LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and Greg Oden had a career-high 13 rebounds to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons 96-85 on Sunday.
Brandon Roy scored 19 points and Oden finished with 10 for Portland, which has won four straight. The Pistons fell to just 6-6 since Allen Iverson joined the team.
PHOTO: AP
Richard Hamilton had 18 for Detroit, which is 0-4 on Sundays and 10-2 during the rest of the week.
LAKERS 112, RAPTORS 99
At Los Angeles, Pau Gasol had 24 points and nine rebounds and Kobe Bryant had 23 points and seven assists before sitting out the fourth quarter as Los Angeles beat Toronto to improve its league-best record to 14-1.
Bryant came 15 points shy of reaching the 22,000-point mark faster than any other player. Had he done it, he would have beaten Wilt Chamberlain to that total by one day, the Elias Sports Bureau said. Bryant was the fastest to 12,000 and every level up to 20,000. The two-time scoring champion and 10-time All-Star was the second-fastest to 21,000.
Anthony Parker led Toronto with 19 points and five teammates also scored in double figures. Jermaine O’Neal missed his third straight because of a sprained left ankle.
NETS 117, SUNS 109
Devin Harris scored a career-high 47 points, including 21 in the fourth quarter, as New Jersey rallied to end its 14-game losing streak at Phoenix.
The Nets had not won at US Airways Center since their first visit in 1993, but they used a late run to overcome the Suns.
With Harris becoming the second player in two games to score more than 40 against the Suns — Miami’s Dwyane Wade had 43 on Friday night — the Nets scored their second road victory in two nights, after beating Utah on Saturday.
NUGGETS 104, ROCKETS 94
At Denver, Carmelo Anthony’s double-figure scoring streak ended after he left with an injury, but Chauncey Billups scored 28 points, including 11 in a 19-7 third-quarter run Denver used to break away from Houston.
The Nuggets lost their leader when Anthony took a seat in the second quarter after aggravating a sore right elbow that’s been bothering him for two weeks.
Anthony scored just two points, halting his NBA-best streak of consecutive games in double figures at 221.
Yao Ming scored 18 points for Houston, which played its third straight game without the injured Tracy McGrady.
BULLS 103, 76ERS 92
At Philadelphia, Ben Gordon scored 21 points and Drew Gooden had 20 points and 12 rebounds as Chicago rallied from an early deficit to beat the hosts.
Derrick Rose, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, contributed 18 points and 10 assists. Reserve Larry Hughes had 16 points for the Bulls (8-9) in the final stop on a seven-game, 12-day road trip that began on Nov. 18 in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
All three of Chicago’s road wins came on the trip.
NBA standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
W | L | PCT | GB | |
Boston | 16 | 2 | 0.889 | - |
New Jersey | 9 | 7 | 0.563 | 6 |
Toronto | 8 | 8 | 0.5 | 7 |
NY Knicks | 8 | 8 | 0.5 | 7 |
Philadelphia | 7 | 10 | 0.412 | 8.5 |
Central Division | ||||
Cleveland | 14 | 3 | 0.824 | - |
Detroit | 10 | 6 | 0.625 | 3.5 |
Chicago | 8 | 9 | 0.471 | 6 |
Indiana | 6 | 10 | 0.375 | 7.5 |
Milwaukee | 7 | 12 | 0.368 | 8 |
Southeast Division | ||||
Orlando | 13 | 4 | 0.765 | - |
Atlanta | 10 | 6 | 0.625 | 2.5 |
Miami | 8 | 9 | 0.471 | 5 |
Charlotte | 5 | 11 | 0.313 | 7.5 |
Washington | 2 | 12 | 0.143 | 9 .5 |
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
W | L | PCT | GB | |
Denver | 12 | 6 | 0.667 | - |
Portland | 12 | 6 | 0.667 | - |
Utah | 11 | 7 | 0.611 | 1 |
Minnesota | 4 | 11 | 0.267 | 6.5 |
Oklahoma | 2 | 16 | 0.111 | 10 |
Pacific Division | ||||
LA Lakers | 14 | 1 | 0.933 | - |
Phoenix | 11 | 7 | 0.611 | 4.5 |
Golden State | 5 | 12 | 0.294 | 10 |
Sacramento | 5 | 14 | 0.263 | 11 |
LA Clippers | 3 | 13 | 0.188 | 11.5 |
Southwest Division | ||||
Houston | 11 | 7 | 0.611 | - |
New Orleans | 9 | 6 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
San Antonio | 9 | 7 | 0.563 | 1 |
Dallas | 8 | 8 | 0.5 | 2 |
Memphis | 4 | 13 | 0.235 | 6.5 |
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB