Kwame Brown had a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds Saturday as the Washington Wizards shot 63 percent in the first half and held on to beat the Indiana Pacers 107-96.
"It's coming together," said Brown, the top pick straight out of high school in the 2001 draft. "I'm a lot more comfortable. Not as jittery, taking my shots when I have it."
Brown made eight of 12 shots, nine of 10 free throws and had the better in a matchup against fellow straight-out-of-high-schoolers Jermaine O'Neal and Al Harrington. Brown, who has struggled for consistency over much of his career, is averaging 13 points and 7.8 rebounds over his last 11 games.
"Let's see some consistency," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "We're not going to gloat. We love what happened tonight. We're not going to say he's arrived, because it's all about consistency."
Steve Blake added a career-high 18 points for the Wizards, who never trailed and have won three of four.
Harrington scored 21 points for the Pacers, who were done in by poor outside shooting as they lost their second game in as many nights following a five-game winning streak. Indiana was 1-for-14 from 3-point range at one point in the fourth quarter and finished 5-for-22.
Warriors 105, Trail Blazers 87
In Portland, Oregon, Jason Richardson scored 31 points, including seven 3-pointers as Golden State beat Portland to end a 12-game road losing streak.
Erick Dampier added 20 rebounds and 18 points, and Speedy Claxton had 15 points, seven assists and five steals.
Zach Randolph had 23 points and seven rebounds for the Trail Blazers, while Rasheed Wallace added 13 points and nine rebounds.
Darius Miles played for the first time since being traded to the Trail Blazers by Cleveland for guard Jeff McInnis and center Ruben Boumtje Boumtje. Miles scored 12 points in 20 minutes.
Heat 85, Knicks 77
In New York, Eddie Jones scored 26 points and added six assists as Miami handed New York its first loss at Madison Square Garden under coach Lenny Wilkens.
Lamar Odom had 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Caron Butler scored 17 for the Heat as they avenged two lopsided losses to the Knicks earlier this season.
Michael Doleac scored 18 and Penny Hardaway 16 for the Knicks, whose reserves outscored their starters 39-38. Doleac and Hardaway each played 32 minutes while Keith Van Horn played 26 and Houston 23.
Cavaliers 95, 76ers 87
In Cleveland, Eric Williams scored 20 points, Dajuan Wagner added 17 and Cleveland finally slowed down Philadelphia star Allen Iverson in the fourth quarter.
Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 15 rebounds as the Cavs improved to 2-1 without rookie star LeBron James, who missed his third straight game with a sprained right ankle.
Iverson scored 32 points -- 21 in the third.
Glenn Robinson had 20 points for the injury-riddled Sixers, who have lost six of eight.
Hornets 98, Spurs 96
In San Antonio, Darrell Armstrong capped a season-high 35-point performance by hitting a 3-pointer from 9m with a second left to lead New Orleans to a come-from-behind victory over San Antonio.
Armstrong finished 11-for-21 from the field and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line. He also nailed an 18m basket with a second left in the first half to close the Spurs' lead to 52-41.
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