Dwyane Wade had 25 points, Shaquille O'Neal added 21 and tied a team record by making all nine of his shot attempts, and the Miami Heat held off the Boston Celtics 106-104 on Sunday night.
Paul Pierce missed one of two free throws with 5 seconds left that would have tied it for Boston, which lost its fourth straight. He made the second to bring the Celtics within one before Christian Laettner made one to restore Miami's two-point lead with 3.1 seconds left.
Boston had one more chance to tie, but Ricky Davis' double-clutched baseline jumper sailed long at the buzzer.
O'Neal finished with 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. Wade had nine assists and Damon Jones had eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for Miami, which improved to 9-1 against the Eastern Conference and 7-0 when cracking the 100-point mark.
Raef LaFrentz scored a season-high 21 points -- all in the first three quarters -- for Boston.
Trail Blazers 83, Nets 71
In Portland, Oregon, Zach Randolph had 23 points and 15 rebounds, and the Trail Blazers sent the Nets to their ninth straight loss.
Derek Anderson scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half for the Blazers, who handed the 2-11 Nets their fifth consecutive loss on the road.
Richard Jefferson had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Nets, whose last win came against Portland on Nov. 9. The losing streak is New Jersey's longest since the Nets lost nine in a row from Nov. 22-Dec. 6, 2000. New Jersey finished 26-56 that season.
New Jersey's 2-11 start is its worst since going 2-15 to start the 1999-2000 season.
Clippers 103, Warriors 91
In Los Angeles, Elton Brand scored six of his 25 points in the final four minutes and finished with 13 rebounds, leading the Clippers past the Golden State Warriors.
The Clippers won their third straight to improve to 8-6. With one game remaining this month, Los Angeles will finish November with a winning record for the first time since 1992 and for just the second time in 30 years.
Bobby Simmons had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Marko Jaric added 16 points and 11 assists as the Clippers got double-figure scoring from all five starters.
Golden State forward Mike Dunleavy, the son of the Clippers' coach, scored 20 for the Warriors, who slipped to 0-9 when trailing after three quarters.
Wizards 114, Raptors 109, OT
In Toronto, Larry Hughes had a season-high 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double, leading the Washington Wizards past the Toronto Raptors in overtime.
Hughes scored 21 points in the fourth quarter for the Wizards, who rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 6:29 of regulation. His two free throws with 0.8 seconds left sent the game into overtime.
Gilbert Arenas added 27 points and Brendan Haywood had a season-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who have won four of five. They've also won five straight against Toronto.
Washington was without coach Eddie Jordan, who was hospitalized with a blood clot in his leg.
Jalen Rose had 29 points for the Raptors, who have lost eight of 10.
Lakers 89, Hornets 76
In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant had 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers struggled to an 89-76 victory over the injury-depleted New Orleans Hornets.
Chucky Atkins added 17 points -- all in the second half -- as the Lakers (8-6) won for the fifth time in seven games. Lamar Odom had 14 points and 14 rebounds, and Caron Butler and Brian Cook scored 10 each for Los Angeles.
Darrell Armstrong had 21 points and five assists for the Hornets, whose 1-11 record is the NBA's worst. David West equaled his career high with 15 points.
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