Zimbabwe cricketer Brendan Taylor's wife was mugged outside their home in Harare earlier this week, with Taylor tweeting about the incident and urging residents of the city to remain vigilant amid reports of increased crime.

"Just had an alarming situation outside my house," Taylor wrote. "I was waiting for my wife's return in my driveway. I started hearing her screaming about 100m from my gate, she was getting mugged by 4 armed men. I ran outside and they sped away in red Honda Fit."

Local media has reported an increase in crime in the country since the intensification of load-shedding in Harare this week, with criminals apparently taking advantage of the power failures in the capital city's suburbs.

"Fortunately she only lost her handbag and it could of [sic] been a lot worse," Taylor posted on Twitter. "People are getting desperate, be vigilant when entering your property and try keep off the roads after dark. With all this load shedding we're easy targets."

Avondale Police station, which is the station closest to Taylor's house, has also taken to social media to urge residents of the area to be on high alert.

"We note with concern the crime activity in our area in the last 8 weeks," read a message on the station's social media page. "Unregistered vehicles continue to expose our community to crime and we now are appealing to all our Avondale residents and Security Structures, Neighbourhood Watches, Whatsapp Media Platforms to be on high alert for any suspicious individuals or vehicles."

Shakib Al Hasan retired hurt during the course of Bangladesh's chase in the final league fixture against Ireland after hurting his left side.

The injury, suspected to be a side strain, took him off the field after he had faced 51 balls for his half-century. The incident occurred at the end of the 36th over of Bangladesh's chase. Only an over earlier, he was holding his left side in pain. Physio Thihan Chandramohan spent several minutes trying to relieve him of the pain, before Shakib decided to continue batting.

Then as he resumed, he felt the pain as he pulled a short ball off Joshua Little. However, he decided to retire hurt in the next over. The gravity of his injury isn't yet ascertained and it is likely that the Bangladesh Cricket Board will throw light after receiving an update from the physio.

The decision was a wise one, considering Bangladesh are in their final stretches of preparation for the World Cup. As such, Shakib has dealt with multiple finger injuries in recent times, the one last September nearly derailing his career as the finger contracted an infection.

Shakib then broke his finger during the BPL final in February, which forced him to miss the New Zealand tour.

Bangladesh are already through to the tri-series final against West Indies on May 17.

It didn't take long for New York Jets interim general manager Adam Gase to make his first trade.

The team on Wednesday night agreed to send linebacker Darron Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2020 sixth-round pick, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Gase inherited personnel power earlier Wednesday, when general manager Mike Maccagnan was fired after four seasons. Gase, hired in January as the coach, will serve as the interim GM until a new one is hired.

Maccagnan picked Lee in the first round of the 2016 draft. His days were numbered as soon as the Jets signed middle linebacker C.J. Mosley to a record-setting contract in free agency. They tried to trade Lee during the NFL draft last month, then declined to exercise his fifth-year option.

Lee was the 20th overall pick in the 2016 draft. It was a curious choice, because at 6-foot-1 and 232 pounds, he seemed small to play inside linebacker in the 3-4 defense. The coaching staff downplayed the size factor, saying he fit the growing trend of fast linebackers who could play in space against spread offenses.

The former Ohio State standout struggled in his first two seasons, especially against the run, but he showed signs of improvement in 2018. He made three interceptions -- the first three of his career -- including one returned for a touchdown.

Lee felt he had played well enough to earn Pro Bowl consideration, but his season came to an abrupt end after the 12th game when he received a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He has yet to comment publicly on the matter.

Due to the suspension, Lee's 2019 base salary of $1.84 million is no longer fully guaranteed, because by rule the guarantee was voided. The Jets had no intention of exercising his fifth-year option for 2020, which would have been an estimated $10 million.

In the Jets' way of thinking, Lee became expendable when they signed Mosley to a five-year, $85 million contract in free agency. Mosley will replace Avery Williamson, who will slide over to Lee's former spot -- the weak-inside linebacker position.

Williamson's $8 million salary is guaranteed, and there was no chance that the Jets would eat that much money.

