Jared Dudley scored a season-high 21 points, while Chris Paul added 16 points and 17 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers played all over the Chicago Bulls in Derrick Rose’s absence for a 121-82 victory.
J.J. Redick scored 19 points, while Blake Griffin had 15 points and 12 rebounds in the Pacific Division-leading Clippers’ seventh win in nine games.
Los Angeles finished strong in a stretch of four games in five days, posting the biggest margin of victory over Chicago in the club’s history.
Photo: AFP
Luol Deng scored 22 points as the Bulls got off to a rough start to their latest stretch without Rose, who tore a cartilage in his right knee on Friday night in Portland, Oregon.
Lakers reserve forward Xavier Henry scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, while Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Los Angeles over the Sacramento Kings 100-86.
Steve Blake finished with 12 assists, nine points and five rebounds.
Blake, who has started all 14 games for the Lakers at point guard in place of the injured Steve Nash, has recorded double digits in assists in each of the past five games.
Greivis Vasquez led Sacramento with 20 points.
In Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant scored 19 points, while Serge Ibaka had 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Thunder extended their best season-opening start at home with a 95-73 win over the struggling Utah Jazz.
The Thunder (9-3) played without All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, who sat out to rest his surgically repaired right knee.
Enes Kanter and Rudy Gobert led the Jazz (1-14), losers of six straight games, with 10 points apiece.
The Detroit Pistons sent the Brooklyn Nets to a fifth straight loss and sole possession of last place in the Atlantic Division with a 109-97 win, while Goran Dragic scored 23 points and Gerald Green added 20 to lead the Phoenix Suns over the Orlando Magic 104-96.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite