Toney Douglas shot a sparkling 29-point haul off the bench to help the New York Knicks set a franchise record for three-pointers in their 120-99 rout of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.
The second-year guard Douglas also tied the franchise’s individual three-point record, his ninth successful shot landing with 17 seconds to play and handing the Knicks (35-32) their record-setting 20th for the night.
“The dude at the scorer’s table just said: ‘Hit one more three.’ I was like: ‘Huh?’ I didn’t really realize it would tie the [individual] record,” Douglas told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
“He just said to hit one more three, but I didn’t really pay any mind. I was just playing my game and taking what the defense gave me,” he said.
Douglas’ shooting masterclass allowed the Knicks to hold on to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a half-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Carmelo Anthony added 28 points, while Chauncey Billups finished with 18 points and eight assists for New York in his best performance since returning from a thigh injury earlier this week.
The Grizzlies (37-32) trailed for most of the match and fell 18 behind after three quarters as their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference was trimmed to just one game.
Mike Conley scored 16 points and had six assists. Zach Randolph put in 14 in the loss.
New York shot seven three-pointers in the third quarter to keep the Grizzlies at bay.
“We tried to play zone and we tried to go a little smaller, but they’re a very talented team and nothing worked for us the two times that we played them,” said Memphis coach Lionel Hollins.
BULLS 84, NETS 73
In Newark, New Jersey, Derrick Rose scored 21 points as Chicago extended their longest winning streak in six years to eight games.
Luol Deng added 19 points for the Bulls (49-18), who took a half-game lead over idle Boston in the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Rookie Omer Asik added 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
The Nets rallied in the fourth quarter, but Kyle Korver had seven of his 12 in the final period, helping the Bulls hold on.
Brook Lopez scored 22 points for New Jersey, who had won five straight for their longest winning streak in the last three years.
Kris Humphries added 13 points and 16 rebounds, while Deron Williams had 11 assists, but Rose controlled him on defense, limiting him to five points on one-of-12 shooting.
TRAIL BLAZERS 111, CAVALIERS 70
In Portland, Oregon, LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 11 rebounds before heading to the sideline late in the third quarter as Portland routed Cleveland.
Portland led by as many as 44 points while easily surpassing their largest margin of victory this season. Gerald Wallace added 17 points for the Blazers, who had 29 assists compared with Cleveland’s total of six.
The Cavaliers, with the league’s worst record at 13-54, made just 21 shots from the floor in shooting 35.6 percent. Ramon Sessions had 14 points.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite