Kyle Lowry scored 22 points, including a pair of clinching free-throws with 9.8 seconds left, to help the Toronto Raptors hand the Oklahoma City Thunder their first home loss this season with a 104-98 victory on Sunday night.
The Raptors outscored Oklahoma City 6-0 in the game’s final 1 minute, 25 seconds — all from the free-throw line — to end the Thunder’s nine-game winning streak.
Oklahoma City had been 13-0 at home, the NBA’s longest unbeaten stretch to open a season since the Cavaliers won their first 23 home games in the 2007-2008 season.
Amir Johnson had 17 points and 13 assists for Toronto, who won their fourth straight road game to post the franchise’s longest such streak since 2002, while it was Oklahoma City’s first loss since falling to Portland on Dec. 4.
Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 24 for the Thunder, who missed their final four shots.
CLIPPERS 120, TIMBERWOLVES 116, OT
In Los Angeles, Jared Dudley made a go-ahead three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining in overtime, while Chris Paul made five free-throws in the final 19 seconds to lead Los Angeles over Minnesota.
Blake Griffin had 32 points and 10 rebounds and was an uncharacteristic 10 for 11 from the free-throw line before fouling out with 4:08 left in overtime.
The defending Pacific Division champions extended their winning streak to a season-best five games, while beating the Timberwolves for the eighth straight time, their longest streak against any opponent.
Jamal Crawford had 22 points for Los Angeles, while Paul finished with 19 points and 13 assists.
Kevin Love had a season-high 45 points and tied a season-best 19 rebounds, while Nikola Pekovic had a career-high 34 points and 14 boards for the Timberwolves, who were back at the Staples Center after their loss to the Lakers on Friday.
PACERS 106, CELTICS 79
In Indianapolis, Indiana, Paul George scored 24 points and Lance Stephenson recorded his third triple-double of the season, as the Pacers routed Boston.
Stephenson had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Indiana’s (22-5) second straight win, which maintained their grip on the Eastern Conference’s best record.
He is the only player in the league with more than one triple-double this season.
Avery Bradley scored 13 points for Boston, while Courtney Lee and Jeff Green each had 11 in coach Brad Stevens’ return to his hometown, but there was no magic on the night for the Celtics, who lost their third in a row.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out