Flip Murray scored a season-best 30 points while Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson each added 20 as the Atlanta Hawks won their season-high eighth straight home game, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-97 on Monday night.
It was Atlanta’s eighth win in nine games and the fifth straight loss for the Timberwolves.
The home streak is the longest for Atlanta since Nov. 12, 1996-Feb. 12, 1997, when the Hawks won 20 in row.
Randy Foye led Minnesota with 19 points, while Kevin Love added 17.
CELTICS 90, CLIPPERS 77
At Boston, Ray Allen scored 20 points and the Boston Celtics, sparked by an alley-oop dunk from Kevin Garnett, pulled away from the Los Angeles Clippers.
Rajon Rondo added 14 points and seven assists, while Kendrick Perkins scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds for Boston (54-18).
Garnett played 18 minutes, hitting all five field-goal attempts while scoring 12 points. He added two rebounds and two assists in his third game back since missing 13 with a sprained right knee.
MAGIC 106, KNICKS 102
At New York, Dwight Howard had 29 points and 14 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu led a big fourth-quarter rally, and the Orlando Magic tuned up for a showdown with Boston by beating the New York Knicks.
Turkoglu scored 12 of his 16 points in the final period for the Magic, who now need one win to clinch their second straight Southeast Division title.
Orlando is a game behind Boston for the No. 2 seed. Courtney Lee scored 22 points on some clutch free throws shooting for the Magic, who have won three in a row, the last two coming in a sweep of a home-and-home series with the Knicks.
Nate Robinson scored 19 for New York, which dropped its fifth straight in a late-season collapse after entertaining hopes of a playoff spot a week ago.
HEAT 94, GRIZZLIES 82
At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 27 points to top his own Miami single-season record, plus added eight assists as the Heat easily beat the Memphis Grizzlies.
Wade now has 2,064 points this season, 24 more than his previous best. He got the record on a layup 2 minutes into the game, part of an 11-0 start that got Miami rolling.
Michael Beasley had 17 points and nine rebounds, Udonis Haslem scored 11 points and Jamaal Magloire finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Miami.
BULLS 101, WIZARDS 99
At Washington, Ben Gordon scored seven of his 21 points in the final three-and-a-half minutes, as the Chicago Bulls nearly stumbled again in their mediocre march toward the playoffs before hanging on for a victory over Washington.
The Bulls had an 11-point lead whittled to one over the final 6 minutes. Washington’s Nick Young made the score 100-99 with a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds to play, but Gordon made one of two free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining. After Gordon missed the second attempt, Antawn Jamison missed a desperation 40-foot shot at the buzzer.
SUNS 118, NUGGETS 115
At Phoenix, Grant Hill scored 23 points and Jason Richardson added 22 as the Phoenix Suns extended their winning streak.
Hill hit a 12-foot jump shot with 58.6 seconds remaining to give the Suns a 115-113 lead, then made a foul shot with 6.2 seconds left after Denver’s Chauncey Billups missed a leaning 8-footer.
Billups, fouled by Hill with 5.4 seconds left to prevent the Nuggets from attempting a tying 3-pointer, made both free throws to cut the Suns’ lead to 116-115. The Nuggets fouled Steve Nash on the inbound play, and he made both foul shots with 3.9 seconds left.
76ERS 104, TRAIL BLAZERS 103, OT
At Portland, Andre Miller had 27 points and 10 rebounds and Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala scored 25 points each as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied in overtime to beat the Trail Blazers.
The Sixers scored eight consecutive points in overtime, including a rebound basket by Miller with 1:55 left to give Philadelphia a 104-103 lead.
Young hit 10 of 15 shots and scored 17 of his 25 points during the second half. Philadelphia went 35-of-39 from the free-throw line, and hit 51.4 percent (38-of-74) of its shots.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
‘EVERYONE SAW’: The visitors were left fuming after Jules Kounde was fouled by Claudio Echeverri in the buildup to the winning goal and it went unpunished Spanish champions Barcelona on Monday fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona to leave them trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of La Liga. Los Blancos beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in an gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead. Teenage star Lamine Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark. However, goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback. “In the end Girona deserved it, they had a lot of
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
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