Tracy McGrady notched his fourth career triple-double and first this season and Yao Ming scored 32 points as the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 108-96 on Tuesday.
McGrady had 20 points and reached season highs in rebounds (14) and assists (10) for his first triple-double since last December.
Ron Artest scored 20 points off the bench and backup point guard Aaron Brooks added 18 points for the Rockets, who’ve won five of their last seven games despite a seemingly unending rash of injuries.
PHOTO: AP
Carmelo Anthony scored 22 and J.R. Smith had 17 for the Nuggets, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Chauncey Billups scored eight points for Denver.
LAKERS 116, KNICKS 114
At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored nine of his 28 points in the last 7 1/2 minutes as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat New York.
Trevor Ariza scored the go-ahead basket with 1:03 remaining to give the Lakers (21-3) their 14th win in 16 games. Lamar Odom made his first start of the season in place of the ill Pau Gasol and had season-high totals of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Nate Robinson scored a season-high 33 points for the Knicks but missed a short jumper with about 12 seconds to play. David Lee had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Quentin Richardson also scored 18 points.
CLIPPERS 98, THUNDER 88
At Oklahoma City, Zach Randolph had 22 points and 13 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double, and rookie Eric Gordon fueled a 10-point run in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles won its third straight.
Gordon finished with 22 points, Baron Davis scored 19, and Marcus Camby added 13 points and 15 rebounds as all of the Clippers starters’ reached double figures. Los Angeles has won three straight for the first time since starting last season 4-0.
Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 23 points, and Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox scored 13 apiece. The Thunder are now 1-12 under interim coach Scott Brooks, the same record they had when P.J. Carlesimo was fired.
BOBCATS 110, BULLS 101, OT
At Charlotte, North Carolina, D.J. Augustin scored a career-high 29 points while outplaying fellow rookie point guard Derrick Rose, and undermanned Charlotte snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating Chicago.
Rose, the No. 1 pick, was held to six points on 3-of-16 shooting, with seven assists. Ben Gordon scored 25 points and Tyrus Thomas added 22 for the Bulls, who dropped to 3-10 on the road and failed to reach .500 for the first time in a month.
Emeka Okafor added 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.
TRAIL BLAZERS 109, KINGS 77
At Portland, Oregon, Brandon Roy scored 29 points before sitting out the fourth quarter and LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 points and 10 rebounds as Portland beat Sacramento to snap a three-game losing streak.
Playing with a splint on the injured pinkie finger on his right hand, Roy fell just short of scoring 30 points for the fourth successive game.
The All-Star guard tore a tendon in his finger while scoring a career-high 38 against the Los Angeles Clippers last Friday.
John Salmons had 16 of his 21 points in the first quarter for the Kings and he didn’t score in the second half.
HORNETS 91, GRIZZLIES 84
At Memphis, Tennessee, Chris Paul had 18 points, nine assists and five steals and James Posey scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter as New Orleans snapped Memphis’ season-high, four-game winning streak.
David West also scored 18 points for the Hornets, who won for the fifth time in six games despite struggling from the field at times.
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