The resurgent Clippers held off the Lakers to win 102-91 on Wednesday, snapping a nine-game losing streak in the NBA’s battle of Los Angeles.
Baron Davis scored 25 points and Chris Kaman added 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Clippers, who beat the defending NBA champions for the first time since 2006-07.
The Clippers have won five straight at home for the first time since a six-game winning streak in that same season.
Kobe Bryant scored 33 points as the Lakers’ four-game winning streak ended.
SUNS 118, ROCKETS 110
In Phoenix, the hosts were 16 points up, then 16 points down, before coming back to down Houston.
Steve Nash scored 26 points and had 12 assists and Amare Stoudemire added 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Suns.
It was a furious game marked by a series of remarkable runs. It was the second time this season the Suns had rallied from a 16-point deficit in back-to-back games.
Aaron Brooks topped Houston with a career-high 34 points.
RAPTORS 108, MAGIC 103
In Orlando, Florida, Toronto almost blew an 18-point fourth quarter lead before holding on to beat Orlando, further slicing the Magic’s lead in the NBA Southeast Division.
Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh had 18 points apiece as Toronto won for the seventh time in eight games, getting back to a squared 18-18 record.
Toronto’s lead was trimeed to two with 43 seconds remaining, but J.J. Redick missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds that could have tied the score.
Redick finished with 22 points for the Magic, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.
CELTICS 112, HEAT 106, OT
In Miami, Boston came from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to tie the game in a frantic finish to regulation, then beat Miami in overtime.
Dwayne Wade had his best game of the season for the Heat and seemingly gave them victory with a steal and dunk with 0.6 seconds left. But Boston’s Rajon Rondo sank a buzzer-beating layup after catching Paul Pierce’s lob.
Rondo scored 25 points, and Ray Allen 22 points for Boston, which maintains a fractional advantage over Cleveland in the scrap over the Eastern Conference lead.
In other games it was:
• Cavaliers 121, Wizards 98
• Jazz 117, Grizzlies 94
• Spurs 112, Pistons 92
• Hornets 97, Thunder 92
• Hawks 119, Nets 89
• Warriors 107, Timberwolves 100
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