Josh Smith made a driving, left-handed bank shot with 1.2 seconds left to give the Detroit Pistons a 110-108 win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, while the Houston Rockets came back to down Washington 114-107.
Smith was involved in a few big plays in the final half-minute — both good and bad. His three-pointer as the shot clock expired put Detroit ahead 108-105 with 26.8 seconds left, but he then fouled Gerald Green while the Phoenix guard was shooting a three-pointer. Green made all three free-throws to tie it with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Smith took the ensuing inbounds pass near the top of the key, drove to the right and then switched hands, making a tough shot while being tightly defended by Channing Frye.
Green’s shot at the buzzer from in front of the Detroit bench missed badly.
Smith finished with 25 points, while Brandon Jennings had eight points, 18 assists — an NBA high this season — and eight rebounds, with Greg Monroe adding 20 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit.
Frye led Phoenix with 21 points.
Houston built a 25-point lead, lost all of it, then rallied from five down late in the fourth to defeat the Washington Capitals in a game twice delayed by leaks in the roof.
Long after the stoppages of 35 minutes and 22 minutes because the leaks, James Hardin leveled the game with a driving layup with two minutes, 33 seconds to play, then gave the Rockets the lead again for good courtesy of a three-point play with 1:54 remaining.
He finished with 25 points for the Rockets, who made only four field goals in the final period, yet closed with a 17-5 run.
John Wall led Washington’s comeback to finish with 23 points and 10 assists, while Trevor Ariza had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Kevin Seraphin had all of his season-high 18 points in the second half.
Elsewhere on the day, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 points and 13 rebounds to help the Trail Blazers hand the Boston Celtics their eighth straight loss in a 112-104 decision.
The Trail Blazers rallied from a 10-point second-quarter deficit, with Wesley Matthews scoring 18 points, Nicolas Batum netting 16, and Damian Lillard and Robin Lopez each adding 15.
Lopez also had 13 rebounds.
The win kept Portland tied for first place with Oklahoma City in the Northwest Division.
Avery Bradley led Boston with 25 points.
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 40 points as the Mavericks shook off a cold start to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 110-97.
Nowitzki scored 20 points in the third period and hit seven straight shots after starting 2 of 9 from the field.
Anthony Davis had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Pelicans.
In other NBA play, the Knicks downed the Philadelphia 76ers 102-92 after Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points and Carmelo Anthony added 18 to lead New York, while DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points and Patrick Patterson had 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors beat the Nets 96-80 to end Brooklyn’s five-game winning streak.
Also, the Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Bobcats 103-97, the Oklahoma City Thunder downed the Milwaukee Bucks 101-85 and the Denver Nuggets were 120-94 winners over the Orlando Magic.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB