Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lanka captain, has been announced as the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and will take up his one-year post on October 1, 2019.

Sangakkara's nomination was announced by the current President, Anthony Wreford, at the MCC Annual General Meeting at Lord's on Wednesday.

"It is a huge honour to be named the next President of MCC and it is a role that I am thoroughly looking forward to," Sangakkara said. "For me, MCC is the greatest cricket club in the world, with its global reach and continued progress for cricket on and off the pitch. The year 2020 is going to be yet another significant one in cricket, especially at Lord's, and I am thrilled that I am going to be able to play a part in supporting its future as President of MCC."

Sangakkara is already heavily involved with the club, having delivered a powerful and memorable MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture in 2011, in which he touched on the power and importance of cricket in healing the wounds of civil war in his native Sri Lanka, and recounted his experience of the Lahore terror attack in 2009.

In 2012, he was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the club, and, in the same year, he joined MCC's World Cricket committee and remains an active member.

His connections with MCC go back a long way: he played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park, Chesterfield. He also played for MCC against an International XI at Lord's in the 2005 Tsunami Relief Match. Proceeds from that match were used by the Foundation of Goodness to set up the MCC Centre of Excellence at Seenigama in Sri Lanka.

Sangakkara appears twice on the Honours Boards at Lord's, having scored 147 in the drawn Test against England in 2014, and 112 in their ODI victory on the same tour, an achievement that earned him one of the inaugural placings on the new limited-overs boards that was unveiled earlier this year.

Sangakkara's year of office will begin on October 1, 2019 and will conclude on September 30, 2020. His tenure will encompass two England Tests against West Indies and Pakistan, and the launch of The Hundred competition.

Wreford said: "As MCC looks to broaden both our horizons and international reputation, I'm delighted that Kumar has accepted the invitation, which he did in January this year, to be the next President of MCC. He is an outstanding individual both on and off the field and will make a huge contribution to the Club. In a World Cup and Ashes year he will also have a significant role to play as President Designate."

The Newly signed Oakland Raiders running back Isaiah Crowell tore his Achilles tendon during a workout Tuesday and is lost for the season, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter Wednesday.

Crowell will undergo season-ending surgery next week, the source said.

Crowell had signed a one-year deal worth up to $2.5 million, according to sources.

The injury is the latest blow to the Raiders' depth chart at running back. Last week, Marshawn Lynch indicated that he's done playing football. Doug Martin was the team's leading rusher last season, but he was a free agent.

The Raiders used the No. 24 pick in the draft on Alabama running back Josh Jacobs and also have Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington, James Butler and Chris Warren on the roster.

Crowell became a free agent when he was released by the New York Jets on March 14, a day after the team agreed with running back Le'Veon Bell on a four-year contract.

Crowell, 26, was one-and-done with the New York Jets. After four seasons with the Cleveland Browns, he signed a three-year, $12 million contract ($4 million guaranteed at signing) and became the starting running back last season.

He rushed for 685 yards, six touchdowns and a 4.8-yard average, but it was an odd season in that one-third of his production came in one game. In a Week 5 victory over the Denver Broncos, he set the franchise record with 219 rushing yards.

The most amazing part about it was he needed only 15 carries -- a remarkable 14.6 per-carry average. It was the highest average in a game (minimum: 15 attempts) by any player in NFL history.

Crowell's season dipped sharply after his record-setting day, as he eclipsed 49 yards only once for the remainder of the year. He battled foot and ankle injuries and finished on injured reserve.

He created national headlines with an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty in Week 3 at Cleveland. After scoring against his former team, Crowell celebrated by pretending to wipe his rear end with the ball, which he threw into the ground.

Crowell received a public rebuke from then-coach Todd Bowles. He was fined $13,369 by the NFL, but he parlayed the crude gesture into an endorsement deal with a company that sells toilet wipes for men.

In 2016, Crowell sparked a controversy when he posted on his Instagram account an illustration of a police officer being stabbed in the neck by a hooded figure. It was his response to the fatal shootings of two black men by Dallas police officers. A day later, five officers were killed by sniper fire. Crowell later apologized and donated a game check to the police department.

In five seasons, Crowell has 3,803 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns.

ESPN's Paul Gutierrez, Jeff Legwold and Rich Cimini contributed to this report.

