Dwight Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds in his return from a three-game injury absence, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their six-game losing streak with a 113-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.
Kobe Bryant scored 23 points for the Lakers, who finally earned their first victory of this year while ending their longest skid since February 2007. Howard went nine for 11 despite his injured shoulder while leading Los Angeles to a comfortable victory over the lowly Cavaliers, who beat the Lakers last month.
Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters scored 15 points apiece for Cleveland, which has lost seven of nine. Alonzo Gee added 14 points for the Cavaliers, who fell behind by 19 points in the first quarter of their second stop on a five-game West Coast road trip.
THUNDER 87, TRAIL BLAZERS 83
In Portland, Oregon, Kevin Durant had 33 points and Oklahoma City snapped Portland’s nine-game winning streak at the Rose Garden.
Russell Westbrook added 18 points and nine assists for the Thunder, who played without starters Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha because of injuries.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 33 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who trailed by 11 points but pulled within one point on Nicolas Batum’s three-pointer with 21.9 seconds to go.
Kendrick Perkins missed the first of two free throws and after a timeout Aldridge missed a tough fade-away jumper from about 20 feet out with 1.7 seconds left. Westbrook made a pair of foul shots for the final margin.
SPURS 106, TIMBERWOLVES 88
In San Antonio, Texas, Tony Parker scored 20 points to lead the San Antonio over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night, extending the Spurs’ home winning streak to 12 games.
Gary Neal was three for three on three-pointers in scoring 15 points for San Antonio, which beat Minnesota at home for the 16th straight time. Tim Duncan added 14 points and nine rebounds and Tiago Splitter had 10 points. Manu Ginobili scored 12 points in the first half before leaving with a strained left hamstring.
J.J. Barea scored 15 points, Nikola Pekovic had 14 and Luke Ridnour 13 for the Timberwolves.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was ejected with 7:22 remaining in the game following a double technical for arguing a foul called against Splitter on Barea. The ejection sparked an 11-0 run for the Spurs, including a dunk and two reverse layups by Splitter.
NETS 97, PACERS 86
In New York, Deron Williams had 22 points and nine assists, Joe Johnson scored 20 points and Brooklyn rallied from 12 points down in the third quarter.
Brook Lopez scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and also finished with nine rebounds to help the Nets win their season-high sixth straight.
David West had 27 points to lead the Pacers. Paul George added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Gerald Green also scored 15 points.
Green made two free throws against his former team to give Indiana a 67-55 lead — its largest of the game — with 5.5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Brooklyn pulled to 75-69 by the end of the third, and began the fourth on a 26-8 run to take a 12-point lead on C.J. Watson’s jumper with 2:08 remaining.
KNICKS 100, HORNETS 87
In New York, Carmelo Anthony snapped out of a slow start by scoring 18 of his 27 points in the second quarter and the Knicks ended their season-high, three-game losing streak.
Anthony missed seven of eight shots and scored two points in the first quarter of the noon start he dislikes, then outscored the Hornets by himself in the second period as the Knicks took the lead for good.
In other play, it was:
‧ Nuggets 116, Warriors 105
‧ Bucks 107, Raptors 96
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
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
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
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