Arron Afflalo had 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Tobias Harris added 18 points as the Orlando Magic ended a season-high 10-game losing streak with a 93-91 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
After several ties in the fourth quarter, Harris hit a pair of free-throws with 10.1 seconds remaining to give Orlando the victory, which also ended a 10-game regular-season losing streak to the Celtics.
Jeff Green scored 22 points to lead the Celtics, who have lost nine straight on the road and 11 of 12 overall.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Channing Frye scored a season-high 30 points before sitting out the final 9.5 minutes to watch the Suns wrap up their 117-103 rout of the Denver Nuggets.
Frye, who missed all of last season to receive treatment for an enlarged heart, made 12 of 16 shots — including five of seven three-pointers — to fall three points shy of his career-best.
Markieff Morris scored 16 and Goran Dragic 15 for the Suns, who never trailed and improved to 3-0 against Denver this season with one game to play.
Anthony Randolph scored a season-best 19 for the Nuggets, who have lost four of five and were without guard Randy Foye.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant scored 30 points to lead the Thunder past the Sacramento Kings 108-93.
Durant, coming off a career-high 54 points on Friday, shot 10 for 15 from the field and had nine assists as he scored at least 30 points for the seventh straight game.
Serge Ibaka added 20 points and Reggie Jackson had 16 for the Thunder, who won their third in a row.
Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 38 points for the Kings, but slowed in the second half as the Thunder pulled away.
In Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Raptors 112-106 for just their third win in 15 games after Nick Young returned from suspension to score 29 points and Pau Gasol had 22.
Young scored 14 in the fourth quarter as the Lakers overcame a 19-point first-half deficit to win their first back-to-back games since beating Memphis on Dec. 17 last year and Minnesota three days later.
Ryan Kelly scored 17 in his first career start, while Kendall Marshall had 10 points and 11 assists to bring the Lakers to 16-25 at the season’s midpoint.
In the NBA’s other game, San Antonio’s Patty Mills had 20 points, while Tim Duncan had 11 points and 13 rebounds, as the Spurs beat the Bucks 110-82 to keep Milwaukee winless so far this year.
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