The Los Angeles Clippers shone on their return home, cruising to an authoritative 115-92 victory over San Antonio in Monday’s clash of NBA divisional leaders.
Blake Griffin scored 27 points, hitting 11 of 15 free-throws, as the Clippers relished a return to Los Angeles following a seven-game road trip.
Chris Paul added 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Clippers, who repelled several threats in the third quarter to maintain their lead.
Tim Duncan had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who snapped a four-game winning streak.
The Clippers’ performance was the highlight on a day when Detroit handed the Pacers their first home-court loss of the season, with Josh Smith scoring 30 points to lead the Pistons to a surprise 101-96 win at Indiana.
Greg Monroe finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit, while Lance Stephenson had a season-high 23 points for the Pacers, who won their first 11 home games. The defeat left Oklahoma City as the only team unbeaten at home with a 12-0 record.
In Atlanta, Kyle Korver sank a trio of three-pointers in a dominant third quarter that set up the Hawks’ 114-100 win over the Lakers.
Al Horford scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Hawks, while the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant made only four of 14 shots for eight points.
Nick Young led the Lakers with 23 points and five three-pointers.
Miami’s LeBron James finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to lead the Heat to a 117-94 win over Utah.
Dwyane Wade added 27 points for Miami, who notched their 17th straight victory over a Western Conference opponent, the second-longest regular-season streak by an Eastern Conference team in NBA history.
In Boston, Jared Sullinger had 24 points and 11 rebounds, including a tie-breaking three-pointer with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left that helped the Celtics hold off Minnesota and win 101-97.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Bradley Beal sank a driving layup with six seconds left to give the Wizards a 102-101 win over the Knicks, while Orlando’s Arron Afflalo scored 23 points to help the Magic beat slumping Chicago 83-82 and Brooklyn’s Joe Johnson made 10 three-pointers — the most in the NBA this season — and scored a season-high 37 points to lead the Nets to a 130-94 win over Philadelphia.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set