The Washington Wizards had a 34-point lead against the Miami Heat reduced to single digits on Wednesday before holding on for a 114-97 victory in Greg Oden’s first game in more than four years.
John Wall scored 25 points, and Bradley Beal and Nene had 19 apiece to lead seven players in double figures for the Wizards, who shot a season-high 55 percent and closed the game with a 17-9 run to avoid an second-straight embarrassing collapse at home.
Chris Bosh scored 26 points, and LeBron James had 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four turnovers for the Heat, who have dropped three straight, all on the road.
Photo: Geoff Burke / USA TODAY
Oden stepped onto the court for his first regular-season game since Dec. 5, 2009.
Oden, who has struggled to overcome knee injuries throughout his NBA career, played nine minutes and scored six points.
BULLS 128, MAGIC 125, 3OTs
Joakim Noah had a season-high 26 points, Carlos Boozer scored 23, and Chicago extended Orlando’s season-high losing streak to nine games with a triple-overtime victory.
The Magic had a chance to win the game with less than 10 seconds to play, but Glen Davis’ jumper was partially blocked and rebounded by the Bulls with just 1.5 seconds remaining.
The Bulls have now won the last seven matchups with the Magic played in Orlando and improved to 4-1 since trading Luol Deng.
Victor Oladipo had a career-high 35 points and Jameer Nelson added 31 points and 10 assists for Orlando. Tobias Harris added 22 points and 16 rebounds.
CLIPPERS 129, MAVERICKS 127
J.J. Redick scored a career-high 33 points and Los Angeles rallied from 17 points down with 4 minutes left to beat Dallas.
Matt Barnes added 25 points, Blake Griffin had 23 and Jamal Crawford scored 16, including a pair of free throws that gave the Clippers the lead with 11 seconds to go. They improved to 18-3 at home with their fourth-straight win.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and Samuel Dalembert added a season-high 20 for the Mavs, whose three-game winning streak ended when they could not hold a 123-106 lead. Jose Calderon hit four three-pointers on his way to 16 points.
NUGGETS 123, WARRIORS 116
Nate Robinson scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, J.J. Hickson grabbed a season-high 24 rebounds and streaky Denver outlasted Golden State.
Wilson Chandler added 22 points and six rebounds, and Ty Lawson finished with 22 points and 11 assists to give Oakland native and first-year Nuggets coach Brian Shaw a victory in his hometown.
Denver outshot Golden State 54 to 43 percent.
David Lee had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Stephen Curry scored 24 points for the well-rested Warriors, who took the lead with 1 minute 13 seconds remaining, before the Nuggets pulled away again. Golden State, who had won 11 of their past 12 games, had not played since beating Boston on Friday.
ROCKETS 103, PELICANS 100
James Harden capped a 26-point performance with a tiebreaking jumper with 28 seconds left, and Houston beat reeling New Orleans for their third-straight victory.
Eric Gordon scored a season-high 35 points, but the Pelicans lost their seventh straight.
Terrence Jones scored 25 and Dwight Howard added 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for the Rockets, who trailed by as many as 17 in the second quarter and by eight with about four minutes to go. Harden had a hand in 12 of Houston’s final 17 points, scoring 10 and assisting on Howard’s alley-oop dunk.
Anthony Davis added 24 points for New Orleans, his sixth-straight game with 20 or more, but Darius Miller missed a potential tying three-pointer in the final seconds.
GRIZZLIES 82, BUCKS 77
Mike Conley and James Johnson each scored 15 points, and Memphis won their season-high fourth straight.
Ed Davis added 14 points and nine rebounds for Memphis, who improved to 19-19 and returned to the 0.500 mark for the first time since Dec. 9 (10-10).
The Grizzlies also won for the ninth time in 13 games despite no points in 14 minutes from Marc Gasol. It was the second game in two days for the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year after he missed 23 contests with a left MCL sprain. He had 12 points in 24 minutes on Tuesday against Oklahoma City.
Brandon Knight scored 27 points on 10-for-17 shooting for Milwaukee, who lost their seventh consecutive game.
SPURS 109, JAZZ 105
Tony Parker had 25 points and nine assists, and San Antonio escaped a late rally to beat Utah and extend their winning streak to six games.
Utah closed the game on a 19-7 run, but they were unable to complete the comeback after falling behind by 18 points in the second half.
Marco Belinelli, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard scored 15 points apiece, and Manu Ginobili had 13 in his first home start of the season for San Antonio (31-8).
Enes Kanter had 25 points off the bench for Utah (13-27). Alec Burks scored 20 points, Derrick Favors had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Trey Burke added 17 points and former Spurs forward Richard Jefferson had 15 points.
Utah was without Gordon Hayward, their leading scorer, for the third-straight game with a strained hip flexor.
TRAIL BLAZERS 108, CAVALIERS 96
LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 18 rebounds, scoring nine-straight points that pulled Portland in front in the final four minutes, and the Trail Blazers beat Cleveland.
Damian Lillard added 28 points for the Blazers, who won their third straight.
Luol Deng had 25 points for the Cavaliers, who were playing the second of a back-to-back after a victory over the Lakers on Tuesday. Kyrie Irving added 21 points.
SUNS 121, LAKERS 114
Gerald Green had a strong second half to finish with a season-high 28 points and lead Phoenix over Los Angeles. Channing Frye had 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and Markieff Morris scored 17 of his 24 in the first half to help the Suns snap a three-game skid. Goran Dragic added 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Pau Gasol scored 24 points to lead the Lakers, and Wesley Johnson had 22 against his former team.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Kings 111, Timberwolves108
‧ Celtics 88, Raptors 83
‧ 76ers 95, Bobcats 92
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