MELBOURNE, Australia -- Aslan Karatsev never had managed to make it into the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Now he just refuses to leave the Australian Open.

Karatsev, a 27-year-old Russian qualifier who is ranked 114th, became the first man in the professional era to reach the semifinals of his first major tennis tournament by beating 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

"It's an unbelievable feeling,'' Karatsev said. "Of course, it's first time. First time in main draw; first time semis. It's incredible.''

That's a pretty good word for what he has managed to do. Karatsev failed in nine previous attempts to go through qualifying rounds to play at a Grand Slam tournament.

Now he's making the most of it, getting past Dimitrov -- a three-time major semifinalist -- after also eliminating two other seeded players, No. 8 Diego Schwartzman and No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

"It's great to see. I think it's great to see,'' Dimitrov said about Karatsev's success. "Surprised? No.''

Bothered by back spams that developed Monday, Dimitrov was not at his best. He finished the match barely able to serve -- and barely able to walk up the stairs as he departed Rod Laver Arena.

Dimitrov jumped out to an early lead with three service breaks in the first set. He then held seven break points in Karatsev's first two service games in the second set, but didn't convert any of them.

That's when Karatsev started to believe he could stretch his already remarkable run even further.

"It was really tough in the beginning for me to hold my nerves,'' Karatsev said. "It was tricky. I tried to play in the second set, to find a way how to play."

Dimitrov stopped chasing shots in the third set, then was visited by a trainer and took a medical timeout for treatment on a muscle problem around his lower back.

He hadn't dropped a set in his first four matches here but said he had trouble putting his socks on before the match.

"It started yesterday,'' Dimitrov said, "out of the blue.''

Karatsev is the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open semifinals since Patrick McEnroe -- John's brother -- also was No. 114 in 1991 -- and the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals at any Slam since Goran Ivanisevic was No. 125 at 2001 Wimbledon.

Karatsev will play either eight-time champion Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev next. Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are meeting in a quarterfinal on the other half of the draw on Wednesday, meaning there'll be two Russians in the semifinals at Melbourne Park.

Asked for his thoughts on the possibility of an all-Russian final, Karatsev stuck with what he knows.

"I try not to think about it,'' he said, adding that he simply is "going from match to match.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Britain's Joe Salisbury and American Desirae Krawczyk moved into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

They will face the winner of the match between the duo of Slovenia's Andreja Klepac and Britain's Neal Skupski and the pairing of Lucie Hradecka from the Czech Republic and Slovakia's Filip Polasek.

Salisbury, 25, is having a fine Australian Open as he and American Rajeev Ram are also into the quarter-finals of the men's doubles as they try to retain the title they won in 2020.

World number 114 Aslan Karatsev beat an injury-hampered Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open to become the first man in the Open era to reach the semi-finals on their Grand Slam debut.

An upset Dimitrov was struggling to move by the end of the match after receiving treatment on his back.

Karatsev, 27, will play either world number one Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev for a place in the final.

Karatsev himself looked fatigued in a poor first set, with Dimitrov reeling off five games in a row to take the opener.

He had to stave off five break points in a 13-minute service game in the early stages of the second set before taking advantage when Dimitrov's level dipped.

Dimitrov, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2017, said he had struggled with pelvic spasms in the build-up to the match and could barely roll in a serve as the match progressed.

He repeatedly mouthed "I'm sorry" at his coaching box and struggled to walk up the stairs at the end of the match.

It is, however, a remarkable achievement for Karatsev, who has been playing Challenger events for much of his career.

He has become the second qualifier to reach the Australian Open semi-finals after Australian Bob Giltinan in December 1977.

Karatsev is also the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open finals since Patrick McEnroe, then ranked 114th, did so in 1991.

It's unlikely that Tim Paine will be seen with ball in hand over the next few days, but Australia's Test captain is eager to get back out into the middle for Tasmania with the resumption of the Sheffield Shield having had almost a month to reflect on the series defeat against India.

The 2-1 loss, which finished with India's dramatic run chase in the final session at the Gabba, has led to a hefty post-mortem of the Test side which is now set to remain in moth balls until the end of the year with the South Africa tour postponed and the World Test Championship final out of their hands.

Paine has debriefed the series with Justin Langer - who himself has come under pressure amid talk of dressing-room tension - and the rest of the coaching staff including as recently as Tuesday. He expected significant fallout which is usually the case when Australia lose at home but believes the ups and downs of his career have helped him.

"I was okay, I knew it was going to come, it's part and parcel of this job and I've seen it with a number of captains before. If you don't win, the heat's going to come," Paine told RSN Breakfast Club. "I've been through a lot, seen a lot, actually had my career taken away then given back to me so I things differently to most cricketers.

"I knew it was going to come and most of it is a critique of me as a cricketer and a captain. As long as it's not a personal attack I couldn't care less. All that worries me is what my team-mates think and what the staff think and the feedback from them is I'm doing a good job still. I could have done some things differently, no doubt about that, unfortunately you don't have hindsight out in the middle."

Paine, who averaged 31.20 in the first part of the Sheffield Shield season which included a third first-class century, will captain Tasmania as their season resumes at home against Queensland with Matthew Wade part of Australia's T20I squad in New Zealand.

He was with the Hobart Hurricanes squad for the back end of the BBL although did not get a game, but his outing in club cricket recently caught the attention when he sent down medium pace and offspin. "There was a little bit of shape but couldn't get them on line unfortunately," he said.

On a more serious note, Paine is keen for as much cricket as he can get domestically in the latter part of the season knowing he faces a long winter of downtime. When Australia's Test cricket looks likely to resume in December, Paine will have played just nine internationals in two years.

"The Sydney and Brisbane parts [against India] were a bit draining mentally but physically feel great," he said. "I only played four Tests in however long. If anything I feel like I need to be playing more cricket, I feel like I play much better when I have the consistency of week in week out games so for me to get back into Shield cricket and some one-dayers for Tassie and be consistently playing is exactly what I'm after. Been home now for a few weeks and raring to go again."

When James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in mid-January, Monday night's 136-125 win over the Sacramento Kings was the offensive standard he had in mind.

"This was the vision right here -- this game itself," Harden said. "From top to bottom, no matter when your number is called, you've got to be ready to come in and contribute no matter what it takes. I think each individual guy has that mindset and that's a championship-caliber team already."

The Nets connected on 27 3-pointers on Monday night, setting a franchise record for 3s made in a game on their way to defeating Sacramento. The Nets' 27 3s were two short of the Milwaukee Bucks' all-time record. Seven of the nine Nets who played made a 3 in Monday's game.

Harden had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists. It was his fifth triple-double since joining the Nets -- already the most 20-point triple-doubles in franchise history, passing Jason Kidd, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Kyrie Irving, who put up 40 points and shot 15-of-22 from the field, led the way for the Nets. He finished shooting 9-of-11 from beyond the arc. Irving and Harden combined to score or assist on 112 points on Monday, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

"It's a movie," Harden said of Irving. "It's like a show. Sometimes, I forget I'm on the court. He makes them look so effortless. It's one of the reasons why I'm here."

Irving's nine 3-pointers were the second-most he's made in a game in his career. Irving declined to speak to reporters after the game.

"He's a magician with the ball," Jeff Green said of Irving. "I've said it once before, and I love watching him when he's in that zone. He's a hell of a player and I'm glad I'm on his side and not on the opposing side this year. We're clicking on the right cylinders right now."

The Nets' previous record of 24 made 3-pointers was set in 2018 against the Chicago Bulls. Against the Kings, Green tied that franchise record on an above the break 3 from Harden with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter. Harden broke the Nets' previous record on a 25-foot 3, on a pass from Green.

"That's the type of offensive output we're capable of," coach Steve Nash said after the game. "For us, it's really the defense that we're trying to continue to work with."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green devoted almost the entirety of his postgame news conference Monday night to calling out the NBA's treatment of its players, while citing various examples of double standards around the league.

Green's unprompted, three-minute tirade came on the heels of the Cleveland Cavaliers -- Golden State's Monday night opponent -- deciding to sit center Andre Drummond until they find a trade to make.

"I would like to talk about something that's really bothering me," Green said after the Warriors' 129-98 win. "And it's the treatment of players in this league. To watch Andre Drummond, before the game, sit on the sidelines, then go to the back, and to come out in street clothes because a team is going to trade him, it's bulls---."

As ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst reported Monday, the Cavs are transitioning to new center Jarrett Allen and "believe it's unfair to Drummond to limit his minutes as the organization transitions to Allen."

