The San Antonio Spurs turned up the defensive pressure to beat the Denver Nuggets 104-85 on Saturday, giving them a chance of avoiding the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
The win, powered by Tim Duncan’s 18 points and 10 rebounds, moved the Spurs into seventh place in the Western Conference, a position that would enable them to avoid the Lakers in the opening round.
“This was huge,” guard Manu Ginobili, who had 15 points and seven assists, told reporters. “Basically, if we lose this game, we’re settling for eighth.”
The Spurs had been put in that position with an untimely 107-99 loss to Memphis on Friday.
“To come back in the second game of a back-to-back was impressive to me,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
“I really enjoyed that. We had a pretty good night and Denver had one of those nights where it just wasn’t working,” the Spurs coach said. “They played tonight like we played last night.”
The loss could prove costly for the Nuggets, who are locked in a battle with Dallas and Utah for the No. 2 seed behind the Lakers in the West.
Dallas moved a half-game ahead of both Denver and Utah with a 126-108 win over Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
Despite shooting poorly, the Nuggets pulled within five points of the Spurs early in the fourth quarter.
Then the Spurs went on a 13-0 run to break open the game.
“Every loss at this point of the season is costly,” said Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups, who had a game-high 27 points.
Denver was called for four technical fouls in the second half and Carmelo Anthony was ejected after picking up his second. He finished with 19 points.
The loss also dropped Denver into a tie with Utah for the Northwest Division lead.
“We’ve just got to win a couple games,” said forward Kenyon Martin, who returned to the lineup after missing 18 games and grabbed 10 rebounds. “We’ll see. All we’ve got to do is go out and win.”
CELTICS 105, BUCKS 90
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Paul Pierce scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half as Boston rested Kevin Garnett and still beat the Bucks.
After a rough game in Milwaukee last month, this one featured more pushing and shoving late and could be a sign of things to come in a first-round matchup in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Bucks coach Scott Skiles was ejected, Celtics forward Glen Davis squared off with Kurt Thomas and Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings was inadvertently kicked between the legs in the fourth quarter.
John Salmons overcame his stomach bug to score 21 points for the Bucks.
MAVERICKS 126, KINGS 108
In Sacramento, California, Dirk Nowitzki scored 39 points to help Dallas rout struggling Sacramento.
The victory, combined with Denver’s loss to San Antonio, moved the Mavericks into sole possession of second place in the Western Conference playoff race.
Dallas are one game ahead of Denver with two games remaining for both teams. The Mavericks can finish no worse than the fourth seed.
Jason Kidd had his second triple-double of the season and the 105th of his career, finishing 11 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for Dallas, who have won three straight.
Carl Landry scored 30 points for Sacramento.
HAWKS 105, WIZARDS 95
In Washington, Atlanta maintained third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference by snapping their road woes and beating Washington.
Jamal Crawford scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half and Joe Johnson added 20 points as the Hawks won their first road game in seven attempts and beat the Wizards for the ninth straight time.
CLIPPERS 107, WARRIORS 104
In Los Angeles, the hosts snapped a seven-game losing streak with a tight win over Golden State.
Chris Kaman had 27 points and 10 rebounds while Steve Nowak hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 2:46 to play as the Clippers rallied from a six-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter.
Rookie Stephen Curry scored 29 points for the Warriors.
In other games it was:
• Bobcats 99, Pistons 95
• 76ers 120, Grizzlies 101
• Pacers 115, Nets 102
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier