Golden State’s two key men made timely bids for inclusion in the NBA All-Star game with powerful performances in the Warriors 104-99 win over the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
On the eve of the announcement for the All-Star reserves, Stephen Curry had 31 points and seven assists while David Lee finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds for Golden State.
In other key games, Denver pulled away in the third quarter against a sloppy Houston, San Antonio overcame two key absences to beat New Orleans and notch a 15th straight home win, while Portland arrested a six-game skid and beat Indiana, dropping the Pacers out of the Central Division lead.
Golden State’s Curry stole a pass from the Thunder’s leading man Kevin Durant in the final seconds and hit a pair of free throws to seal the Warriors’ third straight victory.
Durant had 33 points, nine assists and five rebounds for the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s lead over San Antonio at the top of the standings was sliced to zero games, ahead only on percentage.
The Spurs overcame the absence of the injured Tim Duncan and ill coach Gregg Popovich to beat the New Orleans Hornets 106-102.
Tony Parker had 24 points and 13 assists while Tiago Splitter added 25 points and seven rebounds.
The Denver Nuggets made the most of Houston’s myriad mistakes to beat the Rockets 105-95.
Ty Lawson scored 21 points and Wilson Chandler had 20 for the hosts, who took command with a 21-5 burst late in the third quarter. The Nuggets converted 28 points off 23 Houston turnovers and beat the Rockets for the fifth straight time.
James Harden scored 23 points for Houston, who have lost eight of their past nine.
The Portland Trail Blazers, who had lost their previous four home games, arrested the slide with a 100-80 win over the Indiana Pacers.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and rookie gaurd Damian Lillard added 20 points and eight assists for the Trail Blazers.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ miserable season continued with a 106-93 defeat at the Memphis Grizzlies.
Darrell Arthur scored 20 points and Mike Conley added 19 for Memphis.
Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez also strengthened his All-Star claims by leading the Nets to a 91-83 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting.
The Miami Heat came from 15 points down at home to beat the Toronto Raptors 123-116 in overtime, while the Chicago Bulls put in a furious fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Detroit Pistons 85-82.
In other games, the Atlanta Hawks snapped a six-game losing skid in road games by beating the Charlotte Bobcats 104-92; the Utah Jazz held off the fast-finishing Washington Wizards to win 92-88, and the Phoenix Suns won their first game under new coach Lindsey Hunter, beating the Sacramento Kings 106-96.
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
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