Miami’s LeBron James scored 30 points to help the Heat grind past Toronto 102-97 in Sunday’s clash of NBA divisional leaders and move eight games clear atop the Southeast Division.
Michael Beasley came off the bench to add 17 in a key contribution, as the Heat rallied from five points down after three quarters. They went on a 7-0 run to open the fourth and never trailed from then.
DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points on 11-for-19 shooting for Toronto, who won their previous five games to open a four-game lead atop the Atlantic Division.
Elsewhere, Oklahoma City rediscovered their home-court form and moved a game clear in the Northwest by beating Boston 119-96.
Reggie Jackson scored a career-high 27 points to help secure victory for the Thunder, who started the season 13-0 at home, but had lost three of four since then.
They were guided back to home advantage by Kevin Durant, who added 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Jeff Green and Avery Bradley scored 19 points apiece for the Celtics, who have lost seven of eight.
Also on Sunday, Indiana’s Roy Hibbert made a putback and two free-throws in the final 1 minute, 9 seconds to help the Pacers hold on for an 82-78 win over Cleveland after seeing most of their seemingly comfortable lead evaporate.
Paul George scored 16 points for Indiana, who led an undermanned Cavaliers team by 16 in the fourth, before Dion Waiters brought Cleveland back by scoring 12 points in a 16-1 run that got the Cavs within a point with 3:35 left.
Hibbert’s free-throw with 7.9 seconds left put the Pacers up 81-78 and Indiana got the ball back when Cleveland’s Earl Clark stepped out on an inbounds pass 1 second later.
Waiters scored 21 for the Cavaliers, who played without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving.
In Washington, Golden State’s Klay Thompson scored 26 points to lead the Warriors to a 112-96 win over the Wizards and extend their winning streak to nine.The tally is the Warriors’ longest run of consecutive victories within a single season since 1975.
In the league’s other games, Carmelo Anthony scored 15 of his 19 points in the first quarter to jumpstart the Knicks’ 92-80 victory over Dallas, Denver’s Ty Lawson and Timofey Mozgov had 20 points each as the Nuggets beat the slumping Los Angeles Lakers 137-115 and Memphis’ Jon Leuer matched a career-high with 23 points as the Grizzlies dominated the second half to win 112-84 at Detroit.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
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
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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