The Atlanta Hawks beat Portland 99-95 in overtime on Monday, spoiling the Trail Blazers’ bid for a perfect five-game road trip.
Joe Johnson had a game-high 35 points, including eight in overtime, as the Hawks won their fifth game in a row.
“Two, three, four years ago we’d have lost a game like this,” Johnson told reporters after the Hawks moved into a tie for the league’s best record at 9-2. “We are no where near close [to those Hawks of the past].”
Portland (8-4) entered the game winning six straight, including four in a row on the road.
Johnson also had nine assists, while Josh Smith recorded 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawks.
Blazers reserve Rudy Fernandez scored a team-high 19 points, including a three-pointer as time expired in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.
Johnson scored six of his team’s first eight points in overtime as the Hawks built a 93-87 lead. They improved to 5-0 at home for the first time since the 1997-98 season.
Atlanta swept the season series with Portland after defeating them 97-91 on Nov. 3.
The Blazers, coming into the game on a six-game winning streak, had 18 points and nine rebounds from LaMarcus Aldridge and 17 and nine from Brandon Roy.
Portland held a 72-62 lead with 8:22 left in the fourth before Atlanta ran off 10 unanswered points in a little more than two minutes to tie the game.
Johnson had his team’s final four points in regulation as the Hawks led 85-82 with four seconds left, but Portland put together an out-of-bounds play to get Fernandez his game-tying shot.
The Blazers have been in top form since inserting new point guard Andre Miller into the starting lineup on Nov. 6. Miller was signed as a free agent in the offseason and helped spark the team’s winning streak.
The Hawks, surprise leaders of the Southeast division, have been bolstered by their own offseason pickup of high-scoring guard Jamal Crawford.
“Expectations are high this year,” Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. “It’s kind of nice starting out at the top of your division. There’s nothing wrong with winning the division.”
MAVERICKS 115, BUCKS 113
At Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dirk Nowitzki hit a 18-foot fallaway as time expired in overtime to give Dallas a 115-113 victory over the hosts.
With 3.1 seconds left, Nowitzki caught a pass from Jason Kidd, who finished a point short of a triple-double, and threw it up over Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
The ball rattled off the rim and backboard, dropping softly through the hoop as the backboard lights came on.
Nowitzki, who finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds, untucked his jersey and celebrated with his teammates near the Mavericks’ bench after the shot went in. The play was upheld on review.
Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings had 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in his first game since scoring 55 against the Warriors on Saturday night. But it wasn’t enough to extend Milwaukee’s winning streak to five.
Kidd had nine points, 10 rebounds and 17 assists for the short-handed Mavericks, who lost forward Shawn Marion when he sprained his left ankle in the second quarter.
MAGIC 97, BOBCATS 91
At Orlando, Florida, Rashard Lewis had 10 points in his first game back from a suspension, leading the hosts to victory.
Lewis looked rusty after serving a 10-game ban handed out by the NBA for testing positive for an elevated testosterone level.
The All-Star forward finally found his footing late, sparking a rally that moved the Magic in front for good. Teammate Jameer Nelson finished with 16 points.
Flip Murray equaled a career high with 31 points, and Stephen Jackson had 13 points and nine rebounds for Charlotte hours after the disgruntled swingman was acquired from Golden State.
Even with the new addition, the Bobcats couldn’t avoid their fifth straight loss.
■OUT OF MEMPHIS
AFP, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
The Memphis Grizzlies have parted ways with disgruntled guard Allen Iverson after just two months, the team announced on Monday.
The 34-year-old American, who signed as a free agent in September, left the team on Nov. 7, citing personal reasons.
“The Grizzlies and Allen Iverson have come to a mutual agreement that because of personal matters that forced him to leave the team on November 7, Allen will step away from the game at this time,” Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace said.
“As a result, we will be ending our contractual agreement with Allen, which will allow both parties to move forward. We wish Allen the best,” Wallace said.
Iverson appeared in parts of three games with the Grizzlies but did not start. He missed the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury.
Iverson averaged 12.3 points and 3.7 assists in those games, playing just over 22 minutes a game.
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