George Lynch scored on a fast-break layup with 36 seconds left as the New Orleans Hornets beat Orlando 100-98 in the Magic's home opener.
David Wesley scored 28 points for New Orleans, while Jamaal Magloire had 27 and Baron Davis added 22 points and eight assists late Thursday.
PHOTO: AP
Orlando's Tracy McGrady scored 33 points, but Magloire blocked his potential tying layup with 3.9 seconds to go. McGrady also had seven rebounds and six assists. Drew Gooden added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Orlando appeared to have some breathing room with 2:11 to play when Juwan Howard's three-point play put the Magic up 98-93. Howard had 15 points.
But Davis drained a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession then grabbed a rebound, allowing Wesley to tie the game on a layup with a minute left.
SuperSonics 109, Clippers 100
In Saitama, Japan, Rashard Lewis scored 25 points and Ronald Murray added 24 as Seattle spoiled Mike Dunleavy's coaching debut with Los Angeles.
Lewis made two 3-pointers in a third-quarter run that gave the SuperSonics an 83-69 lead heading to the fourth.
The Clippers closed the gap to four points late in the final quarter at Saitama Super Arena. With less than a minute to go, Clippers guard Eddie House sank a 3-pointer, and Corey Maggette's score made the margin four. But Calvin Booth's dunk with 20.6 seconds left put the game out of reach.
House led the Clippers with 22 points. Maggette and Elton Brand scored 21 apiece. Brand sustained a hairline fracture in his right foot and is expected to be out four to six weeks.
It was the first of two games in Japan for the teams.
Suns 95, Cavaliers 86
The NBA's future was showcased in Phoenix, and 20-year-old Amare Stoudemire and Phoenix came away with a victory over 18-year-old LeBron James and Cleveland.
Stoudemire, last season's rookie of the year, scored 25 points -- including a pair of three-point plays in a 10-3 fourth-quarter run -- and grabbed eight rebounds.
James, with an array of soaring dunks, hanging bank shots, leaping rebounds and slick passes, had 21 points and eight assists, but had seven turnovers.
The teen sensation had just one turnover in 42 minutes in his 25-point NBA debut in Sacramento on Wednesday night.
Stephon Marbury scored 24 for the Suns.
Ricky Davis scored 22 points for the Cavs on 9-for-23 shooting. Carlos Boozer had 11 points.
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Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
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