Washington’s C.J. McCollum scored a season-high 46 points, and the NBA-worst Wizards snapped a 14-game losing streak on Tuesday by routing Atlanta 132-113 in an NBA Cup contest.
The Wizards improved to 2-15 with their first home victory of the season and first-ever triumph in the mid-season tournament, staying in Cup playoff contention.
“We did a good job,” McCollum said.
Photo: Geoff Burke, Imagn Images/USA Today
“We lost some close games throughout the season, and we kind of let ourselves down in terms of execution and having lost,” he said. “But I think tonight we got off to a good start in the third quarter, we withstood their runs and did enough to get the win.”
McCollum hit 17-of-25 shots from the floor and 10-of-13 from three-point range, tying Trevor Ariza for the Wizards’ record for three-pointers in a game and one shy of his career high for threes in a game.
“I put a lot of time in. I sacrifice a lot of time away from my family to get in the gym at night,” McCollum said. “These results, they come from hard work in the dark, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to master my craft and be more consistent with my jump shot.”
French center Alex Sarr added 27 points and 11 rebounds, while Corey Kispert had 19 points for Washington.
The Wizards seized a 45-23 lead after the first quarter, scoring their most points in any opening quarter since 1990 against Denver.
Washington took a 45-16 edge by hitting 15-of-20 shots from the floor and 8-of-8 from three-point range, Kispert and McCollum each starting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Former Wizard Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points to lead the Hawks, who joined Washington at 1-2 in Cup Group A play.
NBA Cup group play concludes with games tomorrow with Toronto having taken the first of eight playoff spots by capturing East Group A.
Three group winners and a wildcard team from each conference are to advance to the knockout stage with point difference a tiebreaker.
Orlando set the stage for a Group B title showdown tomorrow at Detroit with a 144-103 romp at Philadelphia.
“It’s going to be a really good game,” Orlando’s Franz Wagner said. “It’s going to be physical. We have to be ready for that.”
The Magic set a club record for points in any half in taking a 86-60 halftime lead over the 76ers. The old mark was 83 in a 1990 second half against Denver.
Orlando added a 17-0 run in the third quarter and cruised to victory with a season-high points total.
“Just got into a rhythm. We got hot,” Wagner said. “A really good team win for us.”
Orlando reserve Anthony Black, who led the Magic with 31 points, had a career high in the first half alone with 27 points, 20 of them in the second quarter.
Orlando’s Jalen Suggs was ejected after a melee that began with 26.6 seconds remaining in the second quarter when Andre Drummond squared up to punch Orlando’s Wendell Carter.
Suggs shoved Drummond and Jabari Walker, and was issued two technical fouls, departing with four points, 11 assists and five rebounds.
The loss ended Philadelphia’s Cup playoff hopes while Orlando went to 3-0 atop Group B.
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
RSS