LaMarcus Aldridge had a career-high 40 points along with 11 rebounds to power the Portland Trail Blazers to a 99-89 win over NBA-leading San Antonio on Tuesday.
Gary Neal’s 3-pointer for San Antonio tied it 78-78, but Aldridge’s layup and Wesley Matthew’s scoop gave Portland their biggest lead of the game to that point at 82-78 with 7:03 left.
It was the first game of the Spurs’ “Rodeo Road Trip,” the team’s annual junket while its home stadium hosts the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
The next stop on the nine-game trip is the highly anticipated matchup with the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers today.
Wesley Matthews added 21 points for the Blazers.
Manu Ginobili had 14 points for the Spurs, who have lost only eight games this season.
Lakers 114, Rockets 106, OT
In Los Angeles, the hosts only narrowly avoided a rare third-straight home loss, edging Houston in overtime.
Kobe Bryant scored 32 points while Pau Gasol hit the go-ahead layup with 1:04 left in overtime and finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds.
The two-time defending NBA champions finished their first overtime of the season on a 10-2 run, barely holding off injury-depleted Houston.
Luis Scola hit a tying layup with 5.5 seconds left in regulation for the Rockets, who have lost three straight. Houston launched a season-high 38 3-point attempts, but made just 10.
“It’s important in this business to be able to play down the stretch and win close games,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson told reporters.
“We had a six-point ball game [against Boston] on Sunday with four minutes to go, and we didn’t play down the stretch, which is what you have to do,” he said.
Celtics 95, Kings 90
In Sacramento, Ray Allen scored 22 points as Boston overcame a slow start to get past Sacramento.
Rajon Rondo had 17 points and 10 assists as the Celtics pulled away in the fourth quarter.
DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans finished with 20 points apiece for a Kings team that was coming off wins against two of the Western Conference’s elite — the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Hornets — but again fell short of their first three-game streak this season.
Hornets 97, Wizards 89
In New Orleans, the hosts dropped Washington to a 0-25 record on the road, sliding closer to the worst ever such start in league history.
Jason Smith scored a career-high 20 points in a rare starting role while Chris Paul had 15 points and nine assists for New Orleans.
Smith was starting for center Emeka Okafor, whose oblique muscle strain kept him out for the first time in 306 games.
Nick Young scored 30 points for Washington, who trailed by double digits most of the second half in losing its sixth straight overall.
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning