Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points, O.J. Mayo had two big fourth-quarter baskets and a career-high 12 assists, and Dallas bounced back from a blowout loss in Houston to down the Rockets 112-108 on Wednesday.
Mayo scored five straight points to put Dallas ahead 107-104, and the Mavericks won despite 28 points from James Harden, who scored the last seven for the Rockets.
Harden missed a three-pointer and a layup with the Rockets trying to tie in the final seconds, three days after their 33-point win in Houston.
Chandler Parsons had 23 points for Houston, while Jeremy Lin scored 12, but sat the entire fourth quarter in favor of backup Patrick Beverley.
Meanwhile, LeBron James scored 26 points, including a go-ahead layup with 3.2 seconds left, as the Miami Heat scrambled late to beat the Orlando Magic 97-96 and extend their club-record winning streak to 16 games.
Dwyane Wade scored 24 points and Chris Bosh added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who conceded a 20-point, second-half lead and then rallied from a five-point deficit in the final minutes.
Nic Vucevic had 25 points and 21 rebounds for the Magic, who got 16 points each from Jameer Nelson and Tobias Harris, 13 from Arron Afflalo and 12 from Maurice Harkless.
In New Orleans, Kobe Bryant scored 13 of his 42 points during a 20-0 run in the last 6:22 of the fourth quarter, helping the Los Angeles Lakers overcome a 25-point deficit to fend off the New Orleans Hornets 108-102.
Dwight Howard had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks for Los Angeles. Bryant also had 12 assists.
Boston’s Kevin Garnett found Jeff Green all alone under the basket for a layup with 0.5 seconds remaining to finish off a fourth-quarter comeback from 14 points down that gave the Celtics an 83-81 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Garnett led the Celtics with 18 points and 10 rebounds and dragged Boston back after they trailed most of the final three quarters. Green had 11 points off the bench.
Paul George scored 16 points for the Pacers, who had all five starters in double figures.
Tim Duncan had 18 points and 10 rebounds in San Antonio’s 101-83 home win over the Chicago Bulls in a matchup of teams missing their starting All-Star point guards.
Manu Ginobili added 18 points and nine assists, Tiago Splitter had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard scored 14 points for San Antonio.
Patty Mills provided a needed punch off the Spurs’ bench, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the second half.
Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and made all the big plays down the stretch, rallying the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 104-101 victory over the Utah Jazz, while Deron Williams had 20 points and eight assists and Joe Johnson added 22 points in the Brooklyn Nets’ much-needed 99-78 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Atlanta’s Jeff Teague scored 27 points and Anthony Tolliver added a season-high 21 as the Hawks bounced back from a sluggish start to snap a three-game losing streak with a 107-96 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The New York Knicks shrugged off Carmelo Anthony to pull away in the fourth quarter and beat the Detroit Pistons 87-77, while Ricky Rubio had 15 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and six steals to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to an 87-82 victory over the Washington Wizards.
In other games, the Memphis Grizzlies downed the Portland Trail Blazers 91-85, the Toronto Raptors beat the Phoenix Suns 98-71, the Los Angeles Clippers overcame the Milwaukee Bucks 117-101 and the Golden State Warriors edged the Sacramento Kings 87-83.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite