The Boston Celtics moved closer to wrapping up the NBA's top record overall by avenging last weekend's loss in New Orleans and beating the Hornets 112-92 on Friday.
Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Kevin Garnett added 21, and Eastern Conference leader opened its advantage to six games over the idle Detroit Pistons with 10 games left.
The Hornets had a five-game winning streak halted and saw their Western Conference lead cut to one game over San Antonio.
Hawks 106, Bulls 103
In Atlanta, the home team held on after nearly blowing a 22-point lead against a slumping Chicago, giving themselves some breathing space in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Atlanta opened the gap to New Jersey to one-and-a-half games in the race for the last playoff spot.
Mike Bibby scored 30 points for the Hawks, who were up 72-50 with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Bulls twice closed within a point in the final minutes and almost forced overtime. Ben Gordon, who scored 16 points in the fourth, got off a long 3-point attempt that rimmed out as the horn sounded.
Jazz 121, Clippers 101
In Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 34 points and Deron Williams had 32 to overcome the loss of the three other Utah starters and beat a reeling Los Angeles.
Mehmet Okur and Ronnie Brewer were unavailable through illness and Andrei Kirilenko left in the first quarter with a calf injury, but Williams and Boozer topped 30 points together for the first time.
Pacers 123, Nets 115
In Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 26 points as Indiana downed New Jersey.
The Pacers moved within a game of the Nets, and two-and-a-half games of Atlanta, which holds the last Eastern Conference playoff berth.
Suns 107, 76ers 93
In Philadelphia, Amare Stoudemire scored 22 points to lead Phoenix over Philadelphia.
Raja Bell had 20 for the Suns, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.
Raptors 103, Knicks 95
In Toronto, Chris Bosh had 29 points and 10 rebounds as Toronto beat New York.
Rasho Nesterovic added 18 points for the Raptors.
The Knicks have won just two of their past 15 games.
Spurs 99, Timberwolves 84
In San Antonio, the home side picked up its sixth straight win with a victory over Minnesota.
Manu Ginobili 16 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter for the Spurs, whose winning streak had moved them from fifth in the Western Conference to second, and now only behind New Orleans on percentage.
Magic 103, Bucks 86
In Milwaukee, Orlando brought up a franchise-record 24th road victory with a win over Milwaukee.
Dwight Howard had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who won only 15 road games last season.
The Bucks lost their ninth game in 10.
Wizards 114, Kings 108
In Sacramento, California, Antawn Jamison had 25 points and 12 rebounds as Washington used a big third quarter to beat Sacramento.
Grizzlies 114, Lakers 111
In Los Angeles, Rudy Gay led five players in double figures with 28 points as Memphis downed Los Angeles.
The Lakers lost despite getting 53 points from Kobe Bryant against the NBA's worst road team.
Bryant scored 50 or more points for the 23rd time and the second this month. The Lakers fell to 16-7 when he gets that many.
Bobcats 96, SuperSonics 93
In Seattle, Raymond Felton hit a crucial basket along with a pair of free throws in the final minute to help lift Charlotte over Seattle.
Felton hit a 20-footer with 49.8 seconds left to give the Bobcats a 92-91 lead. The Sonics lost the ball on the next possession, and their chance to respond.
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