Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics overcome their second straight slow start and beat the undermanned Milwaukee Bucks 101-89 on Friday.
Richard Jefferson scored 20 points and Charlie Villanueva added 13 points and 12 rebounds for Milwaukee, playing without the injured Michael Redd. Kevin Garnett had 16 points for Boston.
HAWKS 110, RAPTORS 92
PHOTO: AP
In Atlanta, Mike Bibby scored all of his 19 points in the first half, making four 3-pointers during an 18-4 run that broke open the game, as unbeaten Atlanta routed Toronto.
Bibby added 12 assists for Atlanta, which is off to its best start since 1997, when they won their first 11 games.
BULLS 100, SUNS 83
In Chicago, reserve Ben Gordon scored 23 points as Chicago downed Phoenix.
Bulls rookie Derrick Rose had 18 points, six assists and several dazzling plays.
The Suns played without Shaquille O’Neal, who got the night off as part of a plan to rest him periodically throughout the season.
NETS 103, PISTONS 96
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Devin Harris scored a career-high 38 points to lead New Jersey over Detroit, giving a first start to Allen Iverson, who had 24 points.
New Jersey, which trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, played some of its best basketball of the season in the final two periods to hand the Pistons their first loss after four wins to open the season.
JAZZ 104, THUNDER 97
In Salt Lake City, Jerry Sloan became the first NBA coach to win 1,000 games with one team as Utah downed Oklahoma City.
Sloan is 1,000-596 with the Jazz, who improved to 5-0 for just the third time in team history despite letting a 31-point lead slip to eight in the fourth quarter.
Andrei Kirilenko led the Jazz with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
CAVALIERS 111, PACERS 107
In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 27 points as Cleveland rallied to beat Indiana.
Anderson Varejao added a career-high 18 for the Cavaliers, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
Cleveland scored 40 points in the fourth quarter.
BOBCATS 92, HORNETS 89
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Jason Richardson and Raymond Felton scored 20 points apiece to spoil Chris Paul’s homecoming by beating New Orleans.
Rookie point guard D.J. Augustin spearheaded a late comeback, as Charlotte regrouped after blowing a 14-point lead.
Paul, who grew up nearby and bought 500 tickets for friends and family, recovered from a scoreless first half to have 20 points and 10 assists, but had a key turnover in the final minute before missing a tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
GRIZZLIES 109, WARRIORS 104
In Oakland, California, Hakim Warrick had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Memphis had its best offensive output of the season in beating Golden State.
Rookie O.J. Mayo added 20 points for the Grizzlies, who beat the Warriors for the second time in five days.
Golden State’s Andris Biedrins had 23 points and 12 rebounds.
It’s the 13th consecutive double-double by Biedrins, the longest active streak in the NBA and the longest by a Warriors player since 1973.
NUGGETS 108, MAVERICKS 105
In Denver, Chauncey Billups began his second stint in Denver with 15 points as the Nuggets edged Dallas.
Billups also had three assists and three steals, including two down the stretch, while Carmelo Anthony added 28 points for Denver.
HEAT 99, SPURS 83
In San Antonio, Tony Parker sprained his left ankle and could be out two weeks, while Miami took advantage of his absence to beat San Antonio.
The Spurs dropped to 1-4, their worst start since 1996-1997 — a miserable season that gave San Antonio the No. 1 pick and the right to draft Tim Duncan.
Parker sustained a moderate lateral ankle sprain and will probably be out more than two weeks, a team physician said.
ROCKETS 92, CLIPPERS 83
In Los Angeles, Ron Artest scored 23 points as Houston sent Los Angeles crashing to a sixth straight loss.
Reserve Carl Landry added six of his 20 points in the final three-and-a-half minutes to secure victory for the Rockets.
In other NBA action, it was:
• Knicks 114, Wizards 108
• Kings 121, Timberwolves 109
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