Allen Iverson had 47 points and 12 assists, and Chris Webber added 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 119-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday.
It's the first time Iverson has reached 40 points and 10 assists in consecutive games. He had 40 points and 10 assists against the Rockets on Wednesday night. The victory was the Sixers' fifth in six games since the All-Star break.
Gilbert Arenas scored 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, including five straight to bring Washington within 114-113 with 1:30 remaining.
Antawn Jamison had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost three in a row.
Caron Butler, who had been battling stomach problems, had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards, but left the game with 32 seconds to play after suffering an injury to his right ankle in a scramble for a loose ball.
Mavericks 90, Bobcats 76
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and Jason Terry had 17 as Dallas beat Charlotte to extend its club-record home winning streak to 16 games.
Erick Dampier had nine points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Mavericks, who have won 20 of their last 22.
Gerald Wallace's 14 points led the Bobcats, who have lost eight of their last 10.
Bulls 108, Knicks 101
At New York, Ben Gordon scored 32 points in another huge Chicago game against New York, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 31 seconds left.
Kirk Hinrich added 33 points for the Bulls, who trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before he and Gordon, from nearby Mount Vernon, brought Chicago back to hand the Knicks their sixth straight loss and 22nd in 24 games.
Quentin Richardson added 16 points, 13 in the third quarter when the Knicks (15-43) seemed to have control of the game.
Celtics 99, Pacers 98
At Boston, Paul Pierce had 31 points and eight assists, and his 3-pointer with 39.2 seconds left in the game, and four seconds left on the shot clock, put Boston ahead of Indiana for good.
Indiana's Fred Jones made a lay-up to cut the lead to 99-98. After Pierce missed an off-balance jumper with the shot clock running down and Orien Greene missed two free throws, Stephen Jackson missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have given the Pacers the win.
Peja Stojakovic led the Pacers with 24 points and Jackson added 20 points. Jones, who had 11 points in the fourth quarter, finished with 16 points.
Rockets 89, Nuggets 78
At Houston, Tracy McGrady scored 23 points and Yao Ming added 21 to help Houston down Denver.
The Rockets had squandered double-digit second-half leads in their last two losses to Philadelphia and Phoenix.
Denver got 34 points from Carmelo Anthony in his best outing since the All-Star break.
Kings 102, Hawks 93
At Atlanta, Brad Miller scored 24 points and added 10 rebounds to lead five Sacramento players in double figures.
Sacramento also got 19 points from Kevin Martin, 18 points each from Ron Artest and Mike Bibby and 12 from Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Atlanta, which was trying to win three in a row for only the second time this season, got 23 points from Al Harrington, including 19 in the second half. Joe Johnson added 19 points, Marvin Williams scored 17 and Salim Stoudamire had 14 for the Hawks.
Seton Hall might have played its way into the NCAA tournament and, at the same time, forced Pittsburgh to play an extra game in the Big East tournament that the Panthers spent all season trying to avoid.
Donald Copeland scored Seton Hall's last seven points over the final 1:56 and the Pirates ended No. 8 Pittsburgh's season-long 16-game home winning streak with a 65-61 victory Friday night that greatly improved their NCAA tournament chances.
"This was a great win," Seton Hall coach Louis Orr said. "We just want to keep playing."
Aaron Gray missed two free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining that would have tied it for Pittsburgh (21-6, 10-6 Big East), and Copeland followed several seconds later with two free throws to deal the Panthers their second consecutive loss and third in four games.
"We realized Seton Hall was playing for a tourney bid, and they had a lot to gain from tonight," said Pitt's Levon Kendall, who scored 15 points. "They were working hard and we didn't match their intensity for 40 minutes."
Kelly Whitney scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Seton Hall (18-10, 9-7) won its second in a row following three consecutive losses that damaged the Pirates' NCAA hopes. Copeland followed up a 28-point game against Cincinnati with 15 points, most down the stretch.
Pitt's late-season slump secures a first-round bye for Georgetown in the Big East tournament and will likely drop the Panthers to the No. 6 seed and a 9pm game Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers were in position to secure the No. 4 spot and a first-round bye until losing to No. 16 West Virginia 67-62 on Monday night.
Marquette can wrap up the No. 5 seed by beating Providence on Saturday. No team has won the Big East tournament under its present format by winning four games in four days.
Pennsylvania 57, Yale 55
Eric Osmundson scored 15 points and Mark Zoller added 14 as the University of Pennsylvania held off a late rally and beat Yale 57-55 Friday night to clinch its second straight Ivy League title and become the first team to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Penn (19-7, 11-1) built what seemed like a commanding 41-25 lead with 15:55 to play, but Yale's Dominick Martin (18 points) led a rally that cut the margin to four with 3:10 remaining.
Nick Holmes hit two free throws to pull the Bulldogs to within 55-53 with 1:16 to go.
The Quakers clinched the league title with the victory and Princeton's loss to Brown.
Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to score 16,000 points in his NBA career on Friday, passing his latest scoring milestone in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' game at Golden State.
Bryant was 27 years and 192 days old -- four days younger than Wilt Chamberlain when the Hall of Famer scored his 16,000th career point on March 5, 1964. Michael Jordan was the third-youngest, reaching the mark at 28 years and 31 days.
Just two months earlier, Bryant became the youngest player to score 15,000 career points. But Bryant, who entered the NBA straight out of high school 10 years ago, did it in 657 games -- only the 29th-fastest in league history. He scored his 16,000th point in his 684th career game, 22nd-fastest in terms of games played.
Bryant is the NBA's leading scorer, averaging 34.9 points per game -- including 43.4 over 13 games in January, the eighth highest-scoring month in league history.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set