The Los Angeles Clippers had to beat the best of the Phoenix Suns, if not the Suns at their best, to keep their playoff hopes alive with one game to go.
Elton Brand scored 21 points to lead six Clippers in double figures and Los Angeles beat the Suns 103-99 on Tuesday night.
Jason Hart made two free throws with 7.8 seconds left to seal the win and deprive the Suns of a 62nd victory, which would have tied the franchise record.
PHOTO: AFP
Los Angeles needed to win yesterday at home against New Orleans and have Golden State lose at Portland to get the No. 8 seed in the West and a first-round playoff date with Dallas.
Warriors 111, Mavericks 82
At Oakland, California, Mickael Pietrus scored 22 points, Matt Barnes had 19 and Golden State beat Dallas to move to the brink of its first postseason berth since 1994.
The Warriors took a 28-point lead in the first half as they roared to their fifth straight win over the Mavericks, sweeping the three-game season series from the NBA's best team, which also is their potential first-round playoff opponent.
Dallas kept Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier out of a meaningless game -- for them -- in preparation for the postseason.
Cavaliers 98, 76ers 92
At Philadelphia, Larry Hughes scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18 to lead Cleveland, keeping the Cavaliers alive for the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
James added six assists in an all-around solid game and led a well-balanced Cavaliers attack that had six players score in double figures.
Magic 95, Wizards 89
At Washington, the Magic overcame Antawn Jamison's 48 points and kept up a last-minute push to improve their playoff seeding.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 26 points to lead the Magic, who are sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
If they do move up, it will be largely at the expense of the Wizards, who have lost eight of nine and six straight at home -- most of them without their two injured All-Stars, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. Jamison tried to carry his team with a season-high performance, but he got scant help from his teammates.
Pistons 100, Raptors 84
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 10 first-half points in a glorified exhibition game for both teams.
Neither team had anything to play for -- the Pistons are locked into the Eastern Conference's top seed and the Raptors will be No. 3 -- but Detroit coach Flip Saunders didn't want a repeat of his team's feeble loss to Philadelphia.
Hawks 118, Pacers 102
At Atlanta, the Hawks set season highs for points in a quarter and a half as they finished another disappointing season by beating the Pacers. The Hawks missed the playoffs for the eighth straight season, but reached 30 wins for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite