Kyle Lowry scored 23 points, while Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors beat Milwaukee 116-94 in the NBA on Monday night to hand the struggling Bucks their sixth straight loss.
DeMar DeRozan added 19 points and Patrick Patterson 18 as Toronto won for the eighth time in nine games. The Atlantic Division leaders ended a five-game home slide against the Bucks, beating them in Toronto for the first time since Jan. 22, 2010.
With newly signed Toronto FC players Michael Bradley and former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe courtside, the victory gave Toronto their first five-game home winning streak in more than a year.
Ersan Ilyasova scored a season-high 27 points, Brandon Knight had 16 and Giannis Antetokounmpo 11 for the Bucks, who are winless since beating the Lakers in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. The NBA’s worst team at 7-30, Milwaukee has lost 14 of 16 overall.
Bucks forward Khris Middleton struggled for the third straight game, making just one of eight field goal attempts and finishing with two points.
In New Orleans, Tony Parker capped a 27-point outing with several clutch layups in the final minutes, and the San Antonio Spurs won their fifth straight game, 101-95 over the reeling New Orleans Pelicans.
Tim Duncan scored 18 points before fouling out in the final period in what turned out to be a surprisingly tense contest between the Western Conference-leading Spurs and a depleted Pelicans squad who have now lost six straight since an injury to leading scorer Ryan Anderson.
Anthony Davis had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead New Orleans, while Brian Roberts, starting at point guard for the injured Jrue Holiday, scored 19 points.
Elsewhere, Dwight Howard had 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets over Boston 104-92, and send the Celtics crashing to its ninth consecutive defeat, while John Wall and Nene had 19 points apiece as the Washington Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls 102-88.
Also on Monday, the New York Knicks beat the Phoenix Suns 98-96 in overtime, the Dallas Mavericks thrashed the Orlando Magic 107-88 and the Utah Jazz outclassed the Denver Nuggets 118-103.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but