Paul Pierce atoned for a woeful shooting effort with a 3-pointer late in regulation and two jumpers in overtime to lift the Boston Celtics over the New Jersey Nets 96-88 in the NBA on Saturday.
Al Jefferson scored a career-high 32 points and added 18 rebounds in helping Boston rally from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and post their third straight win. The Celtics recently lost a franchise-record 18 in a row.
Pierce shot just 8-of-28 from the floor and finished with 17 points. Delonte West added 15, including a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
PHOTO: AP
Cavaliers 120, Raptors 97
At Cleveland, LeBron James kept up his midseason scoring surge with 36 points and Larry Hughes added 27, leading Cleveland to an easy win over Toronto.
By scoring more than 30 for the third straight game, James raised his average to 33.6 points in his past seven games.
Knicks 104, Hawks 100, OT
At Atlanta, Stephon Marbury scored 11 of his 38 points in overtime and New York made up a late 15-point deficit to hand Atlanta its fifth straight loss.
Steve Francis added six of his season-high 26 points in the overtime. Marbury and Francis scored all of New York's 17 points in the extra period and 33 of the Knicks' last 35 points.
Pistons 92, Grizzlies 89
At Memphis, Tennessee, Chauncey Billups had 19 points and nine assists, and Tayshaun Prince scored 17 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:17 left, to lead Detroit.
Chris Webber scored 13 points for Detroit, while Richard Hamilton finished with 12. Antonio McDyess had nine points, but added eight rebounds and five blocks.
Spurs 97, Rockets 74
At Houston, Tim Duncan scored 26 points and San Antonio beat Houston for its season-high eighth straight victory.
The Spurs got 14 points from Michael Finley and 13 points and eight rebounds from Francisco Elson as they won in Houston for the fourth straight time.
Mavericks 103, Magic 98
At Dallas, Jason Terry had 29 points and 15 assists, and Dallas established a club record with its 15th consecutive victory.
Dirk Nowitzki contributed 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Josh Howard added 21 points.
Kings 104, Trail Blazers 96
At Portland, Oregon, Kevin Martin scored 15 of his 33 points in the first quarter and Sacramento won its third straight.
Zach Randolph had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Portland, which never led and committed 18 turnovers.
Clippers 87, Pacers 64
At Los Angeles, Corey Maggette scored 20 points, Elton Brand added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and the Clippers recorded their best defensive game in franchise history.
Jamaal Tinsley had 16 points for Indiana, which lost for the fifth straight time since beating Milwaukee in double overtime on Feb. 21.
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