PORTLAND, Ore. -- Damian Lillard scored a career-high 60 points for Portland in the Trail Blazers' 119-115 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 34 points and Kyrie Irving had 33 for Brooklyn to help send Portland to its fourth straight loss.

Lillard set a franchise record with the highest-scoring game of the season in the NBA. He was 19 of 33 from the field, 7 of 16 from 3-point range and made all 15 of his free throws.

Irving, the NBA's second-leading scorer coming in to the game, did his part in the guard matchup for the Nets. He had nine fourth- quarter points and hit a shot to put the Nets up 117-112 with 17.8 seconds left.

CJ McCollum struggled for most of the night for Portland, missing 14 of his first 16 shots and finishing with only eight points on 4-of-19 shooting. Hassan Whiteside had 10 points and 15 rebounds, and Anfernee Simons had 15 points off the bench.

Starting small forward Rodney Hood left the game in the first quarter and did not return with back spasms. That meant first-round pick Nassir Little made his NBA debut. Little got a block and a basket during his first NBA shift, helping Portland cut what had been a 10-point lead down to five. He finished with eight points and three rebounds.

TIP-INS

Nets: Through eight games, the stellar play of Irving hasn't been the only bright spot through a tough 3-5 start. They came into Friday ranked first in the NBA in offensive rebound percentage, which came as an encouraging surprise to head coach Kenny Atkinson.

"I saw that and I was a little surprised," Atkinson said. "We'll see if we can sustain it. But I'm glad because we've also been pretty good at transition defense. If we were 30th in transition defense, I'd be worried. The fact we are balancing those two is a good sign. "

The Nets faced an added challenge on Friday as they were without back-up center DeAndre Jordan. With no real replacement for him on the roster, so the Nets will have to platoon the back-up center spot.

"By committee, we can go big, we can go small," Atkinson said. "We'll see a little bit of both."

Trail Blazers: Entering Friday, the Trail Blazers came in struggling a little bit having lost their past three games. But while they fell in Thursday's loss at the LA Clippers, 20-year old Blazers guard Anfernee Simons had 16 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and finished the game alongside Lillard and McCollum. Head coach Terry Stotts likes the versatility that line-up affords Portland on the offensive end.

UP NEXT

Nets: At Phoenix on Sunday night.

Trail Blazers: Host Atlanta on Sunday night.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby delivered an assist that one fan won't soon forget.

As a salute to Veterans Day weekend, Crosby decided to give back to his community Friday by gifting a new car to a local Army veteran.

Crosby presented the 2019 Honda Passport Elite, which he won for earning MVP honors at last season's NHL All-Star Game in January, to Madeline Malizio, who has served as an Army specialist for the past five years.

Malizio, a 28-year-old single mother, was one of 10 veterans who were invited to attend the Penguins' practice and receive a tour of the team's locker room Friday. According to Malizio, Crosby had heard about her story, particularly how she didn't own a car and had to ride the bus to school and work and to take her 3-year-old son to daycare.

Crosby decided he wanted to help. After the locker room tour, he led Malizio to a garage door inside the team's training facility.

"He was telling me how he heard about my story and he wanted to do something to help my situation," Malizio said. "I was confused. I wasn't sure what he could be talking about. He puts the garage up and it's this car.

"I felt weak in my knees. I felt speechless. I don't really think there is a word to describe how you feel in that moment."

Crosby's gift came ahead of the Penguins' Veterans Day celebration as part of Saturday night's game against the Chicago Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena.

Malizio and several other veterans will be on hand for the game as part of the festivities.

Nic Maddinson has withdrawn from the Australia A team to face Pakistan a three-day tour match in Perth for mental-health reasons.

Maddinson, 27, has become the second player in recent weeks to step down from an Australian representative team due to mental-health issues after Glenn Maxwell stepped away from the T20 international squad during the series against Sri Lanka.

Western Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft will replace Maddinson in the Australia A team for the day-night game at Perth Stadium.

Australia A coach Graeme Hick said the squad was fully supportive of Maddinson's decision to withdraw.

"Nic has made the right decision and we are all behind him," Hick said. "It is braver to speak up than to suffer in silence and I applaud Nic for having the courage to put his health first.

"While saddened to see Nic stand down, we welcome Cam Bancroft to the Australia A XI. Cam is obviously no stranger to quality international bowling and the Perth Stadium wicket. We have no doubt he will fit well into the team."

Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia's Head of National Teams, said Maddinson would be given all the support he needed to return to full health.

"The wellbeing of our players is always our primary concern," Oliver said. "We are proud that our players are comfortable to speak honestly and openly about how they are feeling.

"We will provide Nic with all the support and care we can and wish him a full and speedy recovery. We also ask that Nic's privacy be respected at this time."

This is the second time Maddinson has needed to take personal leave from the game during his career due to mental health issues.

The first came in early 2017, not long after his initial shock selection to play Test cricket in late 2016 and subsequent omission after just three Tests.

Although he returned to New South Wales his performances at state level tailed off dramatically and led to him losing his contract at the end of the 2017-18 season.

But Maddinson was an outside chance to find his way back to Test cricket having been selected for Australia A on the back of 12 months of outstanding form for Victoria. Since moving to Melbourne without a contract he has scored 952 runs in 13 Sheffield Shield innings at an average of 79.33, with four centuries including 224 against South Australia this season.

He has spoken openly about maturing as a person and a player since his three Tests in late 2016, conceding he simply wasn't ready for Test cricket at that stage and has learned some valuable lessons from the experience.

He has also spoken about the positive effect Victoria's more relaxed environment has had on his game.

Mental health is becoming a far more prevalent issue in Australian cricket than before. Moises Henriques was the first to go public with his battle. Australia women's player Nicole Bolton has also opened up about her issues over the past 12 months.

Maddinson's Victoria and Australia A teammate Will Pucovski also needed time out of the game last summer.

Alex Kountouris, CA's Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager, said in a statement that CA is committed to better understanding mental health and supporting those who were encountering issues in this area.

"Mental health is a challenge faced by Australian communities and elite sporting organisations and cricket is no different," Kountouris said. "Like other professional sports we are working very hard to better understand the challenges faced by our players and staff so we can support them.

"We are all proud to work in an industry where players can feel safe to talk about these issues. It goes without saying that we offer all our players the support they need in the difficult times but importantly we are working on education, resourcing and research to better understand how we do this."

CONCORD, N.C. – Jimmy Phelps collected his first Super DIRTcar Series victory of the season during a caution-laden 40-lap feature Friday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Phelps inherited the top spot from Billy Decker after Decker, who led all but one of the first 22 laps from the pole, went pitside with a flat left-rear tire.

From there, the Weedsport (N.Y.) Speedway promoter led the rest of the way, holding off a determined charge from Erick Rudolph in the closing laps to notch the 18th victory of his Super DIRTcar career.

It was Phelps’ first series triumph since Sept. 7, 2018 at Le RPM Speedway in Saint-Marcel-de-Richelieu, Quebec, as well as his second series victory at Charlotte.

Phelps was the inaugural Super DIRTcar Series winner at The Dirt Track at Charlotte when the tour was added to the Can-Am World Finals in 2010, but hadn’t won again at the four-tenths-mile oval since.

“I knew we had a decent car. I just didn’t know how good Erick (Rudolph) was,” said Phelps in victory lane. “Obviously he made up some serious ground at the end. I knew we were decent, but we weren’t restarting the greatest. Once we got rolling, though, it seemed like we were pretty good. It’s a Catch 22, really, because we were strong on the longer green runs early, and then the leaders got tore up there in traffic.

“I don’t know; I guess it was what it was. It worked out for us.”

Friday night marked Phelps’ first win with a Bicknell Racing Products chassis in just his second race with the new car, following a switch in chassis before Eastern States weekend at Orange County Fair Speedway.

“The car was super,” Phelps noted. “These guys busted their butts. It’s a new car. They put it together and it’s only got one other race on it. I’m tickled pink to be standing here right now. The thing was great.

“I can’t thank everybody at HBR, Al Heinke and Judy Heinke and all the guys that bust their tails enough.”

In all, six cautions slowed the pace during the 40-lap distance, including three in the second half.

Rudolph did what he could to try and track Phelps down with the aid of the yellows, but had to settle for a runner-up finish, .910 seconds adrift of the No. 98h at the twin checkered flags.

“I’m not sure if the yellows helped us or hurt us tonight,” Rudolph admitted. “I think maybe I had a better shot, but he (Phelps) was definitely the class of the field. He did what he had to do on the restarts there and he had a fast hot rod, but we’re not too disappointed with this run here. It’s a good night.”

Larry Wight completed the podium finishers, followed by Pat Ward and Mat Williamson, who assumed an 18-point lead over Matt Sheppard with his fifth-place finish on Friday night.

Sheppard suffered a flat right-front tire on lap three of the feature, but rallied back to finish 10th and keep his hopes of an eighth Super DIRTcar Series title alive going into Saturday’s season finale.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

CONCORD, N.C. – Chris Madden led a Scott Bloomquist Racing sweep of the top-two positions during the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series portion of the Can-Am World Finals on Friday night.

Jonathan Davenport started the 50-lap feature at The Dirt Track at Charlotte from the pole and dominated the first half of the race as Madden rocketed from fourth to second on the opening lap, with Scott Bloomquist following Madden in third.

The first caution waved seven laps in just as Davenport caught the tail of the field. Boom Briggs suddenly slowed right in front of Davenport, forcing the leader and runner-up Madden to take evasive action to avoid Briggs as the caution waved.

Davenport retained the lead on the restart, but the field only got two more laps in before Darrell Lanigan spun in turns three and four to bring out the caution flag. Brent Larson and Blake Spencer also spun in an effort to avoid Lanigan.

When the race resumed Davenport held serve, but behind him Bloomquist made the move to take second from Madden. Davenport continued to lead with Bloomquist and Madden in pursuit until reaching the tail of the field on lap 19.

With Davenport battling traffic, that allowed Bloomquist and Madden to close in on the race leader. On lap 22 Madden was able to get a run on Bloomquist coming out of turn two, taking the second position back from his boss going down the backstretch.

Davenport continued to lead while working traffic, but Madden and Bloomquist were hot on his trail. Madden managed to get under Davenport out of turn two on lap 30, but Davenport used a run on the high side of turns three and four to pull clear down the frontstretch.

Two laps later Madden took another shot coming out of turn two, but this time he had company as Bloomquist went to the outside while Madden went under Davenport to take the leaders three-wide.

Just as that was happening the caution flag waved when Dustin Mitchell slowed on track, saving Davenport’s lead for the moment. On the ensuing restart Madden saw his chance, rocketing to the inside of Davenport to take the lead by the time the field was through turn two.

Now out front, Madden wasted no time pulling away as Bloomquist worked over Davenport for second. He led comfortably until catching traffic with five laps left in the feature, which allowed Davenport and Bloomquist to close back in.

Neither were able to get close enough to make a move on Madden, who scored his third World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model feature victory of the season by .533 seconds at the checkered flag.

“I just had to keep missing the berm and make sure I didn’t scoot out of the rubber,” said Madden, who collected his third World Finals triumph of his career. “It’s pretty bittersweet for me and Scott today. We lost Randy Sweet today. It’s a big moment.”

Davenport tried one last time to make a move on Madden on the final lap entering turn one by trying the high side, which opened the door for Bloomquist to drive under him and take second to give the Scott Bloomquist Racing team the top two positions at the checkered flag.

“It’s pretty special,” Bloomquist said about Scott Bloomquist Racing sweeping the top-two positions. “We’ve had a good time with Chris here.”

Bloomquist said he’s almost back to full strength after suffering a leg injury in a motorcycle accident earlier this season.

“I’m getting close to back. I’ve got most of the feeling back in my leg,” Bloomquist noted. “The car was really good.”

Davenport was forced to settle for third after leading more than half of the race. Chris Ferguson finished fourth, with Cade Dillard in fifth.

World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion Brandon Sheppard came from 13th to finish sixth.

The finish:

Chris Madden, Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Chris Ferguson, Cade Dillard, Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards, Kyle Hardy, Don O’Neal, Steven Roberts, Hudson O’Neal, Dale McDowell, Ricky Weiss, Mike Marlar, Ryan King, Chase Junghans, Tim McCreadie, Joey Coulter, Dennis Erb Jr., John Blankenship, Darrell Lanigan, Blake Spencer, Ross Bailes, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Owens, Dustin Mitchell, Brent Larson, Boom Briggs.

Only one thing is certain: at the start of this weekend's matches in Spain, FC Barcelona will be top of the table. Nothing else is. Barcelona are on top. By 11 p.m., it could be Real Sociedad who are leaders of the league. At 6 p.m. Saturday, it could be Granada. At 8.30 p.m., Real Madrid. And at 11 p.m., Barcelona again. By 6 p.m., the following night, it could be Atlético Madrid and by 11 p.m. Sunday, Sevilla.

Spain has had six league leaders at the end of a weekend so far this season: Real Madrid four times, Barcelona three, Sevilla two and once each for Atlético, Athletic Bilbao and Granada. This weekend, if the results go right -- and none of them have to be outrageous or are unlikely -- it could have six league leaders in a single round of games. It won't happen, you might say, and you're probably right. But it could, and that alone is something. It doesn't even need any of the big teams to lose, as Barça did at Levante last week or a few weeks before at newly promoted Granada.

This weekend in the Premier League, there's a game being billed as a title-decider in November, a game between the only two contenders and one that that feels like it could mean there is just one leader in England for the rest of the season. Liverpool have a chance to go nine points clear and extend their unbeaten run in the league to 28 league games. Meanwhile, La Liga hosts seven games that could lead to a change at the top. But, you know, La Liga is boring and noncompetitive and all that. The league where there are only two teams who beat up on everyone else, where it's impossible for Real Madrid and Barcelona to lose. Where there's just no opposition and everyone else is rubbish, there to make up the numbers, or so it goes.

Right now, you could argue that La Liga's making pretty good numbers.

Look at the table this morning and there are three teams level at the top. One of them is Real Sociedad, who haven't been there for 16 years. The sports daily Marca was looking even further back: "like Arconada time," their cover said, harking back to the early 1980s when la Real won the league. The week before, the team at the top was Granada, who hadn't been there for 46 years.

There are no points between the top three. Just one point separates the top five. Two points separate the top six, three the top seven and and four the top nine. The top thirteen are separated by just five points. On Monday morning, in the week building towards yet more general elections in Spain, AS's front page used a political play on words to declare the end of the two-party/team system. This was odd because as usual, they were talking about Madrid and Barcelona, when the reality is that if there have been only two teams in the title race over the past two years, it's been Atletico and Barcelona.

The shadow hanging over the table involves the number of games played. There's an asterisk by the league table and there will be until Dec. 18, when Madrid and Barcelona finally play the postponed clásico, but it's never been tighter. The top seven haven't been within three points of each other at this stage this century. Spain has never had it good.

Or maybe Spain has never had it so bad? At the end of their 0-0 draw with Betis last weekend, Sergio Ramos said that the result made some kind of sense. "The competition there is between teams here is what makes this the best league in the world, and we feel lucky to play here," he said. "You have to play as well as you possibly can because the smallest mistake leaves you slipping down the table."

His Real team had just failed to beat a goalkeeper who couldn't see. Joel Robles lost a contact lens but still managed to stop Madrid. They had just drawn with a team whose manager had been on the verge of the sack. It shows how strong they are, but it also reveal Madrid's flaws. That they are still joint top may reveal all their flaws. When it comes to the storyline, the attention, it's always about the big teams here, even when they are beaten by the smaller ones. The question this time is: is it about the big teams? There was excitement at Spain's newfound tightness last weekend, but it came laced with concern.

Look at the structure and La Liga has greater strength in depth than before. Although the economic differences remain huge -- Barcelona's budget is 18 times the size of Valladolid's -- the gaps have been reduced and the base amount has increased at the bottom. La Liga's financial controls, the signing of a collective TV deal enshrined in law to ensure it wasn't broken, and the redistribution of the money from that have improved the health of the smaller clubs. Debt has been reduced to almost nothing now while spending has increased. This summer, while it was of course top-heavy -- Atletico, Real and Barcelona spent over 800 million this summer, with a net spend above 200m -- spending was greater than ever before. Clever, imaginative clubs with bright coaches use that money well; those that have less of it use it even better, which is often the way. Too much money can make you lazy. The response of the promoted clubs tells a small story: Mallorca, the worst of them, beat Real Madrid. Osasuna drew with Barcelona and already have 18 points after 12 games. Granada beat Barcelona. They were top last week.

But the coming together of clubs, the tightness is the table, is necessarily driven by pressures from both sides: from the bottom upwards, but also from the top down. Barcelona have not had so few points as these for fifteen years. Valverde's team have nine points fewer than at the same stage of his first season. They have lost three times already -- three times as many as in the whole of that first season. the days of 100-point leagues are gone. Madrid's totals are not so far off what they were in the past two seasons -- they trailed the title winners by 10 wins over the past two campaigns -- but this time it is enough for them to be joint top.

Atlético may just have been given the best opportunity they've had to win the league -- yes, an even better chance than the year they actually did. Instead, they have won only three of their past nine games. That's the bad news; the good news is that nor has anyone else. Atletico could be top this weekend.

The stats alone wouldn't be enough, and could be read any way -- lies, damned lines and all that -- but the feelings reinforce that focus. Europe can too, although it has been a good week in the Europa League. It may be too soon, and far too dramatic, to talk of such decadence, but Spain's predominance is diminishing. Four Premier League teams as European finalists was a warning to Spain last season but is it temporary, and will it be heeded? Can it be?

Put bluntly, Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético have not impressed this season; when it comes to the big two, it's hard to avoid the feeling that these are teams without a clear identity, a work in progress. Take that line above about this weekend and rethink it: no one would seriously suggest right now that Madrid or Barcelona are as well-constructed, well-built or as clearly conceived as Liverpool or Man City.

And so you get a title race that can feel flawed. But it's fun, too.

Perth Scorchers have signed Lancashire batsman Liam Livingstone as their first overseas player for the upcoming Big Bash League season.

Livingstone, 26, played two T20 internationals for England in 2017 but has been become a highly sort after commodity on the global T20 circuit after his exploits for Lancashire in the T20 Blast in England.

He played in the Pakistan Super League for the Karachi Kings earlier this season and also played four games for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

He is currently playing for Cape Town Blitz in the Mzansi Super League in South Africa alongside Melbourne Stars recruit Dale Steyn.

The Scorchers have had to reshape their batting line-up following the retirement of Michael Klinger and the exit of Shaun Marsh to the Melbourne Renegades. Livingstone will add some much-needed power and explosiveness to the top order.

"He has performed really well in T20 cricket all around the world over the past 12 months," Scorchers coach Adam Voges said.

"Liam's a great all-round package. He'll give us some aggression at the top of the order, he's a handy spinner and a fantastic fielder."

Livingstone is well known in Perth having played a season of grade cricket for Willetton in 2015-16. He played alongside Scorchers batsman Cameron Bancroft at club level and showed his tremendous hitting ability with some dazzling T20 innings.

He said he has watched the BBL closely for many years and was keen to be part of it.

"I'm so excited to have signed with the Scorchers for the upcoming Big Bash, it's a tournament I've always wanted to play in so I can't wait to get to Perth," Livingstone said.

"I've spent a winter in Perth, I know the place well and I'm looking forward to getting back there."

The Scorchers have one more overseas slot to fill on their roster after opting not to renew the contracts of David Willey and Usman Qadir.

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