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.
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