Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points to lead a balanced attack as the Denver Nuggets extended their winning streak to 15 games with a 101-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
Kenneth Faried had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Nuggets, who had all five starters in double figures in winning a franchise-best 17th straight game at home.
And they did it while Ty Lawson (right heel) and Wilson Chandler (shoulder), two of their top players, were out with injuries.
It took until the final minutes to hold off the Kings, who got 24 points and 15 rebounds from DeMarcus Cousins.
John Salmons, who finished with 18 points, hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds left to get the Kings within four points, but Andre Miller sank two foul shots to seal the win.
CLIPPERS 101, NETS 95
In Los Angeles, Chris Paul scored 17 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter after banging his left knee early in the game as Los Angeles held off Brooklyn in a matchup of playoff-bound teams.
Paul made 12 of 13 free throws and had 11 assists, Willie Green added 15 points, DeAndre Jordan had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Blake Griffin scored 11 points for the Clippers, who improved to 28-8 at home and won their second in a row.
It was their franchise-record 10th consecutive victory against an Eastern Conference team.
The Nets were led by Brook Lopez and Deron Williams with 18 points each. Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson added 15 points each and ex-Clipper Reggie Evans had 16 rebounds.
BULLS 87, PACERS 84
In Chicago, Luol Deng scored 20 points, while Carlos Boozer had 18 as Chicago overcame the absence of starting center Joakim Noah to beat Indiana.
Deng had 13 points at halftime, but Chicago’s reserves sparked the Bulls’ second-half rally, outscoring Indiana’s reserves 32-15. Taj Gibson scored 11, while Daequan Cook and Nate Robinson had nine apiece.
The Bulls went on a 13-5 run starting the fourth quarter to take an 81-72 lead. A four-point play by George Hill brought Indiana within 87-84 in the final minute. After a missed driving shot by Chicago’s Kirk Hinrich with 16 seconds left, the Pacers had a chance to tie, but Paul George had two three-point tries go off the rim in the final 10 seconds, including one at the final buzzer.
GRIZZLIES 110, CELTICS 106
In Memphis, Tennessee, Jerryd Bayless scored a season-high 30 points and Memphis weathered a fourth-quarter rally by Boston’s reserves to escape with the victory.
Seven Memphis players finished in double figures and three recorded double-doubles. Darrell Arthur, starting for Zach Randolph, scored 18 points, while Randolph had 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Paul Pierce led Boston with 26 points, while Jordan Crawford keyed a fourth-quarter rally, scoring 14 of his 21 points in the final frame. The Celtics lost their fourth straight game.
Both teams played without key players. Kevin Garnett and Courtney Lee sat out for Boston with left ankle sprains. Memphis center Marc Gasol is out indefinitely because of an abdominal tear.
KNICKS 110, RAPTORS 84
In New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points and Kenyon Martin had another big game against Toronto to help New York finish off a home-and-home sweep of the Raptors.
J.R. Smith added 25 points for the Knicks, who beat the Raptors for the second straight night and won their fourth consecutive game. Martin had 18 points and seven rebounds, a night after he had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the Knicks’ victory in Toronto that clinched a playoff berth.
DeMar DeRozan scored 17 points for the Raptors, who played without leading scorer Rudy Gay because of a bad back and lost their fourth straight.
Knicks guard Jason Kidd had three points, three rebounds and two assists on his 40th birthday.
WARRIORS 101, WIZARDS 92
In Oakland, California, Stephen Curry scored 35 points before injuring his ankle late in Golden State’s victory over Washington.
Curry and backcourt mate Klay Thompson hit 14 of their 22 combined shots in the first half and totaled 53 points in the first game of a five-game homestand.
Curry left with 6:03 left in the game after turning his right ankle after being fouled hard by Cartier Martin while driving to the hoop. Curry’s right ankle has given him problems in the past.
PISTONS 92, BOBCATS 91
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlie Villanueva scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead driving layup with 15 seconds left, as Detroit beat Charlotte to snap a 10-game losing streak.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier