LeBron James scored 27 points to move into 21st place on the NBA’s career list, as the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 110-79 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.
James, who has 24,508 career points, moved past Ray Allen with a layup in the third quarter. He was pulled with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the period and did not return, playing 26 minutes.
Kyrie Irving scored 18 points on his return after missing two games with a shoulder injury, while Kevin Love added 12 points.
Brandon Bass scored 15 points to lead Boston, who lost by their largest margin of the season.
HAWKS 104, ROCKETS 96
Jeff Teague scored 25 points and Al Horford added 18, as NBA-leading Atlanta rallied from 18 points down to win their fifth straight.
The Rockets led for the most of the game until Teague’s three-pointer with 4 minutes, 24 seconds remaining put Atlanta up 91-90.
Jason Terry finished with 21 points in a reserve role and starting forward Terrence Jones had 18 points for Houston.
NUGGETS 106, BUCKS 95
Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 26 points, while Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 14 rebounds as Denver won hours after Brian Shaw was fired as coach.
Ty Lawson had 16 points and 10 assists for Denver, who ended a six-game losing streak and won at home for the first time since Jan. 14.
Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 20 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, who have lost five of six.
Denver led by six after three quarters and started the fourth on an 11-2 run to go up 87-72.
HORNETS 104, LAKERS 103
Al Jefferson had 21 points and 16 rebounds, while Mo Williams added 20 points and 13 assists as Charlotte won for the third time in four games.
Williams, who came in averaging 23.4 points in his first five games since being acquired from Minnesota, had his third double-double with the Hornets. He knocked down a big three-pointer with a minute to play to push the lead to six and added five free throws in the final 18 seconds to seal the win.
Gerald Henderson added 21 points, including several key baskets late in the fourth quarter. Cody Zeller had 10 points and 11 rebounds, as all five Charlotte starters finished in double figures.
Jeremy Lin led the Lakers with 23 points off the bench, while Jordan Clarkson had 19.
KINGS 124, KNICKS 86
Rudy Gay scored 25 points, DeMarcus Cousins had 22 and Ben McLemore finished with 20 as Sacramento handed New York their worst loss of the season.
The Kings scored the first four points and never trailed. They built the lead to 16 after the first quarter and to as many as 30 in the second.
Alexey Shved led the Knicks with 15 points. Jason Smith and Shane Larkin had 13 each.
JAZZ 93, GRIZZLIES 82
Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors scored 21 points each, while Rudy Gobert added 15 points and a career-best 24 rebounds to lead Utah to their third straight win.
Rodney Hood finished with 13 points for Utah, shooting 45 percent.
Courtney Lee led Memphis with 18 points, while Marc Gasol finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Rookie Jordan Adams added 13 points and Mike Conley scored 11.
BULLS 97, WIZARDS 92
Nikola Mirotic scored 23 points to lead short-handed Chicago past Washington.
The Bulls were without former MVP Derrick Rose (right knee), All-Star Jimmy Butler (left elbow) and trusted reserve Taj Gibson (left ankle), but still managed to improve to 4-2 on their season-high seven-game homestand.
Aaron Brooks scored 22 points, while Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who had five players in double figures.
Chicago’s starting lineup of Brooks, Tony Snell, Mike Dunleavy, Gasol and Joakim Noah was the 20th they have used this season. That is the most since the 2007-2008 season, when the Bulls also used 20.
Washington were led by John Wall’s 21 points and 11 assists.
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