Harrison Barnes had 25 points, while Andre Iguodala added 21 points and six assists as the Golden State Warriors cruised past the Atlanta Hawks 114-95 on Wednesday night in a matchup of the NBA’s top two teams.
Stephen Curry had 16 points and 12 assists, Draymond Green contributed 18 points and Andrew Bogut grabbed 14 rebounds as balanced Golden State maintained the best record in the league (54-13) with their 10th straight win at home.
The Hawks, looking fatigued and trailing big by the fourth quarter, were denied again in a chance to clinch their first division title since the 1993-1994 season as Washington won at Utah.
Photo: AFP
Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll each scored 16 points and Carroll had 12 boards for cold-shooting Atlanta (53-15), who had won 10 of 12 and three in a row, but shot 35.6 percent from the floor.
CAVALIERS 117, NETS 92
In Cleveland, Ohio, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov scored 17 points apiece, while Kyrie Irving had 10 assists as Cleveland shook off a slow start to beat Brooklyn for their 14th straight win at home.
LeBron James added 16 points for the Cavs, who had seven players score in double figures. Cleveland trailed by 13 in the first quarter before going on a 30-8 run and did not look back.
Kevin Love returned after a two-game break to rest his back and finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Deron Williams scored 20 to lead the Nets, who are running out of games as they claw to get into the playoffs.
HEAT 108, TRAIL BLAZERS 104
In Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, including a jumper with 13.6 seconds left to break a tie and help Miami beat Portland.
Wade made 13 of 26 shots for the Heat, who were down 11 shortly after halftime. Luol Deng had 24 points on four-for-four shooting from three-point range for Miami, which got 20 points and 11 assists from Goran Dragic and a 12-point, 10-rebound night from Hassan Whiteside.
LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 34 points and 12 rebounds. Damian Lillard scored 17 for the Trail Blazers, who fell a half-game behind Houston in the race for third in the Western Conference.
THUNDER 122, CELTICS 118
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook scored 36 points to help Oklahoma City snap Boston’s five-game winning streak.
Westbrook, the NBA’s leading scorer, also had 10 assists, five rebounds and five steals. Enes Kanter had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Anthony Morrow added 20 points for Oklahoma City, who moved a half-game ahead of New Orleans in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Marcus Smart, who played college ball at Oklahoma State, led Boston with a career-high 25 points. Kelly Olynyk and Brandon Bass each added 20 points for the Celtics.
Boston shot 64 percent in the first half, the highest percentage the Thunder have allowed in a half this season. Oklahoma City held the Celtics to 42 percent shooting after the break.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Raptors 105, Timberwolves 100
‧ Spurs 114, Bucks 103
‧ Bulls 103, Pacers 86
‧ Mavericks 107, Magic 102
‧ Clippers 116, Kings 105
‧ Wizards 88, Jazz 84
‧ 76ers 94, Pistons 83
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