Paul George scored 28 points to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 111-100 win over San Antonio on Saturday, ending an 11-game losing streak against the Spurs.
David West had 20 points, while Lance Stephenson scored 15 for the Pacers, who enjoyed a 41-34 rebounding edge. Roy Hibbert and Luis Scola each had 12 points and 10 boards.
Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points for San Antonio, who have dropped three of five. Manu Ginobili added 16 points, Tony Parker had 13 and Tim Duncan finished with 10.
The Pacers’ last victory against the Spurs came in April 2007 in Indianapolis. Their last victory in San Antonio was nearly 12 years ago.
In other games, the Miami Heat bounced back after consecutive losses to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-82, the Dallas Mavericks edged the Western Conference-leading Portland Trail Blazers 108-106, the Detroit Pistons topped the Chicago Bulls 92-75 for their fourth straight victory and the Brooklyn Nets rebounded from their embarrassing loss to the crosstown Knicks by beating the lowly Milwaukee Bucks 90-82.
LeBron James paced the Heat with 21 points, eight assists and 14 boards in his first double-digit rebounding game of the season. Dwyane Wade had 19 points and five rebounds in his return from a two-game absence due to injury and illness.
The Heat controlled the glass for much of the game after getting hammered on the boards in consecutive losses to Detroit and Chicago.
The Timberwolves were without Kevin Love, who was with his family following the death of his grandmother on Wednesday.
Dallas’ Monta Ellis hit a 21-foot jumper at the buzzer as the Mavericks stopped the Trail Blazers’ four-game winning streak. Ellis finished with 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 28 for the Mavericks’ third straight win.
Damian Lillard had 32 points for the Blazers, including a three-pointer with 1.9 seconds left that tied it at 106. It was just the second loss at home this season for the red-hot Blazers, who lead the Western Conference at 17-4 and are off to their best start since the 1990-1991 season.
In Chicago, Brandon Jennings scored 33 points to lead Detroit, who stretched their road winning streak to four games and moved to .500 in the standings at 10-10.
Andre Drummond (14 rebounds), Greg Monroe (12) and Josh Smith (10) helped the Pistons to a 51-44 rebounding edge.
It was Detroit’s first regular-season victory in Chicago since February 2006, following a string of 14 losses.
The Bulls played without leading scorer Luol Deng, who was sidelined by tightness in his left calf.
Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez scored 32 points and Joe Johnson had 15 in the win over Milwaukee, the worst team in the Eastern Conference.
Lopez dominated inside, making 11 of 13 shots from the field and adding seven rebounds and four assists.
The slumping Nets were coming off a 113-83 loss to New York on Thursday. Kevin Garnett again struggled from the field, hitting just two of nine shots while scoring six.
In other games, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson scored 20 points apiece to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 88-82 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Irving, coming off the first scoreless game of his career, was six-for-15 from the field and seven-for-eight at the free-throw line.
Golden State ended an 11-game losing streak to the Memphis Grizzlies with a 108-82 win on the road. Klay Thompson scored 30 points and David Lee had 23 to power the Warriors.
Denver’s Jordan Hamilton hit three straight three-pointers late in the fourth quarter to help the Nuggets overcome a slow start and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 103-92.
Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points to help the Kings end a six-game skid with a 112-102 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
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