Luis Scola of Argentina scored 24 points and Kevin Martin added 21 to help the Houston Rockets win their first game of the season with a 120-94 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Yao Ming, playing under a strict time limit while recovering from foot surgery, had 13 points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. Shane Battier added 17 points for Houston, which lost its first five games. The Rockets lost their first 10 games in the 1982-83 season.
Minnesota lost for the sixth time in seven games. Kevin Love led the Timberwolves with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Michael Beasley added 15 points.
Celtics 92, Thunder 83
In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Ray Allen scored 19 points and Boston’s bench helped prevent a big lead from slipping away in the fourth quarter as the Celtics opened a four-game road trip with a win over Oklahoma.
Glen Davis had three foul-line jumpers during a 15-6 push by the Celtics after their 22-point lead had been cut to 73-67 early in the fourth quarter.
Kevin Durant scored 34 points, while Russell Westbrook had 16 points and 10 assists to lead Oklahoma City, which played without third-leading scorer Jeff Green.
Suns 118, Hawks 114
In Atlanta, Georgia, Jason Richardson scored 21 points, while Steve Nash added 19 as Phoenix dealt Atlanta its first loss of the season.
There were four ties in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks, who trailed by 18 in the third quarter, could not take the lead.
Nash, who had 15 assists, made four free throws in the final 7 seconds to protect the lead.
Joe Johnson had 34 points and Al Horford added 30 for Atlanta. Johnson and Horford each set season scoring highs.
76ers 106, Knicks 96
In New York, Elton Brand scored 20 points, while Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday each had 19 as Philadelphia beat New York.
Evan Turner, this year’s No. 2 draft pick and last season’s college player of the year, added 14 points and 10 rebounds in his first NBA start as the 76ers snapped the Knicks’ two-game winning streak.
It was the fourth straight game with 20 or more for Brand.
Amare Stoudemire had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Knicks.
Pistons 102, Warriors 97
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 27 points and Rodney Stuckey added 21 points and nine assists to help Detroit beat Golden State.
The Pistons have now won two straight after losing their first five games of the season. Golden State, which hasn’t lost in four home games, is now 0-2 on the road.
Charlie Villanueva added 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Detroit, while Tayshaun Prince scored 14.
Monta Ellis led Golden State with 24 points and Dorell Wright had 19.
In Sunday’s other action, it was:
‧ Lakers 121, Trail Blazers 96
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