Carmelo Anthony scored the game-winning three-pointer with 8.2 seconds left in overtime to lift the New York Knicks to a 100-99 win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.
Anthony finished with a season-high 43 points for the Knicks, who blew a 21-point first-quarter lead and then had to rally from a 10-point deficit late in the game at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks’ victory spoiled the return of Bulls star Derrick Rose, who finished with 29 points after missing a dozen games with a sore groin.
Photo: Reuters
Anthony shot 16-of-31 from the field and made four-of-five free throws. He drained a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Rose had a chance to win it for the Bulls, but his shot at the buzzer hit the rim and stayed out.
Iman Shumpert finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Tyson Chandler had 16 rebounds for New York, who have won two games in a row.
Carlos Boozer had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls, who have lost three of their last four games.
Rose had not played since March 12, when Chicago faced the same Knicks. He struggled at times in his return, shooting just eight-of-26 from the field. He also had eight turnovers.
The Knicks were playing without injured starter Jeremy Lin, who had surgery on Monday last week to repair torn cartilage in his left knee.
Lin said before the game that his recovery was going well and he doesn’t expect to return sooner than the six weeks the club announced immediately following the operation.
Lin also said he hopes to begin running next week.
HEAT 98, PISTONS 75
In Miami, LeBron James scored 26 points, while Chris Bosh finished with 22 points and nine rebounds as Miami steadily pulled away to beat Detroit.
James Jones scored 18 on six-for-eight shooting from three-point range for Miami, who played without Dwyane Wade for the 11th time this season. Wade sat out with a sore right ankle, which the team said was caused by an awkward landing on a dunk attempt against Memphis on Friday night.
Detroit rookie Brandon Knight scored 16 for the Pistons.
Miami (40-15) pulled within two games of Chicago (43-14) for the best record in the East.
CELTICS 103, 76ERS 79
In Boston, Kevin Garnett scored 20 points and Rajon Rondo dished out double-digit assists for his 17th consecutive game, finishing with 15 to help lead Boston over Philadelphia.
Brandon Bass and Avery Bradley each added 18 points, while Paul Pierce had 17 as the Celtics won for the seventh time in nine games, improving their Atlantic Division lead to three games over both the 76ers and the Knicks.
Nikola Vucevic had 14 points and Andre Iguodala added 13 for the 76ers, who have dropped 10 of 14 to fall out of first place and are now competing for the final playoff spot in the East.
They are tied with the Knicks for seventh place, one game ahead of Milwaukee.
NETS 122, CAVALIERS 117, OT
In Newark, New Jersey, Gerald Green scored a season-high 32 points, including a clutch three-pointer with 36.7 seconds left in regulation and a high-flying dunk in overtime, leading New Jersey to a win over Cleveland.
Anthony Morrow scored 24 points, Deron Williams had 18 points and 10 assists, while Kris Humphries added 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Nets won a season-best third straight at home.
New Jersey also finished with their highest scoring total of the season.
Antawn Jamison scored a season-high-tying 34 points, Lester Hudson had 26 and Alonzo Gee added 22 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
In other NBA games, it was:
‧ Spurs 114, Jazz 104
‧ Thunder 91, Raptors 75
‧ Rockets 104, Kings 87
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