James Harden scored 28 points, while Dwight Howard added 23 as the Houston Rockets rebounded from their most lopsided loss of the season to a huge 115-79 win against the Miami Heat.
Houston coach Kevin McHale said his team was “terrible” in a 111-83 loss at New Orleans on Friday night.
However, the Rockets used a 19-point second quarter from Howard to build a double-digit lead against Miami and then put together a big run in the third before coasting to their biggest win of the season.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh scored 15 apiece for Miami, who have lost four in a row.
NUGGETS 114, GRIZZLIES 85
Ty Lawson scored 25 points, while rookie Jusuf Nurkic provided a lift inside by blocking a career-best five shots as Denver ended a three-game losing streak.
Arron Afflalo added 23 points and Kenneth Faried had 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Nuggets kept up their mastery of Memphis at home, improving to 32-5 all-time. Lawson also had 11 assists.
Marc Gasol scored 18 points for the travel-weary Grizzlies, who were running on fumes on the second night of a back-to-back. They held off the Lakers 109-106 in Los Angeles on Friday.
Memphis lost their cool in the third quarter, with coach Dave Joerger drawing two technical fouls, leading to his ejection, and Gasol receiving another.
SPURS 101, WIZARDS 92
Cory Joseph had 19 points and San Antonio overcame Washington’s fast start to beat the Wizards for the 17th straight time.
San Antonio have won 14 straight home games against Washington, but this was among the more unexpected.
With Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard injured and Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili struggling, the Spurs turned to the role players that helped them win a championship last season.
Tiago Splitter scored 16 points and Patty Mills had 15 for San Antonio.
Bradley Beal and John Wall led the Wizards with 15 points each.
CLIPPERS 127, 76ERS 91
Chris Paul had 24 points and 12 assists, while J.J. Redick added 17 points as the Clippers earned their third consecutive victory.
Blake Griffin scored 15 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 rebounds to help send the NBA-worst 76ers to their sixth straight loss against the Clippers. They ended last year with a 21-point win over the lowly Knicks and built an early 19-point lead against the even worse 76ers.
It did not entirely hold up, with the Sixers cutting their deficit to four in the third.
Tony Wroten scored 27 points, Robert Covington added 23 and former UCLA star Luc Mbah a Moute had 14 for the 76ers, who fell to 4-28 with their fifth straight loss overall and fifth in a row on the road.
HORNETS 98, MAGIC 90
Kemba Walker scored 30 points as the Hornets stopped a five-game losing streak.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Charlotte, who dropped each of their first two games this season against Orlando. Gary Neal added 16 points, and Cody Zeller finished with 12.
Victor Oladipo scored 21 points for the Magic, while Nik Vucevic had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Tobias Harris also had a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards.
Orlando have lost three in a row.
The Hornets outscored the Magic 30-9 in the second quarter, including a 22-0 run in the final seven minutes of the period.
BULLS 109, CELTICS 104, OT
Pau Gasol had 29 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots, leading Chicago to a win over Boston.
Aaron Brooks added 19 points for the Bulls, who won for the ninth time in 10 games. Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose scored 12 points apiece.
Evan Turner scored 24 of his 29 points after halftime, but Boston dropped to 2-6 since trading Rajon Rondo to Dallas on Dec. 18. Avery Bradley had 17 points for the Celtics.
The Bulls were without starters Jimmy Butler (bereavement leave) and Mike Dunleavy (right ankle). Rookie Nikola Mirotic scored 10 points in his first start.
The Celtics were coming off a 119-101 loss to Rondo and the Mavericks on Friday night.
Jared Sullinger scored 16 points in Boston’s fourth consecutive road loss.
In other results, it was:
‧ Hawks 115, Trail Blazers 107
‧ Jazz 101, Timberwolves 89
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