Antoine Walker scored all of his 13 points in the final 11 minutes, and the streaking Miami Heat erased a 17-point second-half deficit to beat the Utah Jazz 88-86 in the NBA on Tuesday.
The Heat were down 14 entering the fourth quarter, before outscoring Utah 28-12 in the period to win their seventh straight game overall, 13th in a row at home and move within a half-game of idle Washington for the Southeast Division lead.
Jason Williams scored 15 points, Shaquille O'Neal added 13, Eddie Jones had 12 and Udonis Haslem had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat.
Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Mehmet Okur finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz -- whose six-game winning streak was snapped.
Cavaliers 124, Kings 100
At Cleveland, Sasha Pavlovic scored a career-high 25 points and Larry Hughes added 25 to lead Cleveland, playing without LeBron James, to a season-high sixth straight victory.
James was a late scratch from the lineup because of back spasms. The Cavaliers are 3-0 this season without their superstar and 9-2 since he joined the team in 2003-2004.
Ron Artest, who missed two games last week following his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, led Sacramento with 19 points in his second game back. Sacramento has lost three straight.
Hawks 104, 76ers 92
At Atlanta, Josh Smith had 26 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, helping Atlanta to its fourth straight victory and ending Philadelphia's seven-game winning streak.
At 26-39 and with 17 games remaining, the Hawks matched their victory total of last season. Surprisingly, Atlanta hasn't lost since leading scorer Joe Johnson suffered a right leg contusion in a March 5 loss at Miami.
Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 18 points.
Spurs 93, Clippers 84
At San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 25 points and San Antonio beat Los Angeles for its 13th straight victory, the longest current winning streak in the NBA.
Tim Duncan added 19 points, Manu Ginobili had 16 and Michael Finley contributed 13 as the Spurs completed a sweep of their four meetings with the Clippers this season.
Corey Maggette led the Clippers with 17 points, while Elton Brand had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tim Thomas had 15 points, Chris Kaman added 13 and Jason Hart contributed 10.
Nets 112, Hornets 108
At Oklahoma City, Vince Carter hit the go-ahead free throws with 21 seconds left, Richard Jefferson had his best game since returning from ankle surgery, and New Jersey beat New Orleans.
Jefferson, in his fourth game back after six weeks out, had 26 points. Jason Kidd had 18 points and 12 assists, Mikki Moore added 14 points, and Eddie House and Bostjan Nachbar each scored 12 for the Nets.
Chris Paul led New Orleans with 25 points and 12 assists. David West added 14 points, Devin Brown had 13, and Bobby Jackson and Desmond Mason each scored 12. The Hornets have lost a season-high six straight games.
Pistons 101, SuperSonics 97
At Seattle, Chris Webber scored 24 points, Tayshaun Prince added 18, and Detroit held off a late rally to beat Seattle.
Timberwolves 86, Pacers 81
At Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett had 30 points and nine rebounds, and Minnesota extended Indiana's losing streak to 10 games.
Jamaal Tinsley had a career-high 37 points, six assists and six rebounds for Indiana in his second game back from a one-game suspension. But after dominating the first three quarters, Tinsley and the Pacers fell apart under increasing the pressure from Garnett.
Nuggets 107, Trail Blazers 99
At Denver, Allen Iverson had 31 points and 10 assists, and Carmelo Anthony added 29 points in Denver's victory over Portland.
Marcus Camby finished with 14 and 10 rebounds -- his 23rd double-double this season -- and Nene contributed 12 points. The Nuggets have won 14 of the last 15 games at home against the Blazers.
Bulls 95, Celtics 87
At Chicago, rookie Tyrus Thomas scored a career-high 23 points, Ben Wallace added 19 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots, and Chicago beat Boston.
Luol Deng scored 19 points and Kirk Hinrich finished with 15 for Chicago, which beat Boston for the eighth straight time.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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