Paul George had 29 points and 11 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers held Miami to a season-low point total in an 87-77 win over the Heat on Tuesday night.
George made four three-pointers to get the best of his matchup with LeBron James. David West added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Lance Stephenson chipped in with 13 points for the Pacers (21-14), who have won 11 of their past 13 games.
Dwyane Wade scored 30 points and James had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (23-10), who still have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
It was the first time the teams had met since Miami beat the Pacers in six games in the conference semi-finals last year.
Miami entered the game leading the NBA in field goal percentage, while Indiana led the league in field goal percentage defense.
The matchup resulted in the Heat scoring only 35 points in the second half, their lowest-scoring half of the season.
BUCKS 108, SUNS 99
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Brandon Jennings scored 29 points and Milwaukee gave Jim Boylan a win in his first game as coach with a victory over Phoenix.
The Bucks parted ways with coach Scott Skiles on Monday in what was called a mutual decision, and the Bucks tapped Skiles’ top assistant Boylan as a replacement. This is the second time Boylan has succeeded Skiles mid-season. He took over the Bulls when Skiles was fired on Christmas Eve in 2007.
The Suns were a perfect opponent, playing poorly in the past few weeks, with nine losses in the past 10 games overall to go with a nine-game losing streak on the road.
Goran Dragic scored 21 points and Jared Dudley added 18 for Phoenix.
ROCKETS 125, LAKERS 112
In Houston, Texas, James Harden scored 31 points and Chandler Parsons added 20 to help Houston win their fifth straight with a victory over short-handed Los Angeles.
Houston trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but used a pair of runs in the third quarter to go on top and build a big lead.
Metta World Peace had a season-high 24 points for the Lakers, who were playing without their top three big men: Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill — all out with injuries.
Kobe Bryant added 20 for the Lakers and Steve Nash had 16 as they tied a season high with their fourth straight loss.
The Rockets have rallied from double-digit deficits for their last three wins.
NETS 109, 76ERS 89
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Reggie Evans had a career-high 23 rebounds, Deron Williams scored 22 points and Brooklyn improved to 6-1 under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo with a win over Philadelphia.
Evans outrebounded the undersized Sixers 23-22 through three quarters.
Andray Blatche scored 20 points for the Nets, hours after he was questioned by Philadelphia police as part of a sexual assault investigation at an upscale hotel. Blatche was not charged.
He wrote about the incident on Twitter, saying: “Im ok and I didn’t do anything just was in the area when it happened,” Blatche tweeted.
Blatche later took down the tweet.
Jrue Holiday scored 19 points and Spencer Hawes had 14 for the Sixers.
TIMBERWOLVES 108, HAWKS 103
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Nikola Pekovic had 25 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, and Andrei Kirilenko added 21 points to lead Minnesota over Atlanta.
Derrick Williams scored 17 points and Alexey Shved had 15 for the Timberwolves, who were missing coach Rick Adelman due to personal reasons. Terry Porter filled in and led the Wolves to their first victory over Atlanta since 2006, snapping an 11-game skid in the series.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB