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sportsSaturday 20 January 2018

Gordon scores 30 as Rockets beat Timberwolves 116-98

By The Associated Press        Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon (10) floats up a shot in front of Minnesota Timberwolves forward  whistle and held a jump
HOUSTON (AP) — Eric Gor-                                                                                                           ball at midcourt. Magic
don scored 30 points to        Andrew Wiggins (22) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018,       forward Aaron Gordon
lead the Houston Rockets                                                                                                           grabbed the toss and sank
to a 116-98 win over the       in Houston.                                                                                         an apparent game-win-
Minnesota Timberwolves                                                                                                             ning 45-footer as the horn
on Thursday night.                                                                            Associated Press                     sounded and Cleveland’s
James Harden returned                                                                                                              crowd shrieked in disbelief.
to Houston’s lineup after      cus Morris each scored 14 six assists and blocked two frantic final seconds after                   But Gordon committed a
missing seven games with                                                                                                           jump-ball violation with the
a left hamstring strain and    points. After winning seven shots.                             blowing a 23-point lead.             move and Cleveland then
finished with 10 points on                                                                                                         only had to inbound the
3-for-15 shooting in 26 min-   in a row, Boston has lost two CAVALIERS 104, MAGIC 103 After Thomas made his                        ball to come away with a
utes. Houston went 4-3 in his                                                                                                      win that shouldn’t have
absence.                       straight.                      CLEVELAND (AP) — Isaiah shots, Orlando’s Elfrid Pay-                 been so difficult.
Chris Paul had 19 points,                                                                                                          Thomas had 21 points and
nine assists and six re-       The Celtics had no answer Thomas made two free ton missed a contested                               LeBron James finished with
bounds, and Clint Capela                                                                                                           16, helping the Cavs stop a
added 20 points for the        for Embiid, who was 10 for throws with 11 seconds left layup with three seconds                     four-game slide.
Rockets. Houston has won                                                                                                           The Magic have dropped
15 of the past 17 meetings     19 from the floor and 6 of 7 and Cleveland came up left. The officials ruled                        17 of 19. Payton scored 19
with Minnesota, including a                                                                                                        and Gordon had 17.
10-game winning streak at      at the foul line. He also had with a defensive stop in the there was an inadvertent                 TRAIL BLAZERS 100, PACERS
home.                                                                                                                              86
Jimmy Butler led Minnesota                                                                                                         PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) —
with 23 points, and Karl-                                                                                                          Damian Lillard scored 26
Anthony Towns added 22                                                                                                             points, Jusuf Nurkic had 19
points, 16 rebounds and                                                                                                            points and a season-high
five blocks.                                                                                                                       17 rebounds, and the Trail
76ERS 89, CELTICS 80                                                                                                               Blazers earned their fifth
BOSTON (AP) — Joel Em-                                                                                                             consecutive home win.
biid celebrated his first NBA                                                                                                      CJ McCollum added 16
All-Star selection with 26                                                                                                         points and Shabazz Napier
points and matched a ca-                                                                                                           had 13 for Portland, which
reer best with 16 rebounds,                                                                                                        beat Indiana for the ninth
leading the 76ers to the                                                                                                           consecutive time on its
road win.                                                                                                                          home floor.
Dario Saric scored 16 for                                                                                                          Victor Oladipo and Darren
Philadelphia, which won                                                                                                            Collison each scored 23
for the sixth time in seven                                                                                                        points for Indiana.
games. T.J. McConnell had                                                                                                          Indiana was without for-
15 points — all in the sec-                                                                                                        ward Myles Turner, the
ond half.                                                                                                                          team’s second-leading
The Celtics played without                                                                                                         scorer this season. Turner
All-Star guard Kyrie Irving,                                                                                                       has missed five consecu-
who rested a sore left shoul-                                                                                                      tive games with a right el-
der. Al Horford and Mar-                                                                                                           bow injury.q

LeBron, Curry are captains, to
draft NBA All-Star Game teams

By BRIAN MAHONEY               in Los Angeles. “Captain       who asked to be traded          Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James blocks a shot by Golden
 AP Basketball Writer          huh? Really Appreciate         away from Cleveland last        State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, left, in the second half of an NBA
NEW YORK (AP) — Team           all the votes from the fans,   summer and has led Boston       basketball game, Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, in Cleveland. 
LeBron against Team Ste-       media and players!” Curry      to the best record in the
phen is the NBA’s new All-     wrote on Twitter. James        East.                                                                                               Associated Press
Star matchup.                  will pick first as the player  Perhaps it will be Milwau-
LeBron James and Stephen       who received the most fan      kee’s Giannis Antetok-
Curry will go head-to-head     votes. He will make his 14th   ounmpo, whom James
again, this time as cap-       All-Star Game start, one       came from behind to edge
tains who pick teams for       behind Kobe Bryant for the     with 2.6 million votes. The
the revamped NBA All-Star      most in league history.        Greek Freak had a little
Game.                          He could start his team with   more than 2.5 million.
James and Curry received       Kevin Durant, who teamed       For now, James is keeping
the most votes from fans in    with Curry to beat James       his choice a secret.
their conferences Thursday     and the Cavaliers in the       “I’m not telling you,” he said
night and will draft from a    NBA Finals. Or maybe he        after the Cavs squeaked
pool of the rest of the NBA’s  could go with Kyrie Irving, a  out a 104-103 win over Or-
best for the Feb. 18 game      former All-Star Game MVP       lando. q
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