Celtic manager Neil Lennon has stepped down following a dismal campaign that has left the Scottish Premiership club 18 points behind leaders Rangers, the club said on Wednesday.

Lennon's last game in charge was Sunday's 1-0 defeat to Ross County, which left Celtic's hopes of a 10th consecutive league title further in tatters.

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Celtic completed a quadruple Treble in December by winning the 2019-20 Scottish Cup but Lennon had come under increasing scrutiny after falling well behind Rangers this season, who need just seven points from their last eight games to secure the league title.

"We have experienced a difficult season due to so many factors and it is very frustrating and disappointing that we have not been able to hit the same heights as we did previously," Lennon said in a statement.

"I have worked as hard as ever to try and turn things around, but unfortunately we have not managed to get the kind of run going that we have needed."

Assistant manager John Kennedy will take interim charge of Celtic, who host fourth-placed Aberdeen on Saturday.

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka said social media abuse is killing football but that he is "not scared" to play in front of fans again despite being targeted for online abuse.

The 28-year-old has endured a stormy relationship with Gunners supporters ever since arriving from Borussia Monchengladbach for £34 million in May 2016.

Xhaka has often been singled out for criticism and the midfielder reacted furiously when his substitution was cheered by the Emirates Stadium crowd during a Premier League game against Crystal Palace in October 2019. He threw his shirt to the ground and told supporters to "f--- off" in an incident which led to him being stripped of the captaincy by then boss Unai Emery.

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"It is one of many [examples], if I am honest," Xhaka, speaking ahead of Arsenal's Europa League round-of-32 second leg against Benfica said. "If I showed the others what they write, I think I have to close my social media, everyone has to close social media. I say that before and I will say that now and in the future as well, it is only about me.

"They are not supporters of my club. I do not see them as supporters of my club -- to support the club they have to be here if we lose, we draw or we win... But if one guy is a ticket holder at the club and speaks like this about his own players I don't think he needs respect from our side or other people.

"I am the guy who is on the pitch. It is not my wife, it is not my little one, it is not my family. So if you want to criticise someone, no problem to criticise me like a person, like a player. But don't make the other people involved because they have nothing to do with my job.

"So you have to open our eyes and to look after this a lot, because I think you kill the football like this if the people start to speak about a player or their families or things like this."

"Secondly, I have a lot of help from the club because this is something we have to speak very openly about. You don't have to be quiet and say: 'Yeah, I keep it with me,' because it is not always easy.

"I wish I could meet the people who write me the things, to sit with them, eyes by eyes and to ask them, why are you writing things like this? Not only for me personally, because it happens a lot in the last few weeks, but only to know what he is feeling in this moment when he writes things like this. This is not acceptable."

The British government this week outlined plans for supporters to return to stadia in time for the end of the league season in May and when asked whether he has been happy to play behind closed doors given his history, Xhaka replied: "Not really, I'm not a guy who is scared or afraid to play in front of our fans -- never, ever.

"I love the club and I respect the people around the team as well. I wish we could play with the fans because they would push us more and more and more.

"But the situation is what it is and hopefully things will change as quickly as possible to have the fans back and work together, to see we are improving and we want to take the next step as a club -- this is what I wish."

An Arsenal spokesperson said in a statement the club provides psychological and legal support for players suffering online abuse, and continues to celebrate diversity as well as enforcing a zero tolerate approach to discrimination.

"As a club we are committing to using our voice and network to strengthen measures and action taken by relevant authorities to punish those responsible for this abuse which affects us all. Where any individual is found to have an Arsenal membership, they will be banned. We are working with the authorities to report abuse to the police. We cannot and will not let hateful abuse become a normalised part of the game," the statement added.

"We all need to work together to drive this behaviour out. This includes clubs, governing bodies, fans, media and politicians; but requires the help and commitment of social media companies. We cannot underestimate the impact abuse has on individuals and the recent spate of abuse needs to be a wake-up call."

Quilmes' all-time leading youth scorer Jose Luis Valdez has announced his retirement from football at the age of 22.

The striker has taken the surprise decision after not being considered by Quilmes coach Facundo Sava for the first team ahead of the new campaign.

Valdez, who scored two goals in 10 appearances while on loan at Talleres de Remedios De Escalada earlier his season, was contracted with second division club Quilmes until this summer.

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"I thought that this day was never going to come, I thought that I would never make this decision," Valdez wrote on Instagram.

"After almost 11 years of playing football, being away from family, friends, everything that does us good, I made the decision not to play anymore. I may be wrong, but I know that I make this decision with my heart and knowing that I leave happy. Today another stage begins, very different from all of them. Thank everyone who made it possible for me to play and be happy."

Valdez joined Quilmes in 2010 as a 12-year-old and made a huge impact with the youth teams.

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A post shared by Jose Valdez (@129valdez)

He played for Argentina's Under-15 and U17 squads and was among 16 promising Argentinian players invited to train with the senior team ahead of the 2015 Copa America.

In his farewell post, Valdez, who made his debut in Argentina's top flight with Quilmes in August 2016, gave a brief account of his career and the sacrifices he has made along the way.

"Sometimes football gives much sadness, but also much joy," he wrote. "Many years of sacrifice, missing important dates because I had to train or play a game. The injuries that played against you, the atmosphere that sometimes didn't let you play a game or didn't even let you train.

"Living in a boarding house, where every year you met new people, you had to become everyone's companions, without even meeting anyone.

"Leaving behind a family to fulfil a dream, to be able to debut in the First Division and give that satisfaction to your family, to be able to score a goal in the First Division, to be able to become champion."

Since making his first team debut, Valdez made 15 appearances for Quilmes but did not find the back of the net.

Manchester City and USMNT goalkeeper Zack Steffen is backing a campaign to end systemic racism in US Soccer.

The Anti-Racist Project will fund training for players, coaches, fans and executives from grassroots soccer to professional level across the United States.

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Created by Common Goal, a social impact collective of which Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp are members, USMNT No.1 Steffen said the time for simply talking about the issue of racism is over.

"There's been so much talk over the last months about racism in soccer and beyond and enough is enough; it's time to take action," Steffen said.

"We need to show people how to be anti-racist. I wanted to join this project because it is the kind of collective action necessary to make large-scale change, and I hope that this project will go worldwide and create a new culture of inclusion in as many countries as possible."

Organisers hope to train 5,000 coaches, 60,000 young people and 115 staff in more than 400 communities in the first year.

After rolling out the campaign in the US, the Anti-Racist Project is hoping to bring its resources to other countries.

Premier League players have been taking the knee before games since June but Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has stated his intention to stop because of his belief that it's "not enough."

"I remember being chased around the field being called the N-word" former USMNT defender Tony Sanneh, one of the figures behind the Anti-Racist Project, said.

"We have made some progress but not enough. Racism takes many forms. Sometimes it's an obvious individual manifestation, but it's also the structural barriers embedded in the game at different levels.

"But the end result is the same -- people of colour are excluded from the game. We know what the problem is, now is the time to go and fix it."

Favourites to regain the Premier League title this season, Manchester City have hit a rich vein of form with a record 18 wins in a row, yet one area where they have not been as dominant as in recent years is in front of goal. They've averaged above 2.5 goals per game in each of the past three league campaigns, yet this season it's down to 2.0.

One reason is the frequent absence of the club's record goal scorer, Sergio Aguero. But with the injury-hit Argentina international yet to sign a new contract, despite it expiring in the summer, and with Gabriel Jesus less than convincing as a replacement, having scored just four league goals in 17 appearances, the signs are that City may look to land a new striker in the next transfer window.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the global economy and no one is really sure of the short-term implications, let alone longer term. Even the biggest clubs are strained financially. Although City's Abu Dhabi-based billionaire owners seem to operate in a different environment to the rest, they may still feel the pinch. In July 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned City's two-year ban from European football that was imposed for breaching UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) regulations, and focus on their finances has never been sharper.

Indeed, manager Pep Guardiola claimed in October that "if you decide to buy a striker, it has to be a striker in the league of Gabriel and Sergio, but we cannot afford it. That is the reality." Yet this is a club that has spent close to £1.5 billion on players over the last decade and even managed over £120m last summer on Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres.

Although Guardiola has reorganised his attacking set-up to become less dependent on a classic centre-forward, a world-class addition in that position is still tempting given Aguero's success over the years. With the caveat that Barcelona's Lionel Messi is too old (at 34) and most likely too expensive (in terms of wage demands) to make a long-term impact at City, here are five star forwards who could help City back to their free-scoring ways.

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Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)

Possibly the defining "power forward" of this decade, Haaland is a veritable goal machine whose remarkable numbers speak for themselves: 17 goals from 17 Bundesliga matches with eight from five Champions League outings this season. While the Norway international doesn't appear quite the refined, elegant, technically gifted striker that Guardiola tends to favour, logically City are likely to seriously discuss the option of signing him, especially given his father Alf-Inge's history with the club as a player.

There's no question that Haaland has improved his link-up play over the past year (one aspect, along with his aerial ability, which needed work). Sure, the 20-year-old is still developing, but the evidence shows he should be able to score, contribute and prosper regardless of footballing style or system. Moreover, from a commercial viewpoint, Haaland is potentially one of the most marketable players in the world (particularly for the post-Cristiano Ronaldo/Messi era), which is another plus point for any top Premier League club. If reports from Germany are to be believed, Haaland can leave Borussia Dortmund for a release clause of €75m in 2022, but City would be wise to get in early before the competition hots up.

Harry Kane (Tottenham)

Tottenham have no desire to let their star striker leave and recent reports that they have set a £150m valuation are wide of the mark, but the club look increasingly likely to miss out on the Champions League next season after a poor campaign under Jose Mourinho. They may find it more challenging to hold out if City come calling this summer.

Kane turns 28 in the summer and it might make business sense to consider offers as his contract expires in 2024, though Tottenham would be loath to let him leave for a Premier League rival. From City's perspective, Kane's skill set and track record as a world-class "No. 9" mean Guardiola would look beyond any tiny technical shortcomings he might have when playing in City's system. Though equally, the club may question paying such a large amount to sign a player who is already at his peak and may not develop much further.

Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

It's generally been assumed that the PSG superstar will eventually join Real Madrid, and City haven't really been suggested as an option in the media. However, as Madrid struggle financially, City have surely weighed up a move as the 22-year-old's contract expires in the summer of 2022.

Signed for €145m (with further bonus payments of €35m potentially due to Monaco) in 2017, the 2018 World Cup winner with France is still weighing up his options. Should he stay in Ligue 1 (an extension is said to have been tabled) or settle in the more high-profile environment of the Premier League or La Liga? Aside from the theoretically awkward prospect of PSG's Qatari ownership letting their biggest star move to an UAE-owned rival, the multi-talented Mbappe would obviously improve any club he ends up joining, but City may find themselves out of the loop on this one.

Welcome to day one of our live report of the third India-England Test from Ahmedabad. Join us for updates, analysis and colour. You can find our traditional ball-by-ball commentary here

*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local

Axar applies the final swing of the axe

England 112 (Crawley 53, Axar 6-38) vs India

Another perfectly pitched non-spinning brain-melter of a delivery from Axar Patel, Ben Foakes rocks back for a cut but the ball skitters under his blade. Here endeth an abject England performance, and a gleeful rampage from India's spinners. Imagine how they might fare when the conditions are in their favour in the second innings...

Here's S Rajesh with the stats of doom. "In the last 50 years, only the 6th time that England have lasted fewer than 50 overs in the first innings after winning the toss and choosing to bat". It ain't pretty, that's for sure.

5.53pm: Stuart Broad is not batting any more

Down on one knee, a languid sweep-flog down the throat of deep square leg, and in his third Test innings, Axar Patel has his second Test five-for! Easy come, easy go. At least he hauled England into triple figures. And, given the balance of England's attack, at least the sun is likely to be setting when their turn comes with the ball. The witching hour approacheth... but they may need necromancy from Anderson, Archer and Broad to revive this corpse of a contest...

5.53pm: Stuart Broad is batting.. this is not a drill

5.24pm: Use your feet, people!

England's innings is in freefall, and Nagraj Gollapudi is fairly sure he's spotted the reason why:

"Will the ball spin or not? That is the key question any batsman asks when batting on a dry turner like in Ahmedabad, Nagraj writes. That doubt clearly has plagued all England batsmen including Joe Root, who had dominated Indian spinners in the first Test of this series with a masterful double century. Root showed not just self-confidence but the art of reading spin. Of course, that was a flat pitch. But the basics of playing spin do not change much regardless of the surface, as good batsmen will tell you.

One of the basics is using your feet. By stepping out of the crease, using the feet, the batsman can not just smother the spin, but also play the ball before it pitches on difficult pitches which can create that doubt. Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope and Root will look at their dismissals today and tell themselves why, why did I not jump out of the crease and defend.

By the time Jofra Archer was bowled, England's batsmen had stepped out a mere 5 times while playing off the back foot 49 times in a total of 137 deliveries as per ESPNcricinfo's bbb logs. Those numbers clearly indicate England's batsmen were left in doubt big time on how to play."

5.18pm: Axar to Archer - bullseye!

Well, it was resistance of sorts while it lasted. Archer actually unfurled the lesser-spotted sweep on a couple of occasions, nailing one through midwicket off Ashwin to get off the mark, and he even cut another four through backward point off Axar. But, as with so many of his colleagues, the threat of big spin made him extra vulnerable to the one that didn't do a lot. A floppy drive off a full length, feet going nowhere, and back goes his off stump as Axar wriggles a length ball through his defences.

5pm: Ping! Next batsmen please ...

Ollie Pope joins the procession, and it's another beauty from Ashwin. Flighted, dipping, tricksy off the pitch, bursting past a lunging forward push and pegging back the off stump. Foakes and Stokes have a job and a half to do now, for India's spinners are weaving a web.

And moments later, it's all on Foakes! Stokes plays back to Axar, and is struck in line with off stump. Up goes the finger, it's clipping the top of middle. He's missed a fairly regulation back-foot block there.

As Sampath, our newest recruit to the stats-cave, noted at the break: "Three wickets by Indian spinners in the first session today. The previous 15 D/N Tests saw a total of three wickets going to the spinners in the first session on day 1." It's fair to say there's a new day-night record in the offing here...

And Rajesh, our uber-statsgruppenmeister, has been playing around with control percentages, just to add to the sense of swirling doom that is enveloping England's campaign:

Control percentages in the first 27 overs in the first innings in each of the three Tests:
1st Test: 90.3 (Eng 67/2)
2nd Test: 84.5 (Ind 106/3)
3rd Test: 80.5 (Eng 81/4)

It's getting harder and harder to keep a handle on these surfaces ...

Lunch (or tea, or elevenses or whatever)

England 81 for 4 (Stokes 6*, Pope 1*) vs India

Well, that was riveting, fluctuating, and agenda-setting. Plenty evidence that the new ball will talk while the lacquer is in situ, but also oodles of evidence that India's three-pronged spin attack will dominate all other iterations of the pink ball. Zak Crawley produced a masterful half-century in the circumstances, but even he was becalmed when Ashwin joined Patel in a twin-spin assault. Ishant Sharma struck early in his 100th Test, and Root's lbw to Ashwin completes a difficult first session for the visitors.

4.25pm: Crawley nailed by one that skids straight on

So, about that selection of a solitary spinner then? At least in England's defence they've gone for the left-armer, for Axar Patel has been India's biggest menace this morning, and his second scalp of the session is an innings-wrecking blow. Zak Crawley's tremendous innings is ended as he plays forward to two consecutive deliveries - the first rips past his edge, the second pitches on an identical length but skips straight on. Ben Stokes winces at the non-striker's end as he tells his team-mate not to bother with the review. That smacked the knee-roll and was going nowhere but into the stumps. It's going to be a challenge to scrape past 200 now ... anyway, about that new ball under lights?

4.10pm: Fatal misjudgement from Root

Ashwin's trickery extracts the key quarry! The longer Joe Root endured, the more ominous his innings was looking, especially with Crawley showing no signs of easing up his tempo. But on 17, he plays back to a dipping delivery from round the wicket, and is pinned on the crease as Ashwin finds some extra bite from an off-stump line. The finger goes up straightaway, and though Root reviews, it's more in hope than expectation. Sure enough, it's umpire's call, flicking the top of leg stump, and that's a massive, massive blow to England's hopes. Had these two endured to lunch, they could have claimed the session spoils. Instead, Ben Stokes is out to face his nemesis ...

4pm: Fifty for Crawley, from 68 balls

Remarkable stuff from Crawley, who is leaving Joe Root for dead as he keeps the runs pounding, in spite of an increasingly threatening spell of left-arm spin from Axar Patel. But the manner in which he reaches his fifty is typical of the innings so far. A sumptuous open-faced drive through the covers is followed by a wickedly biting ball that moves like a chevron from middle-and-leg past the groping outside edge. But then, one ball later, Axar loses his length and gets clobbered through extra cover for his sins.

3.43pm: Crawley in no mood for creeping

This innings from Crawley is just beginning to evolve from fluent cameo into something really rather significant, as he brings up England's fifty with yet another effortless, under-played flick off his legs as Ishant strays a touch too full. After the stodgy but valiant fare on offer from Sibley and Burns in the first two Tests, England seem now to have an opening batsman with the game to make the running in tricky conditions, much as Rohit Sharma did on the first day at Chennai.

And as the data below from our ball-by-ball analysis shows, that full length is travelling today, to all parts of that 225-degree arc in front of square.

3.08pm: Jonny be gone ... for a duck

It's a game of two halves right now, one replete with creamy, dreamy drives and clips from Zak Crawley. whose defensive prod clean through mid-on to get off the mark was a thing of wonder, and whose timing off the seamers has been auspicious from the outset. But, India have three spinners in their line-up too, and Axar Patel needs just a solitary delivery to make his mark on the game!

Jonny Bairstow's reputation against spin was enhanced by some telling dlsplays in Sri Lanka, but he got in a right tangle as Axar came round the wicket, nailing the perfect in-between length on middle and off, and thumping his shin past the inside edge as Bairstow poked uncertainly forward. He goes for the review, out of bewilderment and mild embarassment more than anything, but India's celebrations are uninterrupted. That is smashing the timbers, and England's No.2 and 3 are gone without opening their account. Lively times!

2.50pm: Stokes, Foakes ... Woakes? Nope ...

Fans of rhyming tercets, look away now. Even in an age of random-team generation, England still can't get their cause celebres inked onto the same scorecards.

2.40pm: First impressions are everything, right?

... in which case, don't go making too many plans for cricket-watching on Sunday! Two overs down, and no runs on the board, and already Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah have extracted some startling movement with their shiny pink orb. Ishant's first delivery simply launched itself at Rishabh Pant's gloves, from a good-to-full length, while his fifth of the same over scuttled through to the keeper as if it had been stunned with a mallet in mid-air. A couple of deliveries wobbled off the seam too, though nothing like as extravagantly as Bumrah's heat-seeking inswinger at the end of his first over. Dom Sibley dabbed it away with insouciance, but battle has been joined.

... too right it has! A leg-bye (and no-ball) to rotate the strike for the first time in this match, and Ishant's opening delivery to Sibley is perfection. Hitting the seam, straightening off the angle into the right hander, hitting the splice, flying comfortably to Kohli at second slip. He's gone without scoring, and into the fray comes Jonny Bairstow, fresh from his break back in the UK. Hope his visualisation went well during quarantine ...

2.30pm: England win the toss, changes galore

Good afternoon all, and welcome to a whole new ball-game. In Chennai last week, England endured a familiar fate in Asian conditions, as R Ashwin spun a web around their techniques to deliver India a series-levelling 317-run win. But we've crossed the country from East to West now, and fast-forwarded the hours of play by five hours too, to bring the brand-new floodlights of Ahmedabad's 120,000-seater stadium into play. Oh, and there's a pink SG ball in the mix too, which England's bowlers are "licking their lips" to get hold of, according to Ben Stokes. I imagine Ishant Sharma, in his 100th Test, and the fit-again Jasprit Bumrah might be feeling similar sentiments. Whatever happens over the next five days, I daresay it won't be standard Test fare.

And as if to prove the point, we have wholesale changes on both teams, as England win a very useful toss, and get first use of the pitch while the afternoon sun is at its brightest. England, as expected, have made four changes - James Anderson and Jofra Archer return to lead the attack, although Stuart Broad retains his place, which is intriguing. Olly Stone and the home-again Moeen Ali make way, as do Dan Lawrence and Rory Burns with the bat. Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley are in. Crawley's top score on tour so far is 13... a big ask to open up today.

India have two changes, Bumrah is joined by the spin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar, in place of Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Siraj.

"It looks pretty dry, hot and humid," says Virat Kohli, who is full of praise for the new stadium - which may only be half-full but 60,000 fans is still a larger capacity than pretty much every venue outside of the MCG.

India 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Washington Sundar, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Axar Patel, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

England 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.

LOS ANGELES -- Paul George has been motivated and fueled by "all the noise" surrounding him all season long, and earning an All-Star spot is another "milestone" in his bounce-back season, he said.

The LA Clippers guard was named one of the All-Star reserves selected from the Western Conference on Tuesday, joining teammate Kawhi Leonard, who was previously voted in as a starter in the Western Conference pool.

"With all the noise, everything going on, you find motivation through it," George said of all the criticism he has heard since the Clippers' collapse in the second round last postseason. "You dig deep, and you'd be amazed what comes out of it. It was honestly just using everything as motivation, fueling all of that toward this year.

"[All-Star] is a good milestone, the start of how my season is going. But definitely [not] where I want it to end. So I got a lot more work to do."

George, who hit his first five 3-point shots before finishing with 30 points in the Clippers' 135-116 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, will be making his seventh All-Star appearance.

George, though, joined a chorus of NBA stars who have voiced concerns over an All-Star Game being held this year in the middle of a pandemic.

"I am just not a fan of it with everything going on," George said. "I think it is just smart [to not hold one]. ... I get we have an amazing league; I'm not discrediting that. But I don't think -- just in the middle of a pandemic -- it is something that needs to be had."

George also said he was fined this season over a health and safety protocol precaution.

"Especially, [for] personal reasons, I got fined for spending time with a teammate, or having a teammate over, and yet we are having this All-Star Game," George explained. "So again, I got personal reasons why I disagree with the game [being held]."

George said he did not want to further elaborate on the fine, but he said he will play in the All-Star Game on March 7 in Atlanta.

George entered Tuesday night averaging 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists to go with a career-high 51.1% shooting rate, including 47.1% from behind the 3-point arc.

The shooting guard wasn't an All-Star last season after he didn't play in the Clippers' first 11 games, as he was eased back into action following offseason shoulder surgeries. Last postseason, George endured a shooting slump in the first round of the playoffs, before going 4-for-16 from the field and scoring 10 points in a Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets as the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round.

George has said he has heard more "chirping" this season from opponents "just living in the past." He has been motivated to prove his doubters wrong.

"He's always been an All-Star, you know, in my eyes," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "He's one of the top two-way players in our league; you know he has been for a while."

"He deserves it. And the kind of year he's having, you know, this year, it just shows the hard work he put in over the summer to get back to this point."

ONE OF TRAE YOUNG'S favorite moves is simple. He gets the ball, calls for a screen and turns the corner, putting his defender on his hip as the help comes over to corral the drive. Once he feels his defender behind, he brake-checks, pulling up into a quick shot.

A little old thing called Newton's first law of motion kicks in: A body in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by a force, i.e. the defender runs helplessly into Young's back.

The whistle blows. The foul is called. Two free throws are given.

Young hit the Brooklyn Nets with the move on Dec. 30. Nets head coach Steve Nash was not a fan.

"That's not basketball!" Nash yelled at the officials.

Nash's criticism went viral, and Young and the Hawks defended the star guard's tactic while others debated and discussed its fairness.

"I learned a lot about drawing fouls from [Nash]," Young told reporters in early January. "If he says it's not basketball, he must've been saying it about himself because he's done it a couple of times throughout his career and was so successful."

For his part, Nash said he was just sticking up for his team and trying to gain an edge with the refs. It was a heat-of-competition comment, but he has no real issue with Young's play. Players have constantly been searching for advantages within the game: inventing and reinventing different ways to bend the rules.

"Other guys have pet moves that are there to deceive or to fool not just the defense, but the referees," Nash said. "That's where the game continues to evolve."

Moves like Young's stop-short jumper are crafted, refined and mastered through years of innovation. And like a cartoon rowboat, the league plugs one hole only to find another.

The prevailing feeling around the league: If you're not pushing the boundaries, you're not trying.

MONTY MCCUTCHEN HAD never seen such trickery.

Ben Gordon, an undersized shooting guard that spent time with the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Bobcats and Orlando Magic, was dribbling at the top of the key.

Gordon, a right-handed shooter, brought his left hand toward the ball as if he was preparing to gather, rise and take a jumper. But right before the ball hit his left hand, Gordon put the ball back down on the floor as his defender went flying. It was a pump-fake without the pump. (Today, players like Stephen Curry and Kemba Walker have mastered the move, too.)

"I almost blew the whistle," said McCutchen, a 24-year veteran referee who now works as the NBA's vice president of referee development and training. "I went up to Ben during the game and said, 'You almost not only fooled [the defender] but you almost fooled me.'

"He goes, 'I know, I've been working on that move.'"

McCutchen is well aware of the schemes players pull. It was routine before games that players would approach him to pitch a sneaky move they'd been workshopping in the lab and ask whether it was legal.

Referees watch tape. They know what kind of offenses teams run, if they play on the low block or spread the floor. They also pick up on players' tricks. But there's balance involved in not predisposing oneself to player tendencies. "You can't let that knowledge turn into anticipation [that] leads to a quick decision," McCutchen said.

"They're not annoying. If you watch enough games every night, you know what to expect. There's a skill to that. That stuff James [Harden] does where he puts the ball out, that's a skill. DeMar DeRozan is great at it. That's a skill."

Suns guard Chris Paul

Like every front office and coach, referees are well aware of the surging impact of analytics. Efficiency drives the game, and that means plenty of corner 3s, shots at the rim, and, of course, free throws. In the same way coaches design offenses to create the most efficient shots, players try to find ways to the stripe.

If deceiving an official is the best path, so be it.

"There's all these concepts that are very clinical in the rulebook," McCutchen said. "Our teams and our players then push that limit of what the rulebook says, until we as the league say we like or don't like how our game is right now."

Plays like Young's brake-check jumper have created a lot of conversation within the league. But there are so many clever maneuvers players use. Some are so subtle to the point of being nearly unnoticeable, like Kyle Lowry setting up to take a charge and gently pulling the offensive player into him to make it look like he got plowed over.

McCutchen has a polite name for these players: innovators. He won't name names, though NBA fans know who the prime culprits and the strategies they deploy.

"Innovators, such as some of the players you may be imagining," McCutchen said, "are always going to test the rules."

A good example: The rulebook is clear about two steps after a gather. But what it doesn't say is that the steps have to be forward, backward or sideways. Players like James Harden, Jayson Tatum and others have, ahem, innovated to take that step-back to extremes.

McCutchen recalled Boston Celtics great Paul Pierce splitting double teams, jumping from one foot to the same foot, then taking a second step with his other foot. At the time, it technically wasn't a travel. The league's competition committee amended the rule: no hopping.

"Referees and the league are always going to be a half-step or step behind our teams and players," McCutchen said. "Because their job is to find the advantage. That's how you win, is finding little advantages that over 48 minutes add up to seven points or three points or one point."

Separating players from their reputations is part of the referee's job. It might seem that there could be some prejudice for the players that routinely make officials look bad, or lower their grade for getting more calls wrong. But officiating those players is a challenge to embrace.

"That's the challenge of a referee that you let the outside noise of status run to the side, and you don't worry about the status, you worry about the actual rule," McCutchen said. "You start to take on the mentality that it's about the concept."

"Now," McCutchen said with a grin, "some players are better than others at maximizing the concept."

CHRIS PAUL IS a true basketball genius. He plays in the game in a perpetual state of bullet time, with plays going by in slow motion. Details and intricacies are seamlessly picked up on the fly.

And Paul, who has served as players' union president since 2013, isn't bashful about talking about the rules of the game -- even bending them. If he sees a defender hanging his leg out, Paul will run into contact and force a whistle.

A cousin to Young's brake-check pull-up is Paul's stop-short, where a ball handler will feel a defender on their back, typically in the backcourt, 50 or more feet from the basket, and slam on the brakes to let an unassuming defender run over them for a foul. To some, that's simply known as "the Chris Paul."

Once an opposing team puts the Phoenix Suns in the bonus, there isn't a more dangerous player on the floor.

Another favorite of Paul's is the rip-through, a tactic seemingly popularized by Kevin Durant in 2009. It's simple: Your defender is on you with an arm outstretched. You swing the ball in a counterclockwise motion (if you're right-handed) into the defender's unassuming arms, catching contact as you begin something resembling a shooting motion.

As a young player, Durant struggled with defenders crowding him and needed something to counter their aggressiveness. He was taught the move by teammate Desmond Mason.

"Desmond warned me that guys were going to get up into me on defense," Durant said in 2010. "I saw him do it a few times and I kind of stole it from him."

Coaches and opposing players constantly complained about it before, during and after games. Durant didn't care. It was free points any time a defender had a mental lapse.

"They've said it's a legal play, so I'm going to keep doing it until they tell me I can't," Durant said after a game in March 2011. "That's when I'll stop."

Now, players like Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid are picking up the move from watching Durant. But it's a technique that goes back decades, used by Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals in 2008 and Tim Duncan before that. Like Young's pull-up, Paul said he remembers Chauncey Billups doing the rip-through some 20 years ago.

Until 2011, this was a shooting foul, but the league legislated against it, turning it into a foul on the floor. Like he said he'd do, Durant stopped using it nearly as much. (He did hit the Washington Wizards with it in January in a critical spot late in the game.)

Paul, though, as he does, found a gray area to continue to expose the rule: just wait until his team is in the bonus. It's still a foul, just not a shooting foul. So late in quarters, Paul will deploy the rip-through and get two free throws. You can see the exasperation on the faces of defenders the moment Paul gets them.

"Like, 'Damn, why does this dude do this stupid s---?'" Suns forward Abdel Nader said when asked what goes through his mind when opponents pull off a successful rip-through. "Other than that, you've gotta keep playing, move on."

In surveying players around the league, the rip-through was by far the most popular answer for biggest pet peeve move.

"That's what great scorer's do though, they know the rules and know how the refs call it and they get fouls drawn," Oklahoma City Thunder forward Mike Muscala said. "It doesn't seem like a natural basketball play."

Paul said he hears assistant coaches screaming at defenders to be ready for it, to get their hands back. Milwaukee Bucks guard Donte DiVincenzo was a recent victim, and as coaches yelled at him to be aware, DiVicenzo said, "What?"

"By the time he heard it," Paul said, "it was too late."

If there's a player that seeks those advantages within the rules of the game McCutchen talked about, it's The Point God.

"They're not annoying. If you watch enough games every night, you know what to expect. There's a skill to that," Paul countered. "That stuff James [Harden] does where he puts the ball out, that's a skill. DeMar DeRozan is great at it. That's a skill."

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to say who invented the pump fake. Basketball footage as far back as the 1950s will show players pump-faking defenders and driving past them. They use all sorts of dekes and counters and hesitations.

But one innovation started teetering into clever/annoying territory -- the pump-and-jump. You pump-fake your defender to get them to leave their feet, then use their groundless situation against them to jump into them for a foul call. Pierce was good at it. Dwyane Wade mastered it. Walt Frazier did it as far back as 1973.

The pump-and-jump is one of the eye-rolliest plays in the game, but to an official, it's more straightforward than it appears. It's the more subtle ones, like an offensive player throwing their head back to draw attention to contact, or a big man disguising a moving screen as roll to the basket, or a big man giving a slight nudge to clear space.

"It's called the Black Tornado," Shaquille O'Neal said of his savvy veteran and very legal move. "Bump, spin, bump, get you off balance and then dunk in your face. Just to let you know that you ain't strong enough and you ain't ready."

The league gathers feedback every season on player moves and tactics. The competition committee looks at them and will sometimes legislate changes. Because at the core, the league wants to make sure the game stays beautiful, can flow and not get driven down by gray-area maneuvers. Still: It's almost impossible for the league to stay ahead of the players.

There are plays like Reggie Miller's scissorkick, where he'd cleverly leave one leg hanging out on a jumper for a defender to potentially clip. It was irritating, and in 2012, seven years after Miller retired the league implemented, you guessed it, "The Reggie Miller Rule," that made it an offensive foul to leave a leg out.

By next season, we might be talking about "The Trae Young Rule." But until the league legislates it out of the game, it's fair play. And it's up to the players to discover counters.

There are extreme measures, like in 2018 when LeBron James picked Paul up about 40 feet from the bucket.

LeBron was shading Paul on his right hip, as Paul dragged the ball around near the floor. LeBron, who does his homework, knew Paul was in position to deploy the rip-through. So LeBron put his hands behind his back.

Patty Mills guarded Harden for basically an entire playoff series this way. Because there's not much you can do to counter these clever plays. A foul is a foul and the referee has to call it. Some are embellished, like when Harden or Paul, or any player takes a bit of awkward-looking contact and falls to the floor, forcing a whistle.

Harden is an offensive craftsman and has perfected the art of drawing fouls. He'll do little things, like calling for a screen and waiting for the on-ball defender to glance over his shoulder to see where the screen is coming from and then drag his arms into the defender's outstretched arms.

Is it cheap? Most players and coaches say definitely. Is it a foul? Also yes.

Before a recent matchup with Nikola Jokic, Suns center Deandre Ayton pored over film of Jokic's favorite moves and foul-drawing tactics. Because as Ayton said, all he can do is be prepared.

"Whatever my matchup is, whoever I'm playing against, I look at their tendencies, what's their bread and butter. I counter it and I learn from it," Ayton said. "That's something I'm good at is watching my matchup and knowing what he loves to do. ...

"We want you to make a mistake. I'll defend you until you make one."

The other thing to try, Ayton said: Get in front of it. Talk to the ref before the game and tell them to be on the lookout for these cheeky plays.

"In the post, I'll tell the refs, when I know it's a center that likes to bang, like Jokic, I'll tell the ref, 'Hey, just watch my hands,'" Ayton said. "Showing my hands when I'm taking contact, so don't call a foul. Just reminding the ref, 'Yo, we bangin' but my hands aren't in there, I'm straight up.'"

With every savvy play, there are two perspectives. If it's in your favor, it's a good thing. If not, it's cheap.

That's how Nash felt about Young's savvy move in the heat of the moment. And, like former Thunder center Steven Adams said last season when asked about Paul's favorite:

"Oh, it's great. [When] he's on my team."

ESPN's Marc Raimondi contributed to this story.

You know, for all the grumbling throughout the MLB offseason, we ended up with a fascinating list of transactions. We saw two of the best all-around players in the game traded. That's pretty fun, at least for Mets and Cardinals fans. We watched the reigning National League Cy Young winner, the NL Cy Young runner-up, and a recent American League Cy Young winner all change teams. That doesn't happen every offseason. And in Chicago alone, we saw the White Sox continue to go big and the Cubs punt on third down.

Yes, we have too many teams that didn't do anything -- but we also have the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres setting the stage for an epic duel in 2021.

"The Padres, they started quick," said new San Diego starter Blake Snell, the 2018 AL CY Young winner who came over in a trade with the Rays. "We threw some haymakers quick. And then the Dodgers, they followed with some big haymakers as well. It's exciting. It's what baseball should be about -- make the best team you can possibly make and doing everything you can to win, and I feel like both the teams are doing so."

After the Padres acquired Snell and then Yu Darvish from the Cubs, among a list of major offseason deals, the Dodgers eventually countered when they signed 2020 Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer and then re-signed third baseman Justin Turner.

It's on. "It's exciting what they're doing," Turner said of the Padres. "I think it's good for the game of baseball. They're being aggressive and going for it and it's good to see teams doing that. The way I look at it now that I'm back with the Dodgers is we're getting 19 World Series games this year."

So the Padres and Dodgers top the list of my favorite offseasons. There is also an easy call for my least favorite offseason.

He is the epitome of English sporting greatness.

His grandson James is in Wales' Six Nations squad after winning his first cap last November, and there will be no divided loyalties when the sides line up at the Principality Stadium.

This is a man who had a series named after him - Botham's Ashes - when England claimed a famous success against Australia in 1981.

This is the same man who helped celebrate England's 1980 Grand Slam with his good friend Sir Bill Beaumont, who captained the red rose to the Five Nations title.

More than 40 years on, Botham is favouring the red shirt against the white jersey.

"You don't have to ask me," laughed Botham, when asked where his allegiance will lie this Saturday.

"I'm actually very happy to pull on that red shirt when they play England because obviously blood is thicker than water.

"I am a proud Englishman, but I go UK for that weekend. It is a UK match. I'm supporting Wales, of course I am.

"What grandfather wouldn't? That's the question I would put to people.

"And more importantly, I think England can be taken. I think Wales can take them at this moment in time because England don't look a happy camp to me, looking from the outside in."

Botham's support for his grandson's team will remain even if James does not make the 23-man Wales squad, which is a possibility even though he impressed as a replacement in the 25-24 victory against Scotland.

"I don't know what they're thinking, but I don't think he's done any harm to himself and I would suggest he'll be pretty pleased with where he is at the moment," added Botham.

"So whatever happens I want Jimbo to be part of a winning team, whether he's on the field, on the bench or in the grandstand."

Liam Botham, Ian's son and James' father, agrees.

"I'll be singing the English national anthem and then supporting Wales. That's just the way it is," he said.

Liam, 43 scored 42 tries in 72 games between 1997 and 2000 for Cardiff and also played rugby for England A and toured South Africa, narrowly missing out on an England cap before playing rugby league for Leeds Rhinos.

But more importantly for Welsh rugby now, his son James was born in Cardiff. So the Botham sporting dynasty has developed to a third generation and the journey has switched from England to Wales.

Road to Wales

Ian and Liam are talking from their home base in north Yorkshire. Despite his grand title - which came when he was nominated for a life peerage in the 2020 political honours - the patriarch of the family, now 65, prefers to be known simply as Ian or Beefy, his long-time nickname.

Jimbo is how James is known by most the family, while in the Wales squad he is the Duke, as coined by Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones thanks to his grandfather's House of Lords achievements.

The family home helped a young James forge his rugby talents. Rugby was always his first passion and his grandfather describes him running from point to point around the estate harnessing his fitness and talents.

His rise has been meteoric considering Botham only turned 23 this week and has only 20 professional games to his name for Cardiff Blues and Wales. Liam describes how his son's bedroom was always decked out in red.

"He had the Welsh feathers, the rugby ball, so there's never, ever been any doubt about where his heart was, he was always Welsh through and through," said Liam.

"I'm just so proud of what he's done, he's a father's dream. You can see him blossoming just being in that Welsh camp and there is huge potential for him going forward."

The distance from Cardiff highlights the sacrifices James made to represent the country of his birth after the family left when he was young.

He departed Wales aged two after his father's sporting career brought him back north. He made countless journeys from the north of England to link up with the Cardiff Blues academy and play for Wales Under-18s and Under-20s.

"I always remember Jimbo when he was old enough to think for himself, he actually said straight away 'I'm not playing for England, I want to play for Wales'," said Ian.

"I said: 'Hang on mate, you're jumping the gun a bit there'.

"He said: 'No, if I get a chance, I'm going to play for Wales' and he used to travel so far and I don't know if people in Wales realise this.

"He would go from Sedbergh School up in Cumbria, on the border (with Scotland), and come all the way down for academy sessions and then travel back.

"It's about a 500-mile round trip and he did that on many occasions - that's how determined he was.

"He resisted all pressure to stay and play for England and I think he made a magnificent choice. It shows you his commitment.

"He set his heart on Wales for his playing career, he loves Cardiff, loves the team and atmosphere and is doing what he wants to do."

Sporting talents

All three generations of the family have forged professional sporting careers.

Liam managed to combine rugby and cricket as careers after a spell on the county circuit with Hampshire. Ian made 17 football appearances for Yeovil and played 11 games for Scunthorpe.

James gave up cricket in his mid to late teens, while Ian admitted his rugby career - under a Welsh master in school - lasted only one game, when he was given his marching orders for a slide tackle.

Following in the footsteps of one of the country's most iconic sports stars is something first Liam and James now have had to cope with.

"I've followed it as any granddad would, you try and protect your children and your grandchildren from it to a degree," said Botham.

"I saw one comment on an article talking about Jimbo which said 'what do you have to do to play for Wales then, spend a few weeks here on holiday is it and you're Welsh?'.

"This other guy immediately wrote back and blew him out of the water by pointing out Jimbo was born in Cardiff and played from the Wales Under-18s all the way through. I thought that was great.

"Personally it's like water off a duck's back. I really couldn't care less, but it's tougher for the younger ones coming through.

"I was lucky enough to have a great career, but I also have had the same buzz watching Liam and now Jimbo play."

Liam added: "For Jimbo some people will always say he's only there because of who he is.

"We've all had that so it doesn't matter, obviously since dad, anybody in the family, it doesn't matter what they do, it doesn't have to be to do with sport it can be anything, any factor of life.

"With the generation gap it is probably is a little bit easier for Jimbo in that respect and he has handled it very well. He is his own man. Jimbo or James Botham. He's not a Liam Botham or an Ian Botham."

And Botham senior outlines the affinity his family have always felt with the land of his grandson.

"We've always had strong ties with Wales," he said.

"I have friends down there like Stan Thomas, Peter Thomas, Max Boyce, Gareth Edwards and Jonathan Davies and many others.

"We also did the two walks to raise money for the Noah's Ark Children's Hospital of Wales, so the bond is always there."

And it's always rugby that has drawn the Bothams back.

"Let's be fair, people talk about cricket in England, but it's rugby in Wales, summer, winter, autumn, and spring," he said.

"So you can see why Jimbo has always had such a passion for Wales. Long may it continue."