Stephen Curry on Sunday night scored 39 points as the Golden State Warriors bounced back from their first regular-season home loss in more than 14 months by beating the Portland Trail Blazers 136-111 to tie the mark for the second-most wins in a season.
Draymond Green added 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his 13th triple-double, while Klay Thompson scored 21 for the Warriors, who matched the 1996-1997 Chicago Bulls and 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers with 69 wins. Golden State need to win four of their final five games to break the record of 72 victories set by Chicago in 1995-1996.
That chase was dealt a setback on Friday last week when Boston snapped Golden State’s record 54-game regular-season home winning streak.
Photo: AP
Damian Lillard scored 38 points to lead the Trail Blazers, who had their four-game winning streak broken.
CLIPPERS 114, WIZARDS 109
In Los Angeles, Chris Paul had 27 points and 12 rebounds and Blake Griffin scored six points in his return from a three-month absence to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Washington Wizards.
Photo: David Richard-USA TODAY
Griffin shot two of seven and contributed five rebounds and two assists while playing 24 minutes after missing 45 games because of quadriceps and hand injuries. The team went 30-15 and clinched a playoff spot during his absence.
Marcin Gortat scored 21 points and Markieff Morris added 18 for the Wizards, who never led in losing for the fifth time in seven games.
CAVALIERS 112, HORNETS 103
In Cleveland, Ohio, LeBron James scored 31 points and J.R. Smith matched a season high with 27 as the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked down 16 three-pointers while playing without an injured Kyrie Irving in a win over the Charlotte Hornets.
James added 12 assists and eight rebounds and Kevin Love added 25 points for the Cavs, who held off a comeback in the fourth quarter to open a three-game lead over idle Toronto for the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Smith made six three-pointers and Love had five.
Kemba Walker scored 29 points — 21 in the second half — and Marvin Williams added 22 for the Hornets, who got within 96-92 in the fourth before Smith and Love answered with three-pointers.
ROCKETS 118, THUNDER 110
In Houston, Texas, James Harden had 41 points with nine assists to help the Houston Rockets improve their playoff chances with a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With 30 seconds left, Harden stole a pass from Kevin Durant and found Patrick Beverley for a transition dunk to give Houston an eight-point lead, which the Rockets held on to for an important victory.
Durant had 33 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who led by six early in the fourth until Harden hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 93. Oklahoma City lost for just the second time in the past three weeks and had won nine of their previous 10 entering Sunday.
MAVERICKS 88, TIMBERWOLVES 78
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Wesley Matthews hit six three-pointers and scored 19 points as the Dallas Mavericks topped the Minnesota Timberwolves.
J.J. Barea scored 21 points and the Mavericks (39-38) made 14 of 40 three-pointers to overcome 38.6 percent shooting for their fourth straight victory. They forced 18 turnovers and held their opponent to less than 100 points for the fourth straight game as they push for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
Andrew Wiggins scored 30 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 11 points, 21 rebounds and nine assists for the Timberwolves. Ricky Rubio had nine points and five assists, but left with four minutes to play after taking a shot to the face.
In other results, it was:
‧ Pelicans 106, Nets 87
‧ Jazz 101, Suns 86
‧ Magic 119, Grizzlies 107
‧ Celtics 107, Lakers 100
‧ Bulls 102, Bucks 98
‧ Pacers 92, Knicks 87
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