Paul George scored 27 points and led a comeback from an eight-point halftime deficit to help the Indiana Pacers improve on the best record in the Eastern Conference with a 97-82 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Trailing 50-42 at halftime, George had 22 points in the second half as Indiana outscored Boston 55-32 in the final quarters to improve to 11-1.
David West and Luis Scola had 17 points each for Indiana, who had lost their previous four games against Boston.
Jordan Crawford had a season-high 24 points, but just five in the second half, and Jeff Green added 20 for the Celtics, who lost their sixth straight to drop to 4-10 after winning four in a row.
The rebuilding Celtics played impressively in the first half. However, Boston had more turnovers, nine, than points in the third period. West outscored Boston’s entire team in the quarter with 10 points.
Indiana had won their first nine games before struggling as they began a three-game road trip. They lost to Chicago 110-94, then went to overtime before beating the New York Knicks 103-96 on Wednesday night.
In Philadelphia, Evan Turner scored 27 points, and Spencer Hawes scored 11 of his 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 115-107 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks that ended a four-game losing streak.
In Minneapolis, Kevin Love had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in just 28 minutes, and the Timberwolves beat Kevin Garnett for the first time since he left Minnesota in a 111-81 victory over the woeful Brooklyn Nets.
In other games, the New Orleans Pelicans erased a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-100. The San Antonio Spurs pulled away for a 102-86 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons 96-89, the Dallas Mavericks accounted for the Utah Jazz 103-93 and the Phoenix Suns edged the Charlotte Bobcats 98-91.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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