The Charlotte Bobcats earned their seventh win of the season and kept the Washington Wizards winless with a 108-106 double-overtime victory on Saturday.
Byron Mullens scored 27 points, Ramon Sessions had 20 and Ben Gordon added 19 for Charlotte.
Last season, the Bobcats won seven of 66 games in the lockout-shortened season, the lowest winning percentage in NBA history, but have already equaled that victory total in their 12th game.
Martel Webster had 21 points for Washington and Nene scored 19.
Meanwhile, the Lakers scored 36 points before Kobe Bryant took his first shot as Los Angeles downed the Dallas Mavericks 115-89.
Metta World Peace hit three early three-pointers to spark a Los Angeles barrage before Bryant finished with 19 as the Lakers hit the 100 mark for the first time in four games under coach Mike D’Antoni.
The Lakers won for the first time in five road games and avoided their worst start away from home in nearly 20 years.
Miami’s Ray Allen took a pass from LeBron James and made a three-pointer with 18.2 seconds left as the Heat rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final 1 minute, 52 seconds to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-108.
James finished with 30 points for the Heat, who remained unbeaten at home despite leading for only 2:29. Chris Bosh scored 23 points, Dwyane Wade added 18 and Allen finished with 17 for the Heat.
Kevin Durant scored 37 points and Russell Westbrook had 30 as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Philadelphia 76ers 116-109 in overtime.
Thad Young had a season-high 29 points and career-high 15 rebounds, while Evan Turner scored 26 points for Philadelphia.
The Atlanta Hawks won their fifth straight game with a 104-93 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Jeff Teague had 19 points and 11 assists, and Zaza Pachulia added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks, while Blake Griffin scored 22 points for the Clippers.
Carlos Boozer and Richard Hamilton scored 22 points each to lead the Chicago Bulls over the Milwaukee Bucks 93-86 and break a four-game losing streak, while Tyreke Evans scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half to lead the Sacramento Kings over the Utah Jazz 108-97.
Klay Thompson scored a season-high 24 points, while Stephen Curry added 20 points and six assists as the Golden State Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 96-85.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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