MBE will be joining the UKMC as vice president replacing Donna Fraser. Stef has a distinguished track record winning multiple medals for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team.

“Her knowledge and experience of the Paralympic programme will add significant value to enhancing the function of the UKMC and British Athletics.

“On behalf of the UKMC we are looking forward to her contribution as we prepare for a successful Paralympic and Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.”

Fraser, who was fourth in 2000 Sydney Olympics 400m, had held the vice president position since 2015 when she replaced Gardener as he filled the presidency role.

Judy Murray says it is a "massive honour" to be given a lifetime achievement award by UK Coaching for her services to tennis.

Murray, mother of Grand Slam-winners Andy and Jamie, has been coaching for 30 years, including a stint as Great Britain's Fed Cup captain.

Most recently, the 60-year-old has invested her own money to launch the Miss-Hits tennis programme to teach girls worldwide to play the sport.

The ceremony is in London next month.

Murray said: "Having started as a volunteer at Dunblane Sports Club when my kids were toddlers, I've experienced every step of the coaching journey from local community club right up to Grand Slams, Olympics and Fed Cup, so I understand the importance of having great coaches at every stage and every level of the game."

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Not even confusion surrounding the starting lineup for Tuesday’s opening night of the inaugural Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 could stop Gio Scelzi from winning at Placerville Speedway.

Scelzi, who has starred in winged 410 sprint car action over the past two years, started from the outside pole and led all 30 laps to reign in the Pure Crop 1 feature that headlined the first half of the program.

However, he almost didn’t get the opportunity to utilize that track position, before a late lineup adjustment moved Scelzi from an originally-posted 19th to his proper starting spot on the front row.

After that, Scelzi powered off the high side to secure command and then mastered restart after restart to maintain it throughout the 30-lap distance, holding off a hard-charging Logan Seavey to notch his maiden NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series victory in just his sixth-career series start.

Scelzi drove away during the final restart of the night with three laps left and beat Seavey to the checkered flag by .647 seconds.

“Man, oh man, this is pretty awesome,” said Scelzi in victory lane. “Being successful against these guys is a lot about being comfortable near cars, and I’m still not very comfortable, so track position was big for me. (Logan) Seavey is really good, and all the guys behind me … everything gets so tough with the track conditions like they were tonight and how hard these guys race each other. I made so many mistakes off (turn) four, and I saw someone on the bottom, but it seemed like he didn’t know where to go, so I just tried to keep doing what I was doing.

“I can’t say thanks enough to Toyota and all these Tucker-Boat guys, because it’s pretty humbling to run a handful of these races and win,” he added. “I’m pretty proud of what we did and this was lot of fun.”

After an opening nine-lap run which saw Scelzi jet away from pole man Jesse Colwell, the last two-thirds of the race were a rocky affair, with eight cautions in the final 21 laps slowing the pace and giving the field a myriad of shots at Scelzi’s back bumper.

However, though both Colwell and Seavey tried, neither of them could do anything with the No. 84 Pristine Auction/K&C Drywall Spike-Speedway Toyota that Scelzi wheeled to Tuesday’s $5,000 score.

The two most notable incidents of the feature came on lap 16, when Christopher Bell spun in the middle of turns three and four, and then the final caution at the end of lap 27 after Michael Pickens looped his car right in front of the leaders in turn one.

Scelzi was able to avoid Pickens, however, and then fend off Seavey when it mattered most.

“It was getting slicker and slicker out there; what an awesome race track to race on,” Scelzi noted. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I just tried to change up what I was doing on the restarts enough that it kept everyone off balance a bit. It’s cool to have a team behind me that’s good and has won a lot of races.

For them to believe in a young guy like me – who doesn’t really know what I’m doing yet in these things – and for us to be able to win some races together is really special, in my mind.

Seavey hung on for second, but wished he could have had a little more time to battle Scelzi down the home stretch.

“I was just searching all race, you know? Early I started on the top, and I went to the bottom of one and two, and I kind of diamonded off turn four pretty well,” Seavey explained. “I just tried everything I could and I think I just needed a little bit longer run. Our cars get normally get better and better as I go; we just never really got a long run more than about three or four laps. Overall it was a good night.

“I’d love to win this thing, but at the end of the day, this race is about tomorrow and that’s our goal,” he noted. As I said, a good night overall. I look forward to Wednesday and I think we’re sitting pretty good.

Colwell completed the podium in third, followed by Kyle Larson, who made a Herculean charge from 23rd on the grid to fourth in earning hard-charger honors for the night.

Shane Golobic crossed fifth in a car owned by event promoter Matt Wood, ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Spencer Bayston, Tanner Carrick, Jason McDougal and Aaron Reutzel.

The flip count through one full night of competition at the Hangtown 100 stands at 10, including a vicious barrel roll through turn one by Justin Grant on his first qualifying lap Tueday evening.