The Boston Celtics won their third straight game with a 92-87 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, the NBA leaders charging to victory on the back of 22 points from Ray Allen.
Boston improved to a league-best 44-12 with the win as Kevin Garnett chipped in with 18 points and 11 rebounds to help the Celtics overcome a milestone performance by Cleveland's LeBron James.
Despite suffering a sprained ankle that forced him out of the game with 4:24 left in the first half, James returned in the second half to amass 26 points that allowed him to become the youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points.
PHOTO: AFP
James reached the milestone after 368 games aged 23 years and 59 days, more than a year younger than LA Laker Kobe Bryant was when he hit the mark in 2003 (24 years, 193 days).
After X-rays on James' ankle indicated no serious damage, the Cleveland forward returned, but was unable to rally his team past the Celtics, who were opening a five-game home stand.
"I didn't want to go down. I know my ankle, and tomorrow it's going to be a lot worse," James told reporters about his injury. "It doesn't make me happy to do it [break the record] in a losing effort, but to be in the record books is a tribute to my team mates, myself and my family."
The Cavaliers trailed by double-digits for most of the game and only got close in the final minute as the Celtics evened their season series at 2-2 against the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Building a new winning streak after losing three straight games, Boston shot 52 percent to just 38 percent for the Cavs, and got a 13-point performance off the bench from Leon Powe.
Paul Pierce added 12 points for the Celtics against a Cleveland team playing its third game since an 11-player, three-team blockbuster trade.
"It was a pretty good effort against a quality opponent," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "They're [Cleveland] going to be so much better because of that trade."
Delonte West added 20 points for the Cavaliers, while Wally Szczerbiak had 12 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his eight points.
Bulls 113, Pacers 107
At Indianapolis, Larry Hughes had 29 points and Drew Gooden added 10 points and 15 rebounds, helping Chicago to a victory.
Mike Dunleavy had 25 points, Travis Diener scored 22 and Troy Murphy chipped in 19 for slumping Indiana.
Knicks 113, Bobcats 89
At New York, Nate Robinson scored 22 points, Jamal Crawford added 20, and New York matched its most lopsided victory of the season.
The Knicks, usually suffering the hidings, blew by banged-up Charlotte after a slow start, getting 25 fast-break points and shooting 51 percent from the floor.
Matt Carroll scored 19 points for the Bobcats, who lost their third straight.
76ers 101, Magic 89
At Philadelphia, Andre Miller scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half and Willie Green had a season-high 26 to lead Philadelphia. The Sixers had lost their first two meetings to Orlando this month, four straight overall and six of the last seven.
Raptors 107, Timberwolves 85
At Toronto, Chris Bosh scored 28 points, T.J. Ford had 16 and Toronto beat Minnesota for the eighth straight time.
Hawks 123, Kings 117
At Atlanta, Mike Bibby had 24 points and 12 assists in his home debut for Atlanta against his former team.
Nuggets 138, SuperSonics 96
At Seattle, Allen Iverson scored 31 points, and Denver scored the most points in the NBA this season to beat Seattle.
Hornets 120, Suns 103
At New Orleans, Chris Paul had 25 points, 15 assists and three steals to help New Orleans end a three-game losing skid with a win over Phoenix.
Jazz 103, Pistons 95
At Salt Lake City, Mehmet Okur scored 11 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Utah rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Detroit for the sixth straight time.
Trail Blazers 82, Clippers 80
At Los Angeles, Jarrett Jack tied a season high with 21 points, leading Portland over Los Angeles.
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