The Houston Rockets got 11 assists from Jeremy Lin, but lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 119-117 in overtime on Friday after leading by 15 points in the third quarter.
The Rockets, who fell to 4-5 with the loss, seemed to have the first game of their three-game West Coast swing well in hand when they took a 72-57 lead on Patrick Patterson’s layup with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter.
However, Portland pulled to within one by the end of the quarter with the help of poor shooting and a spate of turnovers by the Rockets, and then engineered another comeback in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
Lin finished with 11 points, 11 assists and six rebounds. He did not play in the overtime period, however, replaced by Toney Douglas for defensive purposes to try to contain Blazers’ rookie Damian Lillard, who scored 12 of Portland’s last 14 points in regulation.
Nicolas Batum had 35 points for Portland while teammate LaMarcus Aldridge had 29. Lillard, a first-round pick out of Weber State, finished with a career-high 27 points.
The Memphis Grizzlies handed the New York Knicks their first loss of the season as Zach Randolph had 20 points and 15 rebounds in a 105-95 victory.
Marc Gasol added 24 points, Rudy Gay scored 17 points and blocked four shots, and Mike Conley added 16 points and eight assists as Memphis won their seventh straight game. The Grizzlies own the NBA’s best record for the first time in club history at 7-1.
Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points for New York.
The Los Angeles Lakers played Mike D’Antoni’s style of up-tempo basketball in a 114-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Kobe Bryant had 31 points for the Lakers, while Metta World Peace hit five 3-pointers while scoring 22 points. Dwight Howard had 18 points and 12 rebounds as Los Angeles moved to 3-1 under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff with a performance that must have impressed D’Antoni, who watched from the locker room inside Staples Center.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Kevin Martin each scored 27 points as the Thunder downed the New Orleans Hornets 110-95 for their sixth victory in seven games.
Serge Ibaka added 15 for Oklahoma City, who shot 54 percent (40 of 74) and built leads as big as 30 points in the first half and 34 in the second.
The Golden State Warriors used 18 points and 13 rebounds from David Lee in a 106-98 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Carl Landry added 15 points and seven rebounds, and Stephen Curry had 17 points and six assists for the Warriors (5-4).
Kyle Korver scored 22 points and reserve Lou Williams had 21 as the Atlanta Hawkes beat the Sacramento Kings 112-96, while the Philadelphia 76ers ended a three-game losing streak with a 99-93 victory over the Utah Jazz.
The Indiana Pacers downed the Dallas Mavericks 103-83, and the Orlando Magic were 110-106 winners over the Detroit Pistons.
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