DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points and Kyle Lowry added 19 as the Toronto Raptors ended the San Antonio Spurs’ four-game winning streak with a 97-94 victory on Wednesday.
Luis Scola had 16 points as Toronto never trailed in handing San Antonio just their third loss in the past 18 games.
Manu Ginobili had 17 points off the bench for the Spurs, who also got 13 points from LaMarcus Aldridge.
Photo: AFP
Danny Green hit a three-pointer following a timeout to make it a three-point game with 2 minutes, seconds 47 to play, but Bismack Biyombo threw down a dunk to restore the Raptors’ five-point edge.
Kawhi Leonard’s follow shot later narrowed the advantage to three, but Toronto were able to run out the clock.
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Matt Barnes tossed in a desperation three-pointer from just inside midcourt with 1.1 seconds left to lift the Memphis Grizzlies over the Detroit Pistons 93-92.
Marcus Morris missed a contested shot with seven seconds left that could have clinched the game for the Pistons, while Andre Drummond’s tip bounced off the rim.
The Grizzlies grabbed the ball and fired an outlet pass to Barnes. He let go a running, two-handed shot as he crossed halfcourt that went in, silencing the Palace crowd as players on the Memphis bench celebrated.
Zach Randolph led Memphis with 21 points and 16 rebounds, while Marc Gasol had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Boston’s Isaiah Thomas scored nine of his 20 points in the final three minutes to lead the Celtics past the Chicago Bulls 105-100.
Kelly Olynyk added 15 points, while Jae Crowder and Evan Turner each had 13 and David Lee scored 12 for the Celtics, who had eight players in double figures and won for the fourth time in five games.
They host undefeated Golden State today.
The Houston Rockets defeated the Washington Wizards 109-103 after James Harden had 42 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Harden scored 23 in the second half, a day after he finished with a season-low 10 points in a loss at Brooklyn.
Corey Brewer added 15 points and Patrick Beverly had 14 to help Houston to their fourth win in five games.
John Wall had 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Washington.
Kemba Walker and Marvin Williams scored 18 points each to lead the Charlotte Hornets past the Miami Heat 99-81 for their third straight victory, while Kevin Martin scored 37 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves over the Los Angeles Lakers 123-122 in overtime.
In other games, J.J. Redick scored a season-high 31 points as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 109-95, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Dallas Mavericks 98-95, the Utah Jazz downed the New York Knicks 106-85 and the Phoenix Suns were 107-104 winners over the Orlando Magic.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier