The Philadelphia 76ers clinched an NBA playoffs spot by beating the Detroit Pistons 95-90 on Saturday.
Philadelphia will use their final seven games to determine their seeding in the Eastern Conference. The 76ers are fifth in the conference.
Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 31 points, while Andre Miller had a triple-double with 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
PHOTO: EPA
Detroit led 88-87 with 2 minutes, 17 seconds left after Rodney Stuckey made two free throws. Miller made three free throws and Reggie Evans added two more with 39 seconds left for a 92-88 lead.
Stuckey scored 23 points for Detroit, who are a half-game behind New Jersey for the seventh spot.
MAGIC 88, HAWKS 82
In Atlanta, Georgia, Dwight Howard scored 21 points and tied a season high with 23 rebounds to help Orlando pull within a half-game of tying for second place in the East.
Howard’s performance marked the ninth time this season, and the 23rd time of his five-year career, that he’s had at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game.
The Magic are four games behind Cleveland and trail second-placed Boston by percentage points.
Joe Johnson scored 21 points for the Hawks, who have dropped three straight.
BULLS 103, NETS 94
In Chicago, Ben Gordon scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and John Salmons added 17 as Chicago won for the eighth time in 11 games and held on to eighth and the final playoff spot in the East.
Gordon missed his first 10 shots and was just three-for-14 overall, but he hit a key three-pointer and two free throws during a game-ending 10-0 run.
HEAT 118, WIZARDS 104
In Washington, Dwyane Wade scored 33 points as Miami broke a franchise record with eight three-pointers in the fourth quarter to put away Washington.
Wade and James Jones each made three three-pointers in the final period, finally blowing open the game after the last of several Wizards comebacks. Miami made a season-high 14 three-pointers in 32 attempts, including going eight-for-13 in the fourth.
Miami completed a 4-0 season sweep of the Wizards, who finished 1-15 against the Southeast Division.
Caron Butler scored 27 points to lead the Wizards.
GRIZZLIES 107, BUCKS 102
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rudy Gay scored 26 points to help Memphis hold off Milwaukee.
Marc Gasol added 19 for Memphis.
Richard Jefferson scored 24 for the Bucks, who remain mathematically alive — just barely — for the playoffs, but now would need to win their final four games and wind up in an unlikely multi-team tie for the final spot to get in.
RAPTORS 102, KNICKS 95
In New York, Toronto’s won their sixth straight game to stay alive in the playoff race while eliminating New York.
Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points, Chris Bosh had 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Shawn Marion added 12 points and 13 boards for the Raptors, whose longest winning run since April 2007 was almost certain to be too little, too late. Toronto would have been eliminated with a loss and a victory by Chicago.
Instead, the Raptors eliminated the Knicks, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2004.
NUGGETS 120, CLIPPERS 104
In Denver, Colorado, the Nuggets had plenty of firepower and defense even without Kenyon Martin to beat the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers for their 11th win in 12 games.
J.R. Smith led the Nuggets in scoring for the second straight game with a scintillating 34-point performance off the bench, while Carmelo Anthony added 18 points.
Zach Randolph led Los Angeles with 22 points and DeAndre Jordan added 21.
The Nuggets’ winning ways have them on the cusp of earning home-court advantage in a playoff series for the first time since the 1988 Western Conference semi-finals.
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