LeBron James scored 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Milwaukee Bucks 91-84 in the NBA on Wednesday.
James added 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his sixth career triple double.
"LeBron continues to amaze me," first-year coach Mike Brown said. "He got a triple-double tonight which was awesome. It's easy to take him for granted when he does because it just seems so natural for him."
PHOTO: AP
Donyell Marshall scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench to help the Cavaliers snap a seven-game losing streak in Milwaukee.
Michael Redd led the Bucks with 28 points and Bobby Simmons added 18. Jamaal Magloire had 13 points and 12 rebounds. However, the Bucks bench went scoreless.
The last time the Bucks' bench was scoreless was Nov. 27, 1970 against the New York Knicks.
Raptors 121, Magic 97
At Toronto, Charlie Villanueva scored 24 points and Toronto shot a franchise record 63 percent from the field in a rout of Orlando.
The Raptors (10-22) own the third-worst record in the NBA, but tied a season-high in points and outrebounded the Magic 34-21.
Mike James added 17 points and seven assists for the Raptors, who have won four in a row for the first time since Dec. 2-9, 2003.
Jameer Nelson had a career-high 31 points for the Magic, who placed forward Grant Hill on the inactive list before game because of a strained groin.
Celtics 109, Bobcats 106
At Boston, Paul Pierce had 31 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds and Ricky Davis added 23 points to help Boston beat Charlotte.
Orien Greene's driving layup with 57.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter broke a 102-102 tie and gave the Celtics the lead for good. Bernard Robinson missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Boston shot 57 percent from the field to win for just the second time in six games following a 1-4 road road trip. The Celtics have won three straight at home.
Primoz Brezec had 19 points and Brevin Knight added 18 points and 12 assists for the Bobcats, who scored 35 points off turnovers.
Hornets 107, Heat 92
At Oklahoma City, Desmond Mason scored 24 points and New Orleans overcame Dwyane Wade's second career triple-double for a win against Miami.
David West scored 20 and Paul had 15 points and nine assists for New Orleans. Kirk Snyder, making his second straight start in place of benched J.R. Smith, added a season-high 13 points.
Wade, who had a triple-double on Dec. 30, 2004 against Detroit, had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to become the first Heat player to accomplish the feat twice.
Timberwolves 91, Mavericks 78
At Minneapolis, Marko Jaric scored 22 points to spark struggling Minnesota past Dallas.
The Timberwolves, who won for only the third time in their last 11 games, were paced by Kevin Garnett's 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Wally Szczerbiak contributed his usual 20 points, but Jaric and defensive stalwart Trenton Hassell (14 points) were the catalysts for a team that has been starving for scoring beyond the big two. Garnett and Szczerbiak are the only ones averaging better than 11 points per game.
Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points, and Marquis Daniels chipped in 16 points for the Mavericks, who were held to a season-low in scoring and shot only 37.2 percent (29-for-78) from the floor.
Spurs 106, Trail Blazers 75
At San Antonio, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each scored 18 points and San Antonio held Portland to three field goals in the fourth quarter.
San Antonio limited Portland to 9-for-32 (28 percent) shooting in the second half and the Spurs had 57 rebounds, including 20 on the offensive end. The Spurs outscored the Blazers 28-11 in the final quarter.
Led by Duncan, San Antonio's defense limited Zach Randolph, Portland's top scorer at 18.5 points, to just five on 1-for-14 shooting.
Manu Ginobili added 15 points and Rasho Nesterovic matched his season high with 12.
Jarrett Jack's 15 points led Portland, which shot 26-for-70 (37 percent) as a team. Juan Dixon scored 12 and Ruben Patterson 11.
Nuggets 106, Pacers 86
At Denver, Earl Boykins and Carmelo Anthony each scored 23 points in Denver's victory over Indiana.
Boykins scored 12 points in a 13-2 run that gave the Nuggets a 47-34 lead in the second quarter. His best play, though, came on an alley-oop to fellow guard Earl Watson for a jam that put Denver ahead 86-70 in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets used a four-guard lineup to outrun the Pacers.
Indiana sorely missed Jermaine O'Neal (pneumonia) in the paint. Stephen Jackson led the Pacers with 21 points but was 6-of-17 from the field. Fred Jones and Danny Granger each scored 12.
Suns 105, 76ers 85
At Phoenix, Steve Nash scored 24 points and sat out the fourth quarter while Phoenix completed a rout of Philadelphia for its fifth victory in six games.
Reserves James Jones and Eddie House scored 19 and 18 points, respectively. Each was 4-for-7 on 3-pointers.
Samuel Dalembert scored 14 and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds for Philadelphia. Allen Iverson scored 16 on 7-for-23 shooting and left the game for good with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
Philadelphia was without Chris Webber for the first time this season. He sat out with a lower back strain.
SuperSonics 101, Bulls 97
At Chicago, Rashard Lewis scored 21 points and Luke Ridnour hit two free throws with three seconds left to lead Seattle to a victory over Chicago in Bob Hill's debut as the SuperSonics head coach.
Ben Gordon hit a 3-pointer with 33.4 seconds left to pull the Bulls to within 99-97. After a jump ball, Gordon stepped out of bounds near the Bulls bench, giving Seattle possession.
Ridnour (15 points) then hit the free throws, sending the Bulls to their eighth straight loss.
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