LeBron James scored 19 points and added a season-high 13 rebounds, helping the Cleveland Cavaliers cap their most successful week in nearly 14 years with a 96-91 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday.
By beating San Antonio, Boston, Milwaukee and New Jersey since Tuesday, the Cavaliers have won four games in five nights for the first time since Feb. 2-6, 1993. It's just the streak they were looking for before departing on a seven-game, two-week road trip.
Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden scored 21 points apiece and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 as the Cavaliers improved to 15-3 at home this season -- and 26-3 since March 5 at Quicken Loans Arena.
PHOTO: EPA
Vince Carter and Mikki Moore had 18 points apiece and Richard Jefferson 17 for the Nets.
Gooden gave the Nets a chance to tie it by missing one of two free throws with 9.3 seconds to go. However, Carter misfired on a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining and Gooden sealed Cleveland's seventh win in eight games by hitting a pair of free throws.
Hawks 86, Clippers 74
At Atlanta, Joe Johnson scored 27 points, Zaza Pachulia added 22 and Atlanta downed the Los Angeles Clippers to snap an eight-game losing streak.
Atlanta won for the first time since a Dec. 15 victory at Memphis. It won at home for the first time since beating Charlotte on Nov. 29.
Pacers 100, Hornets 93
At Oklahoma City, Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson each scored 27 points and Jermaine O'Neal made two key layups in his first game since issuing a challenge to his Indiana teammates.
O'Neal hit back-to-back layups from the left block to break away from an 83-all tie and spark a 10-3 run that gave the Pacers control of the game in the final four minutes.
Bulls 106, Pistons 89
At Chicago, Luol Deng scored 30 points, Ben Wallace finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds in his first game against his former team and Chicago beat Detroit.
Ben Gordon scored 23 and Andres Nocioni added 21 points for Chicago.
Jazz 96, Nuggets 84
At Denver, Deron Williams tied a career high with 28 points and Carlos Boozer shrugged off a slow start to finish with 24 in Utah's win over Denver.
Williams also had 12 assists and Boozer grabbed 12 rebounds. The Jazz are now 21-5 when Boozer records a double-double.
Warriors 108, SuperSonics 104
At Oakland, California, Baron Davis had 22 points and 11 assists to lead Golden State to its sixth straight home win.
Davis helped Golden State overcome 38 points from Ray Allen and 16 missed free throws to hand Seattle its 11th straight road loss.
Allen's seventh 3-pointer tied it at 103 with 2:13 to play. Both teams traded misses before Davis rebounded an errant 3-pointer from Monta Ellis, dribbled out from under the basket and fed Matt Barnes for the go-ahead score with 1:05 to go.
Blazers 110, Kings 105, OT
At Sacramento, California, Zach Randolph had 32 points and 15 rebounds for Portland, which tied Sacramento at the buzzer in regulation and went on to win in overtime.
Trailing 95-93, Portland rookie Brandon Roy forced overtime with a 15-foot fallaway jumper over John Salmons.
In overtime, Randolph drove to the basket and made a spinning flip shot over Shareef Abdur-Rahim to put the Blazers ahead for good at 104-102 with 44 seconds left.
Roy made two free throws with 9.3 seconds for 106-102 Portland lead.
Mike Bibby led Sacramento with 28 points.
Roy scored a career-high 23 points for the Blazers.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two