Harrison Barnes had 25 points, while Andre Iguodala added 21 points and six assists as the Golden State Warriors cruised past the Atlanta Hawks 114-95 on Wednesday night in a matchup of the NBA’s top two teams.
Stephen Curry had 16 points and 12 assists, Draymond Green contributed 18 points and Andrew Bogut grabbed 14 rebounds as balanced Golden State maintained the best record in the league (54-13) with their 10th straight win at home.
The Hawks, looking fatigued and trailing big by the fourth quarter, were denied again in a chance to clinch their first division title since the 1993-1994 season as Washington won at Utah.
Photo: AFP
Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll each scored 16 points and Carroll had 12 boards for cold-shooting Atlanta (53-15), who had won 10 of 12 and three in a row, but shot 35.6 percent from the floor.
CAVALIERS 117, NETS 92
In Cleveland, Ohio, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov scored 17 points apiece, while Kyrie Irving had 10 assists as Cleveland shook off a slow start to beat Brooklyn for their 14th straight win at home.
LeBron James added 16 points for the Cavs, who had seven players score in double figures. Cleveland trailed by 13 in the first quarter before going on a 30-8 run and did not look back.
Kevin Love returned after a two-game break to rest his back and finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Deron Williams scored 20 to lead the Nets, who are running out of games as they claw to get into the playoffs.
HEAT 108, TRAIL BLAZERS 104
In Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, including a jumper with 13.6 seconds left to break a tie and help Miami beat Portland.
Wade made 13 of 26 shots for the Heat, who were down 11 shortly after halftime. Luol Deng had 24 points on four-for-four shooting from three-point range for Miami, which got 20 points and 11 assists from Goran Dragic and a 12-point, 10-rebound night from Hassan Whiteside.
LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 34 points and 12 rebounds. Damian Lillard scored 17 for the Trail Blazers, who fell a half-game behind Houston in the race for third in the Western Conference.
THUNDER 122, CELTICS 118
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook scored 36 points to help Oklahoma City snap Boston’s five-game winning streak.
Westbrook, the NBA’s leading scorer, also had 10 assists, five rebounds and five steals. Enes Kanter had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Anthony Morrow added 20 points for Oklahoma City, who moved a half-game ahead of New Orleans in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Marcus Smart, who played college ball at Oklahoma State, led Boston with a career-high 25 points. Kelly Olynyk and Brandon Bass each added 20 points for the Celtics.
Boston shot 64 percent in the first half, the highest percentage the Thunder have allowed in a half this season. Oklahoma City held the Celtics to 42 percent shooting after the break.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Raptors 105, Timberwolves 100
‧ Spurs 114, Bucks 103
‧ Bulls 103, Pacers 86
‧ Mavericks 107, Magic 102
‧ Clippers 116, Kings 105
‧ Wizards 88, Jazz 84
‧ 76ers 94, Pistons 83
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘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
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
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