Giannis Antetokounmpo on Monday returned from an ankle sprain to score 28 points and grab 11 rebounds, powering the Milwaukee Bucks to a 131-121 victory over hosts the Brooklyn Nets.
The Greek star, who sat out a game due to the setback, lifted an injury-hit Milwaukee squad within one game of clinching the best regular-season record in the league and a home-court edge throughout the NBA playoffs.
Eric Bledsoe added 29 points and reserve George Hill had 22 off the bench for the Bucks, who lead the Eastern Conference at 58-20 and can clinch the best NBA mark with a win on Thursday at Philadelphia.
Antetokounmpo sparked the Bucks as they pulled away late, hitting a three-pointer, and later rebounding his own three-point miss and driving in for a slam dunk to help seal the Nets’ fate.
Sitting out a loss against Atlanta forced him to take some time early to regain a smooth flow with teammates.
Danny Green powered the Toronto Raptors with 29 points and they stayed in the hunt for the overall top spot with a 121-109 home victory over the Orlando Magic, improving to 55-23 with four games remaining.
The Raptors clinched no worse than second in the East, with the Philadelphia 76ers losing 122-102 to hosts the Dallas Mavericks and falling to 49-28.
Justin Jackson led the Mavericks with 24 points, while Tunisian reserve center Salah Mejri added 16 points and 14 rebounds for Dallas.
The Sixers, playing without Joel Embiid, got 26 points from J.J. Redick, 25 from Tobias Harris and 17 from Australian guard Ben Simmons in the loss.
All five teams battling on Monday for the final three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference lost, moving the Detroit Pistons (39-38), Brooklyn (39-39) and Miami Heat (38-39) nearer to the post-season, with Orlando (39-40) and the Charlotte Hornets still chasing and hoping.
Despite Kemba Walker’s 47-point effort, Charlotte lost 111-102 at Utah and slid to 35-42, staying three games behind Miami for the eighth and final playoff position.
Donovan Mitchell led the Utah Jazz with 25 points, while Spanish guard Ricky Rubio had 20 points and 13 assists, and French center Rudy Gobert added 18 points and 18 rebounds.
The Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving scored 25 points, as Al Horford produced his second career triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, in the Celtics’ 110-105 home victory over Miami, who had 30 points from Goran Dragic in a losing cause.
Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic each scored 19 points to lead seven players in double figures for the Indiana Pacers in a 111-102 home victory over Detroit.
Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Pacers, while Andre Drummond had 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Pistons.
The Portland Trail Blazers matched the Houston Rockets for third in the Western Conference at 49-28 with a 132-122 triumph at hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rodney Hood scored 21 points, and Enes Kanter added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Luke Kornet’s 24 points led five starters in double figures for the New York Knicks in a 113-105 home victory over the Chicago Bulls.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB