The Boston Celtics cruised to one of the easiest victories ever on Thursday, beating New York 104-59 to send the Knicks to their third-worst loss and their second-worst scoring performance of the shot-clock era.
Only Nate Robinson's three-pointer at the final buzzer saved the Knicks from an even bigger embarrassment. The Knicks' lowest points total ever was 58 against Utah, on Dec. 15, 2000.
Kevin Garnett played just 22 minutes, scoring eight points before leaving the game midway through the third quarter with Boston ahead 69-34. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen also sat out the fourth quarter and played 29 minutes apiece. And Rajon Rondo dribbled out 24 of the final 26 seconds, turning the ball over on purpose rather than go for a 50-point win.
Allen and Pierce had 21 points each for Boston.
Robinson led the Knicks with 11 points.
Warriors 113, Rockets 94
In Oakland, California, Baron Davis scored 27 points and undersized Golden State held Yao Ming in check, beating Houston for their eighth win in nine games after an 0-6 start.
Stephen Jackson added 19 points and Al Harrington had 18 for the Warriors (8-7), who became the fastest team in NBA history to post a winning record after losing the first six games.
Even though Yao had a decided size advantage over Harrington and Andris Biedrins, he was unable to convert that into success on the court. He shot four-for-12 and had five turnovers, finishing with a season-low 10 points.
Golden State even held their own on the boards against the taller Rockets, out rebounding them 45-41 . Ellis and Biedrins led the way with 10 boards apiece.
Lakers 127, Nuggets 99
In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 24 points and reserve guard Sasha Vujacic dominated the fourth quarter, scoring 19 of his career-high 22 points and powering Los Angeles to a rout of Denver.
Vujacic shot six-for-14 in 21 minutes of action. Andrew Bynum had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Luke Walton added a career-high 14 points in 27 minutes.
The Lakers' reserves outscored their Denver counterparts 63-29.
Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 23 points and Allen Iverson had 21. The loss was the Nuggets' third straight, following a 7-1 stretch.
Anthony was ejected with 6 minutes, 18 seconds remaining after committing a flagrant foul against Vujacic, hitting him in the throat away from the where the ball was in play.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS