Dwyane Wade scored 19 of his 25 points in the first quarter as Miami built a huge early lead and rolled past the Utah Jazz 121-83 on Tuesday night, the Heat's 12th win in 13 games.
Alonzo Mourning had a season-high 19 points, James Posey added 16 and Shaquille O'Neal scored 13 points in 17 minutes for Miami, which posted the fourth-largest margin of victory in franchise history.
The 38-point margin represented Miami's biggest win of the season, and Utah's biggest loss. The Heat won by 29 at Portland on Jan. 8, while the Jazz were beaten by 36 at Sacramento on Nov. 15.
Matt Harpring scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half for Utah, while Carlos Boozer added 12. The Jazz were outrebounded 50-29 and shot only 40 percent while letting Miami shoot 57 percent from the floor.
Raptors 111, 76ers 97
At Philadelphia, Chris Bosh scored 31 points and Darrick Martin had a season-high 18 points and 12 assists to lead Toronto.
Playing without the injured Allen Iverson, the Sixers failed to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Chris Webber had 23 points and 11 rebounds and John Salmons scored a career-high 23 points.
The Sixers (31-32) lost for the fourth time in five games and fell 3 games behind Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey.
Toronto relied on strong 3-point shooting in the fourth quarter to outscore Philadelphia 33-12. The Raptors hit 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the final 12 minutes.
Wizards 119, Bobcats 114
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Antawn Jamison had 35 points and 16 rebounds to lead Washington.
Gilbert Arenas scored 34 points and Caron Butler added 25 to join Jamison as the only productive Wizards in the game. The rest of the team combined for just 25 points and the bench didn't contribute until the fourth quarter.
Still, it was enough as Washington won two straight over two very different opponents. The Wizards were coming off a victory over the Detroit Pistons -- the best team in the NBA -- then had to claw one out against the Bobcats, one of the worst teams in the league.
Jumaine Jones scored 18 points to lead a balanced attack for the Bobcats, who had seven players in double figures. Raymond Felton had 17 despite missing most of the fourth quarter while he had his face examined after taking a hard elbow from Etan Thomas.
Mavericks 91, Cavaliers 87
At Dallas, the Mavericks made their defense-oriented coach proud with a little history of their own on the night Avery Johnson moved into the NBA record book.
The injury-depleted Dallas erased a 19-point third-quarter deficit by holding Cleveland to only eight points -- the fewest it's ever allowed in any quarter -- and kept rallying to give Johnson his record 66th victory over his first 82 games in charge.
Dirk Nowitzki finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds, Jason Terry scored 20 points and Marquis Daniels had 17. Erick Dampier had seven points and 13 rebounds.
LeBron James had 36 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, which lost its third straight game overall and sixth straight in Dallas.
Spurs 96, Hornets 81
At San Antonio, Tony Parker had 20 points and 11 assists, Brent Barry made four 3-pointers and all six shots from the floor, and San Antonio beat fading New Orleans.
The Spurs (50-14) maintained a share of the lead in the Southwest Division and the top record in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks, who beat Cleveland on Tuesday.
Chris Paul and Marc Jackson each scored 16 points for the Hornets, who trailed by seven points with 7:43 left in the game but were outscored 17-9 the rest of the way.
Suns 129, SuperSonics 120
At Seattle, Tim Thomas shot 10-for-11 and scored 23 points off the bench, Shawn Marion scored 24 points with 11 rebounds, and Phoenix beat Seattle.
Raja Bell made 10 of 13 shots for 25 points as the Suns shot 56 percent. Steve Nash added 23 points and Boris Diaw scored 16 with nine rebounds and seven assists as Phoenix won for the 13th time in the last 15.
The last time the teams met, they combined for the highest-scoring game in the league in 11 years, a 152-149 double-overtime victory by the Sonics in Phoenix. Ray Allen made a 30-footer at the buzzer to give Seattle the win, capping a 42-point night.
Allen did his part again, leading Seattle with 33 points, but Seattle could not match the Suns' scoring depth. Rashard Lewis added 22 for the Sonics, and Luke Ridnour had 19 points and 13 assists.
Chris Kenny set an opening-round record with six 3-pointers Tuesday, and 2.18m center John Bunch entertained the crowd with his bulk and his blocks during Monmouth's 71-49 victory over Hampton in the play-in game.
Monmouth (19-14) moves on to Philadelphia to play No. 1 seed Villanova in the Wildcats' backyard on Friday, looking to pull off that elusive 16-over-1 upset.
Even if they don't get it, the Northeast Conference champions have already had a breakthrough tournament. The Hawks hadn't come close to winning any of their three previous NCAA appearances.
Monmouth lost by 24 points to Marquette in 1996, by 43 points to No. 1 seed Duke in 2001, and by 33 points to Mississippi State in 2004. The conference hadn't even won an NCAA tournament game since 1983.
Kenny and Bunch helped the Hawks finally get it going.
Only a handful of students from both schools made the short-notice trip for the tournament opener, held at the University of Dayton Arena since the NCAA returned to a play-in format in 2001.
New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas denies sexual harassment charges, saying a disgruntled former team executive who sued him brought groundless claims in a "meritless lawsuit" to harass him and extort money.
In papers filed last Friday in US District Court in Manhattan, Thomas repeated denials he has made publicly since accusations were made in January by Anucha Browne Sanders, the Knicks' former senior vice president of marketing and business operations.
She contends she was fired in January "for telling the truth" while going through internal channels to stop the harassment. She has accused Thomas of telling her he was "very attracted" to her and "in love" with her and tried to kiss her.
In seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit, Thomas said Browne Sanders brought the action to harm him and secure a financial payout from him and Madison Square Garden.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
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