Dwight Howard passed Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach 5,000 rebounds as the Orlando Magic withstood Dwyane Wade’s 42 points for a 101-95 road victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.
The 23-year-old Howard collected 22 points and 18 rebounds to boost his career total to 5,007. Chamberlain, the all-time NBA rebound leader with 23,924, was 25 when he reached 5,000.
“The big guy was really aggressive,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters.
PHOTO: AP
Rashard Lewis added 21 for Orlando (55-18), who won their sixth consecutive game to stay percentage points ahead of Boston (56-19) for second place in the Eastern Conference.
Wade now has 12 40-point games this season.
“Wade is great every night,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said.
However, the NBA’s leading scorer found little help, with Mario Chalmers scoring 13 points and Jermaine O’Neal 10.
The loss left fifth-placed Miami (39-35) just a game ahead of Philadelphia (37-35) in the East.
Wade’s layup gave Miami a 92-91 lead with 2:51 to play, but the Magic scored six consecutive points — on a free throw by Howard, Lewis’ three-pointer and a layup by Howard — to take control.
BUCKS 107, NETS 78
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Richard Jefferson had 29 points and 10 rebounds against his former teammates as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak.
Charlie Villanueva added 20 points for the Bucks, who kept their slim hopes for a playoff berth alive by snapping a seven-game road losing streak and sending the Nets to their fifth straight loss, matching their season’s longest losing streak.
The win was only the fifth in 19 games for Milwaukee, which is four games behind Chicago in the race for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks (32-43) have seven games left.
JAZZ 112, KNICKS 104
At Salt Lake City, Utah, Deron Williams had 24 points and 13 assists for the Jazz, who rallied after blowing a huge lead at home for the second straight game.
The Jazz led by 24 early in the third quarter, but fell behind by a point in the fourth before regrouping and closing on a 20-11 run.
GRIZZLIES 114, WARRIORS 109
At Oakland, California, O.J. Mayo scored 24 points and had a career-high 10 assists and Rudy Gay added 21 points as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat the short-handed Golden State Warriors.
Mayo struggled with his shot most of the night, but made a pair of free throws on technical fouls in the fourth quarter and added a driving layup with 2 minutes left to cap a 25-5 run for Memphis.
Mike Conley added 21 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies (19-54), who won for just the fourth time in 22 games.
Monta Ellis had 29 points for Golden State, who suited up just eight players for the second straight game and lost their fifth in a row.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set