Tracy McGrady scored five of his 32 points in overtime, helping the Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 91-86 on Saturday.
The Rockets, who lost four of their previous five, opened a four-game road trip with their seventh straight win over the Clippers.
Yao Ming had 10 points and eight assists before fouling out for the second time. Yao is averaging 25.4 points in five home games, compared with 12.5 in six road games.
Bobby Simmons scored 20 points and was one of five Clippers in double figures. Elton Brad added 19 points and 10 rebounds.
McGrady opened overtime with a 20-foot jumper and a 16-footer in a 35-second span, giving Houston an 86-82 lead. Rookie Shaun Livingston hit a driving bank shot and then found Chris Wilcox wide open at the top of the lane, but Wilcox was called for an offensive charge that wiped out his game-tying layup.
Jim Jackson sealed the victory with a 14-foot baseline jumper with 25.3 seconds left and McGrady added a free throw for the final margin.
Jazz 92, Hawks 79
In Atlanta, Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Utah pulled away in a victory over Atlanta.
Utah made 11 of 12 free throws in the final 4:18 to fend off a comeback attempt by Atlanta, which twice pulled within five points in the fourth quarter.
Mehmet Okur scored 18 points, and Andrei Kirilenko blocked seven shots and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Jazz, who went 2-2 on a four-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams.
Al Harrington led Atlanta with 17 points, followed by rookie Josh Childress' season-high 16.
Cavaliers 100, Bobcats 84
In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 25 points, Jeff McInnis added a season-high 24 and Cleveland won its sixth straight.
McInnis scored seven straight points during an 11-0 run late in the third quarter when the Cavaliers built an 18-point lead. McInnis had 12 points in the period.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 12 points -- 10 in the second half -- and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, which beat the expansion Bobcats for the second time in three days.
Gerald Wallace had 15 points, and rookie Emeka Okafor 13 for Charlotte, which has lost six in a row.
The Cavaliers have only had two longer winning streaks since 1997.
Timberwolves 99, Hornets 94
In New Orleans, Eddie Griffin scored 23 points and Kevin Garnett had 20 despite a shoulder injury to lift Minnesota over winless New Orleans.
After New Orleans pulled within seven with less than two minutes remaining, Griffin demoralized the Hornets with a reverse jam after he picked up a loose ball under the basket.
Wizards 97, Nets 86
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Larry Hughes scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as Washington earned its first victory in New Jersey since 1999.
Antawn Jamison added 27 points for Washington, which had lost eight straight in the Garden State.
Jarvis Hayes had seven of his 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Wizards snapped a four-game overall losing streak against New Jersey. The win was also the first for former Nets assistant and current Wizards coach Eddie Jordan against his old team.
Other results: Magic 86, Pacers 83, Grizzlies 100, Warriors 87
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS