The Charlotte Bobcats ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak as Byron Mullens scored 25 points and had 18 rebounds in a 94-91 win over the Celtics on Monday.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics, but missed a key 18-footer that would have given Boston the lead late in the game.
Paul Pierce and Avery Bradley had chances to send the game into overtime in the final seconds, but missed open three-pointers.
Photo: AFP
Ramon Sessions had 19 points for the Bobcats, including the go-ahead jumper from 18 feet with 25.7 seconds left.
Minnesota’s Luke Ridnour scored 21 points, while Ricky Rubio added 13 and 10 assists as the Timberwolves downed the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-92 to end an eight-game losing streak on the road.
Nikola Pekovic added 16 points and 10 rebounds as Minnesota ended a four-game losing streak and improved to just 4-16 since losing center Kevin Love with a broken hand.
Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and Tristan Thompson had 16 for the Cavaliers.
Chris Paul scored 21 points and made 11 assists, while Blake Griffin scored 20 points in Philadelphia as the Los Angeles Clippers cruised past the 76ers 107-90.
Jamal Crawford also scored 20 points and Matt Barnes had 11 for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers.
Nick Young led the Sixers with 29 points.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, Brook Lopez scored 25 points as the Brooklyn Nets opened overtime with a 9-3 run to pull away and down the Indiana Pacers 89-84.
The Pacers appeared to swing the game with a 7-0 run that gave them a 76-72 lead with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in regulation, but Brooklyn scored the final four points to force overtime and started fast in the extra period to put the game away.
New Orleans won for the third time in eight games as Ryan Anderson scored 31 points, while Robin Lopez had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the Hornets’ 105-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Reserve Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 19 points, but most came after the game had been decided. Greg Monroe added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
In other games, rookie Brandon Beal scored a season-high 28 points to help the Washington Wizards to a rare 102-90 road win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Chicago Bulls 103-89 as Kawhi Leonard had a career-high 26 points, while Josh Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks edged the Dallas Mavericks 105-101.
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