Kemba Walker scored 21 points as the Charlotte Hornets beat the Atlanta Hawks, who were missing all five starters, 115-100 in the NBA on Saturday.
Gerald Henderson scored 20 points on nine-of-10 shooting, and Mo Williams hit four three-pointers and had 18 points as the Hornets ended their three-game losing streak.
Marvin Williams chipped in with 17 points for Charlotte, who moved back within a game of eighth place in the tight Eastern Conference.
Kent Bazemore scored 20 points and Dennis Schroder had 17 points and 11 assists for the Hawks, who sat all five starters one night after clinching the top seed in the East playoffs.
DeMarre Carroll, Kyle Korver, Al Horford and Paul Millsap were given a night to rest, while Jeff Teague sat out with a sprained ankle for Atlanta. Bazemore, Mike Muscala, John Jenkins and Elton Brand started alongside Schroder.
The Hornets built a 57-52 half-time lead behind 10 points off the bench from rookie P.J. Hairston, who was four of four from the field before the break, including a pair of three-pointers.
Charlotte pushed the lead to 14 behind nine points from Walker in the third quarter, including scores on three straight possessions, and kept Atlanta from making a meaningful run in the fourth to win for only the third time in the last 11 games.
Nikola Mirotic scored 24 points, and Pau Gasol added 19 points and 12 rebounds, as the Chicago Bulls handed the Knicks their franchise-record 60th loss, beating New York 111-80.
Rookie Mirotic had another strong game, finishing five points shy of his career high. Gasol recorded his league-leading 48th double-double as Chicago won for the fifth time in six games. Jimmy Butler scored 18 for Chicago.
The Bulls, who led by 20 at half-time, fell four points short of their most lopsided victory of the season. They pulled within two games of Central Division leader Cleveland and moved one-and-a-half games ahead of fourth-placed Toronto in the Eastern Conference.
Andrea Bargnani led New York with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Stephen Curry scored 25 points as the Golden State Warriors clinched the top seed in the Western Conference by pulling away in the second half of a 108-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Klay Thompson added 21 for Golden State, who also set a franchise record with their 60th victory of the season. The Warriors hold a 10-game lead over second-placed Memphis in the West with nine games left in the regular season.
Khris Middleton had 14 points for Milwaukee, who fell back under .500 at 36-37 after winning two straight.
Trey Burke scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Utah Jazz to a 94-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, while LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 11 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 120-114.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB