Kevin Durant scored 35 points and Serge Ibaka had 16 as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off a furious Cleveland comeback for a 102-95 win over the injury-riddled Cavaliers on Thursday.
The Thunder won their 50th game of the season to move within 1.5 games of San Antonio for the best record in the NBA’s Western Conference.
Durant missed five of his first six shots, but the league’s top scorer finally found his touch.
He has scored 25 or more in 33 straight games — the NBA’s second-longest streak since Michael Jordan did it 40 consecutive times (1986-1987).
Three teams jockeying for playoff position in the tight Western Conference also got victories.
The Houston Rockets, in fourth place, got 28 points from James Harden in a 129-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Turkish center Omer Asik started in place of injured Dwight Howard, who has a strained left ankle, and scored 12 points as the Rockets won for the seventh time in 10 games to maintain a lead over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland also picked up a win on Thursday, defeating the Washington Wizards 116-103.
Wesley Matthews had 28 points, while Damian Lillard added 23 points and 10 assists for the Blazers, who remained in fifth place with three victories in their past four games after a four-game losing streak.
Golden State is just 1.5 games behind after a tougher-than-expected 115-110 victory over the NBA-worst Milwaukee Bucks.
Stephen Curry had 31 points and 11 assists, and Klay Thompson scored 29 as Golden State moved 18 games over .500 for the first time in 20 years.
The Warriors are sixth in the West, 2.5 games ahead of Memphis and Dallas with 12 games left.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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