The Atlanta Hawks, fueled by 43 points from Trae Young, on Thursday halted the Phoenix Suns’ 11-game NBA winning streak with a 124-115 victory over the top team in the league.
Young, who was a game-time decision to play after being sidelined by a shoulder injury, made six of Atlanta’s 20 three-pointers, his last basket from beyond the arc ending a 6-0 Suns scoring run and putting Atlanta up 122-113 with 37.7 seconds remaining.
“It’s big-time for us,” Young said of Atlanta’s eighth win in their past nine games.
Photo: AFP
Phoenix fell to 41-10, still the best record in the NBA, with their first defeat since losing to Miami on Jan. 8.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 32 points. Mikal Bridges added 24 and Chris Paul scored 18.
John Collins and Kevin Huerter scored 19 apiece for Atlanta, who are 10th in the Eastern Conference, but on the rise as the All-Star break approaches.
“We started out the season not as fast as we wanted to,” Young said. “We had a lot of COVID issues and guys being out, but got our guys back and we’ve started to play well. We’ve just got to keep it going. We beat a really good team who were on a great streak tonight and we’ve just got to keep it going.”
When the teams met in November last year the Suns outscored the Hawks 35-19 in the fourth quarter to rally for a victory.
Down by nine entering the fourth quarter, there would be no coming back for the Suns this time.
Booker’s layup cut Atlanta’s lead to 108-101 midway through the fourth, but Collins delivered a pair of dunks that put Atlanta up by 11 and the Suns would not get the deficit below six points from there.
In Los Angeles, the Clippers won a tense cross-town battle with the Lakers, where Reggie Jackson’s driving layup with 4.1 seconds remaining gave the Clippers a 111-110 victory.
Lakers star Anthony Davis, whose dunk had given the Lakers the lead with 12.5 seconds remaining, had a final chance to snatch a victory, but his floater at the buzzer did not fall.
In San Francisco, Klay Thompson started hot and the Golden State Warriors dominated in a 126-114 victory over the Sacramento Kings that pushed their winning streak to eight games.
Thompson, still returning to peak form after missing more than two years with injuries, connected on his first seven shots on the way to 23 points.
Stephen Curry added 20 points and Jonathan Kuminga contributed 18 off the bench for the Warriors, who led by as many as 26 points.
In Toronto, Pascal Siakam scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Raptors in a 127-120 overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Scottie Barnes scored 21 points for Toronto, including a turnaround bank shot that put the Raptors ahead for good with 1:44 left in overtime.
Gary Trent Jr extended the lead with a three-pointer with 16.5 seconds left and Siakam sealed it with a pair of free throws.
Nikola Vucevic matched his season-high with 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Bulls.
DeMar DeRozan added 28 points, his jump shot with 47.8 seconds left in regulation knotting the score 112-112.
Chicago then took the lead on Vucevic’s layup with 6.8 seconds remaining, before Barnes tied it up again with a tip-in in the final second.
In San Antonio, Texas, the Miami Heat snapped a three-game skid with a 112-95 victory over the Spurs.
Tyler Herro and fellow reserves Dwayne Dedmon, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent had 31 of the Heat’s first 46 points.
Herro finished with a game-high 24 points.
Kyle Lowry, back in Miami’s starting lineup after missing nine games with a family issue, struggled to find his range, scoring just 2 points with six turnovers.
In Detroit, Michigan, the Timberwolves trounced the Pistons 128-117.
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
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
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
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS