Sasha Pavlovic scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to pick up the slack for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers shut down Kobe Bryant in the final minutes for a 99-90 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Pavlovic finished with 21 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas 17 and Anderson Varejao with 12 as the Cavaliers improved to 20-7 at home with their second straight solid effort.
James had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but he deferred to Pavlovic and others down the stretch and Cleveland's supporting cast came through. James was outscored 25-7 by Bryant in the second half, but the All-Star forward got to crown the Cavs' win with a soaring dunk in the final seconds.
Timberwolves 109, Celtics 107
At Minneapolis, Ricky Davis' jumper from the corner with 0.2 seconds remaining dealt the Celtics their franchise-record 18th straight loss.
Davis finished with 28 points, Kevin Garnett had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and another former Celtic, Mark Blount, added 20 points for the Timberwolves.
Bulls 116, Suns 103
At Phoenix, Kirk Hinrich scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and Chicago completed a seven-game road trip with the victory over the short-handed Suns.
Phoenix played without Steve Nash for the third consecutive game because of a sore right shoulder. The Suns also didn't have starter Boris Diaw because of back spasms.
Heat 100, Spurs 85
At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 18 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Heat held San Antonio without a field goal for more than seven minutes down the stretch.
Wade hit seven of 10 field goals in the final period and added seven assists.
Pacers 94, Clippers 80
At Indianapolis, Jermaine O'Neal scored 21 points and set an Indiana franchise record for career blocked shots.
The Pacers took control with a 16-0 run at the end of the second quarter and built their lead to 23 points early in the third period.
The Clippers rallied within seven points midway through the final quarter, but O'Neal then hit two straight baskets and Mike Dunleavy, who finished with 20 points, added another basket to push Indiana's lead to 89-76. Los Angeles came no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Trail Blazers 94, Wizards 73
At Washington, Jarrett Jack and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points apiece and Portland held Gilbert Arenas to nine points.
Arenas, who vowed to score 50 points in retaliation for being left off the US national team last summer by Portland coach Nate McMillan, shot 3-for-15 from the field, including 0-for-8 on 3-pointers.
SuperSonics 114, Kings 103
At Sacramento, California, Ray Allen scored 25 points and hit a key 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter to help Seattle win its second straight road game following a franchise-record 15-game skid away from home.
Chris Wilcox added 25 points on 8-for-9 shooting for the Sonics and Rashard Lewis had 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Hawks 106, Warriors 105
At Oakland, California, Josh Smith scored 11 of his 29 points in Atlanta's big first quarter and also had 10 rebounds, leading the Hawks to their fifth straight road victory.
Joe Johnson scored 21 points for Atlanta.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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