The Oklahoma City Thunder spoiled Tracy McGrady’s New York debut with a 121-118 overtime victory for their eighth consecutive win on Saturday.
Kevin Durant powered the Thunder, scoring the game’s final four points and 36 for the game to send the Knicks to their sixth successive loss.
It marked the 27th consecutive game the All-Star forward has scored 25 or more points. Teammate Russell Westbrook added 31 points as the Thunder erased a six-point deficit in the final minute to force overtime on Durant’s three-pointer.
PHOTO: AFP
McGrady, traded to the Knicks by the Houston Rockets on Thursday, scored 26 points and delivered five assists in his first game since December.
“It felt foreign to me when I first stepped out there,” the 30-year-old told reporters. “I didn’t know if I was going to have my timing. I had the jitters. I mean, I haven’t played in so long, you know?”
The seven-times All Star went on to play 32 minutes, longer than he expected.
PHOTO: AFP
“It really felt good,” said McGrady, who started at shooting guard. “I think it helped my confidence moving forward as far as mentally knowing that I can go out there and play a significant amount of minutes.”
But he was in the game for only 19 seconds in overtime.
“He kind of ran out of gas toward the end,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said while praising McGrady’s overall play.
“He’s been an All Star for a long time,” D’Antoni said. “I expect him to play at that level or get back to that level at some time.”
David Lee topped the Knicks with 30 points and former Boston Celtics’ guard Eddie House had 24.
House’s jumper, off an assist by McGrady, gave the Knicks a 118-117 lead with 30 seconds to play in overtime.
Then Durant took over.
“He reminds me of myself when I was younger,” McGrady said.
PACERS 125, ROCKETS 115
At Houston, Texas, Danny Granger scored 36 points and T.J. Ford led a second-half surge as Indiana snapped a four-game losing streak.
The Rockets, playing their first game with four new players from a three-team trade, led most of the game, but the Pacers rallied from nine points down to start the third quarter, led by Ford, who scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half.
Troy Murphy added 18 points and 12 rebounds. Aaron Books led the Rockets with 26 points and seven assists, and Luis Scola added 25 points and 11 rebounds.
RAPTORS 109, WIZARDS 104
At Toronto, Jarrett Jack had 23 points and eight assists and Antoine Wright scored a season-high 19 points in Toronto’s ninth victory in 10 home games.
Andrea Bargnani added 18 points, Hedo Turkoglu had 16 and Rasho Nesterovic and Jose Calderon each had 10 for Toronto, which topped 100 points for the 20th straight game and won its second straight without All-Star Chris Bosh (sprained left ankle).
Andray Blatche scored 24 points for Washington.
MAVERICKS 97, HEAT 91
At Dallas, Jason Kidd scored 14 of his 21 points in fourth quarter and Dirk Nowitzki had 28 points for the hosts against short-handed Miami.
All-Star game most valuable player Dwyane Wade missed his second in a row with a strained left calf. Kidd scored 19 points in the second half as the Mavericks rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to beat Miami for the 12th straight time in the regular season.
BULLS 122, 76ERS 90
At Chicago, rookie Taj Gibson tied a career high with 20 points and had 13 rebounds as Chicago beat Philadelphia for its fourth straight win.
In other NBA action, it was:
● Clippers 99, Kings 89
● Bucks 93, Bobcats 88
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS