LeBron James became the youngest player to reach 25,000 career points, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers past the winless Philadelphia 76ers 107-100 in the NBA on Monday.
James had 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds and rallied the Cavs in the second half against a scrappy Philly team that had built a 15-point lead. James and the rest of the Eastern Conference champions had enough to push back the undermanned Sixers.
James scored the milestone basket on a dunk with 8 minutes, 7 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The 30-year-old James became the sixth active player with 25,000 points and the 20th overall. He joined Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce of the Clippers.
Photo: AP
WARRIORS 119, GRIZZLIES 69
In Oakland, California, Stephen Curry scored 21 of his 30 points in an emphatic third-quarter stretch and the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player followed up his 53-point performance from three days earlier with another sold game to lead unbeaten Golden State past Memphis.
Curry did not play in the fourth quarter, with his team up big after shooting 10 for 16 and hitting four three-pointers to give him 21 through four games — even after Grizzlies coach David Joerger joked before the game: “We’re going to put three guys on him tonight.”
Curry also had a huge third quarter with a career-best 28 points in Saturday’s win at New Orleans, and he won Western Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging a league-best 39.3 points.
The Grizzlies starters combined to shoot 11 for 46, led by Marc Gasol’s 13 points. They were outscored 72-27 over the second and third quarters.
SPURS 94, KNICKS 84
In New York, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points, Kawhi Leonard had 18 points and 14 rebounds as San Antonio beat New York to give Tim Duncan a milestone victory.
Duncan had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in his NBA-record 954th victory with one team. He passed Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton, who went 953-551 with the Utah Jazz. Duncan, in his 19th season with the Spurs, is 954-381.
Tony Parker also finished with 16 points.
Carmelo Anthony scored 19 points for the Knicks, but struggled to just four-of-17 shooting while often guarded by Kawhi Leonard, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Anthony was coming off a season-best 37 points on Saturday in a victory at Washington.
Aldridge followed his best game with the Spurs, a 24-point performance in a 95-87 victory in Boston on Sunday, by shooting eight of 15 and grabbing six rebounds.
ROCKETS 110, THUNDER 105
In Houston, James Harden scored 37 points as Houston beat Oklahoma City 110-105 for their first win of the season.
It was the first loss for the Thunder, who won their first three games while the Rockets dropped their first three.
An 8-1 run by the Rockets made it 107-100 with about two minutes left. Harden capped that key stretch with a three, knocking it down with Russell Westbrook right in his face.
Westbrook made a three-pointer with 44 seconds left to cut the lead to 108-105, and Harden missed a three on the other end. However, Westbrook and Kevin Durant both missed three-pointers on the next possession and Dwight Howard made a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left to secure the victory.
Durant led the Thunder with 29 points, and Westbrook added 25 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Clippers 102, Suns 96
‧ Blazers 106, Timberwolves 101
‧ Bucks 103, Nets 96
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