Doc Rivers got his team back on track while gaining a measure of revenge on his old squad, and the Boston Celtics snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Orlando Magic 117-101 on Monday night.
The Magic fired Rivers a year ago, after four-plus seasons, when the team stumbled out to a 1-10 start. Rivers, the NBA's coach of the year in 2001, had a 171-168 record with three trips to the playoffs.
Paul Pierce scored 24 points, leading seven players in double figures, as the Celtics enjoyed their best offensive performance of the season. Marcus Banks added a season-high 20 off the bench for Boston, which shot 47 percent and made 26 of 31 free throws.
Nuggets 76, Hornets 67
In Denver, Earl Boykins scored 22 points to help the Denver Nuggets overcome the absence of Carmelo Anthony and defeat the New Orleans Hornets.
The Nuggets won for the sixth time in seven games, but struggled mightily against the Hornets.
Lee Nailon scored 16 points for the Hornets, who missed 13 of 17 shots in the fourth quarter and went scoreless for seven minutes down the stretch, a period that saw their one-point lead turn into an eight-point deficit.
Clippers 94, Cavaliers 82
In Los Angeles, Elton Brand had a season-high 30 points and six assists, Bobby Simmons scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers completed the second-best November in franchise history.
By winning their fourth straight game, the Clippers (9-6) have their best November record since the 1974 to 1975 team, playing in Buffalo, went 12-4. The only other times the Clippers have had a winning record in November were in 1977 (8-6) and 1992 (7-6).
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