The New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday boosted their hopes of securing an automatic playoff berth with a 135-123 road victory over the Sacramento Kings.
In a crucial Western Conference battle in northern California, Zion Williamson and C.J. McCollum both finished with 31 points as the Pelicans completed an impressive wire-to-wire win.
The result means New Orleans would clinch sixth place in the West — and avoid the play-in tournament — if they win their final two games, at Golden State yesterday and against the Los Angeles Lakers at home tomorrow.
Photo: Sergio Estrada-USA Today
The Pelicans were always in control after a devastating first-quarter performance where they raced into a 34-11 lead after an 18-0 run.
“Throw the first punch to the last punch, and go out on our shield,” McCollum said of New Orleans’ aggressive first-quarter approach. “Understand the work, understand the preparation, have fun with it and just enjoy the blessing of being able to play this game at a high level.”
Sacramento’s defeat left them in eighth place in the West on 45-35 — an identical record to ninth-placed Golden State and the 10th-placed Lakers, meaning the final standings are likely to go down to the wire.
Golden State improved to 45-35 after laboring past the eliminated Portland Trail Blazers 100-92 in Oregon.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors scoring with 22 points and Jonathan Kuminga added 19.
Eastern Conference top seeds Boston slumped to their second straight loss with a 118-109 home defeat to the New York Knicks at the TD Garden in Massachusetts.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson finished with 39 points to continue his dazzling run recent form. The Knicks guard has now scored 35 points or more in his past five outings.
Brunson’s latest virtuoso effort included six three-pointers in a 15-of-23 shooting performance from the field.
The Knicks are third in the Eastern Conference with a 48-32 record, one game behind second-placed Milwaukee (49-31) with two games of the regular season remaining.
Boston (62-18) were subjected to a smattering of boos from their home fans at the final buzzer, and Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis had no complaints with the crowd’s response.
“We got booed at the end for a reason,” Porzingis said. “This was not the team that our fans love, but best believe we’re going to show up when we need to. We’ve got a week of work now ahead of us, a couple of games to bounce back and time to get going on all cylinders.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla shrugged off his team’s second straight loss, saying that a drop-off in intensity was inevitable once Boston had secured the top seeding in the post-season.
“I actually don’t mind the result of the last two games,” Mazzulla said. “Going into the post-season with a bunch of wins and feeling good about yourself isn’t necessarily any better than going in with a bloody lip.”
Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls romped past the Detroit Pistons 127-105 after 39 points from DeMar DeRozan and 27 points from Nikola Vucevic, ensuring they would face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the play-in tournament next week.
In the day’s other fixture between two eliminated teams, the Utah Jazz defeated the Houston Rockets 124-121.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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