Green continued, "Because when James Harden asked for a trade, and essentially dogged it, no one's going to fight back that James was dogging it his last days in Houston, but he was castrated for wanting to go to a different team, everybody destroyed that man, and yet a team can come out and say 'Oh, we want to trade a guy,' and then that guy has to go sit, and if he doesn't stay professional, then he's a cancer. And he's not good in someone's locker room, and he's the issue."

Drummond, who was in street clothes at Chase Center sitting on the Cavs bench throughout most of Monday's game, caught up with Green for a few moments prior to Monday's tip-off. While it's unclear what the pair discussed in those few short moments, Green's message was pointed as he stepped to the podium after the game.

"And we're seeing situations of Harrison Barnes getting pulled off the bench," Green said. "Or DeMarcus Cousins finding out he's traded in an interview after the All-Star Game, and we continue to let this happen. But I got fined for stating my opinion on what I thought should happen with another player, but teams can come out and continue to say, 'Oh, we're trading guys, we're not playing you.' And yet we're to stay professional."

Green, who has long been an outspoken critic when it comes to issues he feels strongly about, was fined $50,000 for comments made during his time as a guest analyst for Turner Sports during the NBA restart in Orlando last season, when he expressed his feelings that Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker should leave the organization.

"At some point, as players, we need to be treated with the same respect," Green said. "And have the same rights that the team can have. Because as a player, you're the worst person in the world when you want a different situation. But a team can say they're trading you. And that man is to stay in shape, he is to stay professional. And if not, his career is on the line. At some point this league has to protect the players from embarrassment like that."

Green's words come on the same day Pistons general manager Troy Weaver told ESPN that the team would sit former All-Star Blake Griffin as they try to work out a deal or a potential buyout.

"We talk all of this stuff about, 'You can't do this, you can't say this publicly,'" Green said. "If you say that publicly ... Anthony Davis got fined I think $100,000 dollars or something like that for demanding a trade, but you can say Andre Drummond's getting traded publicly, and we're trade him publicly, and he's to stay professional and just deal with it? And then when Kyrie Irving says, 'Oh, my mental health is off,' everybody go crazy about that, too. Do you not think that affects someone mentally? As much as we put into this game to be great, to come out here and be in shape, to produce for fans every single night, and most importantly, to help your team win, do you think that doesn't affect someone mentally?"

Green's rant came on a night in which he tied his career high with 16 assists. His news conference started with a question centering around the relationship he has built with Stephen Curry through the years, as Curry's high point totals can sometimes coincide with big assist totals for Green. After answering that question for about 30 seconds, Green veered into the player treatment topic that he felt so strongly about.

"As players we're told to, 'Ah, no, you can't say that, you can't say this,'" Green said. "But teams can? It goes along the same lines of when everyone wants to say, 'Ah man, that young guy can't figure it out.' But no one wants to say the organization can't figure it out. At some point the players must be respected in these situations, and it's ridiculous and I'm sick of seeing it. Y'all have a great night. I'll see y'all (Tuesday) or Wednesday."

Winston Churchill once said of Russia, "It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." If there is an NBA equivalent to that quote, it is Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons.

There might not be a more confounding player in the NBA than Simmons. He has the size and strength of a center but plays with the speed and passing vision of a point guard. He can run and is able to guard all five positions on the court in a way that, arguably, no one else in the league can.

Yet, at the same time, he won't shoot 3-pointers -- or often even mid-range jump shots. And, for all of the things he does to help winning, his fit offensively has become an endless source of debate in Philadelphia and beyond -- especially playing alongside Philadelphia's star center, Joel Embiid.

Case in point: on Monday night, with Embiid a late scratch due to back tightness, Simmons lined up at center for the Sixers against the Utah Jazz, the team with the best record in the NBA.

So what did Simmons do? Have the best game of his career, putting up a career-high 42 points to go with nine rebounds and 12 assists -- all while not taking a single shot outside the paint.

Ultimately, the Jazz won the game, beating the Sixers 134-123 to claim their 19th win in their last 20 games.

The story, however, was Simmons playing with the kind of aggression Sixers fans rarely see.

"I mean, if you put it that way, probably not," Simmons said with a smile, when asked if he's ever been that aggressive offensively in his NBA career.

"... There's nights where I feel like I am dominant but it may not look like a 40-point game. I might have a triple-double and we might win by 20, whatever the case is. It might be on defense. [But], yeah, I definitely had to pick up the slack with Joel out."

Simmons is right. His game is so often about doing things that don't show up in the box score, be it the way he is able to lock down elite scorers on the other teams or set up his teammates for wide open 3-pointers.

But the reason Monday's performance was so eye-opening was because, despite his prodigious physical gifts, Simmons rarely imposes his will on the game like he did against Utah, particularly in the first quarter. As Philadelphia raced out to a 42-35 lead, Simmons finished with 19 points and four assists, and either scored or created 12 of Philadelphia's 16 baskets.

Through his first 24 games this season, Simmons had scored at least that many in an entire game three times. Monday night, he did it in 12 minutes -- all while going up against Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the league's best defensive player (and, at times, by scoring right over him).

"We anticipated, once Joel was scratched, we were trying to create a lineup where Gobert would guard Ben," Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. "That happened, and the key for us was getting stops and getting it to Ben and getting it up the floor.

"It just felt there was no way anybody was going to stay with him, especially a center. So I thought Ben handled that very well."

Monday's loss was the third straight for Philadelphia, which still remains on top of the Eastern Conference thanks to recent scuffles from the other contenders. But in those three losses, Simmons has slowly looked to be more aggressive offensively. While that was clearly the case Monday, he scored 23 points in last Thursday's loss to the Portland Trailblazers -- his previous season-high -- and followed that up with 18 points in Saturday's loss to the Phoenix Suns.

He'd only scored as many as 18 points in a game twice all season before the Portland game. Now, he's done so in three straight.

And, according to Simmons, that trend isn't an accident.

"Honestly, I've been working on my mentality, my mental [game], a lot these past few weeks," Simmons said. "I think my mindset ... it's not easy to do that, to change the way you play, or certain things in the game that come natural to certain people.

"I feel like I'm figuring it out. Obviously my scoring has been a lot higher the past five, six games. So as long as I can keep doing that, and stay locked in and keep working on my mental [game], I think it's scary."

Over the past few seasons, there has been endless scrutiny of Simmons' game -- like the lack of a jump shot, or the times he will disappear within Philadelphia's offense.

As a result, nights like Monday, when Simmons was the best player on the floor, are all the more puzzling. Why, if he's able to do this one night, is he unable to do so more regularly? His last coach, Brett Brown, openly pleaded with him to shoot 3-pointers. And, he did -- about once a month. His new coach, Rivers, has gone the other way.

The obvious question, in the wake of Monday's performance -- and Embiid's absence -- is whether Simmons can produce like this when playing alongside the league's best interior scorer. According to Tobias Harris, Simmons delivered that performance because the Sixers needed him to.

"Ben's a guy, he pretty much evaluates the game as he's playing, and you could see it immediately at the beginning of the game: he knew could get by those guys with his speed. And we just started finding different ways to get him involved," Harris said.

"... I saw him working on some things, and that was getting in the post and using his body down there that probably aren't as busy as him and shooting over them. It's just an evolution of his game continuing to come together game after game and he also just had that mindset today.

"He wanted to do whatever he could to help us win tonight. And that was it, more than anything."

For the Sixers to be a championship-level team, they'll need the version of Simmons that showed up against the Jazz to be there when he's playing alongside Embiid. Before Monday night, however, it was unclear if Simmons was capable of putting up this kind of performance.

Now that he's done so, the question shifts to when -- or if -- he will do it again. So it goes for the NBA's ultimate enigma.

Shane Watson, the Australian Cricketers' Association president, believes Cricket Australia should re-examine the notion of private ownership of BBL clubs, a decade after the governing body's initial "float" of stakes in the T20 league met a quiet end.

Private ownership of BBL clubs, the tournament model favoured by a large portion of overseas domestic leagues including the IPL, PSL, CPL and BPL, was a contentious issue at the time CA elected to move towards new identities for eight T20 teams, with a prospectus drawn up and a business mission taken to India to gauge private interest in the idea. Some of the initial structures of the BBL clubs, namely the independent boards and chief executives of the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades, were drawn up partly with private investment in mind.

CA's executives, led by the then CEO James Sutherland and former head of strategy Andrew Jones, were cooler about the idea than some members of the CA board, and the idea fizzled out as the league was launched on a trajectory towards securing a far larger slice of an A$1.2 billion broadcast rights pie in 2018. Three years on, with CA embroiled in a battle with Seven West Media over the network's campaign for a discount to its fees and Covid-19 affecting events more broadly, Watson reckons the concept should be revisited.

"Yes, it 100% needs a revisit, and it's a way to continue to get a cash injection as well," Watson told ESPNcricinfo. "Obviously they'd need to set things up to put things in place to make sure CA still have control that they desire across the franchises and the playing group, but absolutely, it'll bring in an influx of different people, new money as well, to be able to continue to grow the game. So I think that absolutely would be a big step forward."

There are plenty of other backers of private investment around the ACA board table: chairman Greg Dyer and director Neil Maxwell - also a Cricket New South Wales board member - have both publicly advocated for the concept in the past. Others with considerable knowledge of the area include the NSW Cricket chairman John Knox, who in his former role with Credit Suisse drew up the prospectus when privatisation was first mooted in 2010-11. Much of the opposition to private investment focused on differing priorities between team owners and governing bodies.

Other models are emerging however. Private equity investment, as is currently being explored by New Zealand Rugby to exploit the All Blacks brand, presents the opportunity to somewhat tilt the balance in negotiations over a whole range of commercial areas for a club or tournament.

"I've seen it in a lot of the tournaments I've played in, one thing when you have private owners is it brings in a new type of person, a new type of industry, new money streams into a very traditional cricket environment," Watson said. "It's the same sort of sponsors, the same people who've always been around cricket in Australia for example, so if you open it up to privatisation it means you're getting some very successful people or business with different ideas on how to be able to expand things, make them better, challenge the status quo.

"Not just from a financial point of view but also just from a brand and evolution point of view. I've always been very surprised it hasn't been something that CA have looked at, and gone for. I've seen it work so incredibly well in the IPL and the PSL for example, because it brings in new, successful people, new money into something that's been, in CA's case, the same sort of status quo for a long period of time."

Speaking on other issues around the game, Watson expressed his disappointment that dressing room questions about the mentoring style of the coach Justin Langer had reached the public domain, but said that it was incumbent on administrators to be "proactive" about how the national team's leaders were operating relative to the ever-changing nature of the dressing room.

"The person who stands out straight away to me there is Ricky Ponting; he was never chasing the captaincy, a great team man, but then when he got it, yes he was a leader, but he still cared about others, it wasn't just about him"

"The biggest thing is having the right person at the right time, the right coach or the right captain at the right time," Watson said. "People retire, people come in and out of the team and as soon as a couple of people move in and out of the team, that can change the whole dynamic of what's required from a coaching or leadership perspective. That's where we have to make sure we are really proactive, because when the decision-makers aren't proactive around what's required right now, that's when we can get into trouble."

Watson noted that it was vital for the game's custodians to be aware also that - whatever might be said publicly - leadership roles in Australian cricket were highly sought-after as prizes with rich rewards for their holders, meaning that it was critical that open discussions were had about whether anyone might be hanging onto them for too long.

"That is one of the biggest things - are the people who want to be the captain of Australia doing it because that's just been their whole goal and that's all they want, and they'll do anything they can to get to the top, and that's not just in the Australian cricket team, that's leadership in general," he said.

"What are the reasons why you want to be in the top position, is it because it's all about you and you've always wanted that and you'll just make sure you get there and then you make sure you stay there. For all different reasons, whether it's sponsorship or marketing, whether it's just because you love being the main man.

Or whether it's the other side of things: you love helping people, you love getting the best out of them, you weren't chasing it, but once you got an opportunity, then you loved helping people out and guiding people. The person who stands out straight away to me there is Ricky Ponting; he was never chasing the captaincy, a great team man, but then when he got it, yes he was a leader, but he still cared about others, it wasn't just about him.

"For some of these coaches, [Australia] is a huge job. You're the one who's pointing the ship of Australian cricket in one direction, you're making the call, that's your vision filtering down through all the layers. You're dealing with the media, with the board, with the playing group to get the best out of them, and then your coaching staff as well. So of course, the coach of Australia does get paid incredibly well, and there's no question that's going to be one of the reasons why some people hang in a bit longer, because it's such a big carrot dangling in front of them."

In addition to his ACA role, Watson has ventured into the bats and equipment game, arguing he is trying to "break the model" of established brands and high overheads with a direct-to-customer model based largely upon online sales under the T20 Stars umbrella with which he has also launched a podcast.

"I've always been a cricket gear tragic since I was a kid, so I'm very particular about every little detail of my gear," he said. "When it comes to challenging the pricing model that's out there, it's just something that when I really started to dig into it I had the realisation of just how expensive cricket gear has got from when I first started playing in my early years. My parents certainly weren't wealthy, they just got together enough money for me to be able to feel like I never went without.

"But nowadays there's no way they could've afforded the top of the range gear. So when I dug into why things have got so expensive, there is a really simple way to be able to break that model down, which is going direct to consumer…and that means the people buying the equipment because they want to get into the game, can actually get it more affordably, just because it's going directly to them.

"The biggest challenge is that everyone's used to going to cricket shops to try the gear and feel the bats. Absolutely there has to be a way for people to touch and feel the gear as well. I'm getting some guys I played cricket with around the states to be like the agents to get gear into people's hands, and in Sydney I'll be getting out to schools and clubs to allow them to see the products."

Shane Watson's cricket equipment is available at www.t20stars.com

Ben McDermott believes he returns to Australia's T20 side a different player after a 16-month absence but he knows his move to the top of the order for the Hobart Hurricanes will hinder his chances to find a permanent place in Australia's line-up.

McDermott played 12 T20Is for Australia in 2018-19 but battled in a difficult middle-order role as Australia struggled to settle on a winning combination in the first two years of Justin Langer's coaching tenure.

He made just 98 runs from 10 innings at a strike-rate of 93.33 and suffered the ignominy of being run out in three of his first four innings.

"That was probably through a role that I don't do for the Hurricanes anymore, which is bat in the middle," McDermott said. "Batting up the top of the order now, I've sort of forced my way back in there with an amount of runs. But that comes with the challenge of batting at the top order at this level, which is pretty stacked obviously with Finch, Wade, Philippe, and all these guys, Stoinis, so it's a tough spot to crack."

He has forced his way back into the squad for the five-match T20 tour of New Zealand on the back of an excellent season for the Hurricanes where he made 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike-rate of 139.58, featuring scores of 96, 91, and 89 not out in chases.

He spent the entire season batting in the top three and even opened in six games while Matthew Wade was absent. Australia captain Aaron Finch has already declared that he, Wade, and Josh Philippe will make up the top three at the start of the tour, with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis set to start at No. 4 and No. 5. McDermott understands where he sits in the pecking order.

"I doubt that my opportunity will be in the top order," McDermott said. "I'm sure if I do get into a role it will be through an injury to those top three guys. Obviously, Philippe has been the Player of the Tournament for the Big Bash and Finchy has got an outstanding international record and Wadey has come off, the last time he played a T20I he got 80-odd against India. So I'm pretty sure they'll be the top three. But if I do get an opportunity it will probably be through the middle. It's a very strong batting line-up still. A lot of big names to jump."

Stand-in coach Andrew McDonald has flagged that Australia will use this tour to try and find some permanent answers in the middle order, which has been somewhat of a revolving door even when Australia has been at full strength. McDermott said he had learned some valuable lessons from his first 10 international innings in the difficult role and had been making improvements with Tasmania and Hurricanes batting coach Jeff Vaughan.

"Being able to strike boundaries and being able to strike at a decent strike-rate from ball one. I think that was key for success and I wasn't able to do that all. I'm sort of someone that needs a few balls to get going. It's something that I'm working on is being able to hit a boundary early on and get myself going.

"We just went through being able to start your innings at 100 percent and we talk a lot about looking for four first and your last option is hitting a one. I probably got into a little bit of a mindset early on in my innings that I was just looking for a one or a two and then missing out on boundary options early."

McDermott also has one eye on the available spots in Australia's Test middle order. He made an excellent start to the Sheffield Shield season for Tasmania before scoring a century against India for Australia A. His form prompted Shane Warne to say that McDermott should be Australia's next Test match No. 5 but he knows he needs to add to his two first-class centuries before that can become a reality.

"That's the pinnacle of cricket for me, playing Test cricket," McDermott said. "It was nice to hear Warney say those nice words about me but that's out of my control, what happens at the next level selection-wise. I'm sure that big hundreds are going to be key for that next step. So hopefully I can do that. I've only got two first-class hundreds at the moment. So hopefully I can finish off the back of the Shield season strongly and put my name up there again."

For John Wall, returning to Washington, D.C., for the first time since the Wizards traded him to the Houston Rockets brought with it the standard emotions, but it also brought something else: closure.

