Elton Brand scored a season-high 34 points and Sam Cassell added 21 points and a season-high 14 assists to help the Los Angeles Clippers rout the Memphis Grizzlies 112-91 in the NBA on Saturday.
Brand scored 24 points in the first half and finished 13-for-23 from the field. The Clippers won the season series 3-0 after losing 11 of the previous 13 meetings.
Cassell played 36 minutes while Shaun Livingston sat out his second straight game because of sprained right ankle.
PHOTO: AP
Pau Gasol scored 27 points for Memphis, 4-7 since player personnel director Tony Barone became head coach in the wake of Mike Fratello's firing on Dec. 28. The Grizzlies completed the first half of their schedule an NBA-worst 10-31 and are 2-18 on the road.
Pistons 91, Kings 74
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Ron Artest was booed and jeered in his first game at The Palace of Auburn Hills since the brawl between Indiana Pacers players and Detroit fans more than two years ago.
Richard Hamilton scored 19 points and Tayshaun Prince added 17 to lead Detroit.
Bobcats 104, Hawks 85
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Matt Carroll scored 22 points and Charlotte shot a team-record 65 percent in its second victory over Atlanta in two nights.
Atlanta played the second half without forward Josh Smith, who will likely face disciplinary action after he made obscene gestures to fans after his ejection.
Knicks 108, Pacers 106
At Indianapolis, Eddy Curry scored 26 points to help New York hand Indiana 108-106 its fourth straight loss.
The Pacers had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Danny Granger shot an airball on a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Hornets 113, Lakers 103
At Oklahoma City, David West had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Rasual Butler outshot Kobe Bryant down the stretch to lead New Orleans.
Bryant overcame a slow start to finish with 23 points, but it was Butler who came up with the big plays in crunch time.
West racked up his second straight double-double after missing the past two months with an injured right elbow and Butler added 20 points.
Wizards 115, Celtics 110, OT
At Washington, Antawn Jamison recovered from a hyperextended knee to score five of his 23 points in overtime, and Washington blew a 21-point lead before beating Boston.
The Wizards won their 10th straight home game in agonizing fashion. Not only did they lose a big lead, but Brendan Haywood failed to win an easy jump ball, Caron Butler missed a dunk and Antonio Daniels tossed a wild airball -- all in overtime.
Nets 101, Magic 94
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Eddie House scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and New Jersey held Dwight Howard to a season-low one point.
Vince Carter had 27 points and Richard Jefferson 17 to lead the Nets to a season-high fourth straight win.
Jazz 95, Bulls 85
At Chicago, Mehmet Okur scored 21 points and Carlos Boozer added 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead Utah over Chicago and move coach Jerry Sloan past Larry Brown for fourth on the career wins list with 1,011.
Okur was 7-of-18 from the field after averaging 29 points the previous three games for the Jazz, who have won three straight.
Nuggets 121, Rockets 113, OT
At Houston, Allen Iverson banked in a running 3-pointer in overtime and scored 36 points to rally Denver past Houston in the Nuggets' final game without Carmelo Anthony.
Iverson added 10 assists and Marcus Camby had 12 points and 22 rebounds for the Nuggets, who went 7-8 in the 15 games Anthony was suspended after fighting in a Dec. 16 game against New York.
Cavaliers 106, Warriors 104, OT
At Oakland, California, LeBron James scored 32 points and Larry Hughes had 15 as Cleveland put an impressive finish on their seven-game road trip, rallying from a big halftime deficit for an overtime win over Golden State.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Cavaliers snapped a three-game losing streak with an improbable late rally in regulation and a tenacious overtime, which ended with Stephen Jackson's 3-point attempt rattling in and out at the buzzer.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but