Detroit earned their 10th consecutive victory by beating Washington 106-93 in the NBA on Wednesday.
It's the Pistons' longest winning streak since an 11-gamer in January 2006, and their average margin of victory during the current run is 16.8 points.
Richard Hamilton's 20 points made him the 10th-leading scorer in Pistons history, and he added nine assists and seven rebounds.
PHOTO: AP
The Wizards again failed to defeat a top team. Washington's last victory over a club with a winning record came on Dec. 1 against Toronto.
The Pistons improved to 25-7 overall, 17-2 against Eastern Conference opponents.
CELTICS 97, ROCKETS 93
In Boston, the Celtics downed Houston to record a seventh consecutive victory.
Kevin Garnett scored 11 of his 26 points in the last seven minutes, adding nine rebounds.
The Celtics improved to 27-3, matching the best 30-game start in the shot-clock era. Five other teams have lost just three of their first 30 games, including Chicago in 1995-96, when it finished the season with an NBA-record 72 wins.
CAVALIERS 98, HAWKS 94
In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 32 of his 36 points in the second half to lead Cleveland past Atlanta.
Larry Hughes, whose shooting woes have been an ongoing problem for Cleveland, made a crucial jumper with 2:33 left to put the Cavaliers ahead 85-82.
James took only five shots in the first half. But after 13 points in the third quarter, James scored 19 of Cleveland's 22 over the last 6:51.
TRAIL BLAZERS 90, TIMBERWOLVES 79
In Minneapolis, Portland beat a woeful Minnesota to record their 14th victory in 15 games.
Brandon Roy scored 24 points for the Trail Blazers, who bounced back from a loss Monday that ended their 13-game winning streak -- the NBA's longest this season.
The Timberwolves are a league-worst 4-27 and off to the poorest start in a franchise history that has known plenty of losing. Minnesota shot a season-low 35 percent from the field.
MAVERICKS 121, WARRIORS 99
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 29 points to lead Dallas past their nemesis Golden State, who were on their first tip to Dallas since last season's playoff upset.
Josh Howard added 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Mavericks, who are 2-0 against Golden State this season after going 1-6 over the past two seasons.
In other games, it was: Nets 96, Magic 95; Bulls 109, Bobcats 97; Grizzlies 90, Pacers 72; Bucks 103, Heat 98; Kings 107, Knicks 97; Jazz 110, 76ers 107; Hornets 95, Clippers 81.
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