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Following the report on ESPNcricinfo that AB de Villiers wanted to come out of retirement for the World Cup but was turned down by the South African management, Cricket South Africa's selection panel convener, Linda Zondi, issued the following statement.

"I pleaded with AB de Villiers not to retire in 2018. Although there was a perception that he was picking and choosing when to play [for South Africa] - which was not true - I did give him the option to plan and monitor his season to get him to the World Cup fresh and in a good space. We made it clear that he would have to play during the home tours against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be considered for selection, instead he signed to play in the Pakistan and Bangladesh Premier Leagues respectively. He turned down the offer and said he was at peace with his decision to retire.

"For Faf du Plessis and Ottis Gibson to share AB's desire to be included in the squad on the day we announced our World Cup squad on April 18th was a shock to all of us. AB left a big vacuum when he retired, we had a year to find players at franchise level to fill the gap. We had players who put in the hard work, who put up their hands and deserved to be given the opportunity to go to the World Cup. The decision was based on principle; we had to be fair to the team, the selection panel, our franchise system and players.

"At no point in the year that he had retired did he make himself available for selection. It was no option when I received the news on the day of the squad announcement, our squad was finalised and confirmed. AB is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world but above all else, we have to stay true to our morals and principles; there is no regret in the decision."

Alex Wakely has resigned as captain of Northamptonshire in both red-ball and white-ball cricket with immediate effect.

His decision ends a period in which the club won the domestic T20 title twice - making Wakely the first captain in Northants' history to lift two major trophies.

Under Wakely's leadership, Northants became one of the most popular T20 sides in county history as a heavyweight squad attracted growing admiration.

Off the field, he encouraged a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere which helped to revive a small and financially-stressed county, and by doing so turned the club into one of the happiest in the country.

Adam Rossington will take charge of the side for the Specsavers County Championship match away to Durham next week, with Josh Cobb leading the Vitality Blast campaign.

"It's been an honour and a privilege to captain Northamptonshire over the past few years but now I feel it's time for someone new to have that honour," Wakely said. "It's not a decision I've taken lightly. I've deliberated long and hard with family and friends for several weeks."

A product of Northamptonshire's academy and England's captain in the 2008 Under-19s World Cup, Wakely took charge of the one-day side in 2013 whilst also becoming vice-captain under Stephen Peters in the Championship.

That summer saw the Steelbacks claim the T20 honours at Edgbaston and also achieve promotion to Division One in four-day cricket for the first time in a decade.

After missing the entire 2014 season through injury, Wakely was appointed captain in all formats in 2015. The following season, despite continuing financial constraints, Northamptonshire repeated their T20 triumph in Birmingham.

In 2017 the team responded to Wakely's insistence that they were 'fed up with being average' in the Championship and surprised many observers by logging nine victories in 14 games (the club's second-highest percentage of wins in the competition, exceeded only in 1995) and sustaining a promotion challenge through to the final day of the campaign.

But those standards have begun to fall away and Wakely's disillusioned comments after another bad day with bat or ball had become increasingly common, culminating in an innings defeat against Glamorgan at Wantage Road.

He led the side 198 times in all formats (a figure surpassed only by Geoff Cook, Jim Watts and Allan Lamb) and his tally of 20 first-class victories ranks him as one of the club's top ten most successful skippers in the longer game since 1905.

"Wakers is one of the best blokes in cricket, nobody has a bad word to say about him, said head coach David Ripley. "His captaincy record is there for all to see: trophies in the bag. I look forward to seeing him go on for many years as a player where he still has loads to offer."

Northamptonshire's chairman Gavin Warren said: "Alex led the team during a period of financial challenge. He will go down in the history books as one of our outstanding leaders."

Somerset 344 and 153 (Hildreth 64, Dunn 5-43) beat Surrey 231 (Patel 63, Foakes 57) and 164 (Burns 48, Brooks 5-33) by 102 runs

A thrilling burst of three wickets in seven balls by Jack Brooks propelled Somerset towards a 102-run victory against Surrey at Guildford that will fuel dreams in the West Country of a historic first County Championship title.

Surrey were bowled out for 164 in their second innings, losing eight wickets on the final morning in just over an hour and a half. It is Somerset's fourth win from five matches this season, and takes them to the top of the Division One table with a lead of 15 points over second-placed Hampshire.

Fast bowler Brooks removed nightwatchman Gareth Batty and then claimed the prized scalps of South African Test batsman Dean Elgar and England wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes in a spell of 5-1-11-3 in the first 45 minutes of a final day that began with champions Surrey, at 99 for 2, needing another 168 runs to beat the team who finished runners-up to them last season.

Having slid to 120 for 5 as a result of Brooks' triple strike, which gave him overall figures of 5 for 33, Surrey then took further heavy blows from seamer Tim Groenewald, who bowled Scott Borthwick for 45 with his first ball and followed up by pinning Will Jacks leg-before in his second over.

Left-hander Borthwick, who started the day on 35 and had featured in a second wicket stand of 72 in 27 overs with his captain, Rory Burns, on the third evening to raise Surrey hopes, was undone by a superb ball which swung back into him. Jacks, who made 0, had no answer to a nip-backer.

It was swing, too, which Brooks found from the Railway End to undermine Surrey's chase in spectacular fashion. Batty, who had begun by edging Brooks safely past third slip for four and had gone to 14 by cover-driving Craig Overton for another boundary, was bowled aiming to pull a ball that was far too full for the shot.

Elgar was also bowled, off the inside edge for a third ball duck, as he tried to dig out a full delivery that curved back into him and Foakes, on 2, nicked a lovely away-swinger and was brilliantly caught low down by Marcus Trescothick at second slip.

Groenewald picked up a third wicket when Rikki Clarke drove at an outswinger and edged to keeper Steven Davies, who took a good tumbling catch in front of first slip, and the end was near for Surrey when Ryan Patel, having swatted Craig Overton over mid wicket for six to go to 27, wafted a catch to gully later in the same over as he tried to engineer a stroke to keep the strike.

It was all over at 12.34pm when Morne Morkel lofted Craig Overton straight to mid off to go for 2, giving the bowler figures of 2 for 59. Groenewald finished with 3 for 29. Somerset took 22 points, and Surrey 4.

"I just could not be prouder of the boys, and this was a massive win for us," said Tom Abell, Somerset's captain. "Surrey had eight Test players in their team and after yesterday I would probably have preferred to be in their position coming into today.

"But we said in the dressing room before play that if we bowled better than we did yesterday evening and started to build bowling partnerships then we could put them under pressure and that's exactly what we did. The bowling unit were outstanding today, and as captain you know that they will give you everything.

Surrey captain Rory Burns said: "Obviously it's very disappointing that we could not bat better today and get to that target, having bowled so well to get back into the match yesterday.

"There are lots of little things holding us back at the moment, and dropping Bartlett on 0 in the first innings clearly did not help us. That was a crucial moment in the context of this game,

"As a batting group, we are seeming to find ways of getting out and I think we did show at times that this was not an unplayable pitch. But, when you are the two batters out there, you have to seize that moment and build partnerships.

"We know we have to start getting things right, as a batting unit and as a team, but we are certainly not giving up on defending the title. We have played five matches, so there are nine games to go and we will be aiming to win all of them - that's the attitude we will take into the rest of the season, starting next week here at Guildford against Yorkshire."

PARIS -- In the latest surprise at a French Open filled with them, defending champion Simona Halep was knocked out in the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova on Thursday.

"The pressure was on," said Halep, saying she felt "nerves, a little bit stressed. ... Maybe expectations from myself were big today and maybe I couldn't handle the tension in my body, so I couldn't move my best."

The 51st-ranked Anisimova's first Grand Slam semifinal will come against another player making her debut in that round of a major: No. 8 seed Ashleigh Barty.

The Australian advanced by beating No. 14 Madison Keys of the United States 6-3, 7-5.

The other semifinal scheduled for Friday is No. 26 Johanna Konta of Britain against unseeded 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Because a full day of play was lost to rain Wednesday, the women's semifinals -- normally Thursday, one after another in the main stadium -- will be played simultaneously on the second- and third-largest courts. The biggest arena will host the men's semifinals, including the much-anticipated matchup between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Barty will face Anisimova on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, while Konta takes on Vondrousova on Court Simonne-Mathieu. Play on both courts is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. local time, allowing both winners to have an equal amount of rest leading into Saturday's final. Being fair to the players was top of mind for French Open tournament director Guy Forget.

"If I was [one of the women] playing in that stage today, I would rather play on a smaller court -- although everyone says that Simonne-Mathieu is a magnificent court -- knowing that I will have enough time to rest, at least the same of my opponent the following day, because the finals is what I'm playing for," Forget, a former professional tennis player, told reporters Wednesday. "You know, you're afraid that some players might feel that it's a lack of respect [by moving one match to a smaller court] or we are just trying to diminish -- no. Ideally, when you see historically what has happened in the tournament, we try to be fair to everyone."

Not only has none of the four remaining women won a Grand Slam trophy, none has participated in a major singles final.

"I can't believe it. I mean, I've been working so hard, but I didn't think it would pay off like this," said Anisimova, already the first tennis player born in the 2000s to even get to a Slam quarterfinal. "This is honestly more than I could ask for."

Anisimova is the youngest American woman into the final four at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati was 14 in 1990.

She has yet to drop a set through five matches over these two weeks in Paris and displayed the same brand of confident, take-it-to-the-opponent strokes against Halep.

After her fourth-round victory, Anisimova referred to her "effortless shots," and they sure looked that way at Court Philippe Chatrier.

Anisimova, the junior runner-up at Roland Garros as a 14-year-old, is still precocious and still seemingly unfazed by the setting or stage.

Against Halep, a former No. 1 and someone who has reached four major finals, Anisimova repeatedly aimed the ball into corners or went for difficult angles -- and repeatedly succeeded. She ended up with a 25-16 edge in winners. Most impressive, perhaps, was this: Halep had won 16 consecutive return games coming into Thursday, but Anisimova saved 6 of 7 break points.

"I'm really happy with my performance," Anisimova said, "because this is one of the best matches I've ever played."

Keep in mind: This was only the teen's 43rd tour-level match of her nascent career. And this is only her fourth Grand Slam tournament.

Barty is older, 23, but missed about two years on tour when she switched sports and played cricket. She's progressing quickly now, though: Her first major quarterfinal came at home in January at the Australian Open, and now she's gone a step further.

Against Keys, a semifinalist in Paris last year and the runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open, Barty used her backhand slice to great effect, helping create errors on the other side of the net.

Keys finished with a combined count of 52 unforced or forced errors, while Barty had 33.

Barty was asked afterward whether she was shocked that her game, seemingly built for hard courts, has been so good on slower clay.

"Yes," she replied, "very much so. I've been learning every single day."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- On the eve of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Kyle Lowry declared he was going to do two things: Be more aggressive, and stay out of foul trouble.

He followed through on his promise Wednesday night, and as a result, the Toronto Raptors have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"Because I know how I am," Lowry told ESPN after finishing with 23 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, a steal and a block in 43 minutes in Toronto's 123-109 win over the Golden State Warriors. "I know what type of basketball player I am. I understand that these situations are never going to be easy. I understand that we know it's a hostile environment that we're going to be in, and I've got to be that guy, that confidence builder, that confident type of basketball player."

Lowry was all of those things, and then some, for the Raptors. He shot 8-for-16 from the field, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range, and had only three turnovers. Perhaps more important, he committed only three fouls.

Lowry fouled out of Game 2 in Toronto with 3:52 left in the fourth quarter after committing a careless reach-in foul on Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins 92 feet from Golden State's basket. Lowry, who was 6-for-20 in the Finals entering Game 3, admitted Tuesday that it was a "frustration foul," as he allowed himself to let the struggles he had shooting the ball through the first two games of this series cloud his mind.

During Tuesday's practice, though, Raptors coach Nick Nurse had his video coordinators cue up footage of a teamwide epidemic of bad fouls that Toronto had been committing through the first two Finals games.

"We showed our team all the dumb fouls we took yesterday," Nurse told ESPN. "All of them. And we said we have to stop f---ing doing them. And he was one of many, but he was a very important one of many.

"He took that like he should've, like a leader, and did a much better job."

In a Game 3 that was full of fouls on both sides -- Toronto committed 22, Golden State 21 -- the Raptors didn't completely get away from the problem. But Lowry, after picking up two fouls late in the first half to go into halftime with three, didn't get another the rest of the game, allowing him to remain on the court and in charge of the team.

"I was a dumb fouler," he told ESPN. "We were putting our hands up, man. We still gave up, what, 30 free throws? Steph [Curry] had 14 again, but we put ourselves in better positions and put myself in a better position to stay on the floor."

It was good he did too, because he had things going offensively in a way he didn't the first two games. He was far from alone, though, as Toronto finished the game shooting 52.4% from the field and 17-for-38 (44.7%) from 3-point range -- with 11 of those made 3s coming from Lowry and Danny Green (6-for-10).

Someone on the Raptors wrote "Let it rip" on the whiteboard in the locker room pregame -- a mantra the team took to heart throughout Game 3, and to great effect.

"We haven't really had a good team-shooting night, and I knew eventually, at some point, we were due for one," Green said. "So, luckily, we got one tonight. But we still have to do a better job defensively on that end of the floor to limit those guys better, so we don't have to rely on our offense, or our shooting, to win games for us."

Green has a point, especially with the looming possibility of Golden State's two injured sharpshooters, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, coming back for Friday's Game 4 at Oracle Arena after sitting out Wednesday night because of injuries.

The Warriors other than Curry -- who finished Game 3 with 47 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists -- shot just 6-for-22 from 3-point range. It stands to reason those numbers will improve if Thompson and/or Durant are on the floor.

For the Raptors, though, the focus has to be on themselves. Toronto is two wins away from its first NBA title, a journey it has made, largely, because of the brilliance of Kawhi Leonard.

But while Leonard was brilliant again in Game 3 -- finishing with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 38 minutes -- the Raptors are a far different team when his supporting cast plays the way it did in Games 1 and 3 of this series.

Not coincidentally, those are the two games Toronto has won.

And if Lowry is able to keep playing the way he did in Game 3, the Raptors will feel good about their chances of getting those two more wins they need to capture this series -- and the title.

"I expected him to get going here," Nurse told ESPN. "I just thought the opportunities were there for him to get going. Sometimes we can't get him a shot. But there were opportunities for him to drive it, shoot it, and he stepped up and took them today."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A fan seated courtside for Wednesday night's Game 3 of the NBA Finals was ejected after shoving Kyle Lowry when the Toronto Raptors guard crashed into a row of seats while trying to save a ball from going out of bounds.

Lowry scored 23 points and made several big shots in a 123-109 victory that gave the Raptors a 2-1 series lead over Golden State. There was as much buzz afterward about Lowry's dust-up with the fan as his offensive exploits.

The league said it is investigating the incident.

"The fans have a place; we love our fans," Lowry told ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. "But fans like that shouldn't be allowed to be in there, because it's not right. I can't do nothing to protect myself.

"But the league does a good job, and hopefully they ban him from all NBA games forever."

Early in the fourth quarter, Lowry ran down a loose ball and jumped in the air as it was going out of bounds, not far from where Warriors owner Joe Lacob was sitting. Lowry knocked the ball into a referee and landed in the lap of one male fan, who appeared to grab Lowry's jersey with two hands.

A woman who was standing nearby patted Lowry on his back. At the same time, a man wearing a blue shirt who was sitting down extended his left arm and gave Lowry a hard shove to his left shoulder.

Lowry got up and complained to officials, who ejected the fan from the game. Lowry told The Associated Press the fan repeatedly cursed at him, and Lowry said he had spoken to the NBA about the incident before exiting Oracle Arena.

"There's no place for that,'' Lowry said. "He had no reason to touch me. He had no reason to reach over two seats and then say some vulgar language to me. There's no place for people like that in our league. Hopefully, he never comes back to an NBA game."

Lowry said the incident was not like the high-profile episode that involved Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook at the Utah Jazz during the regular season when the star guard said a fan made racist remarks.

"People who sit courtside, they might get in on the action," Lowry said. "Don't sit courtside if you don't want somebody touching you."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry scored 47 points in a 123-109 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night. It was the most he has scored in any postseason game in his career, besting the 44 he put up in the 2013 playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs.

Despite Curry's offensive brilliance, the depleted Warriors didn't have enough firepower to overcome the absence of Klay Thompson (hamstring), Kevin Durant (calf) and Kevon Looney (costal cartilage fracture), falling behind 2-1 in the series.

The good news for Golden State is that Thompson is expected to play Friday, and the Warriors are cautiously optimistic that Durant also will make his return for Game 4 at Oracle Arena.

Thompson was a game-time decision on Wednesday, but the Warriors' staff ultimately decided to hold him out, despite the All-Star swingman pushing to play.

"The whole point was to not risk a bigger injury that would keep him out of the rest of the series," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "So that was the decision we made, and I feel very comfortable with it. Never would have forgiven myself if I played him tonight and he had gotten hurt. So you live with the decision you make, you make a wise decision, the wisest one you can, and then you live with it and move forward.

"So the good thing is, Klay has done well the last two days; now he has a couple more days to heal, and hopefully he'll be out there on Friday."

Thompson injured his left hamstring in the fourth quarter of Game 2 in Toronto and exited for the remainder of the contest.

As for Durant, Kerr noted before Wednesday's game that the two-time Finals MVP continues doing more each day in his workouts and is on track to participate in some 3-on-3 scrimmages on Thursday.

"We probably won't practice, practice as a team, tomorrow," Kerr said. "It will be a film session and a walk-through. So if possible, we'll get him together with some of our young guys, maybe a few of our coaches, and try to get him out on the floor. That would be the next step."

Durant hasn't played since injuring his right calf on May 8 in Game 5 against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals.

If Durant does return Friday for Game 4, Warriors forward Draymond Green has no doubt Durant will be able to quickly pick up a rhythm with his teammates.

"That's a good problem to have," Green told ESPN. "That's a much better problem than trying to make up for what he do. So we'll take that problem."

The Warriors remained upbeat after the Game 3 defeat, not only because of the potential return of both Thompson and Durant in Game 4, but because of Curry's performance. The two-time MVP hit shots from all over the floor, single-handedly carrying the Warriors offensively through much of the night. Curry finished 14-for-31 from the field -- including 6-for-14 from beyond the 3-point line -- and 13-for-14 from the free throw line, while chipping in eight rebounds and seven assists in 43 minutes.

"He was amazing," Green said. "I got to play better and offer him more help. I think if I played better with the night that he had, we would have won. So we need him to continue to be aggressive like he's been, and all of us got to continue to fill in and be better.

"Tonight was a special performance for him, and he definitely does stuff that I don't think we have ever seen anyone ever do, and we probably won't see anyone ever do it again."

The reality is that the absence of Durant and Thompson was just too much to overcome on Wednesday. The Raptors repeatedly hit big shots to stifle any of the opposition's runs, as Golden State struggled to find an offensive answer to augment Curry's exploits. The next-highest-scoring Warrior was Green, who finished with 17 points.

"I think wisdom prevailed in terms of this is a potentially seven-game series," Curry said, regarding the decision to hold Thompson out of the game. "And you would like to take advantage of tonight, but his overall health is important in terms of not taking away the rest of the series with something catastrophic happening. So hopefully he's back for Game 4."

Despite the setback, the Warriors remain convinced they ultimately will hoist the trophy, something Green reiterated as he spoke at the postgame podium.

"Not having anyone makes a difference because everyone -- when you assemble a team, everyone brings something different," Green said. "But no one cares if guys are hurt. Everybody wants to see us lose. So I'm sure people are happy they're hurt. We just got to continue to battle and win the next game, go back to Toronto, win Game 5, come back to Oracle, win Game 6 and then celebrate. Fun times ahead."

In a season full of emotional twists and turns, the Warriors will walk into Friday's game knowing they might not only go down 3-1 to a talented Raptors team, but also might be playing their final game in Oracle Arena. After 47 years in Oakland, the Warriors will move to Chase Center in San Francisco this September. It's a scenario that Green and his teammates aren't even contemplating as they hope to get both Thompson and Durant back and even the series on Friday.

"We've got a lot of experience," Green told ESPN. "We've been in every situation possible, so no need to panic."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- When the Golden State Warriors laid a crushing 18-0 run on the Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, their leader, Stephen Curry, declared it one of those moments when "our DNA shows up.''

It's a daunting thing, that championship DNA. If you're not careful, you can suffocate under the weight of the possibility of that dominance. Many playoff opponents have fallen victim to a franchise loaded with stars who, when they are rolling, seem invincible.

Yet one thing was abundantly clear Wednesday at Oracle Arena: Toronto had no intention of wilting under the pressure of the championship pedigree of its undermanned opponent. When the Warriors charged, the Raptors fended off their run with clutch shooting. During stretches when the Raptors faltered offensively, they righted themselves with defensive stops.

In fact, in the wake of their 123-109 Game 3 victory in one of the most intimidating buildings in the NBA, the Raptors might be in the process of crafting some promising genetic coding of their own.

"That's true,'' said Serge Ibaka, who blocked six shots in the game and knocked down a monster wing jumper with 10 minutes to play. "We are working on our own DNA, and it's defense. There are some nights when you'll make all your shots, but it won't happen every night. One thing for sure that we can do is defend.''

No one had to explain to the Raptors what was at stake. Kevon Looney is out for the rest of the series. Klay Thompson was a very late scratch because of a balky hamstring. Kevin Durant missed his eighth consecutive game because of a strained calf. For Toronto, there was no option but to win. Lose the game, and it would be a death knell for a team that is on this grand stage for the first time and must take advantage.

The Raptors had to grab this one and take a 2-1 series lead, especially with Durant lurking in the shadows, plotting his return. In preparation, someone wrote a simple message on Toronto's white board just before tipoff: "Let it rip."

"That was the plan,'' said veteran Kyle Lowry, who hit some of the biggest shots of his career down the stretch of this game. "Stay cool. Stay calm. Don't let them affect what we do.''

What the Raptors did in the opening minutes was attack starting center DeMarcus Cousins in the paint, repeatedly feeding Marc Gasol in the post as if he were a reincarnation of Shaquille O'Neal. Gasol took as many shots (seven) in the opening quarter Wednesday as he did in all of Game 2. The Raptors also looked to unleash the lively Pascal Siakam in and around the key, where he is most effective. By the two-minute mark of the first quarter, the visitors' lead was 10, and Thompson was chained to the bench, his warm-ups zipped tight. He slumped forward, his angst palatable.

"I never would have forgiven myself if I played him tonight and he had gotten hurt,'' Golden State coach Steve Kerr said afterward.

"Everybody wants us to lose,'' Draymond Green said, "so I'm sure people are happy [our guys] are hurt.''

It was expected that Curry, the last supernova standing, would be asked to shoulder an inordinate load on his slender frame, and he was more than up to the task. By the end of the third quarter, Curry had popped in 40 points on 13-of-26 shooting. The only problem was the rest of the Warriors collectively shot 38% (16-of-42).

Yet there was Curry finishing a nifty feed from Andrew Bogut early in the third quarter to cut his team's deficit to seven (66-59). Golden State was surging, in the midst of a 7-0 spurt, but Toronto's transcendent star, Kawhi Leonard, who submitted 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, quieted the hopeful crowd with a killer transition 3-pointer. The Warriors cut it to seven again on an Andre Iguodala corner 3, but there was Lowry, lining up a long ball of his own to push it back to 10.

"Those moments were so important,'' said Fred VanVleet, who chipped in with 11 key points and dogged defense on Curry. "We're still creating our identity as a team, and every time we withstand their runs, we become a little tougher, a little stronger.''

If they were a different collection of players, the Warriors might be tempted to dwell a tad on the danger before them. What if Thompson can't go in Game 4? What if Durant remains sidelined? Do they have enough firepower to overpower a young and improving opponent that has exhibited its own brand of stubborn resilience?

Curry expressed confidence that his team will recover from this but offered a note of caution, saying, "We can't fall into the trap of thinking offense alone can win us another championship.''

Green heaped blame upon himself for not assisting Curry more with the offensive load and vowed to take better care of the ball. As he left his locker room, heading for home, he was asked if he was a little nervous.

"Nervous? C'mon,'' Green answered. "This is what we do. It's what we've always done.''

The Raptors are not naïve. They know high-level, MVP-caliber reinforcements could be on tap for Game 4. But they feel confident they are building something here. Kill the beast? Not yet, not hardly, but the Warriors are vulnerable, and Toronto is intent on exploiting their weaknesses.

"You're seeing our team build toughness, resiliency,'' Siakam said. "None of us were drafted super high. We built our careers from the ground up. That's who we are.''

The Raptors are also a team that finished with all five starters in double figures Wednesday. More importantly, they left the building with the belief they have the defensive temerity to thwart a lineup that, when healthy, is positively terrifying.

"That's true,'' Siakam said. "But honestly, we're really not afraid of anybody.''

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale had an immaculate inning in the eighth inning on Wednesday, needing just nine pitches to strike out the side at the Kansas City Royals.

Sale finished it off with a 98 mph fastball to strike out catcher Martin Maldonado. He started the inning by striking out Kelvin Gutierrez and Nicky Lopez.

It was Sale's second immaculate inning of the year. He also completed the feat on May 8 at the Baltimore Orioles.

Sale is the only active pitcher to throw multiple immaculate innings in the same season, and he joins Max Scherzer as the only active players to throw more than one immaculate inning in their career, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

It was vintage Sale on Wednesday, as he threw a three-hit shutout while striking out 12 without a walk in Boston's 8-0 victory. It was his seventh game with at least 10 strikeouts this season, the most in the majors.

"Any time you can finish a game, that's what you sign up for,'' said Sale. "I've never started a game I didn't intend to finish.''

Sale, who has suffered through a lack of run support, improved to 2-7 on the season.

"That was one of his best,'' Red Sox manager Alex Cora said about Sale's outing.

The Red Sox beat the White Sox 6-1 in Chicago on May 3, the only other Sale start this season in which Boston scored six or more runs.

Wednesday was Sale's 36th game with at least 10 strikeouts since joining Boston in 2017. Only Scherzer (37) has more such games over that span.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.