Ricky Davis scored 27 points, Chris Mihm added a career-high 21 and the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Los Angeles Clippers 103-95.
LeBron James shot poorly from the outside but finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and eight assists Tuesday as the Cavaliers won their fourth straight home game.
Predrag Drobnjak had a season-high 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to lead the Clippers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Corey Maggette had 19 points, and Quentin Richardson 17 for Los Angeles.
PHOTO: EPA
Pistons 106, Lakers 96
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Chauncey Billups had 24 points and eight assists to lead a balanced attack for Detroit's win over Los Angeles.
The Lakers, who are 5-0 at home, lost their third straight on the road to fall to 3-3.
Despite foul trouble, Shaquille O'Neal scored 20 points in 31 minutes. Karl Malone had 20, and Kobe Bryant added 19.
Ben Wallace had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Pistons, and Richard Hamilton scored 14.
Hornets 88, Nets 85
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, David Wesley hit two late 3-pointers to cap a 20-point performance that led New Orleans past New Jersey for its third straight win.
Baron Davis added 25 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds and a vital three-point play. George Lynch had a season-high 17 rebounds for the Hornets.
New Orleans guard Darrell Armstrong helped make it interesting at the end by missing two free throws with 14 seconds to go, but Kerry Kittles and Richard Jefferson missed game-tying 3-point attempts for the Nets, who made only one of their last 13 shots
Timberwolves 89, Nuggets 76
In Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett had 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to help Minnesota hold off Denver, the Timberwolves' first win over a conference opponent.
Neither team could put together any perimeter offense, so Minnesota maximized burly Gary Trent in the post. He scored 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
Nikoloz Tskitishvili led the Nuggets with 14 points -- 12 in the fourth quarter. Carmelo Anthony finished with 10 on 3-of-12 shooting. Denver, which scored a season-low 28 points in the first half, played without Nene (strained left groin).
The Timberwolves, 5-1 against the Eastern Conference, are 1-4 against the West.
Hawks 101, Bucks 93
In Milwaukee, Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Atlanta over Milwaukee.
Jason Terry had 19 points, Dion Glover added 12 and Stephen Jackson 11 as the Hawks snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Bucks at the Bradley Center.
Tim Thomas scored 17 points and Michael Redd added 12 for the Bucks, who shot only 38 percent.
Suns 95, Bulls 82
In Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter -- including a pair of thunderous dunks -- as Phoenix snapped a three-game skid with a victory Chicago.
Stoudemire also had three fourth-quarter steals and grabbed 10 rebounds. Last season's NBA Rookie of the Year also tied his career best with four assists, after getting just one the entire season entering the game.
Shawn Marion had 19 points and nine rebounds for Phoenix.
Spurs 94, Warriors 81
In San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 19 points to lift San Antonio over Golden State.
Parker hit two 3-pointers as the Spurs took control with a 20-6 run midway through the fourth quarter.
Erick Dampier led the Warriors with 17 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double and ninth of the season in 10 games. Golden State dropped its third straight.
The Spurs hit 10 of 17 3-pointers, including three that just beat the shot clock. Manu Ginobili, who also scored 19 points for San Antonio, was 3-of-4 from long range.
Heat 105, SuperSonics 98
In Seattle, Lamar Odom had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Eddie Jones scored 20 points and Miami beat Seattle for its first road win of the season.
Dwyane Wade had 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Heat (3-8).
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
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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