The Cleveland Cavaliers took their winning streak into double figures with a 102-86 victory over a slumping Miami Heat on Thursday, LeBron James sparking the 10th straight triumph with a 36-point haul.
Daniel Gibson also made a telling contribution in the second half after visiting his pregnant fiancee in hospital. He started the third quarter and finished with 12 points.
Cleveland (40-11) held a 56-52 lead at halftime, before the NBA leaders pulled clear with a 10-0 run that spanned the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Miami’s Dwyane Wade scored 18 points in the first half, but could only add six more in the second, losing a third straight duel against James, who also tallied eight assists and seven rebounds.
“We did not make any adjustments [on Wade], we just tried to be aware of where he is at all times and we did double him occasionally,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown told reporters. “We just tried to keep the lane crowded and stay in front of him.”
The defeat was a fourth in a row for Miami (24-26), who have now dropped six of their last seven contests.
The Heat remained in contention in the first half as Wade and James waged a duel. James had 19 in the first two quarters that were reminiscent of their previous match-up on Jan. 25 when each tallied 32 in a one-point Cleveland win.
This time James had his way, making nine-of-16 shots from the field and 17-of-21 free-throws.
With guards Mo Williams and Delonte West both sidelined through injury, James has had to take on the added role of ball-handler for Cleveland.
Relishing the responsibility, he has averaged 11.6 assists per game in his last five games for the Cavaliers.
“The disadvantage is I can’t run down the court and get ahead of the ball,” James said. “It’s a sacrifice I have to make with our point guards being out. I have no choice but to handle the ball at certain points of the game — I’ll do whatever it takes for our team to win.”
■TRAIL BLAZERS 96, SPURS 93
AFP, PORTLAND, Oregon
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers came from behind to beat San Antonio on Thursday.
Martel Webster finished with 21 points and made all five of his three-pointers for the Blazers, who swept the three-game series over San Antonio this season. The Blazers have won their last five against the Spurs.
“We have a bunch of guys who want to play basketball and a bunch of guys who are good. We just play hard,” Aldridge said.
Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 21 points, while Tim Duncan had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
San Antonio led by 10 points early in the final quarter, but the Blazers made it 85-83 on Nicolas Batum’s layup.
After Ginobili hit a jump shot for the Spurs, Webster’s three-pointer cut it to 87-86 with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left.
Aldridge nailed a jumper with just under three minutes left to give the Blazers the lead and Webster dropped another three to make it 91-87 with 22.9 seconds to go.
“We just tried to contain [Tony] Parker and Duncan,” Aldridge said.
The game marked the return of guard Parker, who missed the previous three games with a left ankle sprain. Parker came out quickly with 16 first-half points and finished with 18.
Portland remained without all-star guard Brandon Roy, who continues to nurse a left hamstring injury. Roy has missed 11 of the Blazers’ last 12 games.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but