Tim Duncan made a 19-foot jumper just before the final horn sounded, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 94-92 victory on Monday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight.
Duncan missed his first seven shots and didn't score in the game's first 19 minutes. But with the game on the line, he took a pass from Tony Parker, gathered himself and calmly knocked down his shot without a hand in his face.
After going 0-for-7, Duncan went 9-for-10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Parker added 19 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 26 points and LeBron James finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cavaliers, who have lost four of five and are entering a tough stretch of upcoming games.
San Antonio's Manu Ginobli, who finished with 17 points, could have put the Spurs up by four points, but missed a pair of free throws with 19.2 seconds to go.
Ilgauskas tied the game on a dunk with 14.2 seconds left after James whipped a pass to the wide-open center.
Knicks 117, Lakers 115, OT
In New York, Tim Thomas scored a season-high 35 points, and New York recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the final 46 seconds of regulation to defeat Los Angeles.
The victory was the third straight for the Knicks, matching their longest winning streak of the season. New York remained in last place in the Atlantic Division but pulled within five games of the first-place Boston Celtics.
Kobe Bryant forced overtime by making a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, but he couldn't come up with another big play at the end.
Michael Sweetney tied his career high with 19 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, and Kurt Thomas had 15 points and 12 rebounds as New York's front line dominated.
Bryant had 30 points, eight assists, five rebounds and seven turnovers, and Lamar Odom had 26 points and 15 rebounds.
Jazz 87, Clippers 86
In Salt Lake City, Mehmet Okur converted a three-point play with 21.7 seconds remaining and Utah held for the win when Los Angeles' Bobby Simmons missed a layup at the buzzer.
The Jazz won back-to-back games for the first time in a month and a half, but barely.
With the win, Utah's Jerry Sloan passed Dick Motta for seventh in NBA coaching victories with 636.
Keith McLeod had 18 points and eight assists and Kris Humphries pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds for the Jazz, who hadn't won consecutive games since beating San Antonio and Phoenix on Jan. 10 and Jan. 12.
Simmons led the Clippers with 17 points, including a 3-pointer to get Los Angeles within a point in the last 10 seconds. Corey Maggette added 16 points for the Clippers.
Mavericks 90, Hornets 86
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, including a key jumper and two free throws in the final minute, and Dallas hung on to beat the team with the worst record in the Western Conference.
Marquis Daniels added 13 points for the Mavericks, who've won seven of eight.
Dallas struggled most of the night before coming on at the end to beat the Hornets for the 12th straight time.
Nowitzki, the league's third-leading scorer who's been bothered by a sore right hamstring, had 13 points in the final quarter. He went 9-of-19 from the field and had 11 rebounds.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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