Paul Pierce made a long jump shot at the buzzer on Tuesday to help the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 116-115 in overtime.
Pierce scored 31 points, including the Celtics' last seven points in overtime, to secure the win.
Gilbert Arenas led Washington with 39 points, including nine of the Wizards' 11 overtime points. His pull-up with 14 seconds left in the extra period put the Wizards ahead 115-114. Pierce answered with a fade-away from the left baseline for the game-winner.
PHOTO: AP
Pierce had given the Celtics a 114-113 lead with 28 seconds left in OT before Arenas' pull-up.
Knicks 107, Pacers 92
At Indianapolis, Jalen Rose scored 21 points and Jamal Crawford added 16 to help New York beat Indiana and win consecutive games for the first time in eight weeks.
New York, which had lost 16 of its past 18 games and had the NBA's second-worst record, overcame a horrible start, pulled within one point at halftime and took control with a flurry of 3-pointers at the start of the third quarter.
Stephen Jackson and Peja Stojakovic led Indiana with 20 points each.
Rockets 93, Timberwolves 87
At Minneapolis, With Yao Ming emerging as an offensive force, Houston didn't need Tracy McGrady in its win over Minnesota.
Yao topped 20 points for the eighth straight game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the Rockets.
With McGrady on the bench again with back problems, Yao dominated the paint and Stromile Swift added 11 points and nine boards off the bench for Houston, which used a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter to get their third straight victory.
Kevin Garnett made only six of 17 shots, but scored 15 points and had 21 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who didn't score in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, missing their first 12 shots.
Clippers 98, Spurs 85
At Los Angeles, Elton Brand had 30 points and nine rebounds, Sam Cassell added 15 points and 11 assists, and the Los Angeles Clippers capitalized on Tim Duncan's foul trouble to snap San Antonio's seven-game winning streak.
Chris Kaman had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who had lost eight straight to the defending NBA champions, 28 of the previous 31 meetings and 12 of 14 at home. Cassell dislocated the pinky on his left hand in the final minute of the first half, but popped it back in place himself and finished the game without any further distress.
Tony Parker had 20 points for the Spurs, who lost for only the fourth time in 24 games.
After the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee won the Horizon League tournament and an automatic bid to NCAA tournament, first-year coach Rob Jeter cut down the nets.
"I thought we couldn't score 87 points with the swing," Jeter said, taking a good-natured swipe at critics who thought his halfcourt offense would turn last year's NCAA regional semifinalists into a walking yawnfest.
Boo Davis scored 18 points to help the Panthers beat Butler 87-71 Tuesday night, earning the league's NCAA berth for the third time in four years.
Jeter, hired after Bruce Pearl left for Tennessee, takes most of his coaching and personality cues from former boss Bo Ryan, the respected but aloof coach at Wisconsin.
UW-Milwaukee won two of the previous three Horizon tournaments and past three regular-season titles.
Senior Adrian Tigert was one of several players to step up on Tuesday after leading scorer Joah Tucker went to the bench with his fourth foul only 39 seconds into the second half.
Even without Tucker, the Panthers (21-8) continued to rely on their inside game and got key contributions from reserves Derrick Ford and Mark Pancratz.
"Just a team effort," Jeter said. "We faced some adversity there when Joah went down, and went deep in our bench."
The Panthers outscored Butler 56-24 in the paint and outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-24.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
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