Raymond Felton scored 23 points to lead the Charlotte Bobcats over Cleveland 92-88 for their first NBA win over the Cavaliers in eight tries on Saturday.
Cleveland owned the Bobcats for the past two seasons behind LeBron James, who averaged 34 points over the last three meetings and seemingly scored at will against the young franchise.
It wasn't expected to change in this game, either, with Cleveland coming off Friday's impressive win at San Antonio and Charlotte still looking for its first victory this season.
But James, who scored 35 against the Spurs, never got into a rhythm and was held to just 16 points. He shot just 3-of-13 from the floor as rookie Adam Morrison kept him off balance, forcing James to get his points at the free-throw line, where he made nine of his 10 attempts.
Wizards 124, Celtics 117
At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 44 points and Antawn Jamison added 29 to help Washington win its home opener.
Three days after scoring only seven points in a season-opening loss at Cleveland, Arenas made 14 of 25 shots. He scored 16 in the third quarter, when Washington pulled away to take its first double-digit lead.
Wally Szczerbiak scored 33 points to lead Boston, which is 0-3 for the first time since 1994. Sebastian Telfair had 24 and Paul Pierce added 23, but 13 of those came in the first quarter.
The Celtics shot well from the field (53 percent) and rebounded well (43-28 advantage), but they were undone by 23 turnovers that led to 29 Wizards points.
Pacers 109, Knicks 95
At New York, Al Harrington snapped out of an early slump with 32 points, and Indiana sent New York to its fifth straight home-opening loss.
Taking advantage of New York's poor defensive effort, Harrington shot 14-of-24 from the field. A key offseason acquisition for the Pacers, he was only 4-for-19 for 12 points in the first two games.
Steve Francis scored 25 points and Eddy Curry had 22 for New York, which hasn't won a home opener since 2001.
Jermaine O'Neal scored 17 points and Jamaal Tinsley had 14 assists for Indiana.
Pistons 95, Grizzlies 86
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton had 24 points and five players scored in double figures for Detroit.
Rasheed Wallace added 15 points, Nazr Mohammed and Jason Maxiell finished with 13 apiece and Tayshaun Prince scored 12 for the Pistons.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB