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SPORTSTuesday 12 April 2016
Warriors tie record with 72nd win, end Spurs’ home streak
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Ste-
phen Curry had 37 points
as the Golden State War-
riors beat the San Anto-
nio Spurs 92-86 on Sunday
night for their 72nd victory, ish as high as seventh in the
equaling the 1995-96 Chi-
cago Bulls for the season
record.
The Warriors will finish the
regular season at home
against Memphis on
Wednesday night.
The Spurs had won 48 con-
secutive regular-season
games at home, including
an NBA-record 39 straight
to begin this season. Gold-
en State ended a 33-game
skid in San Antonio that
dated to 1997.
Golden State dominated
the fourth quarter. Curry
controlled the action with
a series of layups when
San Antonio’s defense at-
tempted to run him off the
3-point line.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 24
points for San Antonio. The
Spurs had not lost at home
since March 2015.
PACERS 129, NETS 105
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Myl-
es Turner had 28 points
and 10 rebounds, helping
Indiana beat Brooklyn to
clinch a playoff berth.
Solomon Hill had 13 points
and 12 rebounds, George
Hill had 18 points, Ian Ma-
hinmi 16, and Paul George
15. The Pacers jumped
ahead 17-5 in the first quar-
ter and led by as many as
42 points.
Sean Kilpatrick led the
Nets with 26 points. Markel
Brown had 18 points and
11 rebounds.
The Pacers have two
games left and can still fin-
Federer confident his knee will hold up on return to action
JEROME PUGMIRE
AP Sports Writer
MONACO (AP) — Roger
Federer fully expects his
left knee to hold up when
he returns to action at the
Monte Carlo Masters on
Tuesday, and the 17-time
Grand Slam champion
feels “mentally and physi-
cally” rested after more
than two months out.
Seeded third, Federer
opens in the second round
against Guillermo Garcia-
Lopez. He leads the Span-
San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) passes over Gold-
en State Warriors guard Stephen Curry during the first half of an
NBA basketball game, Sunday, April 10, 2016, in San Antonio. helped fuel a 24-0 third-
Eastern Conference if they
finish with the same record
as Detroit.
CLIPPERS 98, MAVERICKS 91
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ja-
mal Crawford scored 22
points and Los Angeles
beat Dallas, snapping the
Mavericks’ six-game win-
ning streak and preventing
them from clinching a play-
off berth.
J.J. Redick added 20 points
and Blake Griffin had 17
points and 11 rebounds
in his best game since re-
turning a week ago from
a three-month absence
to help the playoff-bound
iard 3-0 in career head-to-
heads.
The Swiss star might be a
little rusty, seeing as his last practice on the clay courts
match was a semifinal de-
feat to top-ranked Novak
Djokovic in the semifinals of
the Australian Open. Short-
ly afterward he had ar-
throscopic surgery on Feb.
3 for torn cartilage in his left Federer does not have high
knee.
Although Federer was
scheduled to play at the
Miami Masters two weeks
ago, he withdrew because
points in an unexpected
start, Gordon Hayward
quarter run and Utah beat
Associated Press Denver to maintain its one-
game lead over Houston
Clippers win their fifth in a for the last Western Confer-
row. ence playoff spot.
Raymond Felton led Dallas Lyles got the start when
with 21 points, Deron Wil- Derrick Favors was a late
liams added 15, and Dirk scratch because of right
Nowitzki 14. knee soreness. Hayward
The loss kept the Mavs scored 10 of his 22 points in cin Gortat had 21 points
(41-39) in seventh place in a pivotal third quarter that
the Western Conference, saw Utah turn the game
a game behind Memphis into a rout.
with two games to play. Nikola Jokic and Emman-
Dallas needs either a vic- uel Mudiay each had 19
tory or a Houston loss to points for Nuggets.
clinch a playoff berth for ROCKETS 130, LAKERS 110
the 15th time in 16 years. HOUSTON (AP) — James
The Rockets beat the Lak- Harden scored 20 of his 40
ers 130-110 on Sunday. points in the fourth quarter, Ramon Sessions had 15
JAZZ 100, NUGGETS 84 and Houston kept its play-
DENVER (AP) — Trey Lyles off hopes alive with a vic-
scored a career-high 22 tory over Los Angeles.
Harden also had 13 assists.
Trevor Ariza and Patrick
Beverley each 19 points for
the Rockets.
Kobe Bryant, who has just
two games left before his
retirement, had 35 points
for Los Angeles. Jordan
Clarkson had 21 points and
eight rebounds.
RAPTORS 93, KNICKS 89
NEW YORK (AP) — DeMar
DeRozan converted a tie-
breaking three-point play
with 1:05 left on a night
he became Toronto’s No.
2 career scorer, and the
Raptors beat New York to
stay alive for the No. 1 seed Nik Vucevic adding 19
in the Eastern Conference.
DeRozan finished with 27
points to help the Raptors
pull within two games of
Cleveland with two to play
for both teams. Toronto
won the season series and
owns the tiebreaker.
of a stomach virus. on May 22.
That meant he arrived “I am rested mentally and
much earlier than usual to physically. I feel really
good,” Federer said. “Every
of Monte Carlo, where he week that goes by I’m go-
has been runner-up four ing to get better and then
times: three straight to Ra- hopefully by Paris that’s
fael Nadal from 2006-08 where you really want there
and to countryman Stan not to be a problem — sev-
Wawrinka two years ago. en (matches), five sets, OK,
I’m ready for that.”
hopes of an 89th career ti- Depending on how he
tle, but is using the tourna- does here, he will decide
ment more as a gauge in whether to play the follow-
the lead up to the French ing clay Masters events in
Open in Paris, which begins Madrid — starting on May
DeRozan has 9,426 points
and moved ahead of
Vince Carter (9,420). He
trails only Chris Bosh (10,275)
on the Raptors’ career list.
The Raptors set a franchise
record with their 23rd road
victory.
Carmelo Anthony scored
21 points for New York
WIZARDS 113, HORNETS 98
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mar-
and 13 rebounds and
Washington beat Char-
lotte, damaging the Hor-
nets’ chances to secure
home-court advantage in
the first round of the play-
offs.
Marcus Thornton added 16
points for the Wizards and
points and 11 assists.
Frank Kaminsky had 18
points and 11 rebounds for
the Hornets.
HEAT 118, MAGIC 96
MIAMI (AP) — Luol Deng
scored 20 points, Hassan
Whiteside added 18 points
and 15 rebounds in his first
start since Jan. 20, and Mi-
ami beat Orlando.
Goran Dragic had 19
points for the Heat, and
Dwyane Wade had 17 on
7-of-9 shooting in 24 highly
efficient minutes. Gerald
Green added 15 for Miami,
which outscored Orlando
60-38 in the paint.
Evan Fournier scored 21
points for the Magic, with
points.
BUCKS 109, 76ERS 108, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Khris
Middleton scored 36 points
and John Henson had 18
points and 10 rebounds
to lead Milwaukee past
Philadelphia..q
1 — and Rome the week
after. “I have to wait and
see how my knee and my
body react,” Federer said.
“I have to see what I feel
I still need to work on. Is it
recovery? Is it training? Is it
something specific? I don’t
know yet. I will know more
in two weeks. Then I can
decide.” Federer, who lost
to Frenchman Gael Monfils
in the third round here last
year, is in the same half of
the draw as Djokovic, the
defending champion.q