Antoine Walker scored 33 points in his second game back with Boston and the Celtics became the first Eastern Conference team to win in Phoenix this season with a 120-113 overtime victory over the short-handed Suns.
The Suns were without Steve Nash for the third straight game with a sore hamstring, and Amare Stoudemire fouled out with 8:47 to play in regulation. Stoudemire left with 27 points, while Shawn Marion had 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds.
Walker put up 32 shots, making 12, and grabbed 13 rebounds. Delonte West added 19 points, including the 3-pointer that gave Boston the lead for good, 111-109, with 1:56 left. Paul Pierce added 25 points for the Celtics.
Phoenix had won the first two without Nash, but coming off a 124-123 victory in Dallas on Saturday night, they couldn't hold off the remodeled Celtics, 2-0 since the trade that brought Walker back to Boston on Thursday. It was the Suns' first loss in 13 games at home against Eastern Conference teams.
Nets 104, Cavaliers 98
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Vince Carter had 34 points and 11 rebounds to help New Jersey win after squandering a 21-point lead.
Jason Kidd had 14 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds and rookie Nenad Krstic added 15 points as the Nets sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers to their sixth straight road loss.
James, who did not take a shot until late in the first quarter, had 28 points and seven assists. Jeff McInnis had 23 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 20 points and 18 rebounds.
Down by 21 in the second quarter and 20 midway through the third, the Cavaliers tied the game with 8:38 left, but never took the lead.
Heat 112, Magic 103
In Orlando, Florida, Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, Eddie Jones added 24 and Miami beat Orlando for a second straight day.
The Heat won both contests without center Shaquille O'Neal, who sat out a fourth consecutive game with a sprained left knee.
Wade scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Heat build a nine-point lead. He also dished out 11 assists.
Grant Hill led the Magic with 34 points, while Steve Francis added 22 points and seven assists.
Timberwolves 91, Trail Blazers 83
In Portland, Oregon, Latrell Sprewell scored 27 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with just more than a minute left.
The victory snapped Minnesota's five-game losing streak on the road, which dated to a 92-83 win at Portland on Jan. 22.
The Timberwolves also swept the Blazers in their four-game series this season. It was the first time Minnesota swept Portland since the team joined the NBA in 1989-1990.
Bucks 99, SuperSonics 73
In Milwaukee, Michael Redd scored 35 points to lead the Bucks in Ray Allen's return to Milwaukee.
Allen, a fan favorite for more than six seasons with Milwaukee, scored 16 points for Seattle on 4-for-16 shooting in his first game at the Bradley Center since being traded on Feb. 20, 2003.
Desmond Mason, a former member of the Sonics, had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Joe Smith added 16 points as the Bucks ended Seattle's three-game winning streak.
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
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