Booger McFarland will move from his field-analyst position to join play-by-play commentator Joe Tessitore in the booth for the 50th season of Monday Night Football, ESPN announced Wednesday.

The two will be joined by sideline reporter Lisa Salters, who returns for her eighth MNF season, and new officiating analyst John Parry.

"I'm so excited to continue to be part of Monday Night Football, especially with the opportunity to be in the booth for the 50th season, working with true professionals and friends like Joe and Lisa," McFarland said in a statement. "We have a great slate of games, and I look forward to starting our journey in Louisiana, where I was born and raised."

The MNF season will kick off with the Houston Texans visiting the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 9 as part of ESPN's opening-night doubleheader.

"Booger's insight, personality and passion for the game make him the right person for the job," ESPN executive vice president Stephanie Druley said in a statement. "He and Joe have been close friends since they helped ESPN launch the SEC Network five years ago. Their chemistry together in the booth -- and with Lisa -- will give us a team that fans want to spend Monday nights with this fall."

McFarland, a two-time Super Bowl champion, joined MNF in 2018 after serving as a college football analyst for four years on ESPN, ABC and the SEC Network.

He replaces Jason Witten, who unretired after one season to rejoin the Dallas Cowboys. The 11-time Pro Bowl tight end spent one season with Monday Night Football.

NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors on Wednesday played a recording to the jury of a phone call intercepted by wiretaps, in which former Arizona assistant Emanuel "Book" Richardson told aspiring agent Christian Dawkins that Wildcats coach Sean Miller was paying star center Deandre Ayton $10,000 per month while he was enrolled there.

Prosecutors played the call, which was intercepted by wiretaps on June 20, 2017, to the jury near the end of its case.

Dawkins and Richardson we're discussing how to recruit Ayton as a client to Dawkins' fledgling sports management company.

While talking about Ayton, Richardson told Dawkins, "Sean's got to get the (expletive) out the way and let us work."

"We'll see how Sean plays it out," Dawkins said.

"You know what he bought per month?" Richardson asked.

"What he do?" Dawkins said.

"I told you --10," Richardson replied.

"He's putting up some real money for them (expletive)," Dawkins responded. "He told me he's getting killed."

"But that's his fault," Richardson said.

During the same call, Richardson and Dawkins discussed how much Richardson would be paid each month by Dawkins' new sports management agency. Dawkins told Richardson he could keep the money.

"You already know Sean is taking care of Rawle [Alkins] and them," Dawkins said. "So it no expenses to Rawle."

ESPN reported in February 2018 that FBI wiretaps intercepted a call between Dawkins and Miller, in which the Arizona coach discussed a $100,000 payment that secured Ayton's commitment to the Wildcats. At the time, Miller disputed the report and denied ever paying a recruit to sign with Arizona.

Last week, federal prosecutors played a surveillance recording of a meeting on June 6, 2017, in which Dawkins -- who is on trial for having allegedly bribed college coaches -- talks about Ayton and says Miller told him, "I'm taking care of everything myself. I wanna bring you in. I'll turn everything over to you."

Former financial adviser Marty Blazer, a cooperating witness for the government, was present at the June 2017 meeting and testified last week that the reference was about Miller "taking care" of payments for Ayton.

Ayton, a 7-foot-1 center from the Bahamas, spent one season at Arizona before the Phoenix Suns selected him No. 1 overall in the 2018 NBA draft.

Munish Sood, a business partner of Dawkins, pleaded guilty to three felony counts related to the case and testified that Richardson accepted a $5,000 bribe during an initial meeting in New York on June 20, 2017. In return, Richardson promised to steer current and future Arizona players, including Ayton, Alkins and Allonzo Trier, to Dawkins' company.

"You're going to get Rawle Alkins, he's going to be a first-rounder," Richardson told Sood and others during the meeting at a New York hotel. "Allonzo Trier, you should get him. Deandre Ayton, we're working on him."

At one point during the recording, Richardson told Sood and the undercover FBI agents that Dawkins told him, "I wish I was a pimp and you were a prostitute. You'd make millions for me." Richardson said Dawkins also ridiculed him for using his own money to pay recruits.

"You make a quarter of a million dollars a year and you're broke," Dawkins told Richardson.

In July 2017, Richardson asked for an additional $15,000 from Dawkins and Sood to give to the mother of 2018 recruit Jahvon Quinerly of Hackensack, New Jersey. Richardson said he planned to make three payments of $5,000 each and would also pay her $10,000 of his own money.

"So Mom is like, 'How's this gonna work? I wanna move to Tucson,'" Richardson told Sood and an undercover FBI agent during a July 20, 2017, meeting at Sood's office in Princeton, New Jersey. "So I said, 'Look, you don't want to move to Tucson. It's a nice vacation spot. It's hot.

"'This is what I'll do. This is what I can do for you to put you in a situation to move to Tucson. ... I don't want the NCAA [expletive] with us. You should take two or three more visits and then shut it down. And then as soon as you do that, you commit."

Quinerly, the No. 7 point guard prospect in the Class of 2018 according to ESPN Recruiting, committed to Arizona over Villanova in August 2017.

After Richardson was among 10 men arrested by the FBI in September 2017, Quinerly decommitted and played at Villanova this past season. He announced in April that he is transferring to another school.

Richardson also said during the recording that he was making $2,000 monthly payments to Rodney Labossiere, Alkins' cousin, who was living with him in Tucson.

"His cousin moved to Tucson, which I'm highly against," Richardson said. "I never want the parents or anyone to move there. I'll give you two grand a month to make sure it works. But he brought him, his wife and his child. Wrong move."

During one of the recordings, Richardson also told the undercover FBI agents that LSU coach Will Wade attempted to hire him. At the time, Arizona and LSU were involved in a recruiting war for forward Nazreon Reid of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

According to Richardson, Wade told him, "Look, there's a deal in place. I got $300,000 for him."

Richardson said he responded, "S---, give me half and I'll make sure the kid goes there."

MILWAUKEE -- Mike Budenholzer isn't a big speechmaker.

The Milwaukee Bucks went back to the locker room at halftime of Tuesday night's Game 2 against the Boston Celtics with a four-point lead. Budenholzer didn't lecture. Instead he reminded his team that this is where Game 1 of the Eastern Conference second-round series got away from them. The third quarter made all the difference on Sunday.

"He just said that's when we got punched in the mouth last game," Eric Bledsoe told ESPN. "And we don't want that to happen again. We knew what we needed to do."

The Bucks outscored the Celtics by 18 points in the third quarter on Tuesday, finishing the quarter on a 24-2 run. The Bucks went on to throttle the Celtics 123-102, evening the best-of-seven series.

In the first game, Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 22 points on 7-of-21 shooting. On Tuesday, he had 29 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Bledsoe went from scoring six points in Game 1 to 21 points in Game 2. Khris Middleton, who scored 16 points on Sunday, had 28.

"We got an ass-whooping in Game 1," Antetokounmpo said during his on-court interview with TNT after the game. "We had to come out here and play harder in Game 2."

The Bucks didn't make drastic changes between Games 1 and 2. At practice on Monday, Budenholzer said the issue wasn't their space-and-pace game plan, it was the Bucks' execution of it. After watching Game 1 tape, Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe and Middleton all agreed: Effort was the problem. Budenholzer swapped out Sterling Brown for Nikola Mirotic in the starting lineup. Brown was suffering from back spasms, and Mirotic had provided a much-needed offensive spark during the first game. Mirotic finished with nine points.

Still, the beginning of the first quarter was eerily reminiscent of Sunday's game: The Bucks came out sluggish. Antetokounmpo was walled off by Boston's defense; Bledsoe turned over the ball one too many times.

By halftime, the Bucks had begun to find a rhythm. By the end of the third quarter, even Antetokounmpo was nailing 3-pointers. Early on, the Fiserv Forum crowd cheered tentatively, as if expecting the home team to release its lead at any moment. But as the third period came to a close, the hesitation had evaporated, and the building vibrated with anticipation.

Antetokounmpo had 13 points, four rebounds and an assist during the Bucks' third-quarter run.

"We felt we put ourselves in a better position to win in the first half and coming out of the third quarter," Middleton said.

With the series tied, the Bucks will head to Boston for Game 3. During last year's playoffs, the Bucks went 0-4 at TD Garden. The Boston crowd was relentless in its heckling of Bledsoe, who engaged in trash talk with Terry Rozier throughout the series.

"I know what is ahead," Bledsoe told ESPN. "I know the crowd don't forget nothing. I have to be way more focused going into Game 3. That's the most focused I'll need to be this entire series. That'll be our toughest game."

