Greg Oden made a successful NBA debut with 13 points and five rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers buried the visiting Sacramento Kings 110-81 on Tuesday night in the pre-season opener for both clubs.
The center Oden was the top overall pick in last season’s draft, but his rookie season was delayed by one year due to right knee surgery.
“It felt good to be out there playing against someone who is not on our team,” Oden said after logging just over 19 impressive minutes.
Martell Webster led the Blazers with 15 points, Brandon Roy had 14 and LeMarcus Aldridge added 13. Flashy Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez, who played for DKV Joventut of the Spanish ACB League the last seven seasons, added six points and five assists in 20 minutes off the bench, in his NBA debut as well.
Donte Green had a game-high 18 points for the Kings, who made a woeful 29 per cent of their field goals (22-of-76) without starters Kevin Martin and Brad Miller, both nursing right quadriceps injuries.
ROCKETS 96, GRIZZLIES 93
Ron Artest, acquired in the off-season from Sacramento, scored 15 points in his Houston debut, while Aaron Brooks added 13, including the go-ahead basket with 16 seconds remaining, helping the Rockets slip past the visiting Grizzlies.
Brooks’ driving layup put the Rockets on top 94-93, and veteran Brent Barry, an off-season pickup from San Antonio, sank two free throws with two seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Houston’s Carl Landry led all scorers with 18 points. Chinese superstar center Yao Ming added 10 points with nine boards in 22 minutes, after sitting out the final third of the season with stress fracture in his left foot.
The Rockets were without starters Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier, both recovering from off-season surgeries.
Hakeem Warrick topped the Grizzlies with 15 points. OJ Mayo, the third overall pick in the draft, made his NBA debut with 14 points.
RAPTORS 104, CAVALIERS 84
Italy’s Andrea Bargnani scored 15 points off the bench, and Jermaine O’Neal added 11 in his Toronto debut as the Raptors took advantage of limited playing time by superstar LeBron James to crush the hosting Cavaliers.
James, who helped Team USA win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, missed all three floor shots and split a pair of free throws in just over eight minutes, before the defending scoring champ watched from the bench as his club was outscored 61-33 in the second half.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the Cavaliers with 16 points while newcomer Mo Williams finished with 12.
MAVERICKS 108, WIZARDS 82
German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki and Brandon Bass scored 17 points apiece, helping Rick Carlisle make a successful Mavericks’ coaching debut as Dallas walloped the visiting Wizards.
The Wizards’ suffered a much bigger loss when two-time all-star forward Antawn Jamison had to leave after just four minutes with a strained right knee while defending Nowitzki’s drive to the basket.
Andray Blatche had 18 points for the Wizards, who played without three-time all-star guard Gilbert Arenas, recovering from his third knee operation.
JAZZ 99, LAKERS 90
Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap scored 13 points apiece, helping the visiting Jazz beat the Lakers in the teams’ first pre-season outing.
Deron Williams collected 11 points with eight assists for Utah, which was without fellow-gold medal Olympian Carlos Boozer, (sore left hamstring), and Matt Harpring (ankle injury).
Reserves Jordan Farmar and Andrew Bynum netted 15 points apiece for the Lakers, who were without head coach Phil Jackson (lower leg swelling). Reigning league Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes.
Bynum’s bucket pulled the Lakers within 89-84 with 5:34 to play. However, Kevin Lyde’s basket capped an 8-2 run, as the Jazz opened an 97-86 advantage, with 2:24 remaining.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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