Luol Deng’s buzzer-beater in overtime gave Chicago a 102-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors at the United Center on Saturday as the Bulls earned their fourth consecutive win and their NBA-leading 40th of the season.
Deng made a put-back shot for the Bulls as time expired after James Johnson blocked C.J. Watson’s shot. The play was reviewed by the officials to confirm Deng had released the ball prior to the buzzer.
With the score tied at 100-100, the Raptors (16-33) missed three of four foul shots in the final 15 seconds to give the Bulls their opportunity.
The Raptors charged to a 30-20 first-quarter lead and after squandering the advantage early in the second, they got their noses back in front 55-50 at halftime.
The Raptors missed three consecutive shots for the win in the final 10 seconds of regulation, setting up overtime.
Carlos Boozer led the Bulls (40-10) with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Deng also registered a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
League MVP Derrick Rose missed his sixth consecutive game and the Bulls were without Joakim Noah in the second half after he was ejected for two technical fouls in the second quarter.
Johnson and Jose Calderon led the Raptors with 20 points each, while Gary Forbes had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
CLIPPERS 101, GRIZZLIES 85
In Los Angeles, Blake Griffin had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Paul added 19 points and 13 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Memphis Grizzlies.
Randy Foye had 18 points to help the Clippers, playing the first of five home games in eight days, move within three games of the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead.
Zach Randolph had 14 points and eight rebounds for Memphis. The Grizzlies have lost six of eight after an 11-2 stretch.
SPURS 89, HORNETS 86
In New Orleans, DeJuan Blair scored 23 points and Tim Duncan had four key points down the stretch in San Antonio’s victory over New Orleans.
Jarrett Jack had 27 points for the Hornets, 25 in the first three quarters. He also committed a turnover and missed a driving layup in the final 32.7 seconds. Duncan finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
HAWKS 95, WIZARDS 92
In Washington, Joe Johnson scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute, as Atlanta erased a 16-point deficit to beat Washington.
Josh Smith added 20 points and nine rebounds to help the Hawks win their third consecutive game.
Nene led the Wizards with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his 80th career double-double, while Jordan Crawford scored 20 points. Washington’s John Wall missed a potential tying three-pointer right before the buzzer.
MAVERICKS 101, ROCKETS 99, OT
In Houston, Texas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, while Jason Terry added 24 and Brandan Wright had a career-high seven blocks in Dallas’ overtime victory over Houston.
Shawn Marion had 12 points and a season-high 15 rebounds to help the Mavericks beat Houston for the fifth straight time. Goran Dragic scored 24 points, while Luis Scola added 19 for the Rockets.
The game had 17 lead changes, 15 ties and a louder-than-usual crowd with the in-state rivals in town.
PACERS 125, BUCKS 104
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, George Hill scored a season-high 24 points in Indiana’s victory over Milwaukee.
Roy Hibbert added 16 points and nine rebounds to help the Pacers rebound from a home loss to Phoenix.
Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks. Monta Ellis, Milwaukee’s recent trade acquisition, scored 11 points, struggling after scoring nine in the first quarter.
The game included a minor confrontation in the fourth quarter between Milwaukee’s Mike Dunleavy, a former Pacers player, and Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough.
WARRIORS 111, KINGS 108
In Oakland, California, David Lee had 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, while rookie Klay Thompson scored a career-best 31 points to lead Golden State past Sacramento.
DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points and 18 rebounds for the Kings.
In other NBA play, it was:
‧ Nets 102, Bobcats 89
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
RSS