J.R. Smith scored 32 points, Carmelo Anthony added 29 and the New York Knicks extended their winning streak to five games with a 100-85 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
The win moved the Knicks into second place in the Eastern Conference, percentage points ahead of the Indiana Pacers.
The Celtics, who could face the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, lost their fifth game in a row and remained in seventh.
The Celtics, playing their second straight game without Kevin Garnett, were led by Jeff Green with 19 points and Paul Pierce with 16.
However, they committed 20 turnovers, while the Knicks, who average the fewest turnovers in the NBA, had just eight.
TIMBERWOLVES 105, PISTONS 82
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Nikola Pekovic had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a rare road win.
The game matched one of the league’s worst home teams against one of the worst on the road. The Pistons have not won at home since before the All-Star break, losing seven straight, while Minnesota had lost 10 of its last 11 road games.
Reserve J.J. Barea matched a season-best with 21 points for Minnesota, while Luke Ridnour scored 15, and Ricky Rubio added 14 points and nine assists.
Greg Monroe had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit, while point guard Jose Calderon scored 14 points, but only had one assist.
MAVERICKS 109, CLIPPERS 102, OT
In Dallas, the Dallas Mavericks finally have a win over one of the top four teams headed to the Western Conference playoffs — just in time for their own post-season push.
Dirk Nowitzki had a season-high 33 points, including the first eight for Dallas in overtime, as the Mavericks moved within a game of .500 for the first time since mid-December with a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
The Mavericks are just a game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the final playoff spot in the West, with 11 games remaining. They have won nine of their past 12 and improved to 1-11 against the top four teams in the West.
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