Tony Parker had 22 points and seven assists in his return from a six-game absence to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 112-106 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Tim Duncan scored 17 points, Kawhi Leonard added 16 and Boris Diaw had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs.
Manu Ginobili had 15 points and seven assists and Tiago Splitter had 11 points as the Spurs extended their winning streak to three games.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 22, Vince Carter added 21 and Monta Ellis had 17 for the Mavericks, who have lost eight straight to the Spurs.
Parker looked refreshed after not playing since Feb. 10 for what was officially listed as “rest,” but unofficially was due to a series of lower body maladies.
In Chicago, Joakim Noah had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists for his fifth career triple-double to lead the Bulls over the New York Knicks 109-90.
Chicago had seven players score in the double digits in their ninth win of 10 and also reached 100 points for the fourth straight game for the first time since 2010.
D.J. Augustin had 21 of his 23 points in the fourth, as Chicago (33-26) improved to 21-8 since Jan. 1.
In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points and Kyle Lowry had 13 as the Raptors beat Golden State 104-98 for their first win in eight tries against Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson added 12 points each, while Jonas Valanciuas had 10 for the Raptors, who had lost 11 of their past 13 meetings with the Warriors.
In other NBA games on Sunday, the Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks 129-120, the Orlando Magic defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 92-81, the Indiana Pacers were 94-91 winners over the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder downed the Charlotte Bobcats 116-99 after Kevin Durant scored 28 points and Russell Westbrook netted 26.
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