Voshon Lenard scored all 14 of his points in the final 12 minutes on Tuesday, and Vince Carter had 24 as the Toronto Raptors beat the Wizards 89-86 in a game that saw Washington also lose Michael Jordan to back spasms
Jordan left with 4:34 remaining in the second quarter after scoring four points in 15 minutes.
He was to be evaluated yesterday to determine whether he will play in that night's home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Jordan hasn't missed a game this season.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jerry Stackhouse scored 21 points for the Wizards.
Pistons 96, Rockets 83
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 26 points and Chauncey Billups added 21 as Detroit beat Houston to break a seven-game losing streak.
The game was Detroit's first after it finished an 0-5 West Coast trip with a loss Sunday in Portland. Houston has lost successive games.
Cuttino Mobley led the Rockets with 25 points, including 13 in the fourth period, and China's Yao Ming added 20.
Bucks 100, Heat 91
In Miami, Sam Cassell scored 25 points as the Milwaukee climbed back to .500 with a win over Miami.
Milwaukee moved one game ahead of Washington for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
Cassell followed his 28-point outing Sunday against Atlanta with a strong effort against the Heat. He was 9-of-14 and added five rebounds and three assists to help the Bucks win for just the third time in their last 10 games.
The Heat were playing without leading scorer Eddie Jones, who sprained his right ankle in practice Monday and is expected to miss at least two weeks.
Knicks 89, Cavaliers 80
In New York, Allan Houston scored 25 points to lead New York over Cleveland.
Houston scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter, when the Knicks had some trouble shaking off the team with the NBA's worst record.
The Cavs lost for the ninth time in 10 games and dropped to 0-11 on the road against Atlantic Division teams.
Ricky Davis, held out of the starting lineup by coach Keith Smart, led Cleveland with 24 points.
Hawks 92, Nuggets 86
In Atlanta, Shareef Abdur-Rahim hit a hook shot before Glenn Robinson made a clinching 3-pointer in the final minute as Atlanta handed Denver its 13th consecutive loss.
Abdur-Rahim finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds, and Robinson atoned for an atrocious shooting night to give the Hawks their second victory in six games. Robinson was 4-for-14, and missed all seven of his shots in the first half.
Denver has lost 14 consecutive games on the road, and has not won in Atlanta since 1988. Juwan Howard had 20 points for the Nuggets.
Mavericks 88, Nets 79
In Dallas, Steve Nash scored or assisted on 16 straight fourth-quarter points, helping Dallas snap out of their offensive funk with a win over New Jersey.
Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the league-leading Mavs (46-14).
Suns104,Spurs 97
In San Antonio, Stephon Marbury had 35 points and 13 assists as Phoenix overcame Tim Duncan's 35-point, 21-rebound performance to beat San Antonio.
Marbury connected on all six of his 3-pointers and led a Phoenix attack that hit 10-of-13 3-point shots. Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion each added 17 points.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier