Vince Carter scored 18 of his 29 points in the second half on Monday night to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 90-77 win over the Houston Rockets.
Jason Kidd had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, his sixth triple-double of the season. Kidd has 73 career triple-doubles and needs five to tie Wilt Chamberlain for third all-time. Cliff Robinson added 15 points for the Nets, who've won all 28 games they've led after three quarters.
Yao Ming scored 36 points for the Rockets, playing their third straight game without Tracy McGrady, who's out up to five weeks with another back injury.
PHOTO: AP
Yao, who was averaging 27.5 points and 13 rebounds in 10 games since the All-Star break, went 9-of-17 from the field, most of them quick turnaround hook shots. He also went 18-for-20 from the free throw line.
The rest of the team, though, shot 17-of-59 from the field.
Bucks 88, Hawks 87
At Milwaukee, the Bucks snapped their longest home losing streak in six years at five games when Bobby Simmons scored 18 points and Michael Redd added 16.
Milwaukee still looked lethargic, blowing a 17-point lead in the second half before coming from behind to win. Milwaukee had won six in a row at home after a victory Valentine's Day against Seattle, but since went sour -- losing eight of the last 12 overall to fall below .500 in the Eastern Conference.
Josh Smith finished with a career-high 25 points for the Hawks, who at 20-41 were assured their seventh straight season without a winning record after having seven straight winning campaigns in the 1990s.
Nuggets 108, Knicks 96
At New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points, 12 in the third quarter when the game turned into a rout. Andre Miller added 16 points and former Knicks center Marcus Camby had 10 points and 18 rebounds for the Nuggets, who pulled away in the second half and improved to 3-1 on their season-high seven-game road trip.
Stephon Marbury scored 25 points for the Knicks, who have lost two straight and have the NBA's worst record. Channing Frye added 16.
Denver played the second half without Kenyon Martin, who has been troubled by knee and leg problems for much of the season and recently missed four games. He appeared to be near tears while holding his left leg during a first-half timeout.
Pacers 97, Magic 83
At Indianapolis, Danny Granger came off the bench to score 21 points, leading five Indiana players in double figures. Granger also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Anthony Johnson also scored 21 points, Peja Stojakovic and David Harrison had 14 each and Jamaal Tinsley 12.
Pacers guard Fred Jones returned for the first time since tearing a ligament in his left thumb against the Knicks on March 7.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
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