The Washington Wizards downed an undermanned Miami Heat 114-93 on Monday to hand the Indiana Pacers the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Miami Heat opted to rest LeBron James and Chris Bosh as Trevor Ariza scored 25 points for the Wizards, who shot 59 percent and made 14 three-pointers to remain one game ahead of the Charlotte Bobcats in the race to be the East’s No. 6 seeds.
Washington are trying to avoid dropping to seventh so that they can avoid the Heat in the first round of the playoffs — when LeBron and Co will be back.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA Today
Michael Beasley scored 18 points for the Heat, who will be the No. 2 seeds when the playoffs begin at the weekend.
Charlotte’s Chris Douglas-Roberts dribbled into the lane and sank a short jump shot as time expired as the Bobcats overcame a 15-point deficit in the final period to beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-93.
Al Jefferson had 27 points and 15 rebounds for Charlotte, who remained one game behind Washington. Gary Neal had 17.
Jefferson’s turnaround jumper gave the Bobcats a 93-91 lead, before Lou Williams answered with a tying jumper for Atlanta with 2.6 seconds remaining.
Following a timeout, Douglas-Roberts penetrated and lobbed the soft jumper as the buzzer sounded.
The Hawks rested starters Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll. Mike Scott led Atlanta with 20 points.
In Toronto, Greivis Vasquez scored 25 points and Kyle Lowry had 24 as the Raptors set a club record with their 48th win, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 110-100.
Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Tyler Hansbrough had 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Raptors won for the sixth time in seven games and completed the first season sweep of Milwaukee in club history.
Ramon Sessions scored 21 points, Jeff Adrien had 19 points and Brandon Knight 18 as the Bucks lost their 14th straight game on the road.
The Memphis Grizzlies clinched the final playoff berth in the Western Conference with a 97-91 victory over Phoenix that eliminated the Suns from post-season contention.
Zach Randolph scored 32 points as the Grizzlies scored the last six points of an intense fourth quarter.
Markieff Morris had 21 points, while Channing Frye and Goran Dragic had 14 each for Phoenix.
Michael Carter-Williams had 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Tony Wroten scored 20 points as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 113-108.
Joakim Noah had 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the Chicago Bulls’ 108-95 victory over the Orlando Magic.
In other games on Monday, the Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs 104-98, the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-89, the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Utah Jazz 119-104 and the Golden State Warriors were 130-120 winners over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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