The Chicago Bulls put together a 19-0 points run spanning the second and third quarters to overturn a deficit and beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-85 on Saturday, closing within three games of the NBA Central Division lead.
Joakim Noah had 21 points and 10 rebounds while Carlos Boozer scored 20 points for the Bulls, who began the month on a winning note after going 5-8 last month, just their second losing month in 2.5 seasons under coach Tom Thibodeau.
Also on Saturday, Philadelphia ended a seven-game skid by beating Golden State, Milwaukee downed Toronto in overtime and Portland earned only their second win in almost a month by defeating Minnesota.
Photo: Reuters
Chicago’s Noah followed up the third triple-double of his career with another terrific performance that also included four blocks. He committed five turnovers, but it was an impressive follow-up to Thursday’s gem, when he had 23 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 11 blocks in a win over Philadelphia.
Brook Lopez led Brooklyn with 22 points — 14 in the first quarter.
Philadelphia’s Evan Turner had 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, while Jrue Holiday scored 27 as the 76ers won 104-97 against the Golden State Warriors.
The Sixers are 5.5 games behind Milwaukee for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 25 games left.
Stephen Curry scored 30 for the Warriors, who have lost four in a row.
Milwaukee’s Monta Ellis scored six of his 23 points in overtime and Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings added five apiece in the extra period to spark the Bucks to a 122-114 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Portland’s Damian Lillard scored 24 points and J.J. Hickson added 18 points and 16 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-96.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but