Raja Bell scored 22 points, Steve Nash had 21 points and 14 assists, and the Phoenix Suns blew most of a 21-point second-half lead before beating the Miami Heat 107-98 on Thursday.
The Suns saw their once-dominant margin whittled to five with 4:15 left after Dwyane Wade hit a pair of free throws to get Miami within 98-93. But Nash hit a 3-pointer on Phoenix's next possession, then added a three-point play about a minute later to ensure the Suns would snap a two-game losing streak.
James Jones scored 17 of his 20 points in the second quarter for Phoenix, which connected on 13 of 24 shots from 3-point range and was 20-for-21 from the foul line -- compared with a 12-for-22 foul-shooting effort by the Heat.
Wade had 25 points for Miami, which fell to 0-6 against the teams with the NBA's four best records: Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas and Detroit. James Posey and Udonis Haslem each had 16 for the Heat, and Shaquille O'Neal added 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Magic 119, 76ers 115, OT
At Philadelphia, Pat Garrity opened overtime with consecutive 3-pointers and scored a season-high 24 points, and Hedo Turkoglu had 25 in Orlando's season-high fifth straight win.
Keyon Dooling sank the go-ahead free throws with 1:08 left in overtime and had 18 points. Dwight Howard had 22 to help Orlando run off its longest winning streak since it won six straight in 2002. The Magic won their second straight road game after losing their previous eight.
Allen Iverson, who appeared to hurt his ankle in the final minute of regulation, scored 38 points and had 15 assists, and Chris Webber used a big second half to finish with 32 points and 11 rebounds for the Sixers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Steve Francis had 11 points and 15 assists and Tony Battie finished with 12 points for the Magic.
Mavericks 104, SuperSonics 97
At Seattle, Dirk Nowitzki scored 29 points and reserve Jerry Stackhouse added 21 as Dallas closed the most successful road trip in franchise history by beating Seattle.
Nowitzki added 12 rebounds and was 10-for-11 at the free throw line, making up for an 8-for-22 shooting performance.
Dallas won its seventh straight overall and finished a 5-0 trip. The Mavs had never won five games in any of their 34 road trips of five games or more.
Jason Terry added 20 points for the Mavericks.
Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 36 points. Ray Allen added 25 points for Seattle.
The Toronto Raptors fired general manager Rob Babcock on Thursday -- a year and a half after he was hired.
Team president and CEO Richard Peddie made the announcement a day after Toronto was routed 104-88 by the Chicago Bulls, leaving the Raptors with a 14-29 record -- fourth-worst in the league. Wayne Embry, Peddie's senior basketball adviser, will take over for Babcock on an interim basis.
Babcock made many questionable moves during his brief tenure, including receiving little in return when he traded All-Star Vince Carter to the New Jersey Nets last season. His first round draft pick in the 2004 draft -- center Rafael Araujo -- has been a bust.
Attendance at the Air Canada Centre has also plummeted as fans have become fed up with the Raptors' play.
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