Tony Parker scored 20 points and 14 assists as the NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs extended a miserable Christmas for the Washington Wizards 94-80 on Sunday night.
The Spurs improved to 24-6, rebounding from a 123-101 loss to Orlando on Thursday night that ended their winning streak at 11. The league leaders in three-point percentage, San Antonio shot 10 of 24 from long range.
Manu Ginobili scored 21 points and George Hill added 11 for the Spurs.
Rashard Lewis, acquired last week from Orlando, had 21 points for Washington, playing without suspended forwards Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee. They were suspended for one game for conduct detrimental to the team.
The Washington Post said Blatche and McGee were involved in an altercation outside a club early on Friday. The newspaper reported that two league sources said the players cursed at each other and exchanged punches. The Post reported another source said police were called to break up the fight.
CLIPPERS 108, SUNS 103
In Los Angeles, rookie Blake Griffin scored 28 points and 12 rebounds for his 18th straight double-double to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat Phoenix for the first time in 10 games.
Eric Gordon scored 24 points and Baron Davis had 15 points and nine assists. Newly acquired Mickael Pietrus had a season-high 25 points for Phoenix, while Steve Nash finished with 21 points and 15 assists.
BULLS 95, PISTONS 92, OT
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Carlos Boozer had 31 points and 11 rebounds, while Derrick Rose added 23 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in Chicago’s overtime victory.
Detroit sent the game to overtime when Charlie Villanueva tipped home a missed shot with 0.6 seconds left. The Pistons missed three shots on the possession, but grabbed all three offensive rebounds.
Tayshaun Prince led Detroit with 17 points.
TIMBERWOLVES 98, CAVALIERS 97
In Cleveland, Ohio, Michael Beasley scored on a driving layup with 5.9 seconds left and finished with 28 points to help Minnesota end their seven-game losing streak.
Beasley scored after Antawn Jamison’s basket with 10.6 seconds left gave Cleveland the lead.
Luke Ridnour scored 23 points to help Minnesota improve to 7-24.
Kevin Love added 16, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and had 18 rebounds for his NBA-leading 26th double-double. Jamison led Cleveland with 24 points. The Cavaliers are 1-13 in their last 14 and 8-22 overall.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Hornets 93, Hawks 86
‧ Grizzlies 104, Pacers 90
‧ 76ers 95, Nuggets 89
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