Jamal Crawford scored 50 points to help undermanned Golden State beat the Charlotte Bobcats 110-103 on Saturday, giving Warriors coach Don Nelson a win in his first NBA game with a new coaching alignment.
A night after Nelson announced he would no longer have anything to do with the Warriors’ NBA-worst defense, assistant Keith Smart handled that while Crawford handled the offense — and then some.
Acquired from New York last month, Crawford was 14-of-26 from the field, 5-of-8 on 3-pointers and made 17 of 18 free throws. He was two points shy of his career high as the Warriors snapped a five-game losing streak.
PHOTO: AP
Gerald Wallace had 26 points for Charlotte.
MAGIC 106, LAKERS 103
At Orlando, Florida, Jameer Nelson had 27 points, and Orlando overcame Kobe Bryant’s season-high 41 points for Los Angeles.
Bryant missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.
Rashard Lewis added 22 points for the Magic in their sixth straight home victory, and Dwight Howard had 18 in his second game back from a knee injury.
PACERS 95, 76ERS 94
At Philadelphia, T.J. Ford hit a 15-foot jumper with 3.9 seconds left and finished with 25 points for short-handed Indiana.
The Pacers dressed just nine players. For the second straight game, Indiana was without starters Troy Murphy, Marquis Daniels and Danny Granger, out with viral infections. The Pacers also were missing Maceo Baston (lower-back strain).
Andre Iguodala had 26 points for Philadelphia in its first loss in four games under new coach Tony DiLeo. Andre Miller had 14 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
ROCKETS 109, TIMBERWOLVES 102
At Minneapolis, Tracy McGrady scored 23 points and Houston made 12 3-pointers to hand Minnesota its 12th straight loss, matching the team’s longest losing streak since 1994.
Aaron Brooks had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who have won three in a row and seven of their last nine.
Al Jefferson had 34 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for Minnesota.
HORNETS 99, KINGS 90
At New Orleans, Chris Paul had 34 points, nine assists and a season-high eight steals, and New Orleans won for the 11th time in 13 games.
Reserve James Posey added 19 points, and David West had 12. John Salmons scored 26 points, and Francisco Garcia added 16 for Sacramento.
HEAT 106, NETS 103
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Dwyane Wade matched his season high with 43 points, scoring 12 of Miami’s final 14 points.
Wade put Miami ahead to stay with a reverse layup with 1:58 remaining for a 98-97 lead. Udonis Haslem sealed the win with a jumper from the corner with 14.7 seconds left that put the Heat up by 5.
Brook Lopez led New Jersey with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
SPURS 107, RAPTORS 97
At San Antonio, Tony Parker had 24 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, and San Antonio matched a franchise record with 16 3-pointers.
Tim Duncan scored 19 points, and Roger Mason had 16.
Jermaine O’Neal led Toronto with 24 points. The Raptors have lost five straight for the second time this season to drop to 10-14.
BULLS 106, JAZZ 98
At Chicago, Ben Gordon scored 26 points, and Derrick Rose had 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter for Chicago.
The Bulls have won five straight home games and are 10-3 at the United Center.
Mehmet Okur had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Utah, and Paul Millsap added 22 points and 10 rebounds.
BUCKS 119, CLIPPERS 85
At Milwaukee, Richard Jefferson scored 22 points, and Luke Ridnour added 18 for Milwaukee in its fourth victory in five games.
Al Thornton scored 20 points for Los Angeles in its worst loss of the season. The Clippers were playing their fourth road game in five nights.
SUNS 108, NUGGETS 101
At Phoenix, Steve Nash scored eight straight points in the final 3 minutes as Phoenix beat Denver for the eighth straight time at home.
Nash finished with 16 points and 11 assists. Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 27 points and 10 rebounds — his 10th game in a row with at least 20 points. Shaquille O’Neal had 19 points and nine rebounds, Jason Richardson also scored 19.
Grant Hill did a strong job on Carmelo Anthony, holding the Nuggets’ leading scorer to 10 points — 11 below his average. Reserve JR Smith topped the Nuggets with 23 points, and Nene added 20 points and 15 rebounds.
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
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