In three seasons, Lee started 36 of 40 games, compiling four sacks, two forced fumbles and no fumble recoveries.

Lee became the first of Maccagnan's first-round picks to be jettisoned from the roster. The other four -- defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, quarterback Sam Darnold, safety Jamal Adams and defensive end Leonard Williams -- were all top-six picks.

In Kansas City, Lee should get the chance for playing time.

The Chiefs, with one of the NFL's worst defensive teams last season, have undergone a dramatic overhaul on that side of the ball. Among the changes is to a 4-3 defensive system.

At least one of the starting linebacker spots is up for grabs after the Chiefs traded one of last year's starters in Dee Ford and released another in Justin Houston. Anthony Hitchens, a free-agent addition last year, and Damien Wilson, who signed this year, figure to be two of the starters. The third spot is up for grabs, and that's where Lee could get a look.

The Chiefs also have Reggie Ragland, who started 15 games last season, and Dorian O'Daniel, a third-round pick last season.

ESPN's Adam Teicher contributed to this report.

ST. LOUIS -- The four officials huddled by the penalty box. Most of the San Jose Sharks had retreated to the dressing room, believing that Erik Karlsson's goal at 5:23 of overtime had given them a Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference finals. None of the St. Louis Blues had left the bench or the ice, believing there was absolutely no chance these officials could have missed the hand pass by the Sharks' Timo Meier that led to that goal.

But they did.

All four of them missed it, marking another blown call in a postseason that has been defined by refereeing controversies and officiating errors. Since the National Hockey League's video review process doesn't include hand passes that lead to goals, the Sharks were victorious. And the Blues were irate.

"I really didn't get an explanation other than, I guess, there's a different set of rules for two different teams, so I'm sure they'll lose some sleep tonight after looking at it," St. Louis captain Alex Pietrangelo said after the Blues' 5-4 loss to San Jose that left them standing on the bench dumbfounded -- at least the ones who weren't on the ice smashing their sticks in anger.

Just over five minutes into overtime, Meier slid to the ice, waving his stick at the puck. It deflected off St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko and bounced in the air, then off Meier's chest -- and then he swatted it with his right glove. Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester kicked out his leg to stop it, but it trickled to Gustav Nyquist, who fed the puck to Karlsson for a shot that went past goalie Jordan Binnington.

The Sharks celebrated, and the Blues swarmed the officials. Binnington flipped his catching glove up and down to signify that he saw a hand pass. The Blues remained on their bench and on the ice. The remaining Sharks skated to the dressing room after the officials indicated that the goal would stand.

Binnington slammed his stick in anger. Brayden Schenn did the same, breaking it on the end boards. Numerous Blues players waved their arms on the bench in disbelief. But the officials left the ice, under the cover of a canopy that protected them from the cups and cans that began littering the rink from the enraged fans at Enterprise Center, who by then had seen multiple replays of the hand pass on the giant video screen.

In the bowels of the arena, loud displays of anger could be heard. St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong slammed his hand on the door of the officials' dressing room, yelling that the decision was "f---ing garbage."

What did Karlsson see on the play?

"We weren't playing handball, were we?" he said after the game. "We were playing hockey. We deserved to win this game. At the end of the day, I don't think either team drew the shorter stick on any of the calls. Fair game."

The Blues said they received no explanation for the call from the officials. Was it a hand pass?

"What do you guys think?" St. Louis coach Craig Berube asked the media during his postgame news conference.

A few reporters said, "Yes."

"Then don't ask me," he said. "There's no reason to ask me. I've got nothing to say about it."

In an official statement, the NHL said: "Plays of this nature are not reviewable. A hand pass that goes into the net can be reviewed, but a hand pass between teammates cannot be reviewed."

A pool reporter caught up with Kay Whitmore, the NHL's supervisor of officials for the series, and asked whether any of the officials saw the hand pass.

"What [did they tell] me? It's a non-reviewable play. You can read between the lines. You can figure out what you want. You watched the video. But it's just non-reviewable. I know that sounds like a cop-out answer, but that's the truth," Whitmore said.

Could the War Room in Toronto have stepped in on a critical goal such as this?

