Joe Johnson scored a season-high 34 points and Josh Smith had a career-best 29 to lead the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks to a 111-102 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
Atlanta (4-1) moved three games over .500 for the first time in 7 1/2 years. The Hawks have had seven consecutive losing seasons and never recovered after starting last season 0-9.
But Johnson is off to one of the best starts in the NBA right now. He also had eight rebounds, five assists and finished 12-for-20 in the game against Toronto.
Chris Bosh had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Raptors.
Nuggets 108, 76ers 101
At Philadelphia, Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points, Andre Miller added 18 and Marcus Camby had 10 points and 11 rebounds to lift Denver past Philadelphia for its first victory. The Nuggets (1-3) had been the NBA's only winless team.
Wizards 116, Bucks 111
At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, and Washington overcame an 11-point deficit in the final period. Arenas also had 11 assists and scored the last six points for the Wizards.
SuperSonics 99, Bobcats 85
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Ray Allen scored 26 points and Rashard Lewis added 19 of his 21 in the second half to lead Seattle over Charlotte, spoiling Adam Morrison's first NBA start. Lewis scored 11 points in the third quarter, when the Sonics outscored the Bobcats 35-19 to erase a four-point deficit.
Pacers 93, Magic 83
At Indianapolis, Al Harrington tied a season high with 32 points to lead Indiana over Orlando. Danny Granger scored 18 points and Jermaine O'Neal added nine points and 11 rebounds.
Jazz 107, Celtics 100
At Boston, Deron Williams had 26 points and 14 assists, Carlos Boozer added 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Utah beat Boston for the first time in nearly three years. Mehmet Okur added 23 points for the Jazz, who snapped a four-game losing streak to the Celtics.
Heat 113, Nets 106
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Dwyane Wade scored 34 points, Udonis Haslem added a career-high 28 and Miami pulled away from New Jersey in the fourth quarter.
Rockets 103, Knicks 94
At Houston, Yao Ming scored 35 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and matched a career high with seven blocks as the Rockets beat New York for the fourth straight time.
Trail Blazers 92, Hornets 91
At Portland, Oregon, Zach Randolph had 31 points, including the go-ahead free throw with 2.4 seconds left, and Portland rallied from a 27-point deficit to shock New Orleans.
Pistons 97, Lakers 83
At Los Angeles, Tayshaun Prince tied a career high with 31 points, Chauncey Billups added 21 and Detroit led virtually the entire game in beating the Lakers. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 19 points.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later