Chris Bosh scored 17 of his season-high 35 points in the fourth quarter to supply the firepower for the Miami Heat in a 92-85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Bosh stole the spotlight even as Cleveland’s past met their future when LeBron James faced the Cavaliers’ No. 1 overall draft choice Kyrie Irving.
The Heat are still without the injured Dwyane Wade and Cleveland stayed in touch throughout the game to trail by two midway through the final quarter, before Bosh quickly converted a three-point play and added a three-pointer to stretch the lead.
The visiting Cavs fought back again and twice pulled within three points in the final 13 seconds, but Miami (12-5) clinched the game at the free-throw line, where Bosh finished a perfect 14 of 14.
“They kept coming to me, they showed trust in me,” Bosh told reporters of his big night. “I just wanted to make sure that I pulled the trigger without kind of hesitating.”
James added a quiet 18 points in a rematch with the team he left as a free agent in the 2010 off-season and the Heat improved to 7-1 without Wade, who remains out with a right-ankle problem.
Irving, who leads all rookies in scoring this season, paced Cleveland (6-10) with 17 points and Samardo Samuels added 15, but the visitors lost their fourth straight game.
Still, the Cavaliers have shown improvement after losing an Eastern Conference-worst 63 games last season.
“We stayed in the game for 48 minutes,” Cleveland coach Byron Scott said.
“The only thing I’m disappointed in is the fact we had [20] turnovers and that’s killing our game,” he said.
Tuesday’s other results:
‧ Magic 102, Pacers 83
‧ Trail Blazers 97, Grizzlies 84
‧ Raptors 99, Suns 96
‧ Knicks 111, Bobcats 78
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS