Messi helps Barcelona equal record with 34th unbeaten game

BARCELONA -- Lionel Messi scored with an unstoppable free kick to help Barcelona come from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 on Sunday, a record-equaling 34th game without loss that kept the champions on track to retain their Spanish league title.

Sevilla's Victor ''Vitolo'' Machin struck first for the visitors in the 20th minute, but Messi curled home his free kick 11 minutes later before Gerard Pique put Barcelona ahead just after halftime.

Barcelona equaled Madrid's record unbeaten streak in all competitions from 1988-89. Barcelona's last loss in any competition was at Sevilla on Oct. 3.

''The record means nothing to me,'' said Barcelona coach Luis Enrique. ''If we win the title, fine, but if not, then it means nothing to me.''

Luis Enrique's team is certainly on course to win the league. In fact, it has a chance to repeat its rare treble of league, cup and Champions League trophies from last year.

Barcelona's 10th consecutive Liga win maintained its eight-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid. Third-place Real Madrid, which lost 1-0 to Atletico on Saturday, fell 12 points behind the pacesetters with 12 rounds to go.

Messi helps Barcelona equal record with 34th unbeaten …
FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, duels for the ball against Sevilla's Sebastian Cristoforo …

Sevilla, which remained dangerous until the final whistle, slipped down to sixth place. Unai Emery's team will have the opportunity to avenge the defeat when they meet Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final on May 22.

''It's tough for a defeat to strengthen you,'' Emery said. ''To beat Barca you have to find that extra something because we are probably talking about the best team in the world.''

Elsewhere Sunday, Villarreal eased to a 3-0 win over 10-man Levante to cement its hold on fourth place, while Athletic Bilbao won 3-0 at Valencia in a preview of their Europa League round-of-16 clash.

Granada eked out a 1-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna in the debut of coach Jose Gonzalez to escape last place and push Levante to the bottom.

While Sevilla made no attempt to hide its intent to defend and counterattack, Barcelona mustered the first scoring chances with two strikes that hit the woodwork in the 13th minute.

Messi helps Barcelona equal record with 34th unbeaten …
FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, center, celebrates after scoring against Sevilla with his teammate  …

Messi was first, sending a corner kick toward the near post that defender Coke Andujar was lucky to head onto the upright and not into his own net. The rebound then fell to Luis Suarez near the edge of the box, where he blasted it off the bar.

Having dodged Barcelona first shots, Sevilla stunned the Camp Nou crowd with a finely executed move that started from an apparently harmless throw-in.

Benoit Tremoulinas put the ball in play, weaved together two passes with teammates, and found himself unmarked on the left flank. His cross was then volleyed beyond goalkeeper Claudio Bravo by Vitolo.

Sevilla held firm at the back, until all its discipline in defense was undone by Messi after Suarez earned a dangerous free kick on the edge of the area.

The Ballon d'Or holder did the rest, bending a left-foot shot over the wall and into the net, giving goalie Sergio Rico no hope of making a save.

Messi, who scored both goals in Barcelona's 2-0 win at Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday, recorded his 30th goal of the season in all competitions.

''It's not for nothing that Messi is the best in the world,'' Vitolo said. ''It seems like he scores every free kick he gets against us.''

After his goal, Messi was the motor in Barcelona's attack, which hemmed Sevilla into its area.

Sevilla got a reprieve at halftime, but Barcelona didn't have to wait long for Suarez to exchange passes with Messi before slipping the ball over for Pique to score from close range in the 48th.

Both sides then needed their 'keepers to shine. Bravo was first to deny Kevin Gameiro before Barcelona went straight down the other end and Messi drew a great save from Rico.

Sensing that his team needed control more than another goal, Messi shifted gears and focused on keeping possession of the ball to disarm Sevilla's rally.

''Messi does it all,'' Pique said. ''He is incredibly talented and has a special vision of the game. There are teams that cope with him better than others, but it is impossible to stop him.''

Around the combine: Calvin Johnson's unhappy camp, Laquon Treadwell's ceiling and early draft run on QBs

The camp around Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson took exception to recent speculation that Johnson's retirement thoughts center on squeezing money from the Detroit Lions or making a cash grab in free agency. A source close to Johnson said the player has no money concerns and is strictly evaluating whether he still wants to play football.

The Lions may have to make a decision about cutting or keeping him without knowing what his plans are, as it is expected to be several more weeks before Johnson makes an announcement.

Detroit may have to pressure him for an answer if the franchise wants an answer sooner than April.

• Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell has gotten a few "possession receiver" tags among scouts. There's some question about whether he can be a dominant No. 1 in the NFL, or is more of a quality No. 2 whose biggest value is winning battles in the red zone.

• If North Dakota State's Carson Wentz comes off the draft board at No. 2 overall to the Cleveland Browns, don't be surprised if three quarterbacks go in the top seven picks.

One prominent longtime personnel official said he believes Jared Goff slipping to the No. 4 pick makes it more likely that the Dallas Cowboys would take a quarterback, and that Chip Kelly and the San Francisco 49ers would take Memphis' Paxton Lynch at No. 7 overall to begin grooming a young quarterback in the offensive system from Day 1.

Why Holly Holm opted out of Ronda Rousey rematch

LOS ANGELES – Holly Holm heard all the business arguments in the wake of her stunning knockout victory over Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in November.

Conventional wisdom was that the smart route for the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion would be to hold out until next July and fight Rousey in a rematch at UFC 200 in Las Vegas, which would bring in a bigger payday than she ever could have imagined when she began her combat sports career.

Even UFC president Dana White came out and said he should have his promoter’s license revoked if he didn’t make the Holm-Rousey rematch.

It’s a moot point now, because it turned out Rousey won’t be ready for a return within that time frame. But from day one, Holm says, the financial arguments for holding out on a second Rousey fight went in one ear and out the other.

“I told myself I would never fight for money or for fame,” Holm said. “I would fight for passion.”

Holm is in an unusual spot as a fighter. She’s a seasoned combat sports competitor, a former three-weight class world women’s boxing champion, and she's in her mid-30s. But Holm is still learning MMA, having committed to the sport full-time just three years ago.

So that means staying active and continuing to grow as a fighter. No matter how many times Holm heard she should wait for the big payday, the Albuquerque, N.M., native wanted to make her mark as a fighting champion.

Holm got her wish, as she’ll defend her title against former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate on Saturday in the co-feature bout of UFC 196 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

“This is the next opportunity,” Holm said. “My mind doesn’t function like, ‘If I wait for this, it will be more money.’ That’s just not how my brain functions. There’s never a dollar sign in my mind when I’m thinking about my fighting career. I want the passion.”

Holm got a taste of A-list fame following her victory over Rousey, when she returned to the United States and went on a full-on media tour of New York and Los Angeles, which included a night courtside at the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors game with comedian Jamie Foxx.

She admits the attention was nice, but Holm said she never wants to lose the mentality that catapulted her to the top in the first place. Holm might dabble in Hollywood if the right opportunity comes along, but she’s never going to go Hollywood.

“When you start fighting, you start in amateurs, you don’t get paid anything,” Holm said. “You pay money out, because you’re not going to make it back. You have to pay for your camp, you have to pay for your gas, you put miles on your own car, you’re paying money out in the beginning. I try to have that same passion I had in the beginning.”

With such a mindset, Holm shouldn't have too much trouble finding the motivation to fight Tate. The popular Tate has consistently proven herself among the sport’s toughest and most resilient fighters. While she’s best known for her rivalry with Rousey, where she has twice come up short, she has also been unstoppable against the rest of the pack.

Tate had been promised a third fight with Rousey last summer, after she defeated Jessica Eye in Chicago to win her fourth consecutive fight. But the UFC changed its mind and went with Holm, a move that was highly controversial at the time.


Despite all this, Holm’s motivation for the fight stays simple. Holm’s upset over Rousey halfway around the world has been called MMA’s answer to Buster Douglas’ 1990 upset of Mike Tyson in Tokyo. Douglas, of course, lost his heavyweight title to Riddick Bowe in his next fight.

That’s a fate Holm wants to avoid.

“I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder,” Holm said. “I don’t want it to be one performance. I want to show I’m here for a reason. For me, I want to keep going, keep getting better.”

Given that Holm’s head-kick knockout of Rousey was a moment that transcended mixed martial arts and became one of 2015’s cultural touchstones, it’s likely Holm will always be best remembered for the victory. But she’ll be damned if it’s the only thing she’s known for.

“Trust me, the last fight was one of the best moments of my life,” Holm said. “But I don’t want to be defined by one fight, I don’t want that to be the whole focus of my life. I have a fight ahead of me, I have the belt, and I want to go in and prove something, I want to stay hungry.”

And who knows? Maybe when the time is right she’ll take one of those outside opportunities.

"All these things are awesome to do, so I'd love to have those experiences," Holm said. "However, my job, my passion, is just fighting, and it takes a lot to be able to do that well.

Unlikely voice of reason J.R. Smith knocks Cavs' quality in loss

The Cleveland Cavaliers have approached this season with one clear goal — winning the franchise's first NBA title. That's not an especially rare pursuit, but few teams have ever made it so clear that anything short of a championship will mean failure. LeBron James mentions it regularly (including in advertisements), David Blatt lost his job despite holding the best record in the conference, and Kevin Love has been the subject of trade rumors when virtually everyone agrees neither Blatt nor Ty Lue (nor LeBron?) has utilized him properly. Stakes are high, and every misstep brings concern.

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Those worries are especially serious after Sunday's 113-99 loss to the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center, the Cavaliers' third in four games. Although Cleveland can fall back on the excuse of not having LeBron James, who sat out for rest, but it was an uninspiring performance overall. Lue mass-substituted the starters after the margin ballooned from nine to 19 after a few minutes of the third quarter, and the Cavs trailed by as many as 30 on their way to a comfortable loss.

At least one Cav was aware of the team's deficiencies. It was just an unlikely one — career-long enigma J.R. Smith. From Dave McMenamin for ESPN.com:

    After a 113-99 loss to the Washington Wizards on Sunday, Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith said his level of concern is "extremely high" regarding the state of his team, which has suddenly lost three of its last four games.

    "We can't play basketball like this going down the stretch," Smith said of the Cavs, whose lead over the Toronto Raptors for the top seed in the Eastern Conference now sits at just 1½ games. "There's 24, 25 games left in the year and you talk about contending, being a championship contender and get blown out by a team. ... After losing a game to the No. 2 team in the East then you come out and get thrashed and make it look good at the end.

    "We can't do that. If we're serious about who we're supposed to be, then we can't do this." [...]

    "I wasn't surprised," Smith said of the [substitution] move. "We weren't playing the way we were supposed to play. We weren't executing our offense. We damn sure weren't playing defense. So I wasn't surprised at all." [...]

    "If you lose a game like the other night to a team like Toronto and come out here and play the way we did and you had a lack of energy, maybe we shouldn't be in this position," Smith said. "I don't know. It's tough. If we're going to play with a lack of energy after losing a game on the road and come out and play the way we did today, then we shouldn't be who we are and be in these uniforms."

    [Tristan] Thompson agreed with Smith, calling the loss "embarrassing."

It's perhaps unsurprising that the Cavalies would lose a game without LeBron to a Wizards team that came in at 27-30 — to make an inexact comparison, the Warriors have struggled against teams with similar records without Stephen Curry. But it's nevertheless a pretty bad look for a team that lost Friday to the Toronto Raptors, their closest competition at the top of the East, and at home to the Charlotte Hornets last Tuesday. That subpar run isn't close to enough to knock the Cavaliers off their perch as East favorites, but it will create more doubts and increase pessimism over their ability to beat the eventual West champion in the NBA Finals.


What is surprising is that all this criticism came from J.R. Smith, a player who has never been synonymous with professionalism and a champion's heart. His reputation, including a poor showing against Golden State last June, pretty much guarantees that people will view his statements as lacking some credibility.

In this case, though, it's also fairly apparent that Smith has a point. The Cavaliers have not been especially inspiring this season, particularly given that the firing of Blatt and hiring of Lue was supposed to bring a faster-paced offense and put everyone on the same page. This is not how a title contender should expect to play, and the Cavs know it.

The good news is that Cleveland should have plenty of time to work out these problems — despite the Raptors' ascendance, it's not obvious that they will face serious competition in the East playoffs. After all, Toronto still needs to prove that it can win a single series.

However, this Cavs' season has been sold as about much more than merely representing the conference against a better-equipped contender from the West. The main takeaway from Smith's comments shouldn't be that they come from a questionable source — it's that the argument is strong enough to make sense coming from anyone.

Max Hooper shares special senior night moment with cancer-stricken dad

The night before the final home game of his college career, Oakland University sharpshooter Max Hooper awoke at midnight to the sound of his phone ringing.

Hooper groggily answered the phone and heard his father's voice.

"He said, 'I just wanted to let you know I'll be there tomorrow night,'" Hooper said. "I was kind of out of it because I'd been sleeping, but I was really excited."

There was a time when Chip Hooper made it to almost every game his son played whether it was across town or across the country, but that changed when his health began to deteriorate. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Then in October, he suffered a debilitating stroke that has confined him to a wheelchair.

Chip hadn't been healthy enough to travel from California to Michigan to see his son play even once the past two years, so it was of the utmost importance to him to make it for Max's senior night on Friday. He flew via private plane from Monterey Regional Airport on Friday morning and watched the game from a hospital bed set up for him on the concourse at the O'rena.

Max scored 12 points on four 3-pointers Friday night to help Oakland beat rival Detroit 108-97 and secure an all-important double bye in next week's Horizon League tournament. As soon as the game ended, Max skipped postgame handshake lines and raced up the stairs to hug his father, a heartwarming moment that was captured by ESPNU cameras and has since spread quickly on social media.

Dexter Fowler's reversal a body blow to the Orioles

Tucked into the corner of the clubhouse he runs, Adam Jones plopped into a chair and readied himself for the questions he knew were coming. Two days earlier, ebullient as ever, he beamed at the fact that his friend Dexter Fowler would spend the next three seasons alongside him in a Baltimore Orioles uniform. The team needed a top-of-the-order bat and an everyday outfielder, and Fowler was the stone that killed two for the Birds.

The real problem, of course, was that Fowler had agreed to no deal. Someone with the Orioles alerted reporters of a three-year, $35 million deal, the stories circulated as gospel, Jones furthered it by revealing that Fowler told him he'd be an Oriole and everything seemed hunky-dory until Fowler sauntered into Chicago Cubs camp alongside team president Theo Epstein, who earned his pimp walk with that neat little bit of trickeratio.

One of the reasons Jones owns near-universal respect among teammates and peers is because of the grace with which he can handle any situation. The last time this happened in sports it spurred a weird emoji war between two basketball teams, and the last time it happened in baseball involved a surprise Roger Clemens appearance at Yankee Stadium and a Suzyn Waldman conniption, and here was Jones, his team spurned, his mellow harshed, and the first words out of his mouth were: "Cool. Our team's here. Cool. He's back with the Cubs. Good. Good for him. I know him personally, so it's good. We're moving on. We've moved on. He's moved on. We've got a big day ahead of us today. It's a game of adjustments. You move on."

And that was his tone for the two minutes he spoke, two minutes that could've been awkward or angry or anything but gracious. Jones left the disillusionment to the Orioles, who believed they had a deal with Fowler – much like they believed they had a deal with Yovani Gallardo before an MRI forced its renegotiation and much like they believed they had a deal with Darren O'Day before he tweeted that they didn't. And he left the righteous indignation to Fowler's agent, Casey Close, who went all shock-and-awe on the Orioles and media for perpetuating the myth of a done deal with Baltimore. All Jones did was say how happy he was for his friend – he used the word happy seven times – and kept that tune except for one tiny little window into what he might've been burying beneath the kindness.

"I just want to face them now," Jones said.

Everyone wants to face the Cubs, the overwhelming pick to win the World Series because … well, because they really are that much more talented than everyone else. And, yes, this is where we note that the only thing won on paper is a game of paper football, and talent is only as good as health, and blah blah blah. Futile though the exercise may be, it's the one we play before a single pitch is thrown, and ask just about anyone in baseball to pick a team to parade through its city in early November and it's the Cubs, because who else is as good?

In the American League, the Orioles are every bit the favorite of the Royals and the Blue Jays and the Red Sox and the Yankees and the Rays and the Tigers and the Twins and the White Sox and the Indians and the Astros and the Rangers and the Angels and the Mariners and holy hell I just named every American League team except the A's, who always seem to outplay their paper team because of superior roster management and tactical excellence.

And that – the constant flux of the AL, the seemingly tiny standard deviation among teams, the opportunity for the decent to be good enough for the playoffs and the good to falter enough to miss them – is what makes the Fowler episode a body blow for the Orioles. This doesn't kill them. They've still got Jones and $168 million man Chris Davis and Manny Machado, the best of the three, on his way to $300 million and beyond. Supporting them are a finally healthy Matt Wieters, a powerful Jonathan Schoop and a steady J.J. Hardy up the middle. And then there's the Zach Britton-O'Day-Mychal Givens back end of the bullpen, which has performed an awful lot like the Yankees' supposed historically great trio, minus the name recognition.

Still, the Orioles' weaknesses are tangible. Guys with OK stuff who outperform it (Miguel Gonzalez, Gallardo) and guys with great stuff who can't seem to put it all together (Ubaldo Jimenez, Kevin Gausman) populate their rotation. And even if Hyun-soo Kim covers left field, manager Buck Showalter can assuage the abyss in right with creative platooning for only so long.

Maybe the solution is Jay Bruce. Perhaps it's Austin Jackson. In getting past Fowler, Jones went to his silver-linings playbook.

"By him not agreeing to it,” Jones said, "it opened up money at the All-Star break or at the deadline in case something is happening. And it gives other guys in here chances."

It's indisputable that Fowler would have made the Orioles better, and that in a sardined AL East that little bit could prove worth a lot. And how the whole episode went down was literally inside baseball, a look at the sausage of reporting and negotiating and the sorts of things that go unspoken but churn throughout the game daily.

Ultimately, this episode served more as a reminder that guys change their minds and Adam Jones doesn't believe in apologies for such foibles ("Grown men shouldn't say sorry," he noted) and that statements from agents are hilarious and that the Cubs are better than everyone. And to fulfill Jones' desire to see them and Fowler, the Orioles need to be, too. They don't face each other in the regular season. It'll have to be the World Series, which is a long way from February, a long way from the wide-open American League, a long way from the corner of a clubhouse in spring training with 162 games yet to play.

Nate Diaz steps in to face Conor McGregor in main event of UFC 196

After a day-long search to find an opponent to fight Conor McGregor after lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos withdrew from UFC 196 because of a broken foot, the UFC settled late Tuesday on Nate Diaz.

But in a twist, the McGregor-Diaz fight will be at welterweight, not lightweight, on March 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Fox Sports first reported the story. McGregor, the reigning featherweight champion, had wanted to fight dos Anjos so he could become the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously.

UFC president Dana White told Yahoo Sports Tuesday that he wanted the fight to be at lightweight, but said Diaz asked for it at 165. White said he countered at 160, but then called McGregor.

"Conor said, 'Screw it, let's fight the [expletive] at 170,' " White said. "So that's what we did. The guy is going to go up two weight classes."

White said after he reached the deal with Diaz to replace dos Anjos, he then put two extra bouts on Diaz's contract, meaning Diaz has five fights left on his agreement.

The finalists were Diaz, Donald Cerrone, who won a bout in Pittsburgh on Sunday, and former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. White said he took the pulse of the fan base and said he felt Diaz would be the biggest fight.

"People are really excited to see Conor fight Nate and I think the place is going to go crazy that night," White said.

The women's bantamweight title fight between Holly Holm and Miesha Tate will be the co-main event.