Portland pulled away in the second half to beat Dallas 94-75 on Thursday, as the Trail Blazers extended their lead in the NBA Northwest Division.
The Blazers widened their advantage over Oklahoma City, who lost a close contest against Chicago in the day’s other game.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was Portland’s fifth straight win, but it was costly: Starting guard Wesley Matthews had to be helped off the court with a left foot injury early in the third quarter.
Matthews did not return and the extent of the injury was uncertain.
Nicolas Batum added 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds for Portland.
The Trail Blazers had four players scoring double figures, despite coming off back-to-back games.
Monta Ellis and Amare Stoudemire each had 12 points for the Mavericks, who saw the return of veteran center Tyson Chandler after a three-game absence.
BULLS 108, THUNDER 105
In Chicago, Illinois, E’Twaun Moore sank a go-ahead three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining as the Bulls rallied to beat Oklahoma City 108-105, ending Russell Westbrook’s triple-double streak at four games.
Westbrook had 43 points on 14-of-32 shooting and added seven assists and eight rebounds. On Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, he had career highs with 49 points and 16 rebounds and added 10 assists in an overtime win over Philadelphia.
Westbrook scored 19 points in the third quarter to help the Thunder take a 79-72 lead into the fourth. The Bulls pulled within one on Nikola Mirotic’s two free throws with 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining. Westbrook then split two with 1:07 to play, and Enes Kanter rebounded the miss and scored to give Oklahoma City a 103-99 lead.
Mirotic made a three-pointer, and Westbrook hit a jumper with 37.1 seconds left. Mirotic made two free throws with 28.9 to go, pulling Chicago within one. Westbrook then had an air-ball with the shot-clock expiring, and Moore followed with his three-pointer.
Mirotic finished with 26 points, Pau Gasol had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Mike Dunleavy also had 21 points, and Moore added 19. Joakim Noah had 12 rebounds, putting him over 5,000 for his career.
Serge Ibaka had 25 points and nine rebounds for Oklahoma City.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later