James Harden scored 19 of his game-high 34 points in a decisive third quarter as the Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 117-103.
Rookie Jabari Parker scored 19 points and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 for Milwaukee, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Harden and Bucks center Larry Sanders jostled near center court with 3:19 left in the game with Houston leading handily.
Harden had been called for an offensive foul and was holding the ball walking down the court when Giannis Antetokounmpo slapped him on the rear and knocked the ball away.
Harden gave a slight shove with his left hand to the 19-year-old Bucks player and Sanders ran up to Harden, and both players grabbed the other’s arms.
Harden, Sanders and Antetokounmpo all were given technical fouls after the referees reviewed video footage of the incident.
WIZARDS 83, PELICANS 80
Marcin Gortat had a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Bradley Beal scored 12 points as the Washington Wizards beat the New Orleans Pelicans 83-80 on Saturday night.
The Wizards trailed only once — when Anthony Davis, who led New Orleans with 30 points, dunked to give the Pelicans a 78-77 lead with 3:48 remaining.
Paul Pierce hit a layup and a three-pointer and Washington led 81-77 with 2:13 to play.
Tyreke Evans missed a three-point attempt that would have tied the score with 1.7 seconds to play.
Gortat was 5 for 7 from the field in the third quarter as the Wizards, who never trailed, built a 65-57 lead after three.
New Orleans has lost a season-high three straight.
Davis had 13 rebounds, but the NBA blocked-shot leader had none for the first time in 15 games this season.
The Pelicans had a season-low 12 assists and lost on consecutive nights. In their first three back-to-backs this season, they had lost the first and won the second game.
MAVERICKS 110, 76ERS 103
Tyson Chandler had 20 points and 13 rebounds to help Dallas beat Philadelphia, sending the 76ers to a franchise-record 16th straight loss to start the season.
Michael Carter-Williams had a triple-double with 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds for the 76ers, who eclipsed the 1972-73 club that began 0-15 on the way to setting an 82-game NBA record for fewest victories at 9-73.
Philadelphia became the fifth team in league history to open with at least 16 straight losses, joining the 1994-95 Clippers (0-16), 1998-99 Clippers (0-17), 1988-89 Heat (0-17) and the 2009-10 Nets (0-18).
The 76ers will try again for its first win today when they host the defending champion Spurs.
If they lose to San Antonio, Philadelphia could equal the NBA record for defeats to begin a season on Wednesday at Minnesota and could potentially set an NBA record on Friday at home versus Oklahoma City.
HAWKS 105, HORNETS 75
Paul Millsap scored 18 points, while Mike Scott added 14 as Atlanta handed Charlotte a ninth straight loss.
Dennis Schroder and Kyle Korver each finished with 12 points for Atlanta (9-6), who have won two straight and four of five.
The Hornets (4-14) trailed by 20 early in the second quarter, by 32 late in the second and were down by 44 early in the third.
Al Jefferson was the only Hornet in double figures before reserve guard P.J. Hairston scored his 10th point early in the fourth.
Hairston led Charlotte with 15 points. Hornets guard Gerald Henderson, who had 14 points, was the only starter for either team to play in the fourth quarter.
CAVALIERS 109, PACERS 97
Kevin Love scored a season-high 28 points, while Kyrie Irving added 24 as Cleveland defeated the Indiana Pacers.
LeBron James added 19 points as Cleveland won their third straight game after losing four in a row and moved its record to 8-7.
The Cavaliers won the three games by an average of 23.3 points.
Love, who came into the game averaging 16.5 points, scored 16 in the first quarter. His first five shots went in, including two three-pointers.
Love, who also had 10 rebounds, was 9 for 13 from the field.
Irving added a season-high 10 rebounds and had five assists.
The Cavaliers built a 19-point lead in the first quarter, but the Pacers chipped away and trailed 52-49 at halftime.
Cleveland regained control in the third, as James, who had eight points at the half, scored 11 in the quarter. The lead reached 20 points in the fourth quarter.
CLIPPERS 112, JAZZ 96
Blake Griffin scored 28 points and Chris Paul added 17 points and 10 assists to help Los Angeles beat Utah and post a fourth straight win.
Jamal Crawford tallied 22 points and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 12 rebounds as the Clippers (11-5) closed a seven-game trip that covered more than 11,500km with a 6-1 record.
Gordon Hayward scored 30 points and Derrick Favors had 19 for the Jazz (5-12), who have lost a season-high five games in a row.
J.J. Redick had 13 points as the Clippers marked 12 consecutive victories over the Jazz with 56 percent shooting.
The Clippers now boast an NBA-best 5-0 record in the second half of back-to-back games.
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
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier