Tony Parker scored 26 points in his return from a five-game absence, igniting the San Antonio Spurs to a season-high 37 assists and a 125-118 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night.
San Antonio shot a season-high 64 percent from the field in snapping a four-game skid.
Tim Duncan had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Boris Diaw scored 23 points and Manu Ginobili had 19 points and 10 assists for the Spurs (18-11), who had lost three straight home games in overtime.
Chris Paul had 25 points and nine assists, Blake Griffin added 22 points and J.J. Redick had 21 for the Clippers (19-9), who have lost four straight to San Antonio.
Parker showed no lingering effects from a strained left hamstring that kept him out of eight of the past nine games.
BULLS 129, RAPTORS 120
In Chicago, Illinois, Derrick Rose scored 29 points, while Jimmy Butler added 27 points and 11 rebounds as Chicago snapped Toronto’s six-game winning streak.
Rose scored 15 of the Bulls’ franchise-record 49 points in the fourth quarter.
Chicago, who have won three straight, got Rose and Taj Gibson back after each missed two games. Rose was ill and Gibson was out with an ankle injury.
Kyle Lowry scored 34 points and Jonas Valanciunas finished with 20 for Toronto, who led by 12 in the third quarter. Lowry scored 18 points in the fourth.
ROCKETS 110, TRAIL BLAZERS 95
In Houston, Texas, James Harden scored a season-high 44 points to help Houston cruise past Portland and snap a two-game skid.
The Trail Blazers were without leading scorer and rebounder LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with an upper-respiratory illness, and had their five-game winning streak snapped.
Harden had 31 in the first half to help the Rockets erase an early eight-point deficit and take a 20-point halftime lead. It was Harden’s NBA-leading third 40-point game this season, with all of them coming this month.
Damian Lillard led Portland with 18 points and CJ McCollum added 17.
HORNETS 110, NUGGETS 82
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Al Jefferson scored 22 points, while Kemba Walker added 18 points and nine assists as Charlotte extended their winning streak to a season-high three games.
Rookie P.J. Hairston recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Jefferson and Walker combined to shoot 15 of 25 from the field and did not play in the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Hawks 105, Mavericks 102
‧ Jazz 97, Grizzlies 91
‧ Warriors 128, Kings 108
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