Russell Westbrook had 32 points and eight assists and Kevin Durant scored 25 points as the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder won their fourth straight with a 109-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Reserve James Harden added 21 points for the Thunder, who built a 65-47 lead by halftime and led by as many as 20 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and eight rebounds as Portland fell to 3-4 under Kaleb Canales, who took over as interim coach when the Blazers fired Nate McMillan at the NBA trade deadline.
Photo: Reuters
LAKERS 104, WARRIORS 101
In Oakland, California, Kobe Bryant made a pair of jump shots in the final 64 seconds, finishing with 30 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past Golden State.
He is back to being the closer.
Photo: Reuters
Two days after getting benched late in a home loss to Memphis, Bryant missed his first two shots in the final period before twice rising over a pair of defenders for difficult fall-away jumpers from the corner. The first tied the game and the second put the Lakers ahead by two — and for good — with 32 seconds remaining.
Former Warriors forward Matt Barnes had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 19 points and 17 rebounds to give Los Angeles their third win in four games.
SPURS 107, SUNS 100
In Phoenix, Tony Parker scored eight points in a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio win their fifth straight and eighth in nine games with a victory over Phoenix.
Tim Duncan scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Spurs, winners of 12 of their past 14 road games. Parker scored half of his 24 in the fourth quarter.
Shannon Brown, starting because Grant Hill was a late scratch with right knee inflammation, scored a career-high 32 points for the Suns. Marcin Gortat added 21 points and 14 rebounds in just the second home loss for the Suns in 10 games since the All-Star break.
MAVERICKS 90, ROCKETS 81
In Dallas, Jason Terry scored seven consecutive points in a minute to start a game-turning run for Dallas, finishing with 12 points and four assists in a win over Houston.
Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points despite shooting five-of-17, Rodrigue Beaubois had 14 points and Brandan Wright added 13.
Luis Scola had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets, while Goran Dragic scored 17 points. Chandler Parsons had 15 points and nine rebounds.
76ERS 103, CAVALIERS 85
In Phoenix, Jodie Meeks scored a career-high 31 points and Jrue Holiday had 19 to lead Philadelphia over Cleveland.
Evan Turner scored 12 points for the Sixers, who moved a half-game ahead of Boston and back into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division. The Sixers have held the top spot in the Atlantic for all but a few days early in the season.
The Sixers romped without Andre Iguodala, who missed his second straight game because of left patella tendonitis. Meeks started in his place and was seven-of-10 from three-point range.
Anthony Parker scored 14 points and Kyrie Irving had 12 for the Cavaliers.
BUCKS 108, HAWKS 101
In Milwaukee, Monta Ellis scored 33 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and had eight assists to lead Milwaukee to a win over Atlanta.
Brandon Jennings added 18 points for the Bucks, who moved within two games of the idle New York Knicks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Josh Smith led the Hawks with 30 points and 18 rebounds.
GRIZZLIES 93, TIMBERWOLVES 86
In Memphis, Tennessee, Rudy Gay scored 21 points and Dante Cunningham added season highs of 13 points and 14 rebounds to lead Memphis over Minnesota.
Cunningham, inserted into the starting lineup after All-Star center Marc Gasol sat out with a sprained right ankle, was six-of-nine from the field as all five Memphis starters finished in double figures.
Marreese Speights had 18 points, Tony Allen finished with 13 and Mike Conley had 12 points and eight assists as the Grizzlies won their second straight.
Kevin Love led Minnesota with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
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