Kawhi Leonard had 26 points as the San Antonio Spurs had to rally to beat the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder 102-98 in overtime on Tuesday to finish 40-1 at home this season, matching an NBA record.
The Boston Celtics had the same record in 1985-1986.
San Antonio were lethargic coming off its first home loss of the season to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday. The Spurs never led in the final quarter in that loss and trailed throughout much of their home finale.
Photo: AP
Thunder coach Billy Donovan rested stars Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka in their regular-season finale, while San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich started his regular lineup.
The Thunder were still able to force the first overtime in San Antonio this season.
HEAT 99, PISTONS 93
In Detroit, Dwyane Wade got off to his slowest start offensively in a decade, but finished with 14 points to help the Miami Heat beat the Detroit Pistons 99-33.
Miami will win the Southeast Division and earn home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs if they close the regular season last night by beating Boston on the road.
The Pistons’ loss sealed their spot as the eighth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, setting up a matchup with top-seeded Cleveland.
Wade did not score until 4 minutes, 14 seconds left in the first half. He had not been scoreless that long at the start of a game since March 17, 2006, against Charlotte, according to STATS.
Wade broke his scoreless start with a three-point play and had seven points in a 50-second stretch.
CLIPPERS 110, GRIZZLIES 84
In Los Angeles, Chris Paul had 12 points and 13 assists as the Clippers extended Memphis’ freefall to the final night of the NBA’s regular season, defeating the Grizzlies.
Losing for the ninth time in 10 games, Memphis dropped into a tie with the Dallas Mavericks for sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Grizzlies finish the season Wednesday at Golden State, where the Warriors will be going for their NBA-record 73rd victory. Dallas hosts San Antonio.
Austin Rivers scored 14 points for the Clippers, who shot 55 percent and outscored Memphis 22-6 in fast-break points as they posted their 10th win in 11 games.
Jeff Green scored 13 points and Blake Griffin added 12. DeAndre Jordan grabbed 12 rebounds.
Zach Randolph scored 14 points and Jarrell Martin added 12 for the Grizzlies, who have lost three in a row.
PACERS 102, KNICKS 90
In Indianapolis, Indiana, Paul George and George Hill each scored 19 points as Indiana beat New York to win their final home game of the regular season.
Trailing 64-62, the Pacers (44-37) finished the final seven minutes of the third quarter with a 17-6 run that gave Indiana a 79-70 lead heading into the final period.
New York (32-50) led at the end of the first and second quarters, before the Pacers rallied in the third quarter.
Derrick Williams scored 21 points for New York, while Jerian Grant finished with 18.
RAPTORS 122, 76ERS 98
In Toronto, Rookie Norman Powell had 18 points while Jonas Valanciunas had 17 and 11 rebounds as Toronto beat Philadelphia for the 12th straight time.
It gave Valanciunas a team-leading 22nd double-double of the season.
Philadelphia last beat Toronto on Jan. 18, 2013.
With the Indiana Pacers’ win over New York and the Detroit Pistons’ loss to the Miami Heat, second-seeded Toronto are now locked into a playoff matchup with the seventh-seeded Pacers.
Robert Covington had 24 points for Philadelphia on six-for-10 shooting from three-point range.
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