Paul George had 25 points as the Indiana Pacers finished with a strong fourth quarter to beat the Boston Celtics 103-98 on Tuesday night.
Monta Ellis added 16 points with six assists, while Jordan Hill scored 15 for Indiana.
Isaiah Thomas had 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Boston.
Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY
The score was tied at 77 with about seven minutes remaining before the Pacers put together a 15-4 run that gave them enough breathing room to withstand a late Boston surge.
Avery Bradley’s jumper pulled the Celtics to 84-81 with about four-and-a-half minutes to go, but they got no closer after that.
SPURS 108, CLIPPERS 87
In San Antonio, Texas, Kawhi Leonard had 20 points to help San Antonio wear down the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers and match the second-longest home winning streak to open a season in NBA history.
San Antonio won their 33rd straight home game this season, tying Orlando’s start to the 1995-1996 season.
Chicago holds the record at 37 games in 1995-1996 on the way to a record 72 wins overall.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points, while reserve guards Patty Mills and Manu Ginobili added 15 and 13 respectively for the Spurs (57-10).
Los Angeles (42-24), still playing without Blake Griffin, lost their second straight.
The Clippers’ reserves, who were without the injured Paul Pierce, were outscored 51-20 by the Spurs’ bench.
RAPTORS 107, BUCKS 89
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kyle Lowry scored 25 points as Toronto, despite resting leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, had no trouble with Milwaukee.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 18 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in 35 minutes for the Bucks, just missing a triple-double.
DeRozan, who averages 23.8 points per game, was in uniform, but did not play after starting each of the team’s first 65 games and playing 39 minutes in a loss to Chicago on Monday night.
Raptors rookie Norman Powell, starting for DeRozan despite averaging only seven minutes per game, had a season-high 17 points in 34 minutes.
MAGIC 116, NUGGETS 110
In Orlando, Florida, Evan Fournier scored 30 points and Jason Smith had 25 points and 13 rebounds off the bench to help Orlando beat Denver.
Victor Oladipo scored 23 for the Magic, who led by 18 in the third quarter before fending off Denver’s second-half rally. Brandon Jennings added 12 points and 11 assists in his first start for Orlando.
The Nuggets had six players in double figures, led by Gary Harris with 18 points, but did not have enough energy or firepower to complete the comeback.
NETS 131, 76ERS 114
In New York, Bojan Bogdanovic scored a career-best 44 points to help Brooklyn set a season high for points against Philadelphia.
Sean Kilpatrick had 19 points, Brook Lopez added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Thaddeus Young finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Nets.
Isaiah Canaan led the 76ers with 20 points.
Nerlens Noel, Ish Smith and Nik Stauskas each had 18.
Bogdanovic’s previous career high was 28 points against Orlando on April 15 last year.
His total was the most for a Nets player since Deron Williams scored 57 on March 4, 2012. The team moved to Brooklyn the following season.
Philadelphia have lost 15 of 16 games. The only victory during that stretch came against the Nets at home.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Kings 106, Lakers 98
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