Bradley Beal scored 20 points and Nene had 11 points and nine rebounds as the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 90-84 on Monday night for their third straight victory. A.J. Price and Martell Webster each added 12 points for the Wizards, who won for just the fifth time in 27 road games this season. Washington’s road record is the worst in the NBA.
John Wall had 10 points and seven assists, and Emeka Okafor had eight points and 13 rebounds as the Wizards won for the 14th time in 23 games.
The third overall pick in June last year’s draft, and the Eastern Conference rookie of the month in December last year and last month, Beal has scored 20 points or more in four of the past six.
DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points and Kyle Lowry had 18 for the Raptors, who had won six of their previous seven.
It was a rough night for Toronto’s Rudy Gay, who missed his first six field goal attempts before scoring on a driving dunk one minute into the fourth quarter. Gay shot one-for-11 and finished with seven points, one more than his season low, set on Dec. 22 in Houston, Texas, when he played for Memphis.
A three-point play by DeRozan cut Toronto’s deficit to 79-72 with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left. Thirty seconds later, Gay was fouled with a chance to cut it to five, but he missed the second free throw.
Nene answered with a dunk and, after a basket by Lowry, Trevor Ariza made a layup to make it 83-75 with 2:13 remaining.
DeRozan made a pair of free throws with 1:57 left, but could only make one of two when he went back to the line with 1:04 remaining, leaving Toronto down 83-78.
Wall nearly lost the ball at midcourt on the next possession, but kept the play alive by calling timeout. After the stoppage, he streaked in to score a layup, giving the Wizards an 85-78 edge with 45 seconds left.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Lowry cut it to 89-84 with seven seconds to go, but Garrett Temple sealed it by making of two at the line.
Okafor led all scorers with six points in the first quarter, including a fast-break slam dunk in the final second that gave the Wizards a 17-16 lead.
Beal scored seven points in the second and Price had five to give the Wizards a 40-32 lead at the half.
Toronto’s 32 points at the break matched their season low. The Raptors also had 32 first-half points in an 88-82 loss to Memphis on Feb. 20.
Lowry’s three-pointer with 4:14 left in the third tied it at 49-all, but Washington scored the next seven points and closed the quarter on a 14-5 run. Beal scored nine in the third as the Wizards took a 63-54 lead into the fourth.
NUGGETS 119, LAKERS 108
In Denver, Colorado, Wilson Chandler scored 23 points in place of an injured Danilo Gallinari, and Ty Lawson added 22 in the Denver Nuggets’ 119-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.
Gallinari, the Nuggets’ leading scorer, sat out with a bruised left thigh. He was not needed as the Nuggets won their ninth straight game at home, snapped the Lakers’ four-game winning streak and took the season series from their long-time nemesis 3-1.
The Lakers, who were shut out on the offensive glass in the first half, wanted to slow down the Nuggets, but Denver outscored Los Angeles 33-3 in fast-break points.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points, and Dwight Howard added 15 points and 14 boards, but missed 11 of his last 12 free throws.
CELTICS 110, JAZZ 107, OT
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Paul Pierce scored 26 points, including seven straight in overtime, and Boston beat Utah to close out a five-game road trip.
Pierce had a chance to win it in regulation, but his 19-footer at the buzzer rimmed out.
Courtney Lee made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left in overtime to bump Boston’s lead to three, and Randy Foye’s 26-footer at the buzzer missed everything.
Avery Bradley added a season-high 18 points for Boston.
Gordon Hayward led Utah with 26 points, Paul Millsap had 16 and Al Jefferson finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
HAWKS 114, PISTONS 103
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, while Al Horford had 23 points and 22 rebounds as Atlanta beat Detroit for their fifth win in six games.
Josh Smith added 23 points for the Hawks, who were ahead 61-51 at halftime and led by as many as 26 in the third quarter.
The Pistons have lost three straight, all without guard Brandon Knight, who has a hyperextended right knee. Will Bynum was also out on Monday because of a suspension.
Jeff Teague had 20 points for Atlanta, which shot 14 of 33 from three-point range. Kyle Korver scored 15 points, all from beyond the arc.
Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 22 points, and Jonas Jerebko added 21.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB