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Kawhi Leonard hit 39 points as the Los Angeles Clippers levelled their first-round play-off series with a thrilling 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets.

The 33-year-old converted 15 of his 19 shots, helping the Clippers bounce back after an overtime defeat in game one.

The Nuggets had the chance to send game two to overtime but Christian Braun missed with a three-pointer with six seconds left, while Nikola Jokic failed with the rebound.

“It felt like he didn’t miss a shot. His shot-making ability is elite,” said team-mate James Harden.

“That’s the aggressiveness we need from him. No matter who is guarding him. He just got to a spot and raised it up.

“He’s a big-time player and he played big time tonight. “

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said: “This is what Kawhi lives for. If we have a healthy Kawhi then we can win any series. “

Jokic hit 26 points for the Nuggets as well as 12 rebounds and 10 assists, while Jamal Murray added 23 points.

The Detroit Pistons broke a 15-game play-off losing streak by beating the New York Knicks 100-94 to level their Eastern Conference first-round play-off.

Cade Cunningham hit 33 points for the Pistons while Dennis Schroder added 20 points from the bench.

The victory was the Pistons’ first in the play-offs since game four of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.

“We did what we were supposed to do. And that was it,” said Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff.

“To win a game on the road to get home court was what we came here for. “

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri leads the 2025 drivers’ championship after victory in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

After the first triple header of the season, there is a week’s break before Formula 1 heads to Miami from 2-4 May.

Will Max Verstappen modify his driving as a result of the decision to give him a five-second penalty in Saudi Arabia? – Kate

Max Verstappen was given a five-second penalty in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix because the stewards adjudged him to have gained an advantage by leaving the track while contesting the lead with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the first corner.

The stewards pointed to the driving standards guidelines in making their decision, reporting that “Car 81 (Piastri) had its front axle at least alongside the mirror of Car One (Verstappen) prior to and at the apex of corner one when trying to overtake Car One on the inside.

“In fact, Car 81 was alongside Car One at the apex. Based on the drivers’ standards guidelines, it was therefore Car 81’s corner and he was entitled to be given room. “

Verstappen chose not to give his opinion of the incident or the decision after the race, pointing to the risk he would be censured by governing body the FIA.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the penalty was “very harsh” because “Max can’t just disappear”.

The guidelines don’t dictate what a driver in his situation should do, but taking the lead back by going off track is not an option.

But Verstappen races hard, and pushes the limit of the rules. In critical situations such as this, he will do everything he can to keep position, and then force the stewards to make a decision.

This is understandable on two levels: first, the advantage of being in front and running in clean air is significant, as the race subsequently showed, and if he ends up being allowed to keep the position, it can win him the race; second, in the past, the stewards have often chosen not to punish him.

However, the guidelines have changed this year, after significant pressure from the other drivers, exactly because of the way Verstappen races.

This was the first time the new rules have been tested with Verstappen, and this time his approach did not work. But he has had a lifetime of racing this way, so it would be quite a switch for him to change his approach.

Having said that, he is smart as well as tough. It would be a surprise if he did not learn from this incident in some ways for next time.

Does Lando Norris need to go sit down with Nico Rosberg to understand how he changed his mentality in his championship year? – Gary

In 2016, Nico Rosberg won the championship by pushing himself to the limit to be able to compete with an essentially faster team-mate in Lewis Hamilton, ensuring he was his best self all the time and hoping that would be enough.

Rosberg was handed a significant advantage with the comparative reliability of the two Mercedes at the start of the season, and even then Hamilton would have clawed the advantage back had he not had an engine failure while leading in Malaysia late in the season.

The situation at McLaren this year feels different. In 2024, Norris was decisively the faster and more convincing McLaren driver over the season. In 2025 so far, that has been Piastri.

Norris is struggling to adapt to certain characteristics of the McLaren – particularly its lack of front grip at certain phases of the corner with his driving style.

But he is aware of what he needs to do. As he put it in Jeddah on Sunday: “It’s my qualifying, my Saturdays, which are not good enough at the minute. That’s because I am struggling a little bit with the car.

“Yesterday was not the car, it was just me trying to take too many risks.

“So I just have to peg it back. I’ve got the pace. It’s all in there. It’s just sometimes I ask for a bit too much and sometimes I get a bit too ‘ego’ probably and try to put the perfect lap together. I just need to chill out a little bit. “

During the race in Saudi Arabia, Liam Lawson picked up a 10-second penalty for completing his pass on Jack Doohan off-track, so gained an advantage. Max Verstappen only got five seconds for his off-track advantage. What’s the difference between these two? – James

As the stewards explained in the verdict on Verstappen: “Ordinarily, the baseline penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is 10 seconds.

“However, given that this was lap one and a turn one incident, we considered that to be a mitigating circumstance and imposed a five-second time penalty instead. “

Why can’t we go back to having a penalty that actually changes the position of the cars on track almost immediately (e. g. drive-through etc) rather than at a pit stop or after the race is completed? – Neil

After the controversy of the title-deciding race in Abu Dhabi in 2021, it was decided that teams should no longer be able to talk directly to the race director during a grand prix.

However, they can still talk to his assistants in race control and discuss incidents. So when a driver does a manoeuvre that looks borderline, teams have three options.

They can choose proactively to give the place back – as McLaren did with Lando Norris against Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain.

They can get in touch with race control and ask for an opinion on the move, and then make a decision as to what to do about it.

Or they can plough on and hope for the best, as Red Bull did in Jeddah.

The FIA stewards will then make their decision as to how to handle it. They have moved away from ordering drivers to give the position back, preferring specific penalties for specific offences.

Of course, the risk of this approach is that a driver in a faster car can commit an offence to gain an advantage and then effectively overturn the penalty before he serves it by building a lead bigger than the time loss of the penalty.

This is why Red Bull and Verstappen did not give the place back in Saudi Arabia.

Williams have already beaten their 2024 full season points total. What has made them so much better? – Stewart

Williams’ progress this season is a direct result of the investment put in by owners Dorilton since they took over in 2020 and the changes to the team made under new boss James Vowles.

Into last year, the introduction of new factory processes caused a difficult winter, the car barely made the first test and it was overweight for the first chunk of the season.

The difference this year was dramatic – their launch was held at Silverstone in public view in mid-February, and they ran the car for the first time there.

Williams are very much focused on 2026 and the new rules being introduced then, but as Vowles put it at the launch: “What I can demonstrate is very clear progress that’s taken place in manufacture, process, technology kicking in.

“We are moving into a new building this year, a benchmark driver in-the-loop simulator, that was started in 2023. The fact we’ve gone from 700 people to 1,000 means you’ll have low-hanging fruit of producing a better car with more performance added to it. But I consider that second to the long-term investment to get us where we need to be. “

Being on the weight limit sounds like a small detail but is actually a big deal. Last year, it was costing them not far off 0. 5 seconds a lap early in the year. Add that to this year’s performance, and instead of being the fifth quickest car on average, as they are now, they would be eighth fastest, ahead of only Haas and Sauber.

On top of that, Williams now has two world-class drivers rather than just one. And they are not crashing like they were last year.

Alex Albon ran with the car’s improved performance and scored good points in the first three races, while both he and Carlos Sainz were in the top 10 in Saudi Arabia.

So, in a nutshell, the team has made progress, they have a better driver line-up and you’re seeing it in the performance of the car.

Manchester United close in on Matheus Cunha, Arsenal open talks with Viktor Gyokeres and Aston Villa consider selling Ollie Watkins.

Manchester United are nearing an agreement with Wolves and Brazil striker Matheus Cunha, 25, but will still need to activate his £62. 5m release clause. (Daily Mail)

Manchester United have sent scouts to watch Porto and Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa, 25, as they look for a replacement for Cameroon international Andre Onana, 29. Manchester City are also interested in Costa, who has a release clause worth £64. 3m (75m euro). (Correio da Manha – in Portuguese)

Arsenal have opened talks to sign Sporting CP and Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, early in the summer transfer window. (Football Insider)

Arsenal consider Athletic Bilbao and Spain winger Nico Williams, 22, a key target, but the player is undecided as to whether he wants to leave the club this summer. (GiveMeSport)

Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly, 20, will sign a new contract with the club after Chelsea showed interest in the England under-20 midfielder. (Fabrizio Romano)

Manchester United have maintained contact with the agent of RB Leipzig and Slovenia striker Benjamin Sesko, 21, since he rejected a move to Old Trafford in 2022. (Manchester Evening News)

Manchester City and Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva, 30, is set to be the subject of interest from Barcelona once again this summer. (GiveMeSport)

Tottenham Hotspur are weighing up a £30m summer offer for Chelsea and Portugal midfielder Renato Veiga, 21. (Football Insider)

Spurs and Manchester City are set to battle it out for Lazio’s Mario Gila, 24, but the Premier League duo will face competition from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich for the Spanish centre-back. (Caught Offside)

Manchester United are expecting to receive several loan offers from Championship clubs for England Under-18s full-back Harry Amass, 18, this summer. (GiveMeSport)

Aston Villa are exploring the possibility of selling England striker Ollie Watkins, 29, for £50-60m and sign loanee Marcus Rashford, 27, from Manchester United on a permanent basis. (Football Insider)

Halo World Championship

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 19 April to 5 May

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s return after three months away from competitive action is the headline attraction on a star-studded fourth day at the World Snooker Championship.

Seven-time champion O’Sullivan will appear at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the 33rd consecutive year when he takes on two-time runner-up Ali Carter in the first round on Tuesday (14:30 BST).

The 49-year-old has not played a competitive match since snapping his cue at the Championship League in January.

Before the tournament, he told BBC Sport that “to come here is an achievement in itself for me” as he documented his struggles to find his best form in recent years.

Eddie Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Sport – which owns a majority stake in the World Snooker Tour – is pleased O’Sullivan has chosen to take part.

He told BBC Sport: “I know what the game and this event means to him and it would be a shame if he wasn’t here.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re in the right frame of mind to compete. Life’s about being happy, not just doing what people want you to do. Everybody wants him to be here but it’s got to come from his own accord.

His first-round opponent Carter reached world finals in 2008 and 2012, losing to O’Sullivan at the final hurdle on both occasions.

Ranked 18th in the world, the 45-year-old Englishman was the highest-ranked player to progress through qualifying.

O’Sullivan said: “It’ll be a tough match. Ali had a tough start to the season but it looks like in the past two or three months he’s been cueing well, playing well and enjoying it again, which is the most important thing.

Analysis: Jamie Broughton, BBC Radio 5 Live snooker reporter

O’Sullivan gave some very honest and revealing answers when we spoke before the tournament.

The greatest star in the history of the sport has not been happy with some technical aspects of his game over the past four years, despite winning a number of big titles during that time.

He explained that his reluctance to play on tour since January, when he deliberately broke his cue at an event in Leicester, was the result of that frustration. He also admitted that he had suffered stage fright and maybe even lost his bottle.

But make no mistake, he has been practising hard before the World Championship, including playing on a few days with Barry Hawkins, and he will believe he can play his way into the tournament as he looks to challenge for a record eighth title.

Trump, 35, has won 30 ranking titles during his decorated career but his 2019 victory at the Crucible is his sole World Championship triumph.

He defeated fellow Englishman Hawkins to win a second UK Championship title in December, a success that helped him to break the record for the most prize money won in a single season.

He plays China’s Zhou Yuelong in round one (19:00), while Murphy starts his best-of-19 match against Crucible debutant Daniel Wells in Tuesday’s morning session (10:00).

It is 20 years since Murphy, now aged 42, won the 2005 World Championship as a qualifier and his form in recent months has given him confidence for another shot at the sport’s biggest prize.

“In previous years I’ve come here hoping for a good performance, whereas this year I know I’m going to play well,” the world number 15 told BBC Sport.

“My game’s in really good shape and I’m really looking forward to getting going. Does that mean I’ll be here come the weekend? Who knows?

10:00 BST

14:30 BST

19:00 BST