Kyle Lowry scored 22 points, including a pair of clinching free-throws with 9.8 seconds left, to help the Toronto Raptors hand the Oklahoma City Thunder their first home loss this season with a 104-98 victory on Sunday night.
The Raptors outscored Oklahoma City 6-0 in the game’s final 1 minute, 25 seconds — all from the free-throw line — to end the Thunder’s nine-game winning streak.
Oklahoma City had been 13-0 at home, the NBA’s longest unbeaten stretch to open a season since the Cavaliers won their first 23 home games in the 2007-2008 season.
Amir Johnson had 17 points and 13 assists for Toronto, who won their fourth straight road game to post the franchise’s longest such streak since 2002, while it was Oklahoma City’s first loss since falling to Portland on Dec. 4.
Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 24 for the Thunder, who missed their final four shots.
CLIPPERS 120, TIMBERWOLVES 116, OT
In Los Angeles, Jared Dudley made a go-ahead three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining in overtime, while Chris Paul made five free-throws in the final 19 seconds to lead Los Angeles over Minnesota.
Blake Griffin had 32 points and 10 rebounds and was an uncharacteristic 10 for 11 from the free-throw line before fouling out with 4:08 left in overtime.
The defending Pacific Division champions extended their winning streak to a season-best five games, while beating the Timberwolves for the eighth straight time, their longest streak against any opponent.
Jamal Crawford had 22 points for Los Angeles, while Paul finished with 19 points and 13 assists.
Kevin Love had a season-high 45 points and tied a season-best 19 rebounds, while Nikola Pekovic had a career-high 34 points and 14 boards for the Timberwolves, who were back at the Staples Center after their loss to the Lakers on Friday.
PACERS 106, CELTICS 79
In Indianapolis, Indiana, Paul George scored 24 points and Lance Stephenson recorded his third triple-double of the season, as the Pacers routed Boston.
Stephenson had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Indiana’s (22-5) second straight win, which maintained their grip on the Eastern Conference’s best record.
He is the only player in the league with more than one triple-double this season.
Avery Bradley scored 13 points for Boston, while Courtney Lee and Jeff Green each had 11 in coach Brad Stevens’ return to his hometown, but there was no magic on the night for the Celtics, who lost their third in a row.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Russian Diana Shnaider continued her impressive winning streak in tour-level finals at the Monterrey Open on Saturday, beating compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the WTA 500 event’s final. Shnaider had little trouble in the opening set but struggled in a topsy-turvy second, as Alexandrova clinched the set’s fifth and decisive break at 5-4 to force a decider. Third-seed Shnaider carved out an advantage early on in the third set when she broke Alexandrova in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up, an advantage she would not relinquish. World No. 12 Shnaider is now unbeaten in her last five
RSS