Manu Ginobili scored 19 points to lead San Antonio to a 93-80 victory on Saturday over the Washington Wizards, who lost coach Eddie Jordan to an ejection.
Tim Duncan had 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Tony Parker had 13 points and 10 boards. Fabricio Oberto had five points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Spurs' impressive defensive effort.
Gilbert Arenas led the Wizards with 17 points, well below his average of 30 per game. Antonio Daniels had 12 points, Antawn Jamison added 11 and Caron Butler and Andray Blatche had 10 apiece. Butler also had 12 boards.
The Wizards shot just 27-of-87 (31 percent) from the field and had only eight assists while tying their season low in points.
Heat 119, Jazz 110
At Salt Lake City, Dwyane Wade had 32 points and 10 assists and Miami defeated Utah to extend its longest winning streak of the season to four.
Wade made 21 of 23 free throws and Miami improved to 4-1 on a six-game road trip, which concludes today against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat are also 4-2 since Ron Rothstein took over as interim coach for Pat Riley.
Suns 107, Magic 101
At Phoenix, Boris Diaw fell a rebound shy of a triple-double and Phoenix held off a late Orlando rally for its ninth victory in a row.
Diaw had 19 points and 11 assists to help the Suns improve to 17-1 against Eastern Conference foes this season. Steve Nash scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half for Phoenix and had eight assists.
Timberwolves 109, Nets 98
At Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett scored 32 points and surpassed 10,000 rebounds for his career as Minnesota beat New Jersey to win a game by more than six points for the first time this season.
Garnett pulled down 14 rebounds to become the 32nd player in league history to reach the milestone. Mark Blount added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Timberwolves, who used a 12-1 run midway through the fourth quarter to win for the ninth time in 12 games.
For the first time this season, the Wolves won a game by more than six points and improved to 6-1 this year.
Bulls 111, Grizzlies 66
At Chicago, Ben Gordon scored 24 points and Luol Deng added 18 as Chicago downed Memphis for its easiest victory of the season despite missing starters Andres Nocioni and Ben Wallace.
Nocioni was suspended for one game by the NBA for elbowing New Jersey's center Mikki Moore on Thursday and Wallace missed the game with a sore back.
Bobcats 89, 76ers 83
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Adam Morrison scored 17 points and Charlotte overcame a pregame blunder that left it a man short and two more costly technical fouls.
Derek Anderson added 15 points and Raymond Felton had 14 points and nine assists for the Bobcats, who won their season-high third straight game despite losing backup point guard Jeff McInnis late in the first quarter thanks to a bizarre scoring mistake.
Pistons 81, Celtics 73
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Richard Hamilton scored 22 points and Flip Murray added 21 as Detroit ended an embarrassing two-game losing streak with a win over Boston.
The Pistons were coming off consecutive losses to Charlotte and Atlanta -- a combined 22-46 this season -- but bounced back to hand Boston its fourth loss in a row.
Rockets 115, Kings 111, OT
At Sacramento, California, Tracy McGrady had 37 points and nine assists as Houston handed Sacra-mento its fifth straight loss.
Rafer Alston had 22 points and eight assists for Houston, which has won four straight and nine of 10. Juwan Howard made his first five shots and scored 17 points, Luther Head contributed 14 points, and Dikembe Mutombo added 11 points and 18 rebounds.
Cavaliers 104, Clippers 92
At Los Angeles, LeBron James scored 28 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 20 as Cleveland beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Cavaliers, making the third stop on their seven-game road trip and coming off their most lopsided loss of the season in Phoenix, won for the ninth time in their last 11 games. Eric Snow finished with 18 points for Cleveland, which leads the Eastern Conference with a 23-13 record.
The Clippers, coming off a six-game road trip, got 22 points from reserve forward Corey Maggette while Chris Kaman had 20 points.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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