Dwight Howard made his presence felt with 17 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks to guide the Orlando Magic to a 97-82 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
Mickael Pietrus made all six of his three-point attempts and finished with 24 points off the bench, while Vince Carter returned from a toe injury to score 19 and help the Magic (53-22) to their third win in a row.
“I think we’re starting to peak, which is good with the playoffs coming,” Howard told reporters. “I just want to win a championship and in order for us to win, we have to stay consistent.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Mavericks were playing for the second consecutive night and appeared sluggish, falling behind by seven points at halftime and 16 after three quarters.
Dirk Nowitzki had a team-high 24 points for Dallas (50-26), but was the only starter to score in double figures. Jason Terry and Jose Barea grabbed 16 points apiece from the bench.
The defeat saw Dallas fall into a tie with the Utah Jazz for second in the Western Conference. Orlando are moving closer to clinching the second seed in the East and have won 14 of their last 16.
The Magic made 14 of 24 three-pointers and got major contributions from two players coming back from injury.
Nuggets 109, Trail Blazers 92
At Denver, Carmelo Anthony scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Nuggets rebound from a tough week to beat Portland.
Nene added 22 points and Chauncey Billups 21 for the Nuggets, who won for only the second time in a seven-game stretch, dropping from second to fifth in the home stretch of the Western Conference playoff race.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
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Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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