Ray Allen scored a season-high 35 points, Kevin Garnett had 26 and the Boston Celtics rebounded from their first consecutive losses of the NBA season by beating the Portland Trail Blazers 100-90 on Wednesday.
The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics also got 12 points from Paul Pierce and 10 from Eddie House.
Brandon Roy led the Northwest division-leading Trail Blazers with 22 points. Travis Outlaw and Jarrett Jack each had 17.
PHOTO: AFP
Allen scored 12 points, including eight straight in the third quarter, helping the Celtics take a 74-69 lead after three. Allen scored 26 points in the second half.
Knicks 111, Nets 105
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 35 points and hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer, and New York took the season series from New Jersey for the first time in eight years.
Zach Randolph added 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who are 3-0 against their cross-river rivals after the Nets had owned the series since Jason Kidd arrived in the area in 2000.
New York has won three in a row for the first time in a year.
Vince Carter scored 26 points and Kidd had 10 points and 17 assists for the Nets.
Hornets 123, SuperSonics 92
At New Orleans, Peja Stojakovic scored 23 points, leading six Hornets in double figures, as New Orleans easily defeated Seattle.
Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 21 rebounds and Chris Paul had 12 points and 11 assists. It was the 12th time they've had double-doubles in the same game this season, and New Orleans has won all of those games. David West added 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Kevin Durant led Seattle with 20 points, while Earl Watson added 17 and 11 assists for the Sonics, who've lost 10 of 11 games.
Raptors 116, Kings 91
At Toronto, Chris Bosh had 31 points and Toronto spoiled Mike Bibby's season debut for Sacramento.
Carlos Delfino came off the bench to score a season-high 26, and Jose Calderon had 17 points and 14 assists. Bosh, who added nine rebounds, has scored 20 or more in seven of Toronto's past eight games.
Playing for the first time after missing 36 games with a torn ligament in his left thumb, Bibby's season began when he came off the bench late in the first quarter. He finished with 19 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes.
Bobcats 99, Magic 93
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Gerald Wallace had 36 points and 14 rebounds, Jason Richardson hit a 3-pointer and four free throws in the final minute for Charlotte.
The Bobcats, who trailed by 19 points early in the third quarter, avoided a season sweep against Orlando.
Dwight Howard had 24 points and 21 rebounds and Carlos Arroyo came off the bench to score 17 points for they Magic, who fell apart after point guard Jameer Nelson left because of a strained tendon in his right foot in the third quarter.
Pacers 125, Warriors 117
At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 29 points and Indiana overcame a 17-point deficit in the second half.
Indiana's Mike Dunleavy had 24 points and nine rebounds against his former team, and Kareem Rush scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Baron Davis had 24 points, seven assists, seven steals and six rebounds, Al Harrington had 22 points and Stephen Jackson had 17 points and eight assists for Golden State.
Bulls 126, Heat 96
At Miami, Ben Gordon scored 24 points, Joe Smith added 23 and Chicago handed Miami its 11th straight loss.
Luol Deng had 21 points, Andres Nocioni 20 and Thabo Sefolosha a season-high 17 points for the Bulls, whose 126 points were a season high.
Shaquille O'Neal had 24 points and 10 rebounds in his return to the lineup for Miami for the first time since Dec. 26, and fouled out for the sixth time this season. After making only two of his first nine shots, Dwyane Wade finished with 24 points.
Bucks 87, Hawks 80
At Milwaukee, Andrew Bogut had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots and Milwaukee beat Atlanta.
The Hawks, losers of 18 of their last 20 in Milwaukee, failed to hit a field goal for more than 12 minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters, missing 13 straight shots.
Two free throws by Marvin Williams, who scored 22 points, tied the game at 74-all with four minutes left, but the Bucks went on a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer by Charlie Bell, a layup by Charlie Villanueva and a jumper by Royal Ivey, who replaced an ill Mo Williams in the lineup.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier