Allen Iverson scored 37 points, including a go-ahead basket in the final minute after coming back from an ankle injury, to lead the Philadelphia 76ers over the San Antonio Spurs 99-94 on Thursday.
The Sixers snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 5-0 at the First Union Center. San Antonio has lost three consecutive games after winning three in succession.
Keith Van Horn had 21 points and nine rebounds, Brian Skinner added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Aaron McKie had 12 points and nine boards for the Sixers.
PHOTO: AFP
Tim Duncan had 29 points and nine rebounds, and Stephen Jackson added 15 points for the Spurs.
Iverson briefly left after hurting his left ankle in the final 8:08.
He got his ankle taped, returned two minutes later, and made a driving layup and a 3-pointer to give the Sixers an 87-83 lead, which the Spurs chased but could not match.
Wizards 105, Jazz 102
In Washington, Michael Jordan scored 19 points, including back-to-back layups to give Washington the lead for good late in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz had a chance to tie on their final possession, but Charles Oakley, playing for the first time since a brief appearance in the season opener, twice knocked the ball out of DeShawn Stevenson's hands at the 3-point arc. Stevenson never got off the shot.
Utah got close enough to tie after Tyronn Lue missed two free throws with 18.1 seconds remaining. The Wizards had made 34 straight free throws up to then, finishing 36-for-39 for the game.
Jerry Stackhouse scored 25 points and went 14-for-14 from the free-throw line.
He made six foul shots in the final minute as the Wizards held off the Jazz in an intense fourth quarter after blowing a 21-point first-half lead.
Karl Malone scored 26 points, and John Stockton had 17 points and 11 assists before fouling out in the final minute. There were two double technical fouls assessed in the final period, including one to Jordan and Malone.
Magic 101, Clippers 80
In Los Angeles, NBA scoring leader Tracy McGrady had 35 points, including a spectacular drive-and-float dunk as Orlando took charge in the third quarter.
McGrady took 14-of-26 shots from the field for Orlando, which snapped a two-game losing streak after a 5-1 start.
Grant Hill had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Pat Garrity added 14 points in reserve for the Magic, who were missing usual sixth man Mike Miller because of an ankle injury.
Corey Maggette and Michael Olowokandi led Los Angeles with 16 points each, but Olowokandi had just two in the second half.
Elton Brand had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who made 19 turnovers that the Magic converted into 26 points.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS