NBAChauncey Billups had 19 points and 10 assists to help the Detroit Pistons beat the New Jersey Nets 85-71 on Tuesday in their last NBA game before the All-Star break.
Richard Hamilton added 18 points and Ben Wallace had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Pistons (42-9). Rasheed Wallace had 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks to help Detroit win for the third time in four games.
Detroit has used the same starting lineup in every game this season.
Richard Jefferson led the Nets with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Vince Carter scored 13.
Heat 107, Magic 93
At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 38 points and Miami shot 58 percent against Orlando, which lost its fifth straight game.
Wade, who shot 13-for-20, scored nine straight Heat points to give them a 101-85 lead with three minutes left.
Shaquille O'Neal had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat.
Hedo Turkoglu, Steve Francis and Keyon Dooling scored 15 points each for the Magic, and Grant Hill had 12 off the bench in 20 minutes.
The Magic, who never led, have lost nine of their past 10 games. They fell to 6-19 on the road.
Bucks 106, SuperSonics 91
At Milwaukee, Michael Redd scored 19 points and Joe Smith added 18 to lead Milwaukee.
Bobby Simmons had 15 points for Milwaukee, which has won six straight home games.
Rashard Lewis scored 25 points and Ray Allen, who played six seasons with the Bucks, added 19 for Seattle. It was the sixth loss in seven games for the Sonics.
Kings 105, Bulls 101, OT
At Chicago, Mike Bibby scored 31 points and Ron Artest added 27 and 14 rebounds to lead Sacramento.
Tied at 90 after regulation, Andres Nocioni hit a long jumper from the top of the key to pull the Bulls to within 103-101 with about nine seconds left. But Sacramento's Kevin Martin then hit two free throws for the final score.
Artest was one of three Kings in double figures in rebounding, with Kenny Thomas and Miller grabbing 13 apiece. Thomas scored 16 points, and Martin finished with 14. Miller scored 13.
Ben Gordon led Chicago with 30 points. Kirk Hinrich scored all of his 21 points after halftime. Luol Deng scored 17, while Tyson Chandler added 15 rebounds.
Rockets 128, Clippers 97
At Los Angeles, Tracy McGrady rebounded from one of the worst games of his career with 28 points to help Houston to a rout.
Yao Ming had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Rafer Alston had 17 points and 13 assists for the Rockets, who have won seven of their last eight games following a 5-16 slide.
Sam Cassell scored 25 points for Los Angeles before he was ejected for arguing a foul against him late in the third quarter, and Cuttino Mobley had 23 points. Elton Brand, who will be in Houston on Sunday for his second All-Star game, scored 21 points before sitting out the fourth quarter.
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
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