Stephen Curry had 28 points and 12 assists, while David Lee added 21 points and 17 rebounds to help the Golden State Warriors beat the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans 104-93 on Tuesday night in Andre Iguodala’s long-awaited return.
Iguodala finished with two points and two assists in 17 minutes after missing the previous 12 games with a right hamstring injury. The Warriors led by 10 points in the first quarter, 18 at halftime and 26 late in the third quarter.
The Pelicans played without injured starters Anthony Davis (broken left hand) and Tyreke Evans (sprained left ankle). Ryan Anderson had 21 points and six rebounds, and Jason Smith scored 12 for New Orleans, who have lost their first two games of a five-game trip.
Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY
The Warriors outshot the Pelicans 45.1 to 37.5 percent and outrebounded them 58 to 44 to control the game — for the most part — from start to finish. New Orleans made a brief run in the fourth quarter against Golden State’s backups before the starters returned and restored order.
TRAIL BLAZERS 119, CAVALIERS 116
In Cleveland, Damian Lillard made a tiebreaking three-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining, lifting Portland to the road win.
Lillard had a career-high eight three-pointers while scoring 36 points. This year’s National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie of the Year also had a fadeaway jumper as time expired to give Portland a 111-109 overtime victory over Detroit on Sunday.
Portland (22-4) have the best record in the NBA and are 11-0 against the Eastern Conference. The Blazers have won five straight and are 12-2 on the road.
Kyrie Irving’s bid for a tying three-pointer bounced off the back of the rim at the buzzer. Irving and Dion Waiters scored 25 points apiece for Cleveland.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 15 rebounds for Portland.
THUNDER 105, NUGGETS 93
In Denver, Kevin Durant scored 30 points, powering the Thunder to their seventh consecutive victory.
Durant had 30 or more points in a game for the 12th time this season, most in the NBA. He is averaging a league-high 28.6 points.
Russell Westbrook had 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Thunder. Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Denver had won 10 of 13. J.J. Hickson had 20 points and 14 rebounds, but the Nuggets dropped to 0-2 this season against Oklahoma City. Ty Lawson added 17 points and 13 assists.
LAKERS 96, GRIZZLIES 92
In Memphis, Kobe Bryant scored 21 points in his sixth game of the season and the Lakers closed out a four-game road trip with a victory.
Pau Gasol added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who were coming off a 114-100 loss at Atlanta on Monday night. Nick Young had 18 points and Jodie Meeks finished with 13.
Zach Randolph had 18 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for Memphis. The Grizzlies played without Mike Conley, who sat out after bruising his left thigh in Sunday’s loss to Minnesota.
The Grizzlies led 69-67 in the fourth quarter before the Lakers went on a 17-4 run.
Bryant played for 32 minutes, matching his most action since returning from his torn left Achilles’ tendon. He was nine-for-18 from the field, both season highs, despite running the offense most of the night.
BOBCATS 95, KINGS 87
In Charlotte, Kemba Walker scored 24 points, helping Charlotte snap a three-game losing streak.
Gerald Henderson added 20 points and reserve Ramon Sessions scored 16 for the Bobcats, who went eight-for-17 from three-point range. Walker also had five assists in his 10th game, with at least 20 points.
DeMarcus Cousins had 30 points and 17 rebounds for Sacramento, who shot 37.5 percent from the field. The Kings have dropped three of four.
Kings forward Rudy Gay scored four points on one-of-six shooting in his worst game since he was acquired on Dec. 9.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with