Barcelona rode a goal from Ansu Fati and an inspired performance from Lionel Messi to a 3-0 win over Celta Vigo on Thursday night in La Liga.

The win makes it two from two for new Barca boss Ronald Koeman, whose team earned the result despite playing the entire second half down a man.

- Ratings: Fati, Coutinho 8/10 in Barca win
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"I'm so proud of the team for how they played tonight. We worked very well and played with a lot of discipline with one player less," Koeman said after the game. "We are doing very well and results like this invite us to think we are on the right path."

Barca wasted no time taking the lead through teenager Fati, who made a clever move to get behind the Celta defence before flashing his class with an even-better finish with the outside of his right foot.

The visitors took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room, but were dealt a blow right before half-time when Clement Lenglet was shown a second yellow card that forced his team to play the second half with 10 players.

The Catalans, who had failed to win their last five league games at Celta's Balaidos, maintained control even with 10 men, only once looking in danger of conceding.

Nolito skipped into the area but his shot was saved by Barca stand-in keeper Neto, Celta's Miguel Baeza pounced on the rebound but Sergi Roberto threw his body in the way and deflected the goal-bound shot on to the crossbar.

Messi's fancy footwork then led to Barcelona's second goal shortly after the restart as his right-footed effort was redirected into the goal by Celta's Lucas Olaza after the Argentine tip-toed his way into the penalty area.

A goalmouth scramble led to Barca's third goal when Roberto smashed home a volley from close range following another incisive run into the area by Messi wreaked havoc on the Celta defence.

"It was very important we continued to play with positivity when we had one player less," Roberto said after the match. "We defended as a team, everyone did their job and we played with a lot of desire, and showed we really want to achieve great things this season.

"We realised after the result against Bayern that we had to change things, we were fighting right up until the last minute today."

Barca were often over-powered by teams last season, none more so than in their aforementioned 8-2 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, but they looked far stronger and fitter against Celta.

"We play like we train, you can tell that we are in a much better shape physically," added Koeman. "It's not my business to talk about last season, I only care about this one but from day one I've seen these players show that they are hungry and motivated about redeeming themselves."

Next up for Barcelona is an Oct. 4 home match against Sevilla FC, while Celta are away to Osasuna on the same day.

Arsenal will face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, while Everton host Manchester United following the quarterfinal draw on Thursday night.

In the other two quarterfinal ties, Championship side Brentford were drawn against Newcastle United and Stoke City were paired with Tottenham.

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Arsenal, who beat Liverpool in the fourth round on penalties, will see their manager Mikel Arteta pitted against his former boss Pep Guardiola at Man City.

Manchester United will have their work cut out for them against Everton, the Premier League leaders at the time of the draw, in a match at Goodison Park.

The ties are scheduled to be played on the week starting Dec. 21.

Quarterfinal draw results:

- Stoke City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

- Brentford vs. Newcastle United

- Arsenal vs. Manchester City

- Everton vs. Manchester United

LIVERPOOL, England -- Eventually, both teams probably got the result their seasons needed.

It took 90 goalless minutes and a penalty shootout but Arsenal booked their place in the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup at Liverpool's expense. Joe Willock's spot kick -- the Gunners' sixth -- only just squirmed over the line underneath Adrian to give Mikel Arteta's side another victory over the champions courtesy of penalties after the Community Shield went the same way in August.

The way Arsenal's players celebrated -- running to the corner and jumping all over Willock -- was evidence enough that they are very much interested in winning this competition for the first time since 1993. It was not that Liverpool don't, just that they have bigger fish to fry.

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Winners in 2012 and runners-up as recently as 2016, there was a time when the League Cup in its many different guises was a focal point of their campaign, but not now. Not after winning the Champions League and the Premier League in back-to-back years.

Arsenal under Arteta are at a different stage of their development, and lifting this trophy at Wembley in March will represent a significant accomplishment after winning the FA Cup in August. Title contenders often learn how to win in the cups and Arsenal have been formidable in such competitions under Arteta.

For Liverpool, however, taking home only the League Cup this season would be considered a disappointment when set against what has gone before.

"This game tonight matters like you wouldn't believe," read the banner above Klopp's programme notes. "We want to win it with all we have."

Lower down, though, came the caveat.

"It is not a case of treating certain competitions as priorities over others. It's about managing the situation, the circumstances and the squad. The situation and circumstances cannot be ignored."

Liverpool's situation is that they face a trip to in-form Aston Villa in three days' time as they try to maintain their perfect start in the Premier League, and even though Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah were handed starts, both were substituted after an hour. Van Dijk began to walk off before the board had even gone up suggesting his withdrawal had been prearranged.

Arsenal have a game on Sunday, too, against Sheffield United at the Emirates. But Arteta -- who also made changes following the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the league on Monday -- is trying to guide his team back into the top four and bring back Champions League football.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have only got eyes for the Premier League trophy and Klopp will know that, if the last three seasons are anything to go by, he will need close to 100 points. There is no margin for error, even just a couple of weeks into the season.

It would have been different had Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno not been in such fine form at Anfield. Beaten three times on the same ground on Monday, he looked determined to make sure the same thing did not happen again.

He made fine save from Marko Grujic twice, Diogo Jota and Van Dijk in normal time before making two saves in the shoo-out from Divock Origi and Harry Wilson. The save to deny Wilson, making his first Liverpool start since January 2017, was particularly impressive and it was understandable that he walked off the field wearing a huge grin.

The first half was about as exciting as the atmosphere inside an empty Anfield. That was until Neco Williams -- abused by some Liverpool fans online for his performance in the last round against Lincoln -- swung in a delicious ball towards the back post. It was the one bit of real quality during 45 minutes of shadow boxing and gave Jota the chance to head at goal. It was saved by a diving Leno and just as everyone inside the stadium expected Takumi Minamino to finish a simple chance from the rebound, his volley crashed off the underside of the crossbar.

Then came Leno's masterclass to keep Arsenal in the game. Arteta has inherited a goalkeeper who can not only aid the Spaniard's blueprint of passing out from the back, he's also pretty useful with his hands, too.

It was perhaps destiny that a fixture that ended 5-5 last season would be goalless this time around, although Klopp admitted afterwards his team should have been "a bit more clinical."

He will not be too disappointed when the Carabao Cup quarterfinals and semifinals are both crammed into the hectic Christmas schedule. His players will have their feet up when Arsenal are taking on Manchester City in the last eight in late December. Klopp is not the type to admit to being happy after a defeat and even though it was not the result Liverpool wanted, he will look back in May and accept it was what they needed.

Nottinghamshire 139 for 7 (Clarke 35, Griffiths 3-21) tied with Leicestershire 139 for 7 (Swindells 58, Christian 2-24) - Notts won higher Powerplay score

Leicestershire let a golden opportunity slip through their grasp - literally as well as figuratively - to allow Nottinghamshire to book their place in a Vitality T20 Blast semi-final against Lancashire.

With 17 runs required from the final seven balls, it seemed Leicestershire had held their nerve in a thrilling East Midlands derby. But then Arron Lilley, fielding at midwicket, made a fearsome mess of an apparently simple piece of ground fielding to concede four to Samit Patel when there should have been a single.

Worse was to follow. After Patel had struck a six in the final over, two were required from the final ball to send Nottinghamshire through. When Imad Wasim could only mistime the ball to mid-on, it looked as if he would be limited to a single. But Dieter Klein failed to pick up the ball cleanly and allowed it to pass him by.

With the scores finishing level, the winner was to be decided by the side who had lost fewer wickets. But when that, too, was equal, the qualifier was the score after the Powerplay overs. It meant Nottinghamshire qualified for Finals Day

Perhaps those fielding errors were the result of pressure, perhaps they were the result of the ball having become slippery in the dew but for a Leicestershire side who had fought back from an awful start with the bat and had held their nerve admirably with the ball it was a bitterly disappointing way to let the game slip away.

"We got away with that," Dan Christian, the Nottinghamshire captain, admitted to Sky afterwards. It was hard to disagree.

False start

By managing just 22 runs in the Powerplay, Leicestershire gave themselves a mountain to climb in the rest of the game. Perhaps surprised by a surface that offered impressive bounce and carry, they managed only one run from the first over and none at all from the third. It represented the fourth worst Powerplay performance by a team batting first in the competition this season.

It wasn't just the lack of runs, either. Leicestershire also lost two wickets in those first six overs and another from the first ball of the seventh. At 22 for 3, having only managed two boundaries, it looked as if this could be a one-sided encounter.

They did stage something of a comeback. Harry Swindells and Colin Ackermann put on 66 in eight overs, including a spell where they hit 46 off four overs, and by taking 97 off the final 10 overs of the innings, they did give themselves a chance. But, bearing in mind the manner in which the result was decided, that slow start came back to haunt them.

Hanging in there

Leicestershire's bowlers didn't deserve to be on the wrong side of this result. They were immaculate almost throughout. With seven bowlers used and only one of them - the unfortunate Lilley, who went for 14 from his only one - proving expensive, it might be harsh to pick out any of them in a performance that was characterised by its strength as a unit.

But Gavin Griffiths, who was on a hat-trick after Ben Duckett lost his leg stump missing a heave across the line and Chris Nash was brilliantly caught after chipping to mid-on, and Will Davis, who came on for the 14th over and nailed his slower-balls nervelessly, were especially impressive among the seamers.

Ackerman enjoyed a fine all-round performance, too. After contributing 43 with the bat, he claimed three wickets with his waspish offbreaks including the apparently key ones of Joe Clarke, who looked in sublime touch before mishitting one to long off, and Tom Moores, who looked as if he were taking his side to victory before he lost his off stump to one that gripped just enough to beat his stroke.

But non one bowled better than left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson. Despite bowling his first three overs in the Powerplay, the spell only cost 17 runs. He then returned for the 15th over with Nottinghamshire desperate for quick runs and conceded just four more.

More than that, though, he produced the ball of the night to account for Alex Hales. Pitching on leg stump, gripping and spinning past Hales' bat, it hit middle stump and suggested that his brother Matt may not be the only international spinner in the family. It really was a lovely piece of bowling.

Samit's up

This must have been a frustrating season for Patel. Despite having represented England in all three formats of the game, he currently finds himself struggling to maintain a place in Nottinghamshire's top seven and had faced only seven balls (and made a top score of 4 not out) in the competition before this game.

But, aged 35 and a veteran of 287 games in this format, he showed his composure and his class here. Yes, he had some fortune with the fielding, for sure. But the six he hit from the fourth ball of the final over - a glorious drive that flew over long-off - must have been partially responsible for ratcheting up the pressure that resulted in Klein's misfield.

Even before that final over, there had been three fours and a sense that Patel knew that if he could take the game deep enough, if he could put some pressure back on Leicestershire, he would be giving his team a chance. Ultimately, he held his nerve and they didn't.

Giant-scaring

With no side having won this tournament as many times as Leicestershire, it probably sounds incongruous to suggest they were on the verge of a giant killing. But the last of their three victories, in 2011, came the last time they reached Finals Day. Only once since, in 2017, had they reached a quarter-final before this. They have a young side with only three internationals including Klein, who has represented Germany twice.

Nottinghamshire, meanwhile, had six internationals in their side including two overseas players. It's only a partially unfair joke to suggest their youth system has its base at Leicestershire Grace Road; it's far from unusual for them to utilise their superior spending power to lure the best players away from Leicestershire: Stuart Broad, James Taylor and Harry Gurney among them.

But though it is Notts who progress, and although you suspect this result will sting long into the winter, Leicestershire may feel they made their point rather eloquently in this game. They might not have any money, they might not have many big names and they might not have an especially lovely recent record. But with a fine team spirit, with some clever plans put in place by their enterprising coach, Paul Nixon, they showed once again that they are a team to be respected in this format, at least.

A 37-ball 73 from Zeeshan Ashraf went in vain, as Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan ripped through the Southern Punjab line-up, setting up a 27-run victory for Northern in Multan. Rauf and Shadab shared seven wickets between them to restrict Southern Punjab to 176 for 9, paving the way for Northern's second straight win.

Batting first, Northern opener Zeeshan Malik was dismissed early, but Imran Ali (50 off 39) and Haider Ali (28 off 15) strung together a 49-run partnership to keep the score ticking. Though fast bowler Mohammad Irfan and legspinner Zahid Mahmood chipped in with wickets at regular intervals, they were unable to arrest the flow of runs, as a flurry of late hits from Shadab (28 off 14), Asif Ali (29 off 21) and Mohammad Nawaz (31 off 15) boosted Northern to 203 for 5.

Southern Punjab began their daunting chase poorly, losing in-form captain Shan Masood for a duck inside the first over. Ashraf tried to anchor the innings, putting up handy partnerships with Umar Siddiq and Sohaib Maqsood, but the game swung decisively Northern's way in the 13th over as Shadab struck twice. Rauf then returned in his second spell to take three wickets, ending any faint hopes Southern Punjab may have had.

Courtney Walsh has been named head coach of West Indies' women's team and, according to a Cricket West Indies statement "will lead the preparation and development of the women's team at least up until the end of 2022".

Walsh, who is West Indies' leading wicket-taker in Test cricket with 519 scalps, had worked with the women's team during the T20 World Cup held in Australia in February and March this year. He has also worked as assistant coach with Bangladesh's men's team. He has also served as a West Indies selector previously.

Walsh said he takes up the role with a "very good understanding of what is required".

"I've always wanted to give back in any way I can and help with the development of the game in the West Indies," he said. "The experience I have, my knowledge of the game, and my overall organisational skills will be key aspects as we try to develop a winning team culture.

"I worked with the team at the Women's T20 World Cup earlier this year in Australia and in the series against India in the Caribbean last year, so I have a very good understanding of what is required.

"The ability and the talent are there, we have some fantastic players in the West Indies, and it will be my duty and focus to help the women to develop their talents and achieve the goals we are going to be setting together."

Jimmy Adams, CWI's director of cricket, expanded on Walsh's role, saying: "He will be overseeing the programme initially until the end of the next two ICC Women's World Cups in 2022, and he will be pivotal in working with CWI's High Performance Team to move our whole women's programme forward."

Walsh takes over the role from Gus Logie, following a recruitment process that was announced in May. Andre Coley was the team's interim coach on the just-concluded tour of England, which marked the return of top-flight women's cricket after the pandemic-enforced lockdown. West Indies lost the five-match T20I series against England 5-0.

The Sheffield Shield will look different this season, at least for the first part of the competition, as it's being played entirely in an Adelaide hub for the initial four rounds. Justin Langer, the Australia head coach, has said it's unlikely there will be many changes to the Test squad when India arrive, but a larger group of players will be needed due to various Covid-19 restrictions. So who could nudge their way into contention?

Nic Maddinson (Victoria)

Last season: Matches 7; Innings 10; Runs 780; Average 86.66

The left-hander, who played three Tests against South Africa and Pakistan in 2016, has been one of the most prolific Shield batsmen across the last two seasons after his move back to Victoria. In just 12 matches, he has piled up 1343 runs at 83.93 and towards the end of last season his form was enough to earn an Australia A call-up where he made a half-century against England Lions. If he can start strongly in the Adelaide hub, he could be in the frame as a middle-order reserve. He is one of a group of Victoria batsmen - including Marcus Harris, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb - who could press their claims.

Cameron Green (Western Australia)

Last season: Matches 8; Innings 15; Runs 699; Average 63.54 | Wickets 3; Average 38.66

Allrounder Green is one of the most talked about talents in Australian cricket and it feels just a matter of time before he gets a call-up although coach Justin Langer has been keen to temper expectations and wants to see Green's output over a longer time frame. Still, in these unusual times, a few eye-catching weeks for Western Australia, especially if Mitchell Marsh doesn't recover from his ankle injury, could fast-track a promotion. With a first-class batting average of 43.84 and bowling return of 21.53, the talent is clear. The key for Green will be bowling at full tilt and remaining fit after battling stress fractures of the back.

Mitchell Swepson (Queensland)

Last season: Matches 6; Wickets 14; Average 31.50

There will have to be at least one reserve spinner in the squad due to the inability to quickly fly players in and legspinner Swepson probably has the spot locked down already. He was called into the Test squad for the SCG match against New Zealand in January and would surely have gone on the tour to Bangladesh in June. The shift to the Adelaide hub could work in his favour with conditions on the outgrounds being used perhaps more conducive to spin that the Gabba often is early in a Shield season.

Usman Khawaja (Queensland)

Last season: Matches 7; Innings 11; Runs 202; Average 18.36

It may be a tricky summer to blood young players, so if Australia want a batsman with a wealth of experience who could fill a number of roles at short notice, Khawaja, who has not been part of the set-up since midway through last year's Ashes, could fit the bill. He has previously opened in Test cricket with a stunning average of 96.80 and could also bat at No. 3 or 4. After being pushed out of the one-day set-up by the squeeze for top-order slots and the emergence of Marnus Labuschagne, Khawaja admitted he was angry but conversations with Langer have helped him refocus after a poor 2019-2020 season. "I still feel like there's a lot left for me on the horizon... I feel like I'm really close there," he told cricket.com.au last month.

Kurtis Patterson (New South Wales)

Last season: Matches 3; Innings 5; Runs 130; Average 32.50

Patterson's 2019-2020 was severely interrupted by a quad injured suffered in pre-season which he then exacerbated during a match against Tasmania. He would only play three matches in the campaign, although earned Australia A selection to face England Lions and made an unbeaten 94 in the second innings. Australia's top-order looks pretty settled, but a strong start to the Shield - plus the fact he has a Test century under his belt - could put Patterson among the best of the rest and he has shown good form during New South Wales' inter-squad pre-season matches.

Riley Meredith (Tasmania)

Last season: Matches 5; Wickets 20; Average 28.35

Australia's pace attack picks itself with the main three followed by James Pattinson and probably the perennial 12th-man Michael Neser. However, if more than five quicks are needed there is an opening for someone outside of the established pack to make a case. Meredith remains on the raw side, but his pace has caught the selectors' eye in white-ball cricket and he was part of the recent England tour. Before injury curtailed his last season, he had produced encouraging numbers.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Cam Newton will oppose Patrick Mahomes for the first time in his career when he leads the New England Patriots against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS), but he says he has enjoyed watching Mahomes from afar.

"Man, he's changing the game," Newton said Thursday. "I think he's shining light on the new wave of quarterbacks. It's just fun to watch."

Mahomes, 25, has led the Chiefs to a 3-0 start. He has completed 82 of 121 passes for 898 yards, with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. He also has rushed for 80 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown.

One obvious link between Mahomes and Newton is that both have been named NFL Most Valuable Player -- Mahomes in 2018 and Newton in 2015.

Newton, 31, said part of what stands out to him about Mahomes is that he has "a lot of merit to what he does."

"It's not like he's just back there and it's an arcade game," Newton said. "Sometimes it looks like it, but he knows exactly what he's doing and how he's manipulating the defense. That's the same thing that the Dan Marinos used to do. Obviously the Tom Bradys. The Aaron Rodgers. Those guys really have so much command of the offense that you dictate to the defense. That's what he's doing. He's playing the game at a high level."

Newton is, too, helping the Patriots to a 2-1 record while completing 62 of 91 passes for 714 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also has rushed 35 times for 149 yards and four touchdowns.

In Kansas City, Missouri, Mahomes reflected on watching the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton.

"I wish I could do some of the things he does, as far as how physical he is, and the way he's able to make plays happen. He's a great football player, someone I watched when he was at Auburn," Mahomes said, also referencing how he has seen Newton's highlights from his time at Blinn College in Texas. "He's in a great spot now and he's playing really good football."

Newton said he was flattered by Mahomes' comments.

"We all have our own platforms and I play this game for multiple reasons," he said. "A lot of those reasons kind of come off the backs of somebody empowering me. It's pretty neat to hear that, but at the end of the day we all have a responsibility to empower others, to motivate others, and to impact others. And through it all we just all have to use our influence in a positive way."

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- LeBron James says the secret to his success with Anthony Davis -- as the first-year teammates now have the Los Angeles Lakers three wins away from the NBA title -- is pretty simple.

"We're not jealous of each other. I think that's the best thing," James said before Thursday's practice, preparing for Game 2 of the Finals against the Miami Heat (Friday, 9 p.m. ET, ABC). "In professional sports, you have guys that join forces -- you can call them alpha males. That's what they call them. Two guys that have been dominant in a specific sport on their own respective teams, and they get together and they talk about how dominant they can be and they talk about this is going to be this and that. I believe jealousy creeps in a lot. And that is the absolute contrary of what we are.

"We know who we are. We know what we're about. We want the best, seriously, every single day, both on and off the floor, for one another. We're just not jealous of one another. I think that you align that with respect, I think the sky's the limit."

James and Davis' chemistry started long before they were both in Los Angeles. Davis, while in high school, was a camper at James' summer skills academy and later, they teamed up together in the 2012 London Olympics. Last season, with James playing alongside an inexperienced Lakers group and Davis starring for a middling New Orleans Pelicans squad, the two publicly pined for a trade to land Davis with the Lakers.

Davis said jealousy concerns "never crossed my mind" when the trade was consummated last June, pairing him with one of the most famous athletes not just in the country, but in the entire world.

"I'm not jealous of him, he's not jealous of me. I think it shows on the court," Davis said. "Obviously, that can always creep in when you've got, like you said, two alpha males on the same team. But I think when you've got two guys who are very selfless and want to win as bad as both of us want to, the rest of it goes away and just takes care of itself. Jealousy has never been a thing on our team from anyone."

James' description of his fit with Davis comes days after his former teammate Kyrie Irving -- whom James linked with to win a championship in 2016 and make three Finals appearances in three years before the point guard requested a trade out of Cleveland -- seemingly took a shot at him on a podcast appearance.

On the debut episode of Kevin Durant's new podcast, "The ETCs w/ KD," Irving praised Durant as being a teammate he can trust as much as he trusts himself in late-game situations.

"One thing I've always been comfortable with is I felt like I was the best option on every team I played for down the stretch," Irving said. "This is the first time in my career where I could look down and be like, 'That motherf---er can make that shot, too, and he'd probably do it a lot easier.'"

James, 35, told ESPN he was aware of Irving's comments but declined to comment further.

In some ways, Davis, 27, is supplanting Irving as the most impressive teammate of James' career. Before Davis averaged 29.1 points this postseason, the most a teammate of James ever averaged in the playoffs was Irving's 25.9 points per game in 2017, followed by Irving's 25.2 points per game in 2016, followed by Dwyane Wade's 24.5 points per game in 2011.

The Lakers have outscored opponents by 15.9 points per 100 possessions when James and Davis share the court this postseason. The best James and Irving ever did was amassing a plus-12.7 points per 100 possessions in the 2017 playoffs.

Of course, James and Irving became the first pair of teammates ever to score 40-plus points together in a Finals game in Game 5 in 2016, and Irving nailed the game-sealing 3 in Game 7 that year.

There is no denying their success together, but it wasn't always easy. The Athletic's Jason Lloyd reported in the months following Irving's trade to Boston that Irving's father, Dred, told his son he purposely did not associate himself with James' longtime friend and then-Cavs employee Randy Mims because he didn't want to be "fraternizing with the enemy."

James and Davis, however, have found a common ground. To wit, in Thursday's news conference, James described his game thus: "I have no weakness, offensively or defensively, to where if I can read a defense, I can exploit it. I can put myself in a position to be successful." However, when Davis spoke later, he said he has latitude to point out James' flaws.

"We hold each other accountable. When we watch film or even during the course of a game, if I did something wrong, he tells me. If he does something wrong, I tell him," Davis said. "I think that's what makes it work, knowing that we trust one another to make reads, to make calls. We're able to talk to one another."

There is one thing James has that Davis admits makes him jealous, however.

"He has a ring," Davis said. "Hopefully I don't have to be envious of that much longer. I want a ring, and he has three of them. That would be the one thing for sure that I would be jealous about."

After a rapid courtship and negotiation, Doc Rivers has reached agreement on a five-year deal to become the next coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

Rivers' deal with the Sixers comes only three days after he parted with the LA Clippers. It also means he'll return to the Atlantic Division, where he'll be a principal rival of the Boston Celtics, with whom Rivers won an NBA title in 2008 as coach.

Sixers general manager Elton Brand on Monday reached out to Rivers and his agent, Lonnie Cooper, to gauge interest in the Sixers job. Rivers soon was on a flight to Philadelphia, where meetings on Wednesday with Brand, owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer had the sides moving quickly toward negotiating a multiyear deal.

Rivers takes over a Sixers team that lost in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and continues to consider changes to a roster that Brand remains determined to construct around All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

There's also hope that a reunion with Rivers can be impactful to forward Tobias Harris maximizing his play with the Sixers. Before the Clippers traded Harris to the Sixers in February 2019, Harris was having his best NBA season under Rivers -- averaging 20.9 points on 50% shooting from the field and 43% from the 3-point line.

Rivers was a late entry into a process that had become increasingly focused on former Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni.

Rivers had been intrigued enough with the roster, marketplace and organization to fly from the West Coast to sit down with Philadelphia's hierarchy.

He succeeds Brett Brown, who had the job for seven seasons but was fired after the 76ers were swept by Boston in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Philadelphia hasn't won an NBA championship since 1983.

Embiid welcomed Rivers on Twitter, saying he was "excited for the future and what we're building here."

Welcome to the city of Brotherly Love Coach @DocRivers !!!! Excited for the future and what we're building here #PhillyForever

— Joel "Troel" Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 1, 2020

Sources told ESPN on Thursday that one serious possibility to join Rivers' staff is Alvin Gentry, who in August was dismissed as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans after five seasons.

Rivers, 58, had two years left on his Clippers contract, sources said, so he remains owed a significant sum of money, although typically there are offset agreements on the payout put into place should a coach be hired in a new job.

In Rivers' seven seasons at the helm, the Clippers went 356-208, winning 63.1% of their regular-season games -- the fifth-best record in the NBA and the best by any team without a conference finals appearance.

The Clippers went 49-23 during this regular season, the fourth-best record in franchise history, but they squandered a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, surrendering leads of 16, 19 and 12 points as the franchise's Western Conference finals drought reached 50 years.

Rivers was the coach in five of the Clippers' six best regular seasons, but he went 3-8 in potential playoff series-clinching games with the Clippers, tied for the worst mark by a single coach with one team.

Rivers, who also coached the Orlando Magic in addition to the Clippers and Celtics, has 943 career wins -- 11th most by a head coach all time.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he was happy to see Rivers get another job quickly.

"I'm excited for Doc and for the Sixers," Kerr said during a Thursday call with reporters. "He's a great coach, and as I mentioned the other day, great for the league. So I'm happy that he's quickly back in the NBA. He's important for the league and for the rest of the coaches."

Sixers assistant coach Kevin Young also interviewed for the Sixers' head-coaching job and made a strong impression on the organization, sources said.

The Sixers also interviewed Clippers assistant Ty Lue this week, sources said, but Lue is emerging as a strong candidate to replace Rivers with the Clippers. The Clippers are planning to interview other candidates, starting soon, sources said.

The Pelicans are planning to interview Lue in the near future, too, sources said. Lue and Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin have strong ties, most notably working together to win an NBA title in Cleveland in 2016.