San Antonio took advantage of Los Angeles being without injured All-Star Chris Paul and comfortably beat the Clippers 116-92 in Saturday’s clash of the NBA divisional leaders.
The win moved the Spurs into equal second in the Western Conference standings, behind new leader Oklahoma City, who got a super performance from Kevin Durant in their comeback win over Minnesota and moved above Portland, who were narrowly beaten at home by Philadelphia.
San Antonio’s Tiago Splitter had 22 points before leaving with a shoulder injury and Tim Duncan added 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Photo: EPA
Jamal Crawford scored 24 points for the Clippers, who missed Paul after he suffered a shoulder injury on Friday against Dallas.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant scored 23 of his season-high 48 points in the fourth quarter and hit the winner with four seconds to play, rallying the Thunder from 13 points down in a 115-111 victory over Minnesota.
Durant went 7-for-11 from the field and hit four three-pointers in the final quarter, while Derek Fisher scored 13 points for the Thunder, who won despite being outscored 46-66 in the key.
Kevin Love played the entire second half and finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Wolves. However, he missed four free throws in the final 27s to let this one slip away. The last three came when he was fouled on a three-point shot with 2.2s to go and the Wolves down by two.
Indiana, the overall league leader, improved to 26-6 by beating New Orleans 99-82, overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit.
Paul George had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead four Pacers in double figures, with Lance Stephenson scoring 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Indiana went on a 14-0 run over a 4 minute 12 second span of the third quarter as the Pelicans missed seven-straight field goals.
Eric Gordon finished with 21 points for the Pelicans, but only four in the second half.
Philadelphia made it four-straight wins — all on the road — by beating Portland 101-99, led by 30 points from Thaddeus Young.
Evan Turner added 23 points for the 76ers, and rookie Michael Carter-Williams had 16, but fell hard on the court at the final buzzer when he was trying to keep Damian Lillard from scoring the tying basket. After a few moments he got up holding his head.
Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge had 29 points and 14 rebounds for his 20th double-double this season.
Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh each had 20 points, helping the Heat rally for a 110-94 win over state rival Orlando.
Rashard Lewis added 18 points for the Heat, who have now won 22 consecutive games against divisional rivals, moving within one victory of tying Boston’s record set in 1961.
Jameer Nelson led Orlando with 21 points.
Chicago’s Mike Dunleavy scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, steering the Bulls to a 91-84 victory against Atlanta.
Phoenix’s Gerald Green had 24 points and a career-high five steals starting in place of the injured Eric Bledsoe, pushing the Suns to a 116-100 win over Milwaukee.
Charlotte arrested a season-worst five-game losing skid by defeating Sacramento 113-103, with Kemba Walker scoring 30 points.
Brooklyn’s Paul Pierce had 17 points to move up to 19th place on the NBA’s career scoring list, above Allen Iverson, helping the Nets down Cleveland 89-82.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
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