Indiana recorded the best season start in franchise history by improving to 7-0 with a 96-91 win over Brooklyn on Saturday.
Among the day’s other games, Jeff Green’s buzzer-beating three-pointer lifted Boston over Miami, Cleveland also won a nail-biter by downing Philadelphia in double overtime and the Los Angeles Clippers surged past Houston in the second half.
Indiana’s Paul George scored 24 points as the Pacers extended the NBA’s only undefeated record.
David West added 18 points and hit the clinching free throws for the Pacers, who had won their first six games in 1970-1971 when they played in the ABA.
They have the longest winning streak to open an NBA season since both the Lakers and New Orleans were 8-0 in 2010-2011, according to STATS.
Deron Williams and Joe Johnson each had 17 points for the Nets, who lost at home for the first time this season.
Boston’s Jeff Green received a pass from Gerald Wallace in the right corner and unleashed his long shot over the hands of LeBron James for a memorable winner — which stood up after a video review — in the Celtics 111-110 victory over the Miami Heat.
Wallace hit a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining and fouled Dwyane Wade with 0.6 seconds remaining. Wade missed the first free throw and deliberately bounced the second attempt off the backboard.
Green finished with 24 points and was five of eight on three-pointers. Avery Bradley scored 17 points for the Celtics.
James led Miami with 25 points and 10 assists.
Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 39 points and hit the winning layup with 0.6 seconds remaining in second overtime to lift the Cavaliers to a 127--125 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Cavaliers called time out with 11.3 seconds remaining in second overtime and the scores tied. Irving, who missed potential game-winning shots at the end of regulation and first overtime, took the inbounds pass, avoided a double team near the top of the key, drove the lane and scored on a left-handed lay-in.
Philadelphia called timeout, but the inbounds pass went out of bounds.
Evan Turner, whose basket tied the game at the end of first overtime, led the Sixers with 31 points.
Los Angeles’ Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick scored 22 points apiece as the Clippers used an 18-0 run in the second half to rally for a 107-94 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Griffin had seven rebounds and Redick shot eight for 15 from the field for Los Angeles, who shot 14 for 23 on free throws, but just nine for 24 on three-pointers.
Dwight Howard had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets, but was just five for 11 on free throws.
Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Trail Blazers to a 96-85 win over Sacramento.
Wesley Matthews scored 21 points for the Blazers.
DeMarcus Cousins had 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and also grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Kings, who have lost five straight since winning their season-opener.
Toronto’s Tyler Hansbrough scored a season-high 23 points as the Raptors snapped a seven-game home losing streak against Utah and beat the Jazz 115-91.
Atlanta’s Jeff Teague had 19 points and 13 assists to lead the Hawks past the Orlando Magic 104-94.
Dallas’ Monta Ellis got the best of his former team, shaking off boos from the crowd while contributing 18 points and five assists to help the Mavericks hold off the Milwaukee Bucks 91-83.
Memphis’ Zach Randolph had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and six Grizzlies reached double figures in their 108-90 rout of the Golden State Warriors.
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