"I think I spoke on it with The Athletic what I wanted to get off my chest and let the past be the past," Wall said following Monday's 131-119 loss to the Wizards. "Other than that, I'm not really talking about being with the Wizards or anything anymore."

Wall was referencing an interview he did before his return game in which he said he felt there was a lack of honesty and transparency from the Wizards' front office leading up to the trade that sent him to Houston in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

Wall said his memories of his time in Washington will center more on his involvement in the community, where he was a fixture in multiple different programs.

"I have great things I did that I want to continue to do and remember I did, from being with Miyah, Bright Beginnings, my adopted school of Ketcham Elementary. The fifth-graders know I have an agreement with them I want to keep going," he said. "I won the Community Assist Award helping D.C.

"Those are the things I'll continue to talk about, but anything with the Wizards or how the trade went down or anything like that, that article was the last time I'm gonna speak on it. I'm past that and moving forward with my new franchise."

The Wizards showed a tribute video in the first half recognizing Wall and his 10 years with the franchise, particularly his work in the D.C.-area community. But with no fans in the building, it didn't carry the same kind of weight a typical return game -- especially for a fan favorite like Wall -- would normally have.

"It was difficult. I played for the fans; I played for the city," Wall said. "I'm an emotional and passionate person. I've been for 10 years. I wanted to see those guys and see them here to support me.

"It was definitely difficult also wanting to have my first game back in D.C. having my mom in the stands," Wall said of his late mother, Frances Pulley. "She's been there with me for everything, and knowing she's not here was difficult. She'd probably been in row 10, section G, or the front row if she was feeling healthy. I didn't have the opportunity to have that, but I know she's watching down on me and very proud of me on the comeback I had. But it would've been dope to see her there."

Wall scored 29 points to go along with 11 assists in 35 minutes, but with key Houston players out (Christian Wood, Victor Oladipo, P.J. Tucker and Eric Gordon), the Wizards pulled away in the second half to hand the Rockets their sixth straight loss.

It was the second time Wall played against his former team, which diluted some of the emotions, he said.

"It was cool, for real. I wasn't too worried about it. We already played them once," he said. "I think it would've been different if the fans were there, but the fans weren't there. It was good to compete and see some of the guys I mess with. That was it."

Despite no fans, Wall said it was good to see familiar faces in the arena but he lamented the missing ones.

"I know a couple people throughout this arena today that have been supporting me since I was a kid for 10 years that I didn't get a chance to see because they got laid off because of the pandemic," Wall said. "I wish them the best. I know they played a major part in me becoming a young boy to a grown man.

"If I have the opportunity when I come back next year and there are fans, I definitely want to get those people in the stands, so I will be looking forward to buying a lot of tickets for people that looked out for and helped me grow to who I am today and let them know I haven't forgot about them."

Wall had the energy going early, playing an electric first half and punctuating it with a signature, soaring left-handed dunk that ended with a loud yell. Wall scored 22 of his 29 in the opening half, but with the offensive burden falling almost entirely on him, the Rockets weren't able to keep up with the firepower of the Wizards.

Bradley Beal scored 37 on 14-of-24 shooting for Washington, while Westbrook added another triple-double to the books: 16 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists.

"We go at it. We compete. We guard each other, push each other," Beal said of his former teammate Wall. "Even tonight, we're pushing each other, telling each other to be better, guarding each other. It's just competitive. That's just who we are, that's our nature. I think that's what kinda pushed us to be who we are, who we both are today, and it's a beautiful thing.

"So, I'm definitely looking forward to just competing against him for the rest of my career, as crazy as that may sound."

At multiple points during the contest, Wall talked and laughed with Beal. The two had built a backcourt bond, growing up together and developing their partnership to both become All-Star-level guards.

"I think he's embracing it. He's enjoying it," Wall said of Beal. "I think he wishes he was on the other side of being there with me, because of all the hard work and dedication we put in the last two years."

Wall missed all of last season because of a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in February 2019, which left many to wonder what kind of player he would be when he returned. It was a driving factor in the exchange for Westbrook, with Wall's hefty contract and health concerns looming over his future.

But the 30-year-old guard has returned to a high level, averaging 19.5 points and 5.9 assists per game for the Rockets. Asked if he enjoyed showing what he can still do and what he could've possibly done with the Wizards, Wall was short and to the point.

"Yeah. They see it," he said. "They've seen it all season."