Deron Williams had 25 points and nine assists to lead the Utah Jazz past the Toronto Raptors 109-101 on Sunday for their 11th straight win.
Mehmet Okur had 19 points and 11 rebounds while Kyle Korver matched a season-high with 20 points. Paul Millsap had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko scored 18 for the Jazz, who have won eight straight games against Toronto.
Utah matched its longest winning streak since an 11-game run from April 1 to April 18, 1999.
Chris Bosh had 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, with Andrea Bargnani scoring 20 and Jose Calderon adding 10 points and 11 assists. Anthony Parker scored 16 points, but Toronto still lost its fifth straight.
MAGIC 86, CELTICS 79
At Boston, Dwight Howard scored 18 points with 15 rebounds, making a pair of free throws with 13.9 seconds as Orlando downed Boston.
With the win, Orlando moved two games behind Boston and three behind first-place Cleveland in the East.
Ray Allen had 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, scoring nine straight to make it 82-79 with 1:22 to play. But he hit the back of the rim on a three-point attempt from the left side that would have tied it with 41 seconds to play.
SPURS 103, SUNS 98
At San Antonio, Texas, Tony Parker notched his fourth 30-point performance in his last seven games as the home team sent Phoenix home winless from its four-game road trip.
Averaging 25.6 points since the All-Star break, Parker sealed the Spurs’ third win this season over the slumping Suns with a one-handed runner with 26.2 seconds left.
Tim Duncan had 17 points and 15 rebounds against the Suns.
Going in the wrong direction is Phoenix, which fell four games behind Dallas for the final playoff spot in the West. Shaquille O’Neal was held to 14 points after averaging nearly 30 in his previous four games.
NETS 106, KNICKS 101
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Devin Harris had 35 points and 10 assists as the Nets ended a stretch of close losses with a win over New York.
Vince Carter added 25 points for the Nets, who had lost three of their past four games, failing to pull out tight games against New Orleans, Boston and Orlando.
Harris and Bobby Simmons each added a pair of free throws in the final seconds after empty New York possessions. David Lee had 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who opened a five-game trip with their fifth loss in six games.
In other games it was:
• Rockets 93, Grizzlies 83
• Thunder 89, 76ers 74
• Kings 114, Nuggets 106
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