LeBron James helped Miami finally find a way past the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring 35 points in the Heat’s 114-96 victory on Monday.
The Bucks had beaten the Heat in both meetings this season and three successive times overall, but they were steamrolled on Monday, despite taking an eight-point lead in the first quarter.
Inflicting most of his damage from close range, James made 16 of 21 field-goal attempts and keyed Miami’s third-quarter surge, where they took a stranglehold on the encounter to cruise to a sixth win in seven games.
Milwaukee’s quick start was erased in the second quarter and they trailed by five at halftime. The Heat upped the pace after the intermission and outscored the home team 35-24 in the third.
James had 16 in the critical third, while Dwyane Wade chipped in with 22 points for the game as Miami (22-7) moved within half a game of the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference lead.
Carlos Delfino finished with a team-high 24 points for the Milwaukee Bucks (12-16), who shot just 39 percent while slumping to their fifth defeat in seven games.
Milwaukee’s struggles have dropped them outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Brandon Jennings, the team’s leading scorer, had 12 points in another sub-par performance.
“We had to get our hands dirty, which we didn’t do in the first two games, but it was a good sign that we did it this way against a very physical team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
MAVERICKS 96, CLIPPERS 92
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points, 11 in the final six-plus minutes, while Shawn Marion added 16 as Dallas held on to beat Los Angeles.
Jason Terry, Vince Carter and Brendan Haywood all contributed 10 points for the Mavs, who have won 10 in a row at home against the Clippers and extended their overall winning streak to four games.
Caron Butler of the Clippers scored a season-high 23 points against his former team, while Blake Griffin added 20 points. Chris Paul had 16 points and nine assists for the Clippers, but Griffin’s problems from the foul line cost his team as he missed seven of nine free throws.
MAGIC 102, TIMBERWOLVES 89
In Orlando, Florida, Jason Richardson scored 17 points, while Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu each added 14 as Orlando used a big second half to beat Minnesota.
Richardson, who was coming off a season-high 31 points, was strong early against Minnesota, but he sat out the fourth quarter.
The Magic did not need him, though, hitting 12 of 30 three-pointers and with all five starters reaching double figures.
Kevin Love led Minnesota with 19 points and 15 rebounds, but the Timberwolves lost their fourth straight game.
76ERS 98, BOBCATS 89
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Lou Williams scored 23 points off the bench as the Philadelphia 76ers built an early lead and held on to send the Charlotte Bobcats to their 15th straight defeat.
Thaddeus Young added 20 points on six of nine shooting, while Jrue Holiday chipped in with 19 points for the 76ers (20-9).
Williams was averaging 19 points over the previous four games. He stayed hot on Monday night, making several big shots, including a three-pointer with six minutes, 11 seconds remaining after the Bobcats had pulled within 71-69.
Corey Maggette scored a season-high 22 points for Charlotte, who fell to 3-25 for the season.
HORNETS 86, JAZZ 80
In New Orleans, Chris Kaman scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as New Orleans snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory over Utah.
Marco Belinelli and Gustavo Ayon each added 13 points for New Orleans, who led by as many as 20 in the third quarter, before holding on for only their third victory in 26 games.
Al Jefferson had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Utah.
WARRIORS 102, SUNS 96
In Oakland, California, David Lee had 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Monta Ellis scored 18 points as Golden State earned their first three-game winning streak under rookie coach Mark Jackson with a victory over Phoenix.
Rookie Klay Thompson added 10 points and fellow reserve Ekpe Udoh had nine points, including a layup with 35.9 seconds remaining that extended Golden State’s lead to five and capped a comeback from 12 points down in the second half.
Marcin Gortat had 25 points and 12 rebounds for Phoenix.
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