Mario Chalmers had career highs with 10 three-pointers and 34 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 128-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.
LeBron James had 20 points, seven assists, five steals and a pair of blocks for the Heat, who had a season-high point total. Miami, who had not topped 100 points in their previous four games, got a needed bounceback win after losing two straight and five of eight since Dec. 26.
MAGIC 104, CLIPPERS 101
In Los Angeles, J.J. Redick gave Orlando their first lead on a three-pointer with 42 seconds left, Arron Afflalo tied his season high with 30 points and the Magic beat the Los Angeles Clippers to snap a 10-game skid.
The loss ended the Clippers’ franchise-record 13-game, home-winning streak and provided them with a scare when All-Star guard Chris Paul went down holding his right knee with 54 seconds to go. Paul returned after a timeout and hit a 15-footer to draw his team within one with 33 seconds left.
However, the Clippers turned the ball over on Jamal Crawford’s offensive foul. Josh McRoberts found Nikola Vucevic open under the basket, and Vucevic dunked to extend Orlando’s lead to 104-101 with eight seconds left.
WIZARDS 93, HAWKS 83
In Washington, John Wall gave his teammates a lift with 14 points and four assists in his first game of the season, and the worst-in-NBA Wizards have their first winning streak.
Wall’s playing time will be limited as he returns from a knee injury, but he appeared to have his old speed and explosiveness back while playing seven minutes in the first half and 15 in the second half.
No. 3 overall pick Bradley Beal, getting to play with Wall for the first time, scored 16 points for the Wizards, who are 6-28, but have strung together two wins in a row following their upset of Oklahoma City on Monday last week.
MAVERICKS 104, GRIZZLIES 83
In Dallas, Texas, Shawn Marion scored a season-high 20 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 17 and the Mavericks won consecutive games for the first time in a month.
All five starters scored in double figures for Dallas, with Chris Kaman scoring eight straight points in the third quarter and finishing with 14. O.J. Mayo had 11 and Darren Collison 10.
76ERS 107, ROCKETS 100
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jrue Holiday scored 30 points, Thaddeus Young had 18 points and 12 rebounds and the 76ers snapped a five-game losing streak.
James Harden led the Rockets with 29 points and Chandler Parsons had 23. Jeremy Lin missed 11 of 13 shots for seven points.
Led by 24 points from Holiday, the Sixers built a 14-point lead in the third quarter, and found an offensive touch they have missed for most of the season.
In other play on Saturday, it was:
‧ Pacers 96, Bobcats 88
‧ Jazz 90, Pistons 87
‧ Suns 97, Bulls 81
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