Kawhi Leonard on Monday night scored 31 points in his return from a concussion as the San Antonio Spurs equaled Golden State for the NBA’s best record with a 107-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
San Antonio made a season-high 16 three-pointers in their 19th straight home victory over Atlanta.
The Spurs and Warriors are 52-14 with 16 games remaining, including the final regular-season matchup between them on March 29.
Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder had 22 points and 10 assists, shooting 10 of 22 from the field. Tim Hardaway Jr added 17 points, but the Hawks had their three-game winning streak snapped.
San Antonio’s Patty Mills had 15 points and Danny Green added 14. The starting guards combined to shoot seven for 12 on three-pointers and the team finished 16 for 34 on treys.
TIMBERWOLVES 119, WIZARDS 104
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns had 39 points and 13 rebounds, while Ricky Rubio scored 22 points to break his own franchise record with 19 assists as Minnesota beat Washington.
Nemanja Bjelica added 16 points and 10 boards off the bench for the Timberwolves, who entered the game more than three games behind Denver for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Minnesota shot 52 percent and Rubio topped 20 points in back-to-back games for the second time in his six-year career.
John Wall scored 27 points for the Wizards, who fell more than two games back of Cleveland for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Bradley Beal added 20 points, but Washington lost for the first time in six games.
JAZZ 114, CLIPPERS 108
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Gordon Hayward scored 27 points as Utah broke a nine-game home losing streak to Los Angeles.
The victory gave the Jazz a two-game lead over the Clippers in the race for the No. 4 playoff seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage in the first round.
George Hill was much more aggressive on offensive after a sluggish first half and the Jazz missed just four of 17 shots in the period, while hitting all six three-point attempts. The ball movement was outstanding on offense and nearly everyone got in the mix.
Chris Paul had 33 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Clippers.
In other results, it was:
‧ Grizzlies 113, Bucks 93
‧ Bulls 115, Hornets 109
‧ Raptors 100, Mavericks 78
‧ Nuggets 129, Lakers 101
‧ Kings 120, Magic 115
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