Antawn Jamison scored a season-high 35 points and Gilbert Arenas 25 to help the Washington Wizards hold off the Detroit Pistons 99-96 and maintain the best record in the Eastern Conference halfway through the NBA season on Friday.
Richard Hamilton scored 27 points for the Pistons and Chauncey Billups had 11 of his 17 in the fourth quarter.
The Wizards took control in the third with a 20-6 run and took a 72-64 lead into the fourth.
The Wizards have won five of six. Detroit lost for the first time in four games with Chris Webber in the starting lineup.
Knicks 116, Heat 96
At New York, Jamal Crawford connected on 16 straight shots from the field and scored a career-high 52 points, leading New York over Miami.
Four nights after an embarrassing loss to a Miami team that was without Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, the Knicks had a 20-point lead near the end of the third quarter.
Crawford finished 20-of-30 from the field and 8-for-10 from three-point range, helping the Knicks shoot 53.6 percent. He left to a standing ovation with 6:51 remaining.
Wade scored 37 points for the Heat, who lost for the fourth time in five games. O'Neal scored 11 in 15 minutes.
Stephon Marbury returned from a sore knee and had a season-high 13 assists for the Knicks.
Spurs 112, Grizzlies 96
At San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 26 points, 13 rebounds and a career-best nine blocked shots, leading San Antonio past Memphis.
Tony Parker added 18 points, Manu Ginobili 17, Michael Finley 15, and Brent Barry 13 for the Spurs.
Hakim Warrick scored 27 points to pace the Grizzlies, who played without center Pau Gasol (strained left hamstring) and dropped to 11-33 -- the worst record in the NBA. Eddie Jones had 17 points.
San Antonio squandered a 15-point half-time lead and fell behind early in the fourth quarter before going on a game-clinching 19-3 run to win their last home game before a three-week road trip.
Cavaliers 105, 76ers 97
At Philadelphia, Drew Gooden scored 21 points, Larry Hughes added 16 and Cleveland relied on a balanced offense without injured LeBron James, rallying from 17 points down to beat Philadelphia.
Donyell Marshall had 17 points and nine assists and Damon Jones finished with 15 points for the Cavaliers, who had dropped five of six -- including a double-overtime loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Daniel Gibson stepped up for Cleveland, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter.
The loss spoiled another balanced effort by the 76ers and a triple-double for Andre Miller, who grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with 12 points and 13 assists.
Andre Iguodala finished with 22 points for Philadelphia.
James missed his first game of the season because of a sore big toe on his right foot.
Hawks 93, Magic 90
At Orlando, Florida, Joe Johnson scored a season-high 39 points, Josh Smith had 24 and Atlanta rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Orlando.
Johnson scored 26 points in the second half, when Atlanta shot 58 percent to overtake the Magic.
Dwight Howard led Orlando with 19 points, but he missed six free throws in the fourth quarter. Tony Battie added a season-high 14 points and eight rebounds while Jameer Nelson also had 14 points.
Raptors 96, Celtics 90
At Toronto, Chris Bosh had 26 points and Anthony Parker added a career-high 23 to lead Toronto past injury-riddled Boston.
The Raptors went on a 19-0 fourth-quarter run as the Celtics went more than six minutes without scoring.
Al Jefferson had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who have lost 10 straight -- their longest skid since losing 10 in a row from March 20 to April 7 in 2000.
The Celtics are missing Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak and Tony Allen.
Hornets 88, Kings 84
At New Orleans, Desmond Mason scored 24 points and Bobby Jackson added 15 against his former team to help New Orleans hold off Sacramento.
Devin Brown, filling in for injured guard Chris Paul, scored 14 for New Orleans. He hit a three-pointer as the shot clock ticked down and a clutch free throw, both in the final 30 seconds, to thwart a Mike Bibby-led charge by the Kings.
Bibby and Kevin Martin each scored 21 points for the Kings, who tied it at 82 with about 1:30 to go.
Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, and his basket inside gave the Hornets the lead for good at 84-82.
John Salmons scored 14 points and Ron Artest grabbed 12 rebounds for Sacramento.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB