NBASam Cassell had 22 points, Elton Brand scored nine of his 20 points in the final 6 minutes and the Los Angeles Clippers snapped the Houston Rockets' five-game winning streak with an 89-81 victory Saturday.
Tracy McGrady scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half for the Rockets, whose loss was their first in the last 10 meetings with the Clippers. The Rockets are 0-12 this season when they score fewer than 90 points.
Cuttino Mobley scored 18 points for the Clippers, who played without No. 2 scorer Corey Maggette for the sixth straight game because of a sprained left foot.
Cavaliers 115, Heat 107
At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 41 points and Donyell Marshall added a season-high 25 for Cleveland, handing coach Miami Pat Riley his first loss since taking over the Heat on Monday.
The Heat had won four straight, including three with Riley after Stan Van Gundy resigned Monday. Cleveland has won two straight after dropping seven of nine.
James added 10 assists, five rebounds and was 12-of-13 from the foul line.
Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 33 points. Shaquille O'Neal tied a season low with 10.
Pacers 102, Knicks 96
At New York, Jermaine O'Neal scored 31 points, including the go-ahead basket with 1:56 left, and Indiana handed New York its season-high sixth straight loss.
Jamaal Tinsley added 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Pacers, who have won four of five overall and snapped a two-game road losing streak.
Stephon Marbury scored 25 points for the Knicks, but had a costly turnover with 39 seconds left and New York trailing by three.
Bulls 118, Celtics 86
At Chicago, Michael Sweetney had 24 points and seven rebounds and Chris Duhon added 22 points and eight assists to lead Chicago over Boston.
Chicago, coming off a 28-point loss at Detroit on Friday night, hit a club-record nine 3-pointers in the third quarter and was 14-of-17 overall from 3-point range. The Bulls, who shot 59.7 percent overall, scored a season-high 39 points in the third.
Chicago was 9-of-10 from 3-point range in the third quarter and shot 14-of-20 overall in the quarter. Duhon, who was 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the quarter, hit a 3 at the end of the period to make it 90-63. Duhon was 6-for-7 overall on 3s.
Ricky Davis had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Celtics.
Spurs 90, Kings 89
At San Antonio, Michael Finley hit a 6m jump shot with 2.5 seconds left to lift San Antonio past Sacramento.
Tony Parker had 25 points and a season-high 12 assists for the Spurs, while Tim Duncan scored 11 of his 24 points in the final period and added 14 rebounds. Finley, starting in place of the injured Manu Ginobili, had 16 points.
Sacramento's Shareef Abdur-Rahim matched his season high with 25 points.
Jazz 88, Bucks 80
At Milwaukee, Mehmet Okur had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Gordan Giricek and Deron Williams also each scored 14 points as Utah defeated Milwaukee.
Michael Redd led the Bucks with 19 points. T.J. Ford added 16 and Jamaal Magloire had 14 points.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two