Even without his trademark headband, LeBron James had 27 points and took over sole possession of the Cavaliers' career assists record as Cleveland beat the Dallas Mavericks 127-94 on Tuesday.

James was one of four players with more than 20 points for the Central Division-leading Cavaliers, who have won 12 of their last 13 games against Western Conference opponents and broke a 14-game losing streak in Texas.

An Australian state court has potentially cleared the way for Formula One driver Giedo van der Garde to compete in this weekend's season-opening Grand Prix in Melbourne after his legal challenge against Sauber was ruled successful, although the racing team has appealed the decision.

The Dutch driver was challenging to get a spot in Sunday's race with Swiss F1 team Sauber, which replaced him as a driver late last year.

FC Porto trounced Basel 4-0 on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2004, when the Portuguese club won the title.

Goals from Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar in the last-16 return leg built on a 1-1 draw in Switzerland two weeks earlier to give Porto a convincing 5-1 aggregate victory.

Cristiano Ronaldo rescued Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday with two goals in a pulsating 4-3 defeat to Schalke that saw the holders squeeze through to the quarterfinals with a 5-4 victory on aggregate.

Madrid's first scare of the night came when Schalke's Christian Fuchs opened the scoring in the 20th minute, only for Ronaldo to head an equalizer for the hosts five minutes later from Toni Kroos' corner.

Spaniard Roberto Merhi has been confirmed as the newly reformed Manor team's second driver for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

The team formally known as Marussia which went into administration at the end of October and missed the final three races of last season, has been rescued by fresh investment just in time to take the grid in Melbourne.

For Manchester United's fans, manager Louis van Gaal's attempts to explain their team's shortcomings may be beginning to carry faint echoes of the reign of his doomed predecessor, David Moyes.

United's regression under Moyes was spectacular, but it was his continued insistence that progress was being made -- despite stark evidence to the contrary -- that particularly irked supporters.

The Atlanta Hawks bounced back from a rare loss to score a season-high 130 points in a rout of the Sacramento Kings on Monday, becoming the first NBA team to 50 wins this season.

Hours later, the Golden State Warriors joined them in the 50-win club, beating the Phoenix Suns 98-80.

Argentina won the decisive singles match against Brazil on Monday to close out a dramatic Davis Cup encounter marred by reports of racist taunts by spectators during the longest singles match ever played in the competition.

Brazil's Joao Souza told the Brazilian website SporTV.com that he heard fans call him a monkey during his reverse singles match against Leonardo Mayer on Sunday. Mayer won it after 6 hours, 42 minutes to level the best-of-five-match series at 2-all.

Recalling the first time he was exposed to racism in football a decade ago, Samuel Eto'o said he made an immediate decision to "stand up and shout" rather than continue to endure abuses and hatred on the field.

On Monday, the four-time African player of the year was honored for his work countering racism, receiving the European Medal of Tolerance from the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, a non-governmental organization.

With one clinical finish, Danny Welbeck propelled Arsenal into the FA Cup semifinals and made former club Manchester United pay for selling him last summer.

Welbeck marked his first return to Old Trafford by grabbing a 61st-minute winner in a 2-1 victory for Arsenal on Monday, in a matchup between the competition's two most successful teams.