MILWAUKEE -- For both Kyrie Irving and his Boston Celtics, Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Milwaukee Bucks was one to forget.

But after Irving had arguably the worst postseason performance of his career, and his Celtics were annihilated in the second half of Milwaukee's 123-102 victory that evened this best-of-seven series at a game apiece, Irving was unshaken in his belief to lead Boston deep into these playoffs.

"There's no extra burden," Irving said after going 4-for-18 from the field and scoring only nine points. "This is what I signed up for. This is what Boston traded for me for.

"Being able to go back, get back in the trenches, get ready for another battle on Friday, that's what you live for. Basketball is fun when it comes like this and you have to respond, and this is the type of basketball you want to be playing this time of year."

There wasn't much fun about Irving's performance throughout this one -- or Boston's in the second half. This was just the second time in 58 career postseason games that Irving had finished under double figures scoring, with the first time coming four years ago with the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game he left because of an injury after 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, Irving's performance from the field -- including going 1-for-5 from 3-point range to go along with four assists and three turnovers in 31 minutes -- left him with the third-worst shooting percentage in a game in his playoff career.

Six of those misses came in the first quarter, when the Bucks -- despite declaring they didn't need to make any adjustments coming into Game 2 -- not only came out and started forward Nikola Mirotic in place of Sterling Brown but also ratcheted up the pressure defensively, and switched as much as they have all season.

The result was that Irving in particular, and the Celtics as a whole, were left scrambling to try to cope with it.

"Like I said the other night, some shots are going to go in, some shots aren't," Irving said. "I tried to get to my spots, but they were really sending three over every single place I went on the court. That's a sign of respect.

"I've just got to be more efficient in controlling the tempo of the game, pace, where I want to get to on the floor and making reads better around that midrange area. They did a great job of switching tonight, forcing me left. Getting to the paint wasn't hard. It's just getting in there and making the right decisions."

Though Irving's game never got on track, the Celtics still had their chances. At halftime, Boston trailed by four, 59-55, and very much had a chance to sweep the first two games of this series and take complete control over it.

Then, however, the third quarter happened. And after both teams traded baskets over the first few minutes of the quarter, the Bucks closed it on an absurd 24-2 run, as Boston missed 10 of its final 11 shots from the field and committed six turnovers that turned into six Bucks points.

In an instant, a three-point deficit for the Celtics turned into 25, and the final 12 minutes became nothing but garbage time.

"They made shots," Marcus Morris said. "Other guys stepped up.

"It is what it is, man. That's the best part about having a seven-game series that now we get to go play on our court, where we're very good, and see how it goes."

Not only did the Bucks ratchet up the pressure defensively, they also lit up the Celtics from the perimeter. After going 13-for-39 from 3-point range in Game 1, Milwaukee shot 20-for-47 in Game 2.

Boston, meanwhile, shot just 10-for-28 from beyond the arc.

"We weren't very good on either end, but I do think our offensive settling and some of the shots we forced probably steamrolled on us in a lot of ways," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Hopefully we can be better at getting better shots, being able to set our defense so we're not scrambling the whole time, and then just doing a better job of really flying around and being into air space.

"I thought there were moments when we did it really well, and moments when we didn't."

Still, Boston does leave here with a split of the first two games -- meaning the Celtics have reclaimed home-court advantage, where they are now a combined 12-1 over the past two postseasons.

And, despite their struggles against the Bucks on Tuesday, Irving remains confident his team has what it takes to maintain control of this series as it shifts to Boston for Game 3 Friday.

"It's the playoffs," Irving said. "We're playing against a great team. They're No. 1 in the Eastern Conference for a reason. They finished the regular season strong, came out and did what they were supposed to do in the playoffs, and now it's two great teams going against one another.

"I've been in too many battles going back and forth to get too high or too low. Going back home you always feel good, but this one would have been great to get, but we didn't so now we go back home and reset our mindset going in and just have fun playing the game of basketball.

"Game 3, I'm looking forward to it."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green acknowledged that all the chatter surrounding the officiating in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series with the Houston Rockets was "embarrassing" for the game, and he said he was happy that both teams were less demonstrative toward the referees in the Warriors' 115-109 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

"I think both teams just realized what the hell was going on the last two days," Green said. "You can't really turn a blind eye to anything in today's day and age, with social media and all these things. So everyone was aware of all the talk about officiating and about foul calls -- come out and play the game. And I think both teams did a great job of that.

"They weren't complaining about many calls, we weren't complaining about many calls, because it's kind of embarrassing for the game of basketball, how much has been talked about, about fouls and officiating. What about beating your man? What about stopping your man? No one talked anything about schemes the last two days. It's all been about foul calls. I think both teams were locked in on coming out and playing the game to the best of their ability. You have to give credit to both clubs, both teams did that."

After arguing with referees about many calls throughout Game 1, both teams showed noticeably less emotion toward the officials at the start of Game 2. Neither team had many complaints about the officiating after Tuesday night's game.

"I didn't even notice the officiating," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I don't think anybody did. I think that's the best compliment you can give them. They did a great job. This game was just about basketball."

For the Rockets, the lack of arguments with officials throughout much of the game took on added significance, given that referee Scott Foster was part of the crew Tuesday night. Foster had not refereed a Rockets game since Feb. 21, a game in which Harden fouled out and said afterward that Foster should no longer be part of a crew assigned to Rockets games. Harden was fined $25,000 for his comments, but after Game 2, neither he nor Paul seemed outwardly bothered about Foster's inclusion.

Asked if they agreed with Green's take that the chatter about the officiating was embarrassing for the league, both Rockets stars brushed off the question.

"I don't know," Paul said. "I was chilling."

"What ref chatter?" Harden said. A couple of moments later, he added: "There was no chatter."

Paul's actions spoke louder than his words on this topic. Late in the third quarter, Warriors star Kevin Durant was whistled for a foul on Harden for not giving the Rockets' star enough space to land on his follow-through and making contact with him on a 3-point attempt, a point of contention throughout the postmortem of Game 1. After the whistle, Paul sarcastically jumped around and cheered at the Rockets being given the call.

For his part, Warriors star guard Stephen Curry admitted that he and his teammates were just trying to keep the focus on the game, not on whatever calls they might or might not get.

"All the conversations and all the storylines and the attention on Game 1, the one thing that we could control is our focus on what matters," Curry said. "In terms of winning a basketball game, that's outplaying them. We came in with the right composure in understanding that there will be calls that won't go our way. You just deal with it, keep playing it. Next-play mentality.

"[There was a] big stretch in that third quarter where three or four calls in a row [went] in their favor, and you can see our body language in terms of smiles on our faces or looking at each other, clapping and all that type of stuff, and just staying focused on gaining what you can control, and that is playing basketball. So definitely, we were purposeful about that, and again we want to win a basketball game however we can get it done, and that's what we did."

The only real dust-up between officials and players came at the very end of the third quarter when Green and Rockets big man Nene Hilario exchanged a few words and were quickly given double technicals by official Ed Malloy.

The technical was Green's fourth of the postseason. Seven technicals in one postseason span results in an automatic one-game suspension. Kerr said the Warriors would speak to the league in hopes they would rescind the technical foul before Game 3 on Saturday.

"We'll see," Green said. "It is what it is. We'll see what happens. Tonight was a great officiated game. They let us be physical, both teams. They made the calls that they need to make. It's kind of disheartening for a game that I love, since I was a child, to see the talk over the last two days was nothing about basketball and everything about foul calls. Is that what this game is coming to? The talk is going to be about foul calls?

"I love the game of basketball. It was fun out there tonight. Like I said, they let us be physical, let us play the game of basketball, which I enjoyed. I ain't really worried about a technical foul. It is what it is."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Houston Rockets star James Harden said he "can barely see" after getting hit in both eyes Tuesday night during the first quarter of a 115-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals series.

Harden, who had bleeding in both eyes and suffered a laceration on his left eyelid, returned in the second quarter and finished with 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting as the Warriors took a 2-0 series lead.

Harden's eyes were especially sensitive to light. He squinted and shielded his eyes repeatedly during the game and throughout his postgame news conference. He said his vision was a problem after taking an inadvertent shot from Golden State's Draymond Green and didn't know if it would continue to be an issue when the series resumes Saturday in Houston.

"It's pretty blurry right now," Harden said. "Hopefully it gets better day by day."

Warriors star guard Stephen Curry also briefly left the game because of an injury in the first quarter, dislocating the middle finger on his left hand when he tried to tip the ball away from Rockets center Clint Capela. Curry missed a few minutes while getting an X-ray, which was negative, and a tape job on the finger.

Curry scored 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting (3-of-13 from 3-point range) in the win.

"It looked bad when he came off the floor," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I looked at the finger and I was just hoping it was a dislocation and not a break. And fortunately, that's what it turned out to be. As far as whether it bothered him, you can ask him that. I thought he did some great things for us and fueled us, and may not have shot the 3 that well, but played a great game for us."

Said Curry: "It hurts, but it's all right. Didn't break anything. Fortunate, and some higher power's looking out for me on that one. Just gotta deal with pain and hopefully, before Saturday, that goes away and will be fine."

Curry didn't sound concerned the injury would limit him moving forward, especially since the Warriors will get a full day off Wednesday. Curry even joked that his block on Capela in the second half, with his injured left hand, was worth a little extra pain.

"I ain't got a block like that in a minute, so I'll take the pain for that for sure," he said.

Harden was hurt when Green's left hand smacked him in the face a little more than five minutes into the game. The contact, which did not result in a foul call, occurred while Harden was attempting to rebound his own miss after driving to the basket, with Green also pursuing the loose ball.

Harden remained facedown in the lane for the entire ensuing possession for the Warriors, who took advantage of the 5-on-4 situation by getting Kevin Durant a good look at a corner 3-pointer, which he swished. The Rockets called timeout with 6 minutes, 27 seconds left to allow Harden to receive medical treatment.

As Harden walked across the court to the Rockets' locker room with members of Houston's athletic training staff, Green approached him to apologize.

"I made a mistake and hit him in his eye," Green said. "Just [wanted] to check on him. It's not about hurting anybody out here. So many times, people forget that when a guy [has] an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It's not just about this game."

Harden remained in the locker room until returning to the Rockets' bench with 9:38 left in the second quarter. He checked back into the game at the 7:09 mark of the quarter. Houston managed to trim the deficit from nine to five points in the time that Harden missed.

"He got raked pretty good in the eyes, but that's him," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I mean, I didn't have a doubt that he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I'm sure he would have loved to play better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great."

Harden's issues with his vision were not evident in his performance. He actually had his highest field goal percentage of this postseason (9-of-19, 47.4 percent) despite missing his first three shots before suffering the injury.

All four of Harden's assists occurred after the injury.

"I can barely see," said Harden, who took some eye drops to numb the pain. "Just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates."

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Before they were champions, before Kevin Durant came to town and before they built a billion-dollar arena across the bay, the Golden State Warriors changed the NBA with the "death lineup."

It was five guys who could dribble, pass and score, applying a level of pressure to opponents that no one had really seen before. Of course, it was constructed around the singular shooting talent of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but it was always made possible by the flexibility of Draymond Green.

In the haze of screaming matches with his coach, screaming matches with his teammates, technical fouls, flailing legs, suspensions, unfortunate social media posts, injuries and conditioning issues, it can be easy to forget just how unique Green can be.

This series with the Houston Rockets, which the Warriors lead 2-0 after a 115-109 Game 2 victory, has been a return to glory for Green. He's been the best version of himself through two games and really for much of the postseason, which included a triple-double when the Warriors closed out the LA Clippers last week.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who had limited the renamed "Hamptons 5" lineup this season as he worked in DeMarcus Cousins, decided to make it the starting group for this series. It was something Kerr hadn't done all season, a bold move with the stakes so high.

The decision placed a great load on Green's shoulders, as he would have to play long stretches as the primary defender for Rockets center Clint Capela, a pick-and-roll demon who specializes in shedding defenders for lobs -- a major facet of the Houston offense.

Kerr, though, had his reasons.

First, the Curry-Durant-Thompson-Green-Andre Iguodala lineup was the most effective of any of the groups the Warriors played in the four games against the Rockets during the regular season. But more importantly, Kerr knew that Green was in the best physical condition he's been in at this point of the season in years. It's been a bit of a turning-back-the-clock to those postseasons between 2014 and 2016, when Green was truly at the top of his game.

It has worked out beautifully thus far. Green is so light on his feet and focused that he's able to be everywhere, the type of performance that made him a star. In this matchup, he can flash out to contain James Harden in screen situations and still recover quickly to get back to defend Capela's lobs, nearly neutralized in the first two games.

His activity extends to rebounding, where he's always been good, and especially at the offensive end, where he's darting to beat opponents to open spaces as though he is 5 years younger than he is. He had five offensive rebounds on Tuesday and 12 overall to go with 15 points.

"[He's] always a problem," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He's an All-Star for a reason. He's really good. Kind of a point guard at the center or forward position. He plays well. He's a heck of a player."

Well, not always. Green has been slowed by injuries over the past two seasons. Last season, a shoulder injury wrecked his shooting to the point where opponents basically stopped guarding him on the perimeter. A hip problem dogged him in the playoffs. This season, a toe injury and a sore knee slowed him down. He came into the season aiming to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award, but he wasn't in good enough shape to seriously contend for it.

"All this year I don't think I was in great shape at all," Green said. "[I'm] really just locking in and focusing on my body; getting it healthy and ready for this time of year has been important."

After the All-Star break, Green went on a strict diet and started ramping up workouts on off days. He lost more than 20 pounds in six weeks, and the difference is striking. His quickness and versatility from earlier in his career have returned. His shooting hasn't fully recovered, but everything else has him looking like he's in his prime again.

"It feels good to step out there and not have an ache," Green said. "Sometimes during the year, like the toe injury, every time you step on that toe, put pressure on it, it's killing me. You kind of dread going on the floor."

Green was surely motivated by the postseason and his desire to win a third consecutive championship. But there's also his contract. Green signed a five-year, $82 million deal in 2015. That made him one of the star players who wasn't able to cash in on the 2016 salary-cap spike that inflated salaries across the league.

One of the reasons the Warriors were able to afford Durant in 2016 was that Green was signed to a favorable deal the year before. Green hasn't been afraid to point out that fact over the years.

Although he still has a season left on his deal, Green has been gearing up for contract extension talks this summer, as he will be eligible for an extension in the final year. He changed agents recently -- hiring Rich Paul of Klutch Sports -- to prepare for the talks, which have the potential to get complicated.

Because even as Green believes he's underpaid based on the changed market, his effectiveness and production have dropped over the past two seasons. With his mounting injury history and advancing age -- he recently turned 29 -- it is a little unclear what the Warriors would be willing to pay before he could test the free-agent market.

That cloud is still on the horizon, but Green's turning back the clock in recent weeks has accomplished sending the message that he's still a valuable player. If he's able to do it for a few more weeks and help the Warriors to a fourth ring, Green just might get everything that he wants.

"I feel great out there. I think it's showing in my play," Green said. "But it's a long road for what we want to do. Just got to continue to do the things that I've been doing, continue to try to bring it on the floor."

SEATTLE -- Citing solely baseball reasons, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said the team will option infielder Addison Russell to Triple-A Iowa when his 40-game suspension for violating the league's domestic violence policy is up Thursday.

"There have been some real promising signs with his play. Six games just isn't enough to get fully up to speed to come up to the big league club," Epstein said Tuesday.

According to Epstein, Russell has been making progress in his off-the-field rehabilitation after accepting the suspension that stemmed from multiple allegations of abuse by his ex-wife, Melisa Reidy.

According to league rules, Russell was allowed seven days in the minors as his suspension neared its end, but the Cubs have decided to leave him at Triple-A while he acclimates himself to second base again.

National League MVP runner-up Javier Baez has taken over at shortstop, Russell's natural position. The Cubs are seemingly stacked up the middle as David Bote has emerged as a key player, as well.

"He's going to split his time evenly between short and second," Epstein said of Russell.

The Cubs continue to stress Russell is being given a "conditional" second chance as the team regularly checks in with people in the 25-year-old's life. There is no "finish line" to the off-the-field work, Epstein said.

"There has been progress, even though there is a tremendous amount of work ahead for him," Epstein said. "He's put a lot of work in, as he needed to. Talking to the people in his life, they notice improvements in the way he's handling himself in important situations, improvements in his relationships and the way he's functioning as a father and a partner. Those are all good signs."

Epstein also addressed reports that the team was "threatening" media members for critical coverage of the story.

"If you want to write critical articles about Addison or about the club's handling, you're more than welcome to," Epstein said. "Seriously, we believe in the freedom of the press and this is an issue where we expect there to be strong opinions. People have their right to have those opinions and express them however they want.

"We would never try to stifle freedom of the press. The threat of reprisal to a media member about any topic, especially one of this nature, is not acceptable. I would be surprised if that happened with the Cubs, and if it did, I would want to know who it was and they wouldn't be working for the Cubs much longer. That's a fireable offense."