Australia still have a "lot of questions to answer" before their opening World Cup match according to captain Aaron Finch, but being able to call on the experience of six previous winners in their 15-man squad could be a key factor as they attempt to defend their title and claim the tournament for the sixth time.

The squad completed their Brisbane camp with the third match against a New Zealand XI on Friday, Steven Smith hitting an unbeaten 91 and Glenn Maxwell a flamboyant 70, before heading straight to the airport to fly to Turkey for a visit to Gallipoli, a trip that Steve Waugh's 2001 Ashes side undertook. From there they reach London in the middle of next week ahead of their final warm-up period before opening their campaign on June 1 against Afghanistan in Bristol.

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Finch, one of the six players who were part of the 2015 triumph on home soil, along with Smith, Maxwell, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, said a World Cup is a "different" experience from the bilateral series that form most of a players' career.

"I think it's a big advantage, just to know what it takes to win a World Cup and what it takes to manage your way through a campaign which can be difficult," Finch said. "You have to be at your best at the business end but you can't afford to let anything slip at the start. Six guys who have been there and done that will give a lot of experience to the others of what to expect, what to feel walking out there because it is different.

"When you talk so much about it, when it finally happens it's a relief to be looking forward. The fact everyone is together and getting on great, the boys are pumped to ramp up the preparations. It really is the time of your life a World Cup so that will be awesome."

Australia are not favourites for the tournament but are in much better shape than they were just a few months ago having strung together eight wins in a row against India and Pakistan. However, the final build-up, dominated by the return of Smith and Warner, has filled in all the blanks with the batting order still up the air and bowling combinations to be firmed.

They used three different opening partnerships in the three matches in Brisbane as well as other tweaks to the order. It remains likely that Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh are playing off for one position.

"I think it's just about giving everyone an opportunity at the top of the order to get some game time as much as anything," Finch said. "I think it's a good opportunity to mix and match and with the three games in the UK we might keep everyone guessing a bit, but the honest answer is, no, we don't have a definitive answer on what that will look like at the moment. There are a lot of questions still to be answer but we are in a great place to do that."

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Finch was the only one to score a half-century opening the innings in the three matches with Warner not quite able to continue his serene progress from the IPL. Smith produced the two most significant innings of the week with his brace of unbeaten knocks.

"His [Smith] timing and class was back again," Finch said. "It was like he hadn't left. His drives down the ground on a really difficult wicket to time off the front foot was so impressive, just the amount of time he spent in the middle and how he went through the gears was very impressive."

Smith was also active in offering advice to the captains, Finch in the first two matches and Alex Carey the last one, with the team happy to lean on the experience of their former captain and Warner.

"They are two of the best players in the world which is valuable to have at your disposal," Finch said. "The boys have been brilliant, all the work off the field with the team has been great. It's an interesting time, no doubt, when they are coming back in but still a great opportunity for everyone to learn off them as well. They have so much experience and what they bring to the group is really valuable."

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It was about four minutes into the third quarter of Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinals, and Damian Lillard peeled off a high screen, sizing up Nikola Jokic in front of him. He had Jokic leaning, and Lillard saw his opportunity. One hard dribble, stop, pop and fire.

Except Jokic saw it coming. Lillard was caught in the air and had to throw it to no one in particular. Gary Harris picked it off and Lillard balled up his fists, swinging them in the air in frustration. It wasn't just a turnover; it was a missed opportunity at a moment.

Twenty seconds earlier Lillard had hit a 3-pointer -- officially listed at 27 feet -- that came right after hitting a 19-foot stepback. There was a low growl in the arena as everyone could sense something finally unlocking for Lillard. It's not that he'd been bottled up in the series, but the signature haymakers weren't there. It's rare for Lillard to score quietly, but his 26.2 points per game on 42.9 percent shooting through the series' first five games weren't registering any decibels.

The Trail Blazers are more than just what Lillard makes them, but he is their heartbeat. There's an obvious fear on the other side when he turns on the oven and gets out the ingredients to cook. A Lillard 3 is worth the same as anyone else's, but not in the abstract. It has an intangible value.

So when he hit the eject button to rise up on a dime to launch in front of Jokic, it's not subtle what Lillard is trying to do. He's hunting a timeout. He wants to make the opposing coach call one.

"Because I know how it feels being on the other side, the visiting team, when the crowd is going crazy and you've got to call a timeout," he said. "You've got to regroup and go in the huddle and have these conversations.

"I guess that is true," he said, thinking it over. "I look for those moments."

After he shook off the turnover, he was back to hunting. Two minutes later he turned the corner and got downhill to the rim for a layup. The Nuggets didn't answer and he followed it with a midrange jumper. Four-point lead. Jokic scored five straight on his own to give Denver a lead, but Lillard responded with a 3 to put Portland back up two. Two free throws from Lillard, but a Paul Millsap layup in return. So it was time to get serious about it. Time to step out to near Logoland. Splash. Five-point lead, momentum building, a Zach Collins block and Jokic foul, and Lillard got what he wanted. Timeout, Denver.

"You're not going to kill 'em in the third quarter, you're not going to kill 'em with eight, nine minutes left in the fourth quarter," Lillard said, "but you can get that crowd going."

Lillard's logo shot is a nuclear weapon few possess in the NBA, but one the Nuggets have largely eliminated. Against the Thunder, he went 5-of-5 on shots from 30-plus feet. Prior to Game 6, he was 2-of-6 in against Denver, and if he took one, it was because he was trying to, not because it was there. In Game 6, he was 2-of-2 from 30-plus (not counting his heave at the end of the third quarter from 72 feet that was on line and hit the front of the rim). Against the Thunder, Lillard averaged 5.2 3-pointers a game; against Denver, he hadn't hit more than four in a game. Game 6, he hit six 3s.

"It was definitely a combination of him understanding what time it is," Malone said in a Freudian-ish slip, "and us not being as engaged defensively as we need to be."

By the end of the third quarter, the tide had basically turned. Lillard scored 17 of his 32 in the third, featuring three ruthless 3s. The Blazers had control and Lillard felt to be the perpetual, unrelenting threat he was for five games against the Thunder. The fourth quarter was about finishing, and with Rodney Hood's continued resurrection, CJ McCollum's slithering midrange daggers, only four points were needed from Lillard to close a 119-108 win, forcing Game 7 on Sunday.

"Don't overthink, don't make it some big, crazy deal or nothing like that," Lillard said of Game 7. "We're going to play a basketball game. And it's a big game, and we've won on their floor before, and we know what type of mentality we had when we did that."

McCollum summarized it to the simplest, most understandable form.

"Somebody's got to go to Cabo or Cancun as Chuck would say," he said.

For as much as what fuels the Lillard mythology -- the big shots, the clutch moments, the catchphrase, the wrist-tapping -- Dame Time has never been in a Game 7. There's a Lillard lore building in real-time this postseason and it feels like Game 7 could be another chapter. The Nuggets have prioritized Lillard to an extreme degree in the series, forcing the ball out of his hands. But with their season on the line, one would expect nothing less than Lillard would take matters into them. And the same goes for Game 7.

"Damian knows this is win-or-go-home, you know what kind of mindset a great player is going to come out with," Malone said. "Coupled with us maybe not being as physical and into him, our bigs not being up at the level as often so he's able to come off and make six 3s. We've done a really good job of taking away the 3-point from him for most of the series and tonight he got off."

It would seem there was possibly some kind of adjustment, some tactical chess move that opened an inch more of room for Lillard to break free that could carry over to Sunday, and while maybe some of the Blazers screens were set higher and Terry Stotts instinctively rolled with a smaller lineup to space the floor, it's not always that complicated.

"Some of it was he just really made good plays as well," Stotts said with a shrug.

Said McCollum: "As we always say it's a make or miss league. Tonight he made 'em. A game on the line, a series on the line, that's when great players rise to the occasion. He understood what was at stake."

The Blazers have been pushed to the limits this season, their resolve tested at different stages, to different degrees. A Game 7 on the road is almost a fitting final exam to see if they can go further than they have in the Lillard era. Lillard is the kind of player that seems built for it, his steely leadership setting a focused, calm tone for the team. It will be tense, it will be challenging. It will be about daggers, about shifting waves of momentum, about details, about moments.

And Lillard is always looking for one of those.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets are heading toward a Game 7 showdown after things got heated between the teams late in Thursday night's contest.

A scuffle broke out midway through the fourth quarter of Portland's 119-108 victory, during which Blazers guard Seth Curry and Denver forward Will Barton shoved each other. As the two were being separated, Barton appeared to poke Curry in the eye. Denver's Torrey Craig and Portland's Zach Collins also got into it as the skirmish escalated.

Officials handed out offsetting technical fouls for all four players.

Afterward, Curry took exception to the Nuggets' actions, Barton's in particular.

"He waited for a few people to get in between us, and when a few people were in between us, he put his finger in my eye," Curry said of Barton. "You know what I'm saying. I can't allow people to put their fingers in my eye.

"That's real sassy. They got a few sassy dudes over there. Front-runners. And we can't allow that."

The incident occurred after Nuggets center Nikola Jokic drove to the rim and was called for an offensive foul, causing Collins to fall backward toward Barton's legs. Curry came over to help Collins up and nudged Barton away. Barton pushed back, and the skirmish ensued.

Curry said he was surprised that Barton did not get ejected. Barton said he does not believe he will be suspended for Game 7 and explained that he was simply protecting himself from getting hurt after Collins fell toward him.

"It ain't no beef," Barton said. "I wasn't even looking for that. I was just trying to protect myself. I guess he thought I was trying to stand on top of him and be tough. I was just trying to get out of the way before I got injured. He pushed me. I'm not going to let nobody push me. But that's nothing."

Craig got in the middle of Barton and Curry, and Collins shoved Craig. Portland's Evan Turner then came over and held Craig at a distance. Officials took their time to examine the play before handing out the offsetting technicals with 6:16 remaining and Portland already up 104-90.

"I ain't worried about no fines," Barton said. "I ain't trippin off that. Hopefully, [there's] no suspension off that. I think if I [did something to get] suspended, I would probably have gotten ejected."

"It's competitive playoff basketball," Barton added. "Some things are going to happen. If we are all out there just being friendly, it ain't going to look like nobody trying to win."

It's been a roller coaster second-round series between two competitive teams, and it seems only natural that tensions finally flared.

Damian Lillard hit six 3-pointers and scored 32 points, and CJ McCollum added 30 points for the Trail Blazers. Rodney Hood provided a difference-making 25 points to keep Portland's season alive.

"We don't quit," Portland's Enes Kanter said. "I mean that's one thing, we don't quit. I mean we lost Game 5 by, what, [26] points? We know we are capable of winning there, we can beat that team."

The Blazers won Game 2 in Denver 97-90. But the Nuggets will be playing a second consecutive Game 7 in this postseason at home, where they were a league-best 34-7 in the regular season. The Nuggets, though, know they cannot rely simply on the fact that they won Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs at home, 90-86.

"It's weird, everyone keeps talking about experience," Denver guard Jamal Murray said of many of the young Nuggets playing in their first postseason. "I just want to say that we've been here before. We'll go back home, regroup like we did for San Antonio, come back with energy and just be ready to play."

Denver coach Michael Malone said he is hoping both teams will be at full strength, with nothing further coming out of the Game 6 skirmish.

"I know for us -- I didn't see their bench -- but our bench never came close to coming on the floor," Malone said. "The referees and coaches from both teams did a great job of breaking it up.

"I didn't see anything that would warrant any further techs, suspensions, whatever. Hopefully, both teams are at full strength for Game 7, which is what the fans deserve."

Naomi Osaka says thinking about retaining her number one world ranking hindered her in her Madrid Open quarter-final loss to Belinda Bencic.

Osaka led by a break in the final set and served for the match, but Bencic fought back to win 3-6 6-2 7-5.

Romania's Simona Halep could replace Osaka at the top of the rankings if she wins the title in Madrid.

"People have been telling me if I get to the semis I can stay number one, so I wanted to do that," Osaka said.

"I wanted to do that and I was thinking about that while I was playing, which wasn't necessarily a good thing."

Osaka secured the number one ranking when she won her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

"I play the best when I'm calm and today I wasn't calm, so that is the biggest thing I can learn," she said.

Bencic, who ended Osaka's Indian Wells title defence in March, produced some fine returns to come through a tight final set.

Top seed Osaka broke in the fifth game of the deciding set and held off two break points in her next service game to retain her advantage.

However, she faltered as she served for the match at 5-4 and Bencic broke to love to level the set at 5-5.

The Swiss, who won the Dubai Championships in February, then won the next two games to close out an impressive win.

The 21-year-old said she had "so much drama in my head" during the three-set defeat.

"I wanted to win this match more because she beat me already before and I just didn't want to lose twice in a row," Osaka added.

French Open champion Halep earlier beat Australian ninth seed Ashleigh Barty 7-5 7-5 to set up a meeting with Bencic.

America's Sloane Stephens, who lost to Halep at Roland Garros last year, overcame Croatia's Petra Martic 6-4 6-3.

Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands ended Petra Kvitova's title defence in a rematch of last year's final.

Bertens overpowered the Czech 6-2 6-3 and will play Stephens next.

Roger Federer saved two match points before claiming a hard-fought victory over Gael Monfils to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals.

The Swiss fourth seed came from a break down in the deciding set to beat the Frenchman 6-0 4-6 7-6 (7-3).

Federer will face fifth seed Dominic Thiem - who he lost the Indian Wells final to in March - in the semi-finals.

"Instead of seeing a things bit more cloudy and rainy, you see it more on the sunny side," Federer said.

"You don't win matches every day saving match points and it makes you feel good, but it is more relief I feel right now."

The victory was Federer's 1,200th career win and secured his place in a first clay-court quarter-final since the French Open in 2015.

Earlier, world number one Novak Djokovic breezed past France's Jeremy Chardy 6-1 7-6 (7-2).

Rafael Nadal continued his pursuit of a sixth title by beating American Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4.

World number three Federer needed just 19 minutes to take the first set over Monfils, dropping just four points on his serve.

However, world number 18 Monfils rallied in the second set, taking advantage as Federer's first serve faded to force a decider.

Monfils raced to a 4-1 lead in the third set before Federer could force the match back on serve.

The Frenchman brought up two match points on Federer's serve but the 20-time Grand Slam champion saved them both with a serve and volley.

Federer was the stronger of the two in the tie-break, with Monfils saving two match points before a forehand error secured victory for the Swiss.

The Swiss said of his tactics on match point: "I felt not so confident to win the point from the baseline, so I said panic mode is switched on and we are coming in.

"You go to the net as quick as possible so you are as close as possible and I framed the first volley, which ended up being perfect."

He will play Barcelona Open champion Thiem on Friday after the Austrian's 6-4 7-5 win over Italy's Fabio Fognini.

Djokovic cruises into quarters

Despite being pushed as the match progressed, Djokovic has yet to drop a set against the world number 47 Chardy, having won all 13 of their meetings.

The 15-time Grand Slam champion moved a double break up in the first set when Chardy double-faulted for 4-0, then fought off a triple break point in the next game before going on to seal the opener in 31 minutes.

Chardy stretched Djokovic more in the second set, as neither player managed to muster a break point until the Frenchman - who had lost their previous 29 successive sets - claimed a set point at 5-4.

But he batted a backhand long as Djokovic, who shook his head after receiving whistles from the Caja Magica crowd as he prepared to serve, thumped down an ace to seal the hold.

That enabled Djokovic to take early control of the tie-break, clinching victory with a forehand winner on his first match point.

Cilic, Wawrinka, Tsitsipas and Zverev also advance

The top seed will face Marin Cilic next after the Croat reached his first quarter-final of the season.

Former US Open champion Cilic recovered to win 11 of the final 13 games to beat Serb Laslo Djere 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka also reached the quarter-finals, where he will meet Nadal, after beating Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

Germany's Alexander Zverev will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Zverev beat Poland's Hubert Hurkacz while 3-6 6-4 6-4 while Tsitsipas beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-4.

Tsitsipas was back on court a few hours later in the men's doubles, where he and partner Wesley Koolhof beat Britain's Jaime Murray and Brazil's Bruno Soares 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to reach the semi-finals.