Kevin Durant scored 51 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Toronto Raptors 119-118 in double overtime on Friday, despite losing NBA All-Star guard Russell Westbrook to a right knee injury in the third quarter.
Durant hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to cap a furious rally in the second overtime for the Thunder, who won their fourth straight and finished off a 3-0 road trip. Reggie Jackson added 25 and Serge Ibaka had 13.
“That was the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Durant said. “Down eight with [49 seconds] to go, and I missed a free throw late in the game, and we won?”
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Durant has scored 25 or more in 34 straight games, the NBA’s longest streak since Michael Jordan did it in 40 consecutive games in 1986-1987.
DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points, while Amir Johnson had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers lost their 23rd straight game to match the Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-1996), Denver Nuggets (1997-1998) and Charlotte Bobcats (2011-2012) for the second-longest single-season losing streak in NBA history.
Amare Stoudemire had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony scored 21 as the New York Knicks beat Philadelphia 93-92 for their eighth straight win.
The Cleveland Cavaliers set the record of 26 consecutive losses in the 2010-2011 season.
The Sixers (15-54) would have to pull off an upset to avoid tying the record, with three straight road games up next at playoff-bound Chicago, San Antonio and Houston. If the Sixers lose all three, the potential record 27th loss could come March 29 versus Detroit.
“I’m never used to losing,” Sixers guard Tony Wroten said. “I speak for the team, too. There’s no such thing as getting used to losing.”
New York are now three games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks fell to the New Orleans Pelicans 111-105, ending their five-game winning streak.
The San Antonio Spurs extended their win streak to 12 straight games with a 99-79 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Marco Belinelli scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs (52-16), who remained 1.5 games ahead of Oklahoma City and Indiana for the league’s best record.
The winning streak is San Antonio’s longest since rolling off 12 in a row in November 2010.
The Brooklyn Nets took advantage of the Raptors’ loss to pull within 1.5 games of the Atlantic Division leaders with a 114-98 win over the Boston Celtics.
Joe Johnson hit six three-pointers in his 27 points, while Mason Plumlee added 18 points as Brooklyn won their 11th straight at home. The Nets also won for the ninth time in 10 games overall.
The Phoenix Suns pulled within a half-game of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 98-92 win over the Detroit Pistons. Eric Bledsoe scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and Goran Dragic added 20 points for the Suns.
Memphis fell to the Miami Heat 91-86. Ray Allen scored 18 points for Miami, who rallied from an 84-77 deficit with 4 minutes, 8 seconds remaining and scored 11 unanswered points.
In other games, the Indiana Pacers topped the Chicago Bulls 91-79, the Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets 122-106 and the Washington Wizards defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 117-107 in Steve Nash’s return from injury.
Nash, who has missed all but 11 games this season with chronic nerve damage in his back, had 11 assists and five points in 19 minutes.
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