The Boston Celtics won again in Texas, overcoming the Dallas Mavericks 94-90 on Thursday to gain a rare sweep of the NBA's three Texas teams.
In successive games, the Eastern Conference leaders beat the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets and Dallas, with the victory over Houston ending their 22-game winning streak.
No team had beaten the three Texas teams in consecutive games since the Sacramento Kings did it in 2001.
"This was probably one of the better ones of the three," Celtics forward Paul Pierce told reporters after scoring 22 points and grabbing a season-high 13 rebounds.
"The Mavericks played great defense all night -- they held us to 34-to-35 percent shooting -- but we made the plays we needed to make down the stretch," Pierce said. "Ray [Allen] made an unbelievable shot on a play we drew up and we just kept getting stops and that was the key."
Allen, who had missed three games with an ankle injury, connected on a three-pointer with 31 seconds left to put Boston ahead for good. He finished with 21 points.
Kevin Garnett added 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Celtics improved their NBA-best record to 55-13.
Boston, winner of nine of its past 10 games, continues its Western Conference swing at New Orleans today.
Dallas had not lost to Boston at home in eight years.
"That team [the Celtics] has got to feel really good coming to Texas, through the triangle, and get all three games," Mavericks veteran Jerry Stackhouse said.
SPURS 102, BULLS 80
At Chicago, Tony Parker scored 23 points and Tim Duncan had 22 to go with 10 rebounds as San Antonio downed Chicago to end a four-game losing streak.
The defending NBA champs avoided their first five-game losing streak since the 1996-1997 season. And they had such an easy time of it that Duncan and Parker were able to rest in the fourth quarter.
LAKERS 106, JAZZ 95
At Salt Lake, City, Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, Lamar Odom had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Los Angeles ended Utah's 19-game home winning streak.
Derek Fisher added 11 points and Vladimir Radmanovic scored 13 for the Lakers, who are the first team to win in Utah in 2008. Los Angeles missed just once in its first 10 shots and was ahead by 24 early in the second period.
Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 15 rebounds and Deron Williams had 26 points and 12 assists for Utah. Andrei Kirilenko scored 15 points and Ronnie Brewer had 12.
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS