Carmelo Anthony equaled his best-ever score with 50 points as the New York Knicks won their ninth straight game with a 102-90 victory over the injury-depleted Miami Heat on Wednesday.
Anthony sank 18 of 26 attempts from the field, reaching 50 on a jump shot with 16.9 seconds remaining. J.R. Smith scored 14 and Raymond Felton added 10 for New York.
Chris Bosh scored 23 points for Miami, who played without LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers, all left out with injuries not believed to be serious.
Photo: EPA
Mike Miller scored 18, Ray Allen finished with 16 and Norris Cole had 14 for the Heat, whose 17-game home winning streak was snapped.
Miami’s magic number for clinching home-court throughout the NBA playoffs remained at five and the Heat already have the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference wrapped up. The Knicks now lead Brooklyn by five games in the race for the Atlantic Division title.
Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in his 19th career triple-double to lead the Lakers to a 101-81 win over the Dallas Mavericks in a key game for two teams struggling to get into the Western Conference playoff picture.
Dwight Howard had 24 points and 12 rebounds, while hitting seven fourth-quarter free throws for the Lakers (39-36), who had lost four of six.
With former coach Phil Jackson in attendance for Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey retirement, the Lakers moved back into a share of eighth place in the West with the Utah Jazz.
Chris Kaman had 14 points for Dallas (36-38), who have a game in hand on the Lakers and the Jazz.
In Washington, John Wall had 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while Emeka Okafor scored the go-ahead dunk in the final minute as the Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls 90-86 for their eighth straight home win.
The Wizards maintained the pursuit of their goal of being the best team not to make the playoffs. They want to pass the Philadelphia 76ers and finish ninth in the Eastern Conference.
Carlos Boozer had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Bulls, who fell two games behind the fourth-placed Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago visit Brooklyn today.
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