The Houston Rockets matched the NBA's third-longest winning streak when they recorded their 19th consecutive triumph with a 91-73 rout of the New Jersey Nets on Monday.
Tracy McGrady sparked the milestone victory with 19 points.
Only the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks have longer streaks, the Lakers winning 33 consecutive games during the 1971-1972 season, while the Bucks put together 20 successive victories in 1971.
PHOTO: AP
The Lakers also had a 19-game winning streak eight years ago.
"It's fantastic to have your team mentioned with some of the best teams and some of the best players to have ever played the game," Houston's Rafer Alston told reporters after scoring 12 points.
McGrady said the Rockets defense has played a big role in the streak and was key in Monday's victory.
"Defense wins ball games and that's what we're great at," McGrady said. "We didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight and our defense bailed us out."
The Nets scored only 28 points in the first half, shooting an ice-cold 20.9 percent, enabling the Rockets to enjoy an 18-point intermission lead that was never threatened in the second half.
Houston will attempt to record a 20th consecutive victory at Atlanta today.
Celtics 100, 76ers 86
At Philadelphia, Kevin Garnett had 26 points and 12 rebounds to help Boston down Philadelphia and reach 50 victories for the first time in 16 years.
The Celtics opened with a 15-0 run, won their ninth straight game and reached the 50-win mark for the first time since they finished the 1991-1992 season 51-31.
Andre Miller scored 22 points and Andre Iguodala had 17 for the Sixers, who had an eight-game home winning streak snapped.
Cavaliers 88, Trail Blazers 80
At Cleveland, LeBron James had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his seventh triple-double of the season, and Cleveland rallied in the second half to beat Portland
It is the 17th triple-double of James' career.
Joe Smith, playing in place of Ben Wallace, who missed the second half of the game with back spasms, scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half.
LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 25 points.
Spurs 107, Nuggets 103
At San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 23 points and 18 rebounds, and San Antonio beat Denver in the second meeting between the teams in four days.
Tony Parker added 16 points and Manu Ginobili scored 13 and had a career-high 14 assists for the Spurs. Allen Iverson led Denver with 28 points despite a broken finger.
J.R. Smith added 22 points and Carmelo Anthony contributed 18.
San Antonio, which lost in Denver on Friday, snapped a two-game skid and tied the Los Angeles Lakers at the top of the Western Conference.
Magic 123, Hawks 112
At Orlando, Florida, Dwight Howard had 26 points and 16 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu had the second triple-double of his career, and Orlando rolled past Atlanta.
Turkoglu racked up 23 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds as the Magic tied their season-high scoring output. Rashard Lewis added 22 points and reserve Keith Bogans had 19 as the Magic went 15-of-28 from behind the arc.
Joe Johnson scored 27 points and Mike Bibby had 23 for Atlanta.
Mavericks 108, Knicks 79
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 points in 22 minutes, then was among four starters who got to take the last quarter off as Dallas polished off a listless New York.
New York trailed by as many as 28 before intermission, then got within 14 points early in the third quarter. Dallas pulled away soon after for its second straight win and a 6-5 record since Jason Kidd arrived.
Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford, New York's top two scorers, returned to the lineup but it hardly mattered. The Knicks made only one of 13 shots to start the first quarter, then did it again to start the second quarter, setting the tone for their seventh straight loss.
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