Joe Johnson scored 19 points, while Mason Plumlee was credited with a block on LeBron James’ dunk attempt in the final seconds as the Brooklyn Nets finished off a four-game season sweep of Miami by beating the Heat 88-87 on Tuesday night.
It was the third time Brooklyn beat Miami by a single point; the other win came in double-overtime.
Marcus Thornton scored 16 points, while Paul Pierce added 14 for the Nets, who became the first team in the past two years to sweep the Heat. Miami were the only team in the league to beat every team last season and would have repeated that feat with a win on Tuesday.
James had 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Heat, who remained a half-game ahead of Indiana, and one in the loss column, in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Chris Bosh scored 12 and Norris Cole added 10 for Miami.
ROCKETS 145, LAKERS 130
In Los Angeles, Terrence Jones and James Harden scored 33 points apiece as the Houston Rockets kept up their playoff push with their third straight victory.
Chandler Parsons scored 19 points for the Rockets, who used a 49-point third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers to solidify their hold on fourth place in the Western Conference standings, despite their second-worst defensive performance of the year. Houston won the opener of a three-game road trip without injured Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley.
Steve Nash moved into third place on the NBA’s career assists list for the miserable Lakers (25-53), who tied the franchise record for losses in a single season with their worst defensive performance of the year.
THUNDER 107, KINGS 92
In Sacramento, California, Caron Butler made all six of his three-point attempts to finish with 23 points as Oklahoma City started the fourth quarter on a 16-0 run to pull away for the victory.
Kevin Durant scored 23 points, but was never needed in the final quarter, stopping his streak of scoring at least 25 points in 41 consecutive games. Serge Ibaka added 19 points and four rebounds for the Thunder, who rested Russell Westbrook ahead of last night’s game at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Oklahoma City (56-21) are 1.5 games ahead of the Clippers (55-23) for the Western Conference’s No. 2 playoff seed.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Timberwolves 110, Spurs 91
‧ Mavericks 95, Jazz 83
‧ Pistons 102, Hawks 95
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