Hours after attending the funeral of his father in Illinois, coach Doc Rivers saw the new-look Celtics remain the NBA's only undefeated team and personally show the Nets they are the team to beat in the Atlantic Division with an impressive 112-101 win on Saturday.
The victory was the fifth straight for Boston, which is off to its best start since winning six in a row to start the 1987-1988 season. That was the last time the trio of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish got to the Eastern Conference finals.
Paul Pierce had 13 of his 28 in the third period when Boston turned a seven-point halftime lead into a 21-point margin. Ray Allen added 27 points and Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Trail Blazers 91 Mavericks 82
At Portland, Oregon, Brandon Roy scored a career-high 32 points and added seven assists and the Portland ended a 13-game losing streak to Dallas.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Blazers (3-3), who extended their modest winning streak to three games after dropping the first three of the season.
Josh Howard had 20 points for Dallas (4-2), which had won its last three.
Dallas had won the previous 13 games against the Trail Blazers, a streak dating to the 2003-2004 season, including a six-game winning streak at the Rose Garden.
Kings 100, Timberwolves 93
At Sacramento, California, Kevin Martin had 29 points and Brad Miller added 12 points and 16 rebounds to lead Sacramento over winless Minnesota.
John Salmons had 19 points and three steals for the Kings who were playing at home for the second night in a row.
Al Jefferson had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Rashad McCants came off the bench to score 16 points for Minnesota in a game that was tied 21 times.
Suns 106, Magic 96
At Orlando, Florida, Leandro Barbosa scored a career-high 39 points and Phoenix withstood a 33-point, 18-rebound effort by Dwight Howard to beat Orlando.
Grant Hill had 14 points and eight rebounds in his Orlando return, but couldn't quiet a hostile crowd soured on him since he signed with Phoenix. Hill was booed all night, an unusual experience for the popular All-Star who spent seven years in Orlando but missed two-thirds of the games with several ankle injuries.
Led by Barbosa, all five Suns starters scored in double figures. Steve Nash had 19 points and 11 assists and Shawn Marion added 11 points and eight rebounds. Amare Stoudemire had 13 points and six rebounds in his second outing after missing three games with a sore knee.
In other games, it was: Jazz 118, Grizzlies 94; Nuggets 113, Pacers 106; Raptors 101, Bulls 71.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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