Donyell Marshall and Vince Carter each scored 21 points and the new-look Toronto Raptors set a franchise record with 17 3-pointers in a 105-95 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Alvin Williams added 18 points and Chris Bosh had 16 Wednesday for the Raptors, who reached a season-high in points.
The Raptors went 17-for-24 from behind the arc, breaking their record of 15 3-pointers on Nov. 10, 2001 at Utah.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"That's the damnedest exhibition of shooting I've ever seen in my life," Boston coach Jim O'Brien said. "That was spectacular. To hold a team to 31 percent inside the two and have them shoot 71 percent from the 3 is unexpected."
Toronto, averaging a league-low 79 points per game, improved to 2-0 since acquiring Marshall, Jalen Rose and Lonny Baxter from Chicago for Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies. Paul Pierce had 23 points for the Celtics, who have lost three straight and seven of nine.
"Every shot they took seemed to go in," Pierce said. "It amazes me that they just brought this team together in three or four days. They seem to play together like they have been together all year."
PHOTO: EPA
Pistons 87, Heat 73
In Auburn, Michigan, Mehmet Okur had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Ben Wallace added 10 points and a season-high 21 rebounds as Detroit downed Miami.
Okur started in place of Elden Campbell, who was excused to attend a family funeral. Detroit won its fourth straight and sent the Heat to their fifth straight road loss.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Richard Hamilton had 18 points for Detroit, which had all five starters in double figures. Miami's Lamar Odom led all scorers with 22, but made just 11 of a career-high 31 field-goal attempts.
Wallace had 20 rebounds in a game for the first time this season after doing it 16 times last year. Wallace (six) and Okur (five) also combined to block 11 shots.
Grizzlies 96, Nets 93
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, James Posey and Pau Gasol scored 19 points each as the surprising Memphis took advantage of three mistakes by Jason Kidd down the stretch to beat New Jersey.
Lorenzen Wright added 14 points as Grizzlies won their third straight on the road, and handed the Nets their fourth successive loss overall and their sixth in eight home games.
With a record of 9-8, this is the latest in a season the Grizzlies have been over .500.
Hornets 106, Magic 91
In New Orleans, Baron Davis had 27 points and 12 assists as New Orleans sent Orlando to a franchise record-tying 17th straight loss.
Tracy McGrady scored 29 for the Magic, who trailed 92-89 before the Hornets finished with a 14-2 run.
Jamaal Magloire added 20 points and 14 rebounds, and David Wesley had 13 points as all five Hornets starters scored in double figures. Ex-Magic Darrell Armstrong came off the bench to score 14.
Timberwolves 92, Suns 79
In Phoenix, Sam Cassell scored 16 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter when Minnesota outscored Phoenix 31-19.
Cassell, with his fourth consecutive 20-point game, also had eight assists and seven rebounds. He shot 5-for-5 in the fourth quarter, three of them 3-pointers.
Latrell Sprewell scored 21 for Minnesota. Kevin Garnett went 3-for-11 through three quarters but was 4-for-7 in the fourth to finish with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The Suns lost their third consecutive game, all at home, and have dropped four of five overall as the pressure builds on coach Frank Johnson after the team made the playoffs last season.
Lakers 90, Spurs 86
In San Antonio, Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 21 points in the final period when the Los Angeles Lakers erased a nine-point deficit to post their third win of the season over San Antonio.
The Lakers trailed 71-62 after three quarters but made eight of their final 16 shots. Karl Malone, who finished with 16, shot 4-for-4 in the fourth, while Shaquille O'Neal recorded five of his nine blocked shots.
The Spurs shot just 3-for-17 in the final 12 minutes and stumbled to their fourth straight loss. The defending NBA champions are now 9-10. They have not been below .500 this late in the season since 1996-97 -- before the team drafted Tim Duncan.
Rockets 107, Jazz 101, OT
In Houston, Cuttino Mobley had a season-high 32 points as Houston took control of Utah in the first 3 1/2 minutes of overtime.
Eric Piatkowski had five points and Steve Francis made three of four free throws as the Rockets opened the extra period with a 10-2 run to end a three-game losing streak. Yao Ming had 20 points and Francis finished with 19.
Matt Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko led the Jazz with 19 points each. Aleksandar Pavlovic, subbing for the ill DeShawn Stevenson, had a career-high 18 points -- 14 in the first quarter -- as the Jazz had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Nuggets 117, Warriors 109
In Oakland, California, Voshon Lenard had 26 of his career-high 38 points in a brilliant first quarter, and Carmelo Anthony added 26 points to lead Denver over Golden State for its fifth straight win.
Anthony converted an acrobatic three-point play with 1:20 remaining and Lenard hit a 3-pointer on the Nuggets' next possession as they snapped Golden State's four-game winning streak and moved into a tie for first place atop the Midwest Division.
Lenard had the best quarter ever by a Golden State opponent, going 9-of-11 from the field, and Anthony scored nine points in the fourth quarter.
Speedy Claxton scored a season-high 21 points for the Warriors, who couldn't guard either member of the Nuggets' dynamic duo.
Trail Blazers 97, Pacers 95, OT
In Portland, Oregon, Zach Randolph scored a career-high 34 points in Portland's win over Indiana, after apologizing to his teammates for his recent arrest.
Reggie Miller made a 3-pointer with 28.5 seconds left to put the Pacers up 95-94 before Damon Stoudamire answered with 4m jump shot.
Randolph, 22, was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants early Tuesday.
Stoudamire had 17 points and five assists for the Blazers, who improved their home record to 9-2.
Clippers 90, Cavaliers 80
In LA, Quentin Richardson scored 25 points, and Corey Maggette had six of his 22 points in the final 1:16 as the Los Angeles Clippers handed Cleveland its 33rd consecutive road loss. The losing streak is the third-longest in NBA history behind Sacramento's 43-game streak in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons, and New Jersey's 34-game streak in the 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 campaigns.
It was the eighth consecutive loss overall for the Cavaliers since they beat the Clippers 103-95 in Cleveland on Nov. 18.
Rookie Chris Kaman had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Clippers, who have won two successive games after losing six straight.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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