The Los Angeles Clippers could afford a spell of missing 14 consecutive shots and still beat Miami 100-93 on Sunday.
The Clippers moved four games clear of Memphis in the fight for fourth place in the Western Conference, behind the three runaway divisional leaders.
Also on Sunday, Boston made it nine wins from 10 games by defeating Sacramento.
Los Angeles’ Chris Paul had a game-high 22 points and Jamal Crawford added 20 off the bench for the Clippers, who had their poor shooting spell in the first quarter. Paul started none for nine, but his two late three-pointers sealed the game.
Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic all scored 17 points for the Heat, who slipped 1.5 games behind Boston in the battle for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics widened that gap by holding off Sacramento and winning 128-119. Avery Bradley scored 25 points and Isiah Thomas had 22 for Boston.
DeMarcus Cousins’ 31 points led Sacramento, who have lost seven of eight.
Orlando’s Nik Vucevic hit an 18-footer at the buzzer to give the Magic a 96-94 win against Atlanta,.
Denver rookie Emmanuel Mudiay scored nine of his 15 points during a fourth-quarter run as the Nuggets beat the Knicks 101-96.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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