D.J. Augustin scored 25 points on Saturday and Joakim Noah had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls turned a possible first-round playoff preview into a rout, never trailing in a 96-78 win over the Washington Wizards.
Augustin made six of 11 three-pointers, and Carlos Boozer added 16 points for the Bulls, who have won five straight and are battling the Toronto Raptors for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Augustin has averaged 19.8 points during the winning streak.
John Wall scored 20 points, and Marcin Gortat had 19 for the Wizards, who sit in sixth place in the East. If they hold that spot, they will face the third-seeded team.
The Bulls clamped down on the Wizards early, taking advantage of turnovers and a rebounding advantage to build their lead.
Trailing by 12 at the end of the period, the Wizards were then completely undone by a 10-point second quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by Augustin made the score 36-18, and a free throw by Jimmy Butler in the final minute of the first half gave the Bulls a 28-point lead.
The Wizards made a run in the third quarter, scoring more points (35) in the period than they had in the entire first half (26). Wall’s 10m bounce pass to Trevor Booker on a fast break led to a dunk that pulled Washington within 11 and brought the crowd to its feet.
However, Noah took over and quickly squashed the rally. His three-point play started a 12-0 run early in the fourth quarter that put the game away.
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Rodney Stuckey came off the bench to score 26 points and help the Detroit Pistons rally for a 115-111 win over the Boston Celtics.
The Pistons trailed by as many as 19 points in third quarter and were down 95-85 at the start of the fourth before going on a 15-4 run that gave them their first lead since early in the game. The teams traded the lead several times before Stuckey made a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left to break a 111-all tie.
Jerryd Bayless tried for a go-ahead shot in the final seconds, but his three-point try rimmed out.
Jefferson scored 24 points, including seven in overtime, as the Charlotte Bobcats clinched a playoff spot with a 96-94 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Charlotte are in the post-season for the second time in their 10-year history and the first time since 2010.
Kyrie Irving scored a career-high 44 points for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers (31-47) trail eighth-place Atlanta by 3.5 games for the final playoff spot in the East.
Also on Saturday, the Orlando Magic had a 100-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Brooklyn Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers 105-101 and DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points as the Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks 102-98.
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