Yao Ming easily won his matchup with Shaquille O'Neal, finishing with 34 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to a 94-72 victory -- their fourth straight -- over the Miami Heat on Sunday night.
Yao scored 20 points in the second half. Tracy McGrady added 12 points and eight assists.
Dwyane Wade led Miami with 24 points but had only eight in the second half.
PHOTO: AP
O'Neal's field goal early in the third quarter sent him past Patrick Ewing for 14th on the NBA's career scoring list with 24,817 points, but he finished with only 15 points in the game.
Lakers 91, Grizzlies 81
At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 21 points, Lamar Odom had 20 points and 16 rebounds and Los Angeles won in Phil Jackson's 500th game as Lakers' coach.
Andrew Bynum added 11 points, Smush Parker had 10 and Odom had seven assists as the Lakers ended a two-game losing streak.
Mike Miller scored 21 points -- tying his career high with six 3-pointers -- and had 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies.
Kings 107, Raptors 92
At Sacramento, California, Kevin Martin had 26 points, six rebounds and made all eight of his free throws as Sacramento extended its home winning streak against Toronto to nine games.
Ron Artest scored 15 of his 23 points in the first period to get things going as the Kings played another impressive game on both ends of the floor for their third straight win. Mike Bibby added 21 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Chris Bosh scored 19 points for the Raptors.
Nets 105, Wizards 93, OT
At Washington, Vince Carter's 34 points included a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime and Jason Kidd has 18 assists to go with his 77th career triple-double on Sunday night, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 105-93 victory over the Washington Wizards.
With Richard Jefferson out with a sprained left ankle, the Nets had to find scoring elsewhere. They got it from Nenad Krstic, who finished with 22 points, and Bostjan Nachbar, who added 15.
It all ran through Kidd, naturally. He had 15 points, 11 rebounds and all of those assists, moving past former Wizards point guard Rod Strickland for seventh on the NBA career assists list with a total of 7,997.
The Nets held Gilbert Arenas to 6-for-23 shooting and 25 points.
Clippers 92, Hornets 76
At Los Angeles, Elton Brand had 22 points and 10 rebounds and five other players scored in double figures for the Clippers.
The Clippers have won five straight -- all at home -- since losing at Phoenix on opening night. Chris Paul had 20 points for New Orleans.
Nuggets 108, Bobcats 101
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and Denver forced Charlotte into a franchise-worst 29 turnovers.
J.R. Smith and Andre Miller each added 17 points for the Nuggets.
Brevin Knight scored 21 points for the Bobcats.
Mavericks 103, Trail Blazers 96
At Portland, Oregon, Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Dallas in its 11th straight victory over Portland.
Zach Randolph had 20 points and nine rebounds for Portland.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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