Washington made a storming start to set up a 102-86 victory over Chicago on Friday, moving the Wizards above their NBA Eastern Conference rival.
Overall league leader Golden State had a comfortable home win over a Cleveland team that continues to struggle in the absence of LeBron James, San Antonio overcame the absence of its Big Three to beat Phoenix, and New Orleans prevented Memphis reclaiming the Southwest Division lead.
Washington took a 20-point lead in the first quarter against Chicago and a key to their victory was that John Wall finally beat Derrick Rose head-to-head.
Wall finished with 16 points and 12 assists and had a hand in seven of Washington’s final eight baskets in the first half after the Bulls had begun to rally. The leader in All-Star votes among Eastern Conference guards, Wall snapped his 0-5 record when both he and Rose are on the court.
Marcin Gortat added 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards.
Rose has been in a horrid shooting slump — 25.5 percent over his previous six games — and he went 8 for 19, scoring 19 points.
Golden State completed a perfect six-game home stand with a 112-94 victory over Cleveland.
Klay Thompson scored 24 points, while Stephen Curry had 23 points and 10 assists for the Warriors, who have won 14 straight home games.
Cleveland is 1-6 since James has been sidelined with a strained back and left knee. He is expected to miss at least two more games.
J.R. Smith scored 27 points for the Cavaliers, who stayed close most of the way until Golden State blitzed them late.
San Antonio fought through the second half without their experienced star trio and beat Phoenix 100-95.
Danny Green had 20 points and Patty Mills had 15 points, including two 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, for the Spurs, who rested Tim Duncan in the fourth quarter, benched an off-target Tony Parker for the same time and lost Many Ginobili to back spasms for the entire second half.
P.J. Tucker and Eric Bledsoe had 19 points each for the Suns, who have lost five straight in San Antonio.
New Orleans’ Tyreke Evans had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pelicans past Memphis 106-95.
Jrue Holiday had 23 points and eight assists for New Orleans, who hit half of their 20 3-point attempts.
Marc Gasol and Mike Conley each scored 19 points for the Grizzlies, who regained Zach Randolph from nine games out injured, but still could not take the win needed to go back top of the Southwest.
Atlanta withstood a spirited rally by Detroit and won 106-103 in a clash of the league’s two form teams.
Al Horford had 19 points and 16 rebounds while Paul Millsap scored 17 points for the Hawks, who have won seven straight and ended the Pistons’ streak at the same number.
Detroit trailed by 23 points in the second quarter, but worked their way back into the contest and had a chance to tie when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Caldwell-Pope scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Denver extended their winning run to four games by taking a 118-108 victory at Sacramento.
Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson each scored 22 points for the Nuggets, who erased a six-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Kings 36-15 in the third period.
DeMarcus Cousins had 32 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high four blocks for the Kings, who are 4-8 since appointing new coach Tyrone Corbin.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant scored 32 points and Dion Waiters made an impact in his home debut to help the Thunder defeat Utah 99-94.
Indiana outlasted Boston and won 107-103 in overtime, with Roy Hibbert scoring 19 points in an even team contribution.
Los Angeles overcame the absence of a rested Kobe Bryant to beat Orlando 101-84, with Jeremy Lin scoring 18 points for the Lakers.
Milwaukee handed Minnesota its 14th straight loss, with Brandon Knight scoring 14 points in the Bucks’ 98-84 win.
Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel dunked with 3 seconds remaining to lift the 76ers to a 90-88 win against Brooklyn.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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