"The way the rules are written, any chance there is to review, everything is reviewed that's reviewable," Whitmore said. "But as the rules currently stand, the play is non-reviewable."

As with many other calls this postseason, the discussion quickly shifted to whether replay should be expanded to include this kind of play.

"We're going to go there, eh?" said David Perron of the Blues. "Yeah, it's a hand pass. The league's going to take care of it as they have throughout the playoffs."

Sharks coach Peter DeBoer passed the buck.

"That's for [commissioner] Gary Bettman and GMs. That's not for Pete DeBoer. I'm a coach. You want to ask me about the game?" he said.

The rest of the game seemed secondary to the call in overtime, but it was a tremendous rally by the Sharks.

After San Jose built a 2-0 lead in the first period, the second period will go down as one of the postseason's wildest. The Blues' Alexander Steen scored at 1:18 on a hard-fought feed from Ivan Barbashev. Joe Thornton scored his second of the game just 18 seconds later. Vladimir Tarasenko rocketed in his first goal since Game 4 against the Dallas Stars to cut it to 3-2. Perron fired one past Martin Jones at close range to tie it, then scored again from just inside the blue line with Brent Burns in the box for hooking, one of only two penalties in regulation, for a 4-3 lead at 18:42. That broke an 0-for-18 streak on the power play for St. Louis that dated to Game 3 of the Dallas series.

It did not, however, break the Sharks. They peppered Binnington with quality chances, with the rookie goaltender doing as he does and standing tall in the third. But playoff pluck is found throughout both of these rosters, and the Sharks' most reliable postseason paladin struck again: Logan Couture, heretofore held in check in Game 3, tucked a puck past Binnington's pad on the door step with Jones pulled at 18:59 of the third. Couture now has 20 points and 14 goals to lead the playoffs.

"I think it's one of those playoffs runs we'll look back at years down the road and say, wow, what a competitor, what a leader. But when you're in the heat of the moment, he's just doing what he does," said DeBoer, who also praised the play of Jones in making 15 saves in the third period and overtime.

The Blues attempted to turn the page quickly in their locker room, and that was the message echoed from the coach.

"It's difficult to lose in overtime, the playoffs, anytime. You've got to move on. The team's got to move on. We've all got to move on from it and get ready for Game 4. Really, that's all you can do," Berube said. "We played a solid hockey game, but we were on the losing side of it. And there's nothing we can do about what happened. We've just got to move on."

That "hey, things happen" vibe also was found in the jubilant Sharks room.

"You know what? There's a few calls you're going to get. You're not going to get certain ones. Everyone keeps talking about the hand pass, so there must have been something there, but at the end of the day, there are calls that go both ways. That's the playoffs. There's adversity. You gotta adjust, handle it, keep your cool," San Jose captain Joe Pavelski said.

"If you get the extra call, great. Just keep playing. They're not trying to screw anybody. They really aren't. They're good guys. May not always seem that way, but tonight, we may have caught a break, but there were a lot of breaks going both ways all night, all series."

One can't help but note the enormity of the breaks that have gone the Sharks' way. For the second time in the postseason, a critical blown call led to a San Jose win. In Game 3 against St. Louis, it was a hand pass the officials missed that led to a game-winning overtime goal. In Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights in the opening round, the Sharks were given a five-minute major they shouldn't have received, rallied with four goals in the third period and then won in overtime.

The NHL apologized to Vegas for that botched call. It remains to be seen whether the Blues will receive a similar mea culpa before Game 4.

The NBA is expected to move up the start of its annual moratorium on free-agent negotiations from midnight ET on July 1 to 6 p.m. on June 30, sources told ESPN.

While the decision isn't finalized, the expectation is that it will be implemented for this year's free-agency period.

The decision is long overdue, as the current system has forced players and teams to work into the early-morning hours on July 1 to conduct the opening rounds of business in free agency. Moving up the start will allow people to have a more normal schedule.

At his annual news conference at the Las Vegas Summer League in July, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said such a change was likely to happen.

"In terms of when free agency begins, I've not only heard from my friends in the media, but as I get older and the people I grew up [with] in the NBA get older, I think we're all tired of all-nighters," Silver said. "What I've heard from, again, several of my colleagues at teams are, does this really need to be at midnight? I think that's something that we'd need to find agreement on with the players' association. But I think we could change for next year.

"It's one of those things that everybody looks at each other and says, 'Why has it always been that way?' It's unclear. It's just always been at midnight. But putting aside the impact on the working media, I think there is so much interest in it. Clearly, if it were happening at a more reasonable time, it would be better for coverage.

"But again, I think also it maybe was kind of fun in the old days scheduling the meetings at midnight or something else. But I think we're past that. I expect a change for next season."

CHICAGO -- The Memphis Grizzlies have told interested parties in Chicago, where the NBA draft combine is underway, that they intend to select Murray State guard Ja Morant with the No. 2 pick next month, provided the New Orleans Pelicans take Duke's Zion Williamson first overall, sources told ESPN.

The Grizzlies were awarded the second pick in Tuesday's draft lottery, moving up from the eighth slot thanks to the luck of the bouncing pingpong balls.

Sources said members of the Grizzlies front office and ownership group already have let their intentions be known.

Morant is expected to usher in a new era at point guard for the Grizzlies, who selected Mike Conley with the No. 4 pick in 2007 and saw him develop into a borderline All-Star. Conley has two years remaining on his five-year, $140 million contract, but he won't be difficult to move for positive value, considering his productivity (21 points and six assists per game) and the fact that he is still only 31 years old.

Playing Conley and Morant together in a smaller backcourt until a suitable deal is found is a possibility the Grizzlies might explore to help ease the rookie's transition to the NBA.

Should the Grizzlies proceed with drafting Morant as expected, the road will be cleared for Duke's RJ Barrett -- the presumptive No. 1 pick in the draft entering the season -- to land in New York with the Knicks, who pick third. Sources said that Barrett would be ecstatic to end up in New York but that the franchise will do its due diligence in exploring trade options, as well as work out other players projected to be selected in the top 10.

MILWAUKEE -- As the final seconds of the third quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals bled away, Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam brought the ball upcourt. At the last moment, and still a couple of steps behind the 3-point line, he rose up for a shot over the outstretched arm of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the ball softly dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded.

The basket gave the Raptors an 83-76 lead after three quarters and seemingly had them poised to steal home-court advantage from the top-seeded Bucks in this series. Instead, it turned out to be the final field goal that any Raptor not named Kyle Lowry would make Wednesday night.

Rather than take an early lead in the series, the Raptors instead saw the Bucks outscore them 32-17 in the final quarter, as Milwaukee emerged with a 108-100 victory in front of a sellout crowd here at Fiserv Forum.

"Pretty frustrating," Lowry said. "Fourth quarter killed us. ... They outplayed us in the fourth quarter. They got a little bit more aggressive. They made some big shots, made some big plays.

"It sucks when you lose like that. But we had a chance. We've got to learn from it, make an adjustment. [We have to] stay even-keeled ... not too high, not too low. Just look at the film and get better."

The fourth-quarter film will highlight an ugly picture. Lowry was fantastic, going 5-for-7 from the floor and scoring 14 of his 30 points in the final 12 minutes alone. The rest of the Raptors, though, were awful. Toronto's other seven players who saw time in the fourth combined to go 0-for-15 from the floor, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range, with the only other points coming on free throws by Kawhi Leonard (two) and Siakam (one).

"Couple key turnovers," Leonard said after finishing with 31 points but going 0-for-3 and only scoring those two points in the fourth. "Missed some easy layups, some wide-open 3s. And we didn't play too well on defense. ... They ended up scoring their highest quarter points in the fourth quarter. [That] pretty much sums it up."

Toronto saw that initial lead entering the fourth instantly evaporate in the opening two minutes while Leonard was on the bench. The Raptors had three open looks -- a Norman Powell layup, a Fred VanVleet midrange jumper from the top of the key and then a VanVleet 3-pointer from the wing -- but none of them went in.

On the other end, Milwaukee -- which went a combined 6-for-34 from 3-point range through the first three quarters -- immediately got two straight 3s from Brook Lopez (who finished with a team-high 29 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four blocks) and a pair of free throws from Nikola Mirotic to take its first lead since early in the first quarter.

And while the teams went back and forth over the final few minutes -- thanks in large part to Lowry's heroics -- after Leonard drained two free throws to make it 100-98 with 3:31 remaining, the Bucks scored the final 10 points to seal the victory. Toronto missed its final eight shots over that span, including five 3-pointers.

Milwaukee controlled the paint throughout the game, winning points in the paint (44-26), second-chance points (24-13) and fast-break points (25-15), while also turning Toronto's 12 turnovers into 20 points. Meanwhile, the Raptors not named Leonard or Lowry finished a combined 14-for-51 from the floor.

"It's gonna be an interesting series," said Siakam, who finished 6-for-20 from the field for 15 points, "and we know we had a chance to win tonight. We felt like we could've gotten this game, but obviously, we didn't. And credit to them, they came back and took the game from us.

"But it's a long series, and we've got to bounce back and be better next game if we want to get out of here with a win."

Perhaps some fatigue set in from Toronto's survival from a grueling seven-game series with the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a series the Raptors won thanks to Leonard's incredible buzzer-beater Sunday evening. The Bucks, on the other hand, finished off the Boston Celtics in five games and had a week to rest and prepare at home for this game, and Milwaukee certainly looked like the fresher team down the stretch.

From Toronto's standpoint, though, the why of how this game played out the way it did ultimately was irrelevant. A chance to take control of this series right off the bat had been wasted. Now, the Raptors have no choice but to try to find a way to put themselves in a similar position when these teams meet again here Friday night in Game 2 of this best-of-seven affair.

"Each one of these games is critical," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "I thought we played tough tonight, a tough brand of basketball, for the most part.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win a game on the road in the Eastern Conference finals. It didn't turn out, and we put in a lot of work, but you're going to file that one away and put in more work the next time."

"We gotta get some rest here tonight, focus in on our film, figure out some adjustments, build up some confidence," Nurse added. "But then again, once it gets ready to go up for Game 2, we have to be tough."

MILWAUKEE -- Brook Lopez was frustrated. His early 3-pointer missed badly, his fadeaways were clanking off the back rim and he was struggling to find a rhythm within the Bucks' offense.

The 7-foot center shook his head in disgust as Toronto raced out to a 34-23 first-quarter lead Wednesday night. The Raptors, hoping to steal home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference finals, kept their momentum rolling and controlled the game through three quarters.

But Game 1 turned on the Bucks' strong fourth-quarter comeback, with Lopez hitting key shots to seal the come-from-behind 108-100 win.

"We just don't quit as a unit," Lopez said. "We keep hounding, keep hounding, keep hounding and grinding, and then we finally got there. There's no quit in our team. I don't think it's really in our DNA at all."

All told, Lopez scored 13 of his career-playoff-high 29 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 11 rebounds, two assists and four blocks. Lopez hadn't scored at least 29 points in a game since March 2018 and hadn't grabbed at least 11 rebounds since October 2017.

Down the stretch, Lopez was crucial. He got a layup. Then he buried his third 3-pointer of the fourth to give the Bucks a 104-100 lead with less than two minutes remaining. He stood up Kawhi Leonard and stripped the Raptors forward of the ball. Then with a little more than a minute remaining, Lopez claimed a long defensive rebound to end another Toronto possession.

"This is the Brook we all know and love," Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "We just want him to be aggressive, especially in this series."

Without Lopez's late heroics, the Bucks easily could have dropped Game 1 for the second straight series. Toronto guard Kyle Lowry drained seven 3-pointers and scored 30 points, and the Raptors were the more energetic team early, despite having less rest time between series.

The Bucks suffered the sluggish start they had wanted to avoid. The Game 1 blowout loss at home to the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals weighed heavy on the minds of Milwaukee's players -- perhaps becoming paralyzing at the outset.

Slowly but surely, however, the Bucks cut the Raptors' lead to single digits, and the Fiserv Forum crowd rose in unison to holler approval. Finally pulling close in the fourth quarter, the Bucks cut Toronto's lead to four, then two. Again fans stood and screamed, only to deflate once the Raptors answered.

The comeback wasn't all pretty. Khris Middleton plowed into a Raptors defender, drawing an offensive foul that preceded a Lowry 3. On the next possession, Middleton dribbled the ball out of bounds. Despite those offensive hiccups, Middleton was essential in Milwaukee's defensive game plan for Leonard, who scored only two of his 31 points in the fourth quarter.

"I think we need games like this, because not every game is going to be a blowout," Antetokounmpo said. "Not every game is going to be easy. And I think this game definitely made us better."

MILWAUKEE -- At the moment Kawhi Leonard shook Khris Middleton on a backdoor cut for an easy layup midway through the third quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night, the Toronto Raptors looked like their best selves.

The Raptors had managed only five shot attempts at the rim in the first half, but here was a beautiful half-court set that encapsulated how brutally efficient the Raptors can be when they're maximizing their strengths: Leonard and Kyle Lowry splitting off Marc Gasol in the high post -- Lowry fanning out to the left corner and Leonard skirting behind Middleton. This was Toronto high IQ basketball at its savviest, and the bucket gave the Raptors a 10-point lead with 5 minutes, 50 seconds left in the third period.

By many measures, the Raptors turned in a solid effort Wednesday night. They executed their defensive game plan, enthusiastically took many of the open shots they'd turned down through much of the first two rounds of the postseason, and found opportunities in transition.

Yet, a fatal fourth quarter undid much of that solid work in a 108-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Wednesday night was another Game 1 throat-clearing for a Bucks team that hadn't played in a full week. A unit that relies on cadence and timing, the Bucks couldn't find their flow through much of the game. Mainstays like Middleton initially struggled to find shots against Toronto's switching schemes, an irregular coverage for Toronto. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the ultimate rhythm player, wasn't at maximum effect with the long break.

Yet despite missing 29 of their first 35 attempts from 3-point range and their forgettable 45.7 percent effective field goal percentage, the Bucks came away with the series opener. If Game 1 is evidence of anything, it's that the Milwaukee Bucks are -- and will continue to be -- an exceptionally difficult team to beat under any condition.

"I think we did a great job of just sticking with what we've been doing all postseason long," said Brook Lopez, who led the Bucks with 29 points. "Shots didn't go in early, but we did a great job of grinding it out, played great defense and just stuck with it. Then things started going our way."

This is one measure of NBA team dominance: an ability to win difficult games against tough opponents despite subpar performances from top players, marginal success against defensive strategies, and poor shooting. On that standard, the Bucks, now 9-1 in the postseason, are dominant, even if the end result in Game 1 wasn't an exhibition of their best choreography.

As he donned his signature Disney gear at his locker before heading to the postgame podium, Lopez debated one of the great postseason conundrums for a team that encounters a switching defense like the one Toronto fashioned Wednesday night. Should an offensive team respond by hunting available mismatches in the half court, or should it disregard whatever advantage it might or might not have and just continue to run its stuff?

"Someone will say, 'Why don't you just go down in the post?' but that's not who we are," Lopez said. "We don't want to change who we are."

Though there are many NBA coaches who believe not attacking mismatches amounts to leaving money on the NBA hardwood, the position articulated by Lopez has been the consistent stance of Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer. Though the Bucks never quite cracked the code offensively in Game 1, they enjoyed a timely outburst by Lopez in the fourth quarter, when he drained three of his five attempts from beyond the arc.

"This is the Brook we all know and we all love," said Antetokounmpo, who noted that Gasol, assigned to guard Lopez, has a directive to be an active help defender in this series, which will frequently leave Lopez open.

Lopez's exploits everywhere on the floor were essential to Milwaukee's victory Wednesday night, but the game was won on the defensive end -- with Lopez, again, as the catalyst. With rare exceptions, the Raptors simply couldn't get to the rim in Game 1, attempting only a fifth of their shots at point-blank range, a woefully low frequency. For all of Antetokounmpo's offensive gifts and the floor spacing the Bucks demonstrate, their ability to wall off the basket area is their single most consistent attribute as a team. Toronto rarely got to the rim, and on the occasions the Raptors did, they were a meager 9-for-17.

