The Atlanta Hawks’ club-record 19-game winning streak was snapped on Monday in a 115-100 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Anthony Davis had 29 points and 13 rebounds to help New Orleans win for the sixth time in seven games, a stint which includes victories over several contending squads, including Dallas and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Jeff Teague scored 21 for Atlanta, but the Hawks fell behind by double digits in the first quarter and failed to even tie it.
Eric Gordon scored 20 points for New Orleans, while Tyreke Evans scored 15 points and tied a season high with 12 assists for the fourth time in five games.
CAVALIERS 97, 76ERS 84
In Cleveland, Ohio, Kyrie Irving scored 24 points and LeBron James added 18 points and 11 assists, as the Cleveland Cavaliers staggered to their 11th straight win.
The winning streak is Cleveland’s longest since reeling off 13 in a row — a franchise record — in 2010, the last season of James’ first stint with the club.
The Cavs had trouble putting away the young Philadelphia Sixers, who did all they could to stay close, but did not have the firepower to keep up with Irving, James and one of the NBA’s hottest teams.
Atlanta entered the week on a 19-game win streak.
Jerami Grant and Robert Covington scored 18 apiece for the Sixers.
THUNDER 104, MAGIC 97
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook’s second triple-double of the season and 10th of his career helped the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Orlando Magic without the injured Kevin Durant.
Westbrook, an All-Star point guard, had 25 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.
Durant sat out with a sprained big toe on his left foot.
He has played in just 22 games this season, having missed time earlier in the season with a sprained right ankle and a broken bone in his right foot.
Victor Oladipo scored 22 points and Nikola Vucevic scored 20 points for the Magic, who lost their ninth straight.
HORNETS 92, WIZARDS 88
In Washington, Al Jefferson had 18 points and 12 rebounds, leading the Charlotte Hornets past the Washington Wizards.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 13 points and 13 rebounds, Brian Roberts scored 18 points and Gerald Henderson put in 17 for the Hornets, who have won six of eight.
They went 10-4 last month despite losing Kemba Walker to a knee injury that will keep him sidelined for at least six more weeks.
John Wall, who continues to battle a sprained right ankle and migraines, scored 16 points with 10 assists for the Wizards, who have dropped three straight.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 18 points and a season-high 11 rebounds.
BUCKS 82, RAPTORS 75
In Toronto, Khris Middleton scored 25 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 12 points and 12 rebounds, as the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks snapped a six-game losing streak against the Toronto Raptors.
Reduced to nine players when guard Brandon Knight was ruled out before the game with a sore right quadriceps muscle, Milwaukee lost another body when guard O.J. Mayo was ejected after picking up a double technical with 4 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 13 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan scored 16 and Lou Williams 12 for the Raptors, who had won six straight overall.
MAVERICKS 100, TIMBERWOLVES 94
In Dallas, Monta Ellis scored 23 points, as the Dallas Mavericks won their first game without injured point guard Rajon Rondo, beating Minnesota in the first game in nearly three months for Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio.
J.J. Barea had 10 points while starting in Rondo’s place.
Barea was only four-of-14 shooting, but had the first and last field goals by Dallas along with two free throws with 17 seconds left to help hold off a comeback try by Minnesota.
Rubio, sidelined since severely spraining his left ankle on Nov. 7 last year, had 10 points on four-of-nine shooting with four assists in 21 minutes.
GRIZZLIES 102, SUNS 101
In Phoenix, Arizona, Jeff Green converted a three-point play with 4.5 seconds to play, as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from seven down in the final 1 minute, 35 seconds to beat the Phoenix Suns for the seventh straight time.
Marc Gasol blocked Markieff Morris’ shot at the finish to preserve the victory.
The Grizzlies, who won their seventh in a row overall and 11th in the last 12 games, scored the final eight points after Isaiah Thomas’ three-pointer put Phoenix up 101-94 with 1 minute 49 seconds to play.
Thomas scored all 24 of his points in the second half, 16 in the fourth quarter, while Mike Conley led Memphis with 23 points.
NETS 102, CLIPPERS 100
In New York, Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jumper with 1.3 seconds left, as the Brooklyn Nets used a late rally to beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Nets ended a seven-game home losing streak by erasing a nine-point deficit in the final 1 minute, 35 seconds getting two three-pointers from Alan Anderson — one a four-point play — one from Joe Johnson and another from Deron Williams, who was returning from an 11-game abscence.
After Chris Paul’s layup tied it at 100 with 8.6 seconds to go, Jack lofted a jumper over 2.1m-tall center DeAndre Jordan.
Brook Lopez scored 24 points and Johnson had 22 for the Nets, who snapped an overall four-game skid and won at home for the first time since they beat Sacramento on Dec. 29 last year.
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‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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