Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant scored 35 points as the Thunder held off a late rally by the Los Angeles Clippers to win 108-104 in Sunday’s clash of NBA divisional leaders.
Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists as the Thunder ended a three-game road skid, bouncing back less than 48 hours after losing at Denver.
Chris Paul scored 26 points, while Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford added 20 apiece for the Clippers.
In other key games, Miami tied a franchise record with their 14th straight win, defeating New York, Indiana beat Chicago to increase the gap between the Central Division leaders to four games, San Antonio routed Detroit despite missing Tony Parker and the Los Angeles Lakers pipped Atlanta by a point to keep up their playoff hopes.
Miami’s LeBron James had 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists as the Heat rallied to beat the New York Knicks 99-93.
Dwyane Wade added 20 points for the Heat.
The defending NBA champions won their sixth straight on the road by controlling the final minutes against a team that had a pair of 20-point wins over them this season.
James shook off a third-quarter leg injury and was back in top form by the finish, putting it away by coming up with a steal and throwing down a dunk with 23 seconds left.
Indiana’s David West scored 31 points and George Hill added 21, leading the Pacers past the Chicago Bulls 97-92.
Chicago were led by Marco Belinelli and Jimmy Butler, who each had 20 points.
San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili scored 17 points, while Tim Duncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Spurs routed the Detroit Pistons 114-75.
The Spurs rolled to their most lopsided victory of the season in their first game since Parker was injured. He will miss about a month with a sprained ankle.
Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and hit the go-ahead layup with nine seconds left, leading the Lakers over the Atlanta Hawks 99-98.
The Lakers blew a 16-point lead in the second half, before Bryant scored their last six points.
Houston’s Chandler Parsons scored a career-high 32 points on 12-for-13 shooting as the Rockets beat Dallas 136-103.
Jeremy Lin and James Harden added 21 points apiece, and Lin had nine assists for the Rockets.
Memphis’ Tayshaun Prince had 14 points, while Marc Gasol added 12 points and 11 assists as the Grizzlies cruised to a 108-82 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Washington’s John Wall scored the final six points of the game leading the Wizards past the Philadelphia 76ers 90-87.
Sacramento’s John Salmons scored 22 points, while Jason Thompson had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Kings to a 119-83 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
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