The Chicago Bulls secured their first playoff berth since the Michael Jordan era, beating the Toronto Raptors 110-97 on Saturday night.
Chicago is headed to the playoffs for the first time since the 1997-1998 season, when Jordan led the Bulls to their sixth NBA title. The Bulls, winners of 12 of 13, are fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Kirk Hinrich scored 25 points and five Bulls scored in double figures. Tyson Chandler had a season-high 18 points and finished with 21 rebounds in a reserve role.
Jalen Rose led the Raptors with 19 points against his former team.
Cavaliers 98, Bucks 81
In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 40 points and recorded his third triple-double of the season to help Cleveland keep its weak grasp on a playoff spot.
By snapping a three-game losing streak and winning for just the fifth time in 15 games, Cleveland slowed its freefall through the Central Division standings. With six games left, the Cavaliers are tied with Philadelphia for the No. 7 spot in the East, 1 games ahead of New Jersey.
James made seven 3-pointers to go with his 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Drew Gooden added 24 points and Jeff McInnis 22 for Cleveland.
Michael Redd led Milwaukee with 26 points.
Nets 99, Celtics 86
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Vince Carter scored a season-best 45 points, including 24 in the first quarter, and New Jersey continued their late playoff push.
Jason Kidd added a season-high 17 assists and rookie center Nenad Krstic had 17 points in leading the Nets to their 11th win in 14 games.
Carter finished 18-of-32 from the field, including 7-of-9 from 3-point range.
Paul Pierce had 16 points to lead the Celtics.
76ers 112, Wizards 106
In Washington, Andre Iguodala, Willie Green and Marc Jackson scored 20 points each put down for Philadelphia, which won its fourth straight.
Allen Iverson, the NBA scoring leader, sprained both thumbs in Friday night's win over Cleveland and did not play. Chris Webber missed his fourth straight game with a sprained left shoulder.
Gilbert Arenas scored a career-high 44 points for the Wizards, who have lost five straight.
Mavericks 88, Jazz 81
In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points to help Dallas secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Jason Terry added 14 points and Michael Finley had 13 for the Mavericks (52-24), who hold a 5-game lead over fifth-place Sacramento. (47-30) and won the season series against the Kings 3-1.
Kris Humphries scored 15 points to pace Utah.
Australian center Andrew Bogut from University of Utah was a runaway winner of the John R. Wooden award, presented on Saturday to college basketball's player of the year in the US.
Bogut barely heard of Wooden while growing up in Australia, but University of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who received the legends of coaching award, filled in some details for Bogut.
The award was first presented in 1977 -- two years after Wooden retired as the coach at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in his last 12 years on the job.
Bogut, a 2.13m second-year student, became the first non-American to win the men's award, collecting 4,314 points from a national panel of more than 1,000 voters of sports media members and college basketball experts. Duke's J.J. Redick was second with 3,552 points.
"It's very special just to have my name engraved on that trophy with the likes of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan," said Bogut, who is giving up his final two years of NCAA eligibility to enter the NBA draft, where he's expected to be one of the top picks.
The 20-year-old Bogut averaged 20.4 points and 12.2 rebounds in leading the Utes to a 29-6 record this season.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
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