Carmelo Anthony scored 40 points, including the winning basket, as the Denver Nuggets ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 13-game NBA winnings streak with a 118-116 victory in overtime Thursday.
Cleveland lost despite LeBron James having a triple-double by the end of regulation, finishing with 43 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists.
Anthony matched him shot for shot, hitting the winner on a deep jumper over an outstretched James with 1.9 seconds left to give Denver the win.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Kenyon Martin had 18 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for the Nuggets, who had plenty of motivation to begin the second half of its season with a victory.
Nuggets coach George Karl was on the bench despite battling nausea and headaches in recent days as a result of chemotherapy.
Karl coached his first game since disclosing on Tuesday he has neck and throat cancer.
The Cavaliers had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but James slipped while receiving the inbound pass and his 3-pointer rattled off the rim. An exhausted James, who played 47 minutes, missed his final four shots in overtime.
CELTICS 87, LAKERS 86
In Los Angeles, Ray Allen scored 12 of his 24 points in the third quarter and made 10 of his first 11 shots as Boston edged Los Angeles.
It was the defending NBA champions’ first loss in five games since Kobe Bryant sustained a sprained left ankle.
Kendrick Perkins had 13 points and 14 assists for the Celtics, who were busy before gametime. They acquired guard Nate Robinson and Marcus Landry from the New York Knicks in exchange for Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker and a future conditional second-round draft pick.
The Lakers led 84-80 in the fourth quarter but went 4 minutes, 48 seconds without a basket to cede the lead. They had one final opportunity on the buzzer, but Derek Fisher missed a 21-footer.
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