LeBron James got his first win as a pro when Darius Miles and Ricky Davis scored 26 points apiece to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 111-98 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Davis scored 23 points in the second half and the Cavaliers used a 13-2 burst midway through the fourth quarter to separate from the Wizards.
James, this year's No. 1 draft pick, had 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the young Cavaliers, who started the season 0-5 and looked listless while losing their home opener to Denver earlier this week.
For the second straight night, backup center DeSagana Diop came up big for Cleveland. The 7-footer had four rebounds and five blocks in 18 minutes.
Rookie Jarvis Hayes and Gilbert Arenas had 22 points each and Larry Hughes had 20 to pace the Wizards.
Timberwolves 88, Heat 79
In Miami, Kevin Garnett had 25 points and 17 rebounds to lead Minnesota past the winless Heat.
Garnett used his height advantage to dominate inside against the Heat's smaller front line, and helped Minnesota follow up Friday's 100-71 rout of Orlando.
Sam Cassell added 23 points, six assists and five rebounds, and Latrell Sprewell had 15 points for Minnesota.
Eddie Jones had 21 points to lead the Heat, 0-6 for the first time since opening their inaugural season in 1988-89 with 17 straight losses.
Bucks 90, Knicks 87
In Milwaukee, T.J. Ford hit a pair of free throws with 7.7 seconds left, Tim Thomas scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and Milwaukee beat New York for the second time in four days.
Charlie Ward missed two 3-point attempts in the final 16 seconds, the final one at the buzzer. Michael Redd added 22 points for the Bucks, who also beat the Knicks 106-90 Wednesday night in New York.
Allan Houston scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half and Keith Van Horn added 20 for the Knicks.
Mavericks 81, Spurs 78
In San Antonio, Antawn Jamison scored 20 points, capped by a putback with 4.9 seconds remaining to lead Dallas.
The Spurs, who trailed for most of the game, went up 78-77 on a corner 3-pointer by Bruce Bowen with 1:29 left. But Steve Nash made a jumper on the next possession to put the Mavericks back on top.
Michael Finley stole the ball from San Antonio's Malik Rose and then rebounded an errant 3-pointer by Antoine Walker with 29 seconds left. Nash missed on his drive to the basket, but Jamison was there for the putback.
Nash scored 15 points. Dirk Nowitzki also had 15 and Tony Delk 12.
Rose led San Antonio with 20 points and a career-high 22 rebounds.
Bulls 109, Hornets 106
In New Orleans, Jalen Rose, playing as a reserve for the first time in more than four years, scored 34 points to lead Chicago.
Rose, who had started 323 straight games, shot 10-of-15 and made four 3-pointers to lead the Bulls, who shot 59.4 percent despite hitting only two of their last 12 shots.
Donyell Marshall scored 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting and the Bulls made 12 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter, 20 of 24 for the game.
Baron Davis had 35 points, 13 assists and five steals.
Rockets 96, Magic 86
In Houston, Steve Francis had 31 points and Cuttino Mobley 21, and Houston handed Orlando its sixth straight loss.
Yao Ming had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who never trailed after the opening minutes and won their third straight game.
Juwan Howard led the Magic with 22 points, and Tyronn Lue added 18. One night after an awful performance against Minnesota, Tracy McGrady scored 14 on 5-for-21 shooting.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite