Joe Johnson dug himself out of a shooting slump with 36 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 110-85 rout of the struggling Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
Atlanta’s All Star guard, who entered the night with a lone 20-point effort from his last six games, racked up 28 points in the first half and finished with six three-pointers.
Wearing a special black headband to protect his scalp after he underwent a procedure for a skin infection, Johnson just may have found a lucky charm.
“I was supposed to change headbands at halftime, but everybody jumped up saying, ‘no, no.’ I’m not a headband kind of guy, but for right now I have to wear it,” Johnson told reporters.
Josh Smith added 17 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for the Hawks (39-28) who exploded with a 20-0 run spanning the first and second quarters en route to a second straight win.
With the win, Atlanta moved two-and-a-half games behind the fourth-place Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference.
Milwaukee (26-40), coming off an embarrassing loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday when they scored a franchise-worst 56 points, had 21 points and 13 rebounds from Andrew Bogut, but fell two-and-a-half games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks had won three straight games prior to their current two-game slide and were knocked out early by Atlanta.
“We had trouble getting back on defense early in the game, and we looked a little bit tired,” Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said. “It was just one of those games where we didn’t play very well.”
TRAIL BLAZERS 104, MAVERICKS 101
In Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 30 points and reserve Brandon Roy added 21, including a key jumper with less than a minute to go, to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Dallas Mavericks.
The Blazers led 100-94 with 3:50 left, but Jason Terry’s basket narrowed it to 100-99. Roy hit a pair of free throws before a pull-up jumper that made it 104-99 with 47 seconds left.
Dirk Nowitzki hit a pair of free throws, but after a timeout with 8.8 seconds on the clock, he missed a three-point attempt from the corner and time ran out for the Mavericks.
Nowitzki finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, which shot 59.7 percent for the game.
PACERS 119, KNICKS 117
In Indianapolis, Danny Granger’s jump shot with 0.3 seconds left gave Indiana a victory over New York.
Indiana passed the ball inbounds with 7.8 seconds left. Granger worked the clock, drove right on Shawne Williams, pulled up and connected on a 17-foot fadeaway.
Granger, who missed Sunday’s 106-93 win in New York with strep throat, scored 26 points. Tyler Hansbrough scored a career-high 30 points after setting a career high with 29 on Sunday. Darren Collison added 24 points and nine assists for Indiana.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and Amar’e Stoudemire added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who have lost three straight.
BULLS 98, WIZARDS 79
In Chicago, Derrick Rose scored 23 points to help Chicago earn their seventh consecutive victory and move into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference.
Luol Deng added 20 points and Keith Bogans scored 17, his highest total since joining the Bulls. Bogans took all of his 10 shots from behind the three-point arc, hitting a season-high five.
Washington center JaVale McGee had a rare triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocks, the most by an NBA player since Toronto’s Keon Clark had 12 on March 23, 2001.
Rookie Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with 27 points.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two