Kevin Garnett made an emotional return to Minnesota with an ear-splitting reception as the Timberwolves overcame a jittery start to beat the Washington Wizards 97-77 on Wednesday night.
Garnett, the face of the franchise who was reacquired in a trade from Brooklyn last week, had five points on 2-for-7 shooting with eight rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes in his first game for the Timberwolves since 2007. Kevin Martin scored 28 points and Andrew Wiggins had 19 for the Wolves, who trailed by 15 early after Garnett’s stirring reintroduction.
Marcin Gortat had nine points and 15 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost five in a row and 10 of their past 12. John Wall had five points on 2-for-10 shooting and 10 assists. Paul Pierce missed the game with a bruised knee.
Photo: USA Today
Nikola Pekovic had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota.
However, the night belonged to Garnett, the charismatic superstar who put this woebegone franchise on the map during 12 outstanding seasons before getting traded to Boston in 2007.
HEAT 93, MAGIC 90, OT
Luol Deng had 21 points and Dwyane Wade added 18 as Miami rallied to beat Orlando in Orlando.
Hassan Whiteside added 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Heat have won three of four since losing Chris Bosh for the season with a blood clot in his lung.
The Magic squandered an eight-point lead with less than a minute play in the fourth quarter allowing the Heat to send the game to extra time.
Nik Vucevic had all five of the Magic’s points in overtime and finished with 26 points and eight rebounds. Victor Oladipo had 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
ROCKETS 110, CLIPPERS 105
James Harden had 21 points and Corey Brewer scored 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Houston Rockets at home snapped a six-game skid to Los Angeles.
It was Houston’s first victory over Los Angeles since March 30, 2013, and just the second win in the past 13 meetings with the Clippers.
Jamal Crawford led Los Angeles with 24 points.
In other games, it was:
‧ Hawks 104, Mavericks 87
‧ Hornets 98, Bulls 86
‧ Kings 102, Grizzlies 90
‧ Suns 110, Nuggets 96
‧ Pelicans 102, Nets 96
‧ Celtics 115, Knicks 94
‧ Bucks 104, 76ers 88
‧ Lakers 100, Jazz 97
‧ Trail Blazers 111, Spurs 95
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