James Harden scored 29 points, Chandler Parsons added 16 points and a career-high 11 assists and the Rockets beat the Nets for the 12th straight time.
Omer Asik had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Rockets, who outrebounded the Nets 50-31 and outscored Brooklyn 60-24 in the paint.
Nets star Deron Williams scored 27 points, but cooled off after a 20-point first quarter. He was ejected with 1 minute, 7 seconds left after arguing a call with referee David Jones. Brook Lopez scored 21 points and Joe Johnson added 13 for Brooklyn.
Jeremy Lin had 14 points, nine assists and six turnovers for Houston.
SPURS 108, SUNS 99
In San Antonio, Texas, Tony Parker scored 11 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday to lift the San Antonio Spurs to an eighth straight NBA victory, 108-99 over the Phoenix Suns.
Manu Ginobili added 20 points off the bench for San Antonio, and Tiago Splitter contributed 13 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who again managed just fine without Tim Duncan, who is nursing a sore left knee.
The Spurs were also without coach Gregg Popovich on the sideline as he missed a third straight game because of illness.
The Suns jumped out to a quick lead, although San Antonio had knotted the score at 26-26 after the first quarter.
Phoenix got strong scoring performances by Michael Beasley — who had 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting — and Jared Dudley, who shot 10-of-12 from the field and scored 23.
The visitors led by as many as five in the third quarter, but Ginobili made two free throws in the waning seconds to trim the Suns’ lead to one point going into the fourth.
However, Parker poured it on in the final period. In addition to his 11 points, he handed out five assists and grabbed four rebounds in the frame. He scored seven in a row in a 10-0 Spurs scoring spurt as San Antonio extended their home winning streak to 16 games and improved to 36-11 overall.
TRAIL BLAZERS 101, CLIPPERS 100
In Portland, Oregon, Nicolas Batum had 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists for his second triple-double in a week, and the Trail Blazers handed the Clippers their fourth straight loss.
The Clippers, playing without guard Chis Paul for the third straight game because of a bruised right kneecap, trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, but reclaimed the lead in the fourth quarter.
They held off the Blazers until Wesley Matthews got Portland within one with a layup and free throw.
J.J. Hickson made a pair of foul shots to get the lead back for the Blazers with 45 seconds to go and Jamal Crawford missed a 19-foot jumper for the Clippers with 0.9 seconds left for the final margin.
Blake Griffin had 24 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for Los Angeles.
76ERS 97, KNICKS 80
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jrue Holiday scored a career-high 35 points, Nick Young had 20 and the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to victory over New York.
Evan Turner also added 20 points for the Sixers, who led from the start and beat the Knicks for the first time in four tries and second in eight games.
Carmelo Anthony needed 28 shots to get 25 points. He has 28 straight 20-point games, tied with Patrick Ewing for second-longest streak in franchise history. Richie Guerin did it 29 games in a row in 1961-1962.
The Atlantic Division-leading Knicks, who are second in the Eastern Conference, have lost five of eight.
Amare Stoudemire had 20 points for New York. Jason Kidd, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith combined to go 0 for 17. Kidd had zero assists in 15 minutes.
CAVALIERS 99, RAPTORS 98
In Toronto, Kyrie Irving made a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to lift Cleveland to their third consecutive victory.
Headed to his first All-Star game, Irving added to his credentials by calmly draining a pull-up jumper from the top of the arc to give him 32 points on the night. Marreese Speights had 17 for the Cavaliers, and Tristan Thompson scored 14.
Toronto had five players score in double figures. Amir Johnson had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Alan Anderson scored 17 and Ed Davis finished with 16.
The Raptors had won seven of their previous nine meetings with the Cavaliers.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Wizards 86, Bulls 73
‧ Jazz 114, Pacers 110, OT
‧ Bobcats 102, Timberwolves 101
‧ Nuggets 121, Kings 93
‧ Bucks 109, Warriors 102
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set