"You can bring your defense every night, and that's what we expect," Budenholzer said. "There are going to be nights when you don't make shots, and you've got to just continue to do well or give it defensively. If you do that, you maybe can break through and find a way to win on a night when you really don't shoot very well offensively or play that well offensively."

This idea is gospel in Milwaukee under Budenholzer: In a league in which games are increasingly won and lost by the vagaries of streaky perimeter shooting, defense is the ultimate insurance policy. Go 6-for-35 from 3-point range over the first 36 minutes of basketball? Certainly not ideal, but nobody attempts to miss. But if the defense is tightening around the paint like a vise, and defenders are instantaneously scrambling back out, and rotators are sharp in their anticipation, cold snaps can be endured -- and big games can be won.

Herein lies the challenge for any team that needs to take down the Bucks in a seven-game series: Setting aside the games that will be lost because Milwaukee employs a transcendent superstar, and capable shooters around him, what do you do when the Bucks' defensive effort -- far less variable -- is so ruggedly committed to depriving you what you want and need most?

CINCINNATI -- The commissioner's office might not like it, but Chicago Cubs fans won't be complaining if enigmatic righty Yu Darvish wants to take his time on the mound.

As long as the results look like they did Wednesday -- Darvish struck out 11 without issuing a walk against the Cincinnati Reds -- he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

"I'm a slow guy," Darvish said after the Cubs' 6-5, 10-inning loss. "I'm always slow, especially my first three-to-four years. I told [pitching coach] Tommy [Hottovoy] yesterday, I want to go slower. That's why I was taking my time. That makes me more comfortable."

It would not be an exaggeration to say Darvish looked as good as he has in years, even if he lasted only 5 1/3 innings. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Darvish hasn't had 11 strikeouts without issuing a free pass since August 2013. But there's more.

• His first strike percentage was 67, his highest this season and second-highest as a Cub. In his career, the opposition has a slash line of .177/.219/.277 when Darvish throws strike one.

• He earned 26 called strikes, the most in a game for him since 2014.

• He threw 37 percent cutters, his highest percentage in a start since joining the Cubs. Ten of his called strikes came on his cutter, tying the most in his career.

• He took seven hitters to a 3-ball count but retired all of them, including five via strikeout.

• He had six strikeouts looking, the most in a game in his career.

Two of Darvish's called third strikes came at the expense of Joey Votto. The Reds star looked as uncomfortable at the plate against the Cubs righty as you'll see from the All-Star. Between the strikeouts, Darvish got Votto on a check-swing popup.

"He's the best hitter in the lineup, so if he struggles, that means I'm good," Darvish said.

The Cubs have basically thrown out the script for Darvish. They don't care about tempo or anything else if it doesn't make him comfortable. If one pitch is on, then that's the one he'll lean on. Usually it's his slider, but not on Wednesday.

"I felt good about my cutter," Darvish said. "That's why I threw it a lot."

His catcher illustrated the "whatever it takes" attitude the Cubs and Darvish are employing.

"I know the tempo was a little slow, but I don't care," Taylor Davis said. "He was getting guys out. He was making quality pitches ... The pressure situations he was able to handle a lot better.

"I'm taking this as a win for the Cubs. A win for Yu."

However, the Cubs actually came up short after the bullpen blew a lead.

Darvish's next start won't be any easier. He'll face former Cub Jake Arrieta and the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday at Wrigley Field.

"He's a legend in Chicago, for sure," Darvish said of Arrieta. "I respect that, and I'm really looking forward to facing him."

Darvish replaced Arrieta in the Cubs' rotation after signing a six-year, $126 million contract before 2018. Arrieta settled with the Phillies for three years and $75 million. The two have been linked ever since. Darvish would like nothing more than to repeat his performance against the Reds -- but in front of Cubs fans.

"I think I need it at Wrigley," he said. "That's what I want. I always struggle [at home]. I need this start at Wrigley."

Asked what he thought of facing Arrieta at the plate, Darvish deadpanned: "I need a base hit off him."