LeBron James scored 34 points and Kyrie Irving scored 21 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the injury-ravaged Washington Wizards 121-115 on Wednesday for their fifth straight victory.
Irving scored 10 points in a row in the fourth quarter and showed no ill effects from the injury that ended his playoffs last year and postponed his season debut until mid-December. James had 10 rebounds, and J.R. Smith added 25 points for Cleveland.
Garrett Temple scored 21 points and John Wall had 20 for the Wizards, who were playing without Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair and Drew Gooden.
Photo: Geoff Burke - USA TODAY
KNICKS 98, HEAT 90
In Miami, Florida, Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points as New York shot 56 percent to end a streak of eight consecutive losses to the Heat.
Anthony made nine for 12. In his first two games against the Heat, Anthony shot 10 for 29 for a total of 32 points.
Robin Lopez added a season high 19 points for the Knicks, who won their third game in a row.
Chris Bosh scored 28 points for the Heat.
THUNDER 112, GRIZZLIES 94
In Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant had 26 points and a season-high 17 rebounds after missing the previous game with a sprained right big toe, as the Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies.
Durant, who began the day as the NBA’s No. 3 scorer, broke loose for 17 points in the second half on seven-for-eight shooting. He played 33 minutes and appeared to have no problems with mobility.
Russell Westbrook added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Thunder.
Mario Chalmers led the Grizzlies with 23 points.
MAVERICKS 100, PELICANS 91
In New Orleans, Raymond Felton scored 22 points — in a game that Dallas chose to rest four starters — as the Mavericks defeated the Pelicans.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle sat out Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Wesley Matthews after they each played more than 40 minutes in a double-overtime victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night.
Chandler Parsons, the only usual starter in uniform, scored 19 of his 21 in the first half.
Anthony Davis had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Pelicans.
SPURS 123, JAZZ 98
In San Antonio, Texas, Tim Duncan scored a season-high 18 points, while the Spurs had eight other players in double figures as they beat Utah to remain unbeaten at home.
The Spurs matched the best start in franchise history by winning their 21st straight home game to open the season.
Trey Burke had 21 points for the Jazz and Gordon Hayward had 18.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Clippers 109, Trail Blazers 98
‧ Pacers 95, Magic 86
‧ Raptors 91, Nets 74
‧ Pistons 99, Celtics 94
‧ Suns 111, Hornets 102
‧ Nuggets 78, Timberwolves 74
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