Gilbert Arenas came out of a recent personal slump by scoring 45 points -- 25 more than LeBron James -- and the Washington Wizards ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-99 in the NBA on Saturday.
There was a scary moment for the hosts, though, when guard Jarvis Hayes went down to the floor after a collision with Cleveland's Shannon Brown with two-and-a-half minutes left. Play was stopped for about 10 minutes while Hayes was immobilized and taken away on a stretcher. There was no immediate word on his condition.
Heat 93, Hawks 88, OT
At Atlanta, Dwyane Wade scored 37 points, Jason Williams hit the go-ahead basket on a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:31 left in overtime and Miami broke a three-game losing streak.
Atlanta, which started the season 4-1, lost its third in a row. All three have been tight -- two in overtime, the other a two-point defeat. Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 22 points.
Pistons 104, Rockets 92
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 30 points and Chauncey Billups added 23 as Detroit won its second straight.
Rasheed Wallace finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit and Tayshaun Prince scored 15 points.
Trail Blazers 86, Nets 68
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Zach Randolph had 20 points and 16 rebounds as Portland snapped a four-game losing streak.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Jarrett Jack each had 12 points and Ime Udoka added 10 for the Blazers, who scored the first 13 points of the game and never relinquished the lead.
Magic 97, Bobcats 83
At Orlando, Florida, Dwight Howard posted his second 20-20 game this season with 24 points and 21 rebounds, and Orlando ran away from Charlotte.
Darko Milicic had 14 points and eight rebounds and Grant Hill added 15 points as Orlando won its fourth straight game.
Celtics 122, Knicks 118
At New York, Paul Pierce scored 39 points and Boston withstood a late charge to beat New York for its third straight victory.
The three-game winning streak is Boston's longest since winning four straight from April 12-17, last year.
Hornets 99, Timberwolves 96
At Minneapolis, Peja Stojakovic made a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds to play to lift New Orleans over Minnesota.
Chris Paul added a career-high 35 points -- including two crucial shots against Kevin Garnett and a pair of free throws in the closing seconds -- and Stojakovic finished with 20 as the Hornets sent the Wolves to their sixth defeat in seven games.
Mavericks 89, Grizzlies 84
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Dallas extended its winning streak to five games by beating Memphis in the second meeting between the teams in 24 hours.
Jason Terry hit his first five 3-pointers and added 19 points for the Mavericks, who won 115-103 in Memphis on Friday night in the first of a rare back-to-back, home-and-home situation.
Pacers 102, Bucks 100
At Milwaukee, Jermaine O'Neal had 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots, and Indiana rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Milwaukee.
Indiana, which snapped a three-game losing streak, played without leading scorer Al Harrington, who is day-to-day with a back injury sustained Friday night at New Jersey.
Jazz 120, Suns 117, OT
At Salt Lake City, Deron Williams had 25 points and 14 assists, and Utah matched the best start in franchise history at 9-1.
Carlos Boozer added 22 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, who played their third straight game without Andrei Kirilenko, who was out with a sprained right ankle. The Jazz fought back from an 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game at 106 at the end of regulation.
Nuggets 117, Raptors 109
At Denver, Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points -- his sixth straight game of 30 or more -- and Denver won at home for the first time this season while handing Toronto its fifth straight loss.
T.J. Ford scored 26 points and had a career-high 18 assists for the Raptors. Chris Bosh had 31 points and nine rebounds.
Warriors 107, SuperSonics 95
At Oakland, California, Monta Ellis scored a career-high 31 points, matched his career high with seven assists and also grabbed seven rebounds, leading Golden State to its sixth straight home victory.
Mickael Pietrus had 19 points and a career-best 12 rebounds in the Warriors' fifth consecutive victory overall. Golden State has won six straight at home for the first time since a seven-game winning streak from March 15-April 6, 2004.
Ray Allen had a season-high 34 points and 11 rebounds for Seattle, while Rashard Lewis added 17 points and seven boards and Luke Ridnour 15 points and five assists.
Clippers 103, 76ers 97, OT
At Los Angeles, Elton Brand scored 32 points and reserve Corey Maggette added 21, rallying Los Angeles over Philadelphia.
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with