Tim Duncan tallied 23 points and 11 rebounds to power San Antonio to a 111-87 victory over Miami in a rematch of the two NBA finalists from last season.
Tony Parker finished with 17 points and four assists for the Spurs, who snapped their five-game regular-season losing streak against the Heat.
Miami beat the Spurs 113-101 on Jan. 26 at home in the first meeting between the clubs since the Heat beat San Antonio last season to win their second consecutive league title.
San Antonio came close to beating the Heat in the finals, but Miami prevailed with a dynamic last-game win.
Boris Diaw tallied 16 points, eight boards and five assists on Thursday for the Spurs, who have won five straight and eight of nine overall.
Chris Bosh finished with 24 points with seven rebounds, and LeBron James contributed 19 points and eight rebounds for Miami at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs have now won 13 of their past 15 regular-season games against the Heat at home.
James, who had a superb month last month, also had seven assists against the Spurs after scoring 22 points against Houston earlier in the week.
James shot six-of-18 from the field and played a good portion of the second half in foul trouble, while Dwyane Wade finished with 16 points on seven-of-15 shooting.
Miami also shot just 44 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers, including 10 in the final quarter.
In other play, it was:
‧ Suns 128, Thunder 122
‧ Clippers 142, Lakers 94
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