Basketball, NBA: Heated action between national player Moritz Wagner and superstar Luka Doncic: In the 108:92 victory of the Dallas Mavericks in the North American basketball professional league NBA against Orlando Magic, the Slovenian attacked the Berliner in the meantime, who previously cheered his teammate Jalen Suggs against Doncic had. First, Doncic, with 23 points again the best thrower in the Mavs, pushed Wagner slightly, teammates and opponents immediately intervened, while the 24-year-old quickly moved away and did not take any further part in the action. Doncic shouted a nasty insult at him from a distance and symbolically wiped a tear from his face. The situation calmed down shortly afterwards and both players suffered a technical foul.
Wagner was Orlando’s shared top scorer with 16 points in the clear defeat, his younger brother Franz remained rather inconspicuous in 27 minutes with six points. The team remains at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 36 bankruptcies from 44 games. Maximilian Kleber only got three points in almost 20 minutes with Dallas, who have now won eight of their last nine games. Dennis Schröder was particularly impressive in the final minutes of the 114-112 victory of the Boston Celtics against the Chicago Bulls, with a total of 16 points and eight assists. When the Brooklyn Nets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 120-105, MVP candidate Kevin Durant had to end the game early. After the superstar scored twelve points in the first quarter, opponent Bruce Brown fell unhappily against his knee shortly after the start of the second period, and the Nets then spoke of a sprain. An MRI on Sunday should bring more information.
Soccer, Spain: The Andalusian Cup derby between the Spanish first division club Real Betis and FC Sevilla has been canceled after a fan scandal. This was confirmed by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Saturday evening. This was due to a long object being thrown out of the Real Betis spectator area. Sevilla FC’s Joan Jordan was hit in the head by a plastic rod in the 39th minute. The midfielder initially fell to the ground, but was able to get up again a short time later. Just before that, Nabil Fekir’s penalty equalized Real Betis 1-1. After a 45-minute break, the team of referees decided to abandon the game. It was initially unclear whether the city duel in the Copa del Rey would be repeated or continued at a later date. “The RFEF condemns all acts of violence on the pitch,” wrote the Spanish Football Federation in a statement.
Handball, EM: National coach Alfred Gislason has left open the use of goalkeeper Andreas Wolff in the starting line-up for the second European Championship preliminary round match against Austria. “That’s a good question,” said Gislason before the game on Sunday (6 p.m. / ARD) when asked a question, but he “didn’t answer”. Wolff initially sat on the bench in the successful start of the tournament against Belarus (33:29). After ten minutes he replaced youngster Till Klimpke at the score of 2:7, the German team won in the end, also thanks to Wolff.
Gislason, meanwhile, underlined the importance of the second group game against neighboring country. “We’d do well to concentrate on the next game against Austria. That’s extremely important for us,” said the Icelander. “We absolutely want to win those two points and the game.” At the end of the preliminary round, the DHB team will meet Poland on Tuesday (6 p.m. / ZDF). The top two teams in the group advance to the main round. After their opening defeat against Poland (31:36), Austria is already under pressure. “They will be hot because they have to win the game,” said left-hander Christoph Steinert, one of eight tournament debutants in the German team: “I think it will be a cool fight.”