LeBron James had 34 points and 14 assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Portland Trail Blazers for a 104-98 victory on Wednesday.
Mo Williams added a season-high 33 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers for the Cavaliers. Cleveland made 11 of 19 3-point attempts.
Brandon Roy had 23 points for Portland, and LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 21.
Cleveland, which led by as many as 11 points in the first half, took a 68-59 lead when James hit two consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter.
But Portland went ahead 82-81 midway through the fourth quarter on Roy’s layup and free throw. Ben Wallace got the lead back for the Cavaliers with a layup, and James hit a 3-pointer.
LAKERS 108, CLIPPERS 97
At Los Angeles, Andrew Bynum scored a career-high 42 points and Kobe Bryant had his second triple-double in three games as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Clippers.
Bynum became the first Lakers player to reach 40 points other than Bryant since Shaquille O’Neal scored 48 against Boston on March 21, 2003.
The 21-year-old center shot 17-of-24 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the foul line, and pulled down 15 rebounds.
Bryant, playing in pain two days after dislocating his right ring finger, added 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for his 16th career triple-double. He hadn’t had a triple-double since April 1, 2005, before accomplishing the feat last Friday night in a 109-103 loss to Orlando.
PISTONS 95, RAPTORS 76
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Tayshaun Prince scored 12 of his 25 points in the third quarter to help Detroit beat Toronto.
The Pistons used Richard Hamilton as a reserve after the All-Star shooting guard started his first 611 games, including the playoffs, in his seven seasons with the team.
Chris Bosh had 19 points for the Raptors, who have lost seven straight.
Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points and Jason Maxiell had season highs in points (16) and rebounds (11) for Detroit. Allen Iverson scored 11 and reserve Antonio McDyess had 10 points and eight rebounds.
CELTICS 98, HEAT 83
At Miami, Eddie House scored 20 points in the second quarter, finishing with 25 as Boston downed Miami to extend its winning streak to six games.
Ray Allen scored a game-high 27 for the Celtics, who were a season-high 15-for-25 from 3-point range. It matched the most 3s ever allowed by the Heat in their 21 seasons. Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Paul Pierce added 14 points for Boston.
Dwyane Wade finished with 25 points, Daequan Cook scored 20 and Michael Beasley added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Miami.
ROCKETS 108, JAZZ 99
At Houston, Yao Ming had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Rafer Alston scored 23 as Houston beat Utah for its sixth win in seven games.
Von Wafer added 21 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer in the closing minutes, and Luis Scola had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets.
Deron Williams had 32 points and 11 assists and Ronnie Brewer had 23 for the Jazz, who’ve dropped seven of their last 10 road games.
Andrei Kirilenko sat out for Utah after leaving Tuesday’s game against Minnesota with a right ankle injury.
KNICKS 114, SUNS 109
At New York, Nate Robinson made up for a momentum-shifting technical foul with 20 points for New York, and Tim Thomas scored all 10 of his points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
New York held Shaquille O’Neal to just one field goal in the second half after he had 18 points in the first.
BUCKS 133, MAVERICKS 99
At Milwaukee, Charlie Villanueva had 32 points and 10 rebounds and Michael Redd added 27 points as Milwaukee downed Dallas.
Dallas gave up midway through the fourth, with coach Rick Carlisle taking out both Jason Kidd, and Dirk Nowitzki.
HORNETS 102, NETS 92
At New Orleans, Chris Paul narrowly missed his fifth triple-double of the season with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as New Orleans beat New Jersey.
Peja Stojakovic had 20 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans.
Rasual Butler added 14 points, Julian Wright had 11 points and James Posey 10.
WIZARDS 110, KINGS 107
At Sacramento, California, Antawn Jamison had 33 points and nine rebounds to help Washington hold on for the victory over Sacramento.
Trailing by 19 points entering the fourth quarter, the Kings showed some life.
Point guard Beno Udrih led the way, finding holes in the defense on drives to the basket and hitting outside shots. Udrih’s 3-pointer with 43 seconds left cut the lead to 104-102.
BOBCATS 101, GRIZZLIES 86
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Raja Bell scored 25 points, and Emeka Okafor added 20 points and 15 rebounds as Charlotte continued its improved play with a win over Memphis.
Raymond Felton scored 19 and Gerald Wallace had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats.
Rudy Gay had 26 points for the Grizzlies.
THUNDER 122, WARRIORS 121
At Oakland, California, Jeff Green scored 26 points, including a turnaround jump shot from 16 feet at the buzzer to lift Oklahoma City over Golden State.
Westbrook matched his season high of 30 points while Kevin Durant added 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder.
Stephen Jackson had 29 points and seven assists for Golden State, while Corey Maggette added 26 points and six rebounds.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite