Brandon Knight scored 26 points as the Milwaukee Bucks led most of the way in a 98-80 road win over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers, who played without LeBron James for the second straight game.
James was sidelined because of a sore left knee, an injury that also forced him to miss Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks. Kevin Love was also out with back spasms and the Cavaliers went on to their fourth loss in five games.
O.J. Mayo scored 15 points for the Bucks (17-16), while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Photo: AFP
Kyrie Irving scored 25 points for Cleveland, while Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Cavaliers scored just seven points in the third quarter, a season low.
ROCKETS 102, HORNETS 83
Photo: AFP
In Houston, Texas, James Harden scored 36 points as the Houston Rockets bounced back from consecutive losses.
A big run to start the third quarter put the Rockets well ahead and Harden put it away when he scored eight straight points to push the advantage to 99-79 with 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining and send the starters to the bench.
The loss extends Charlotte’s skid to four games. The Hornets played without leading scorer Al Jefferson, who is out with a groin strain.
Photo: AFP
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Gerald Henderson scored 16 points apiece for the Hornets.
It was the NBA-leading 14th 30-point game this season for Harden, who leads the league in scoring. He made eight three-pointers, as well as six assists and seven rebounds.
PACERS 106, HEAT 95
In Indianapolis, Indiana, C.J. Miles scored 25 points for the Indiana Pacers and George Hill added 20.
The Pacers (12-21) have won six straight regular-season home games against the the Miami Heat.
Dwyane Wade led Miami (14-19) with 20 points. Chris Bosh had 18 points and eight rebounds, but the Heat lost their third straight since beating LeBron James and the Cavaliers on Christmas Day.
Miami appeared to be in position to end the skid after scoring the last four points of the second quarter and extending the lead to 56-46 early in the third, but Miles and C.J. Watson combined for 10 points in a quarter-closing 17-2 run that erased a 68-61 deficit and gave the Pacers a 78-70 lead.
CLIPPERS 99, KNICKS 78
In Los Angeles, J.J. Redick scored 20 points as the Clippers handed the New York Knicks a year-ending ninth consecutive loss.
DeAndre Jordan added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles, while Blake Griffin had 13 points, seven rebounds and tied his career high with 11 assists.
Jordan and Griffin scored four points apiece in a 13-0 run at the start of the third period that stretched the Clippers’ lead from 10 points to 23.
Carmelo Anthony was the only Knicks player in double figures with 19 points, despite a sore right knee.
Knicks president Phil Jackson was on hand at the Staples Center, where he once guided the Lakers to repeat NBA championships.
New York tied a season low for points, while dropping to 2-16 on the road.
CELTICS 106, KINGS 84
In Boston, Jared Sullinger had 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Celtics snapped a four-game losing streak.
Kelly Olynyk added 15 points for Boston, who never trailed and avoided matching their longest losing streak this season.
Darren Collison and Carl Landry each scored 14 points to lead the Sacramento Kings, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
Sacramento forward DeMarcus Cousins was ejected after collecting his second technical of the game midway through the final quarter. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Boston led by 16 after three quarters and pushed it to 92-67 when Olynyk’s three-pointer capped a 9-0 spurt with just over seven minutes to play.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite