Page 21 - ARUBA TODAY

SPORTS A21
Durant leads Warriors
past Cavaliers 99-92
By The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) —
Klay Thompson hit a go-
ahead 3-pointer with 1:33
left, Kevin Durant turned
in another solid all-around
performance, and the
Golden State Warriors
beat the Cleveland Cava-
liers 99-92 on Monday in a
Christmas Day rematch of
the past three NBA Finals.
Durant’s block against a
driving LeBron James with
24.5 seconds left went out
of bounds off James, who
said he thought he was
fouled on the play. Du-
rant finished with 25 points,
seven rebounds and five
blocked shots. Kevin Love
had 31 points and a sea-
son-best 18 rebounds,
while James contributed
20 points, six rebounds and
six assists in a rivalry missing
one key piece: Warriors star
Stephen Curry, who missed
his eighth straight game
with a sprained right ankle.
Thompson scored 24 points
and Draymond Green had
a triple-double with 12
points, 12 rebounds and 11
assists. It was Golden State’s
12th win in 13 games.
THUNDER 112, ROCKETS 107
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —
Russell Westbrook had 31
points and 11 assists to help
Oklahoma City to its fifth
straight victory.
Paul George scored 24
Near collision marks start of 73rd Sydney to Hobart race
SYDNEY (AP) — A near col-
lision between two of the
race favorites marked a
dramatic start to the 73rd
edition of the Sydney to
Hobart yacht race on Tues-
day.
Supermaxis LDV Coman-
che and Wild Oats XI nearly
collided after a tack from
the eight-time line hon-
ors winner Wild Oats X1 15
minutes into the race start
brought it within just a few
meters of LDV Comanche,
which raised a protest flag.
Wild Oats had the option of
taking a 720 degree pen-
alty turn if it believed it was
responsible for an infrac-
tion, but continued to race.
points and Carmelo Antho-
ny added 20 for the Thun-
der, who shot 54.4 percent
from the field.
James Harden led the
Rockets with 29 points, but
he made just 7 of 18 field
goals. The league’s lead-
ing scorer was coming off
back-to-back 51-point for the Timberwolves, who
games.
Trevor Ariza and Eric Gor-
don each scored 20 points
and Clint Capela added
19 points and 10 rebounds
for Houston, which lost its
third straight.
Houston point guard Chris
Paul was sidelined by a
groin strain. The Rockets
are 15-1 when he plays and
10-6 when he sits out.
WIZARDS 111, CELTICS 103
BOSTON (AP) — Bradley
Beal scored 25 points, John
Wall had 21 points and 14
assists, and Washington
beat Boston in the Celtics’
first Christmas Day home
game in franchise history.
Otto Porter Jr. added 20
points and Kelly Oubre
Jr. finished with 16, help-
ing Washington take the
first meeting between
the teams since Boston’s
Game 7 victory at home
in the second round of the
playoffs last spring.
Boston lost for the third time
in four games. Kyrie Irving
and Jayson Tatum each
scored 20 points for the
Supermaxi LDV Comanche enters open water during the start of
the Sydney Hobart yacht race Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2017.
The supermaxi, skippered the race finishes if race offi-
by Mark Richards, could re- cials find it had done some-
ceive a time penalty after thing wrong.
Wednesday 27 December 2017
Celtics, and Terry Rozier
had 16.
Boston opened a 95-90
lead on Irving’s 3-pointer
with 6:18 left, but the Wiz-
ards responded with a 12-0
run.
TIMBERWOLVES 121, LAKERS
104
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jim-
my Butler scored 23 points,
Karl-Anthony Towns had
21 points and 10 rebounds
and Minnesota got its first-
ever Christmas Day victory.
Former Southern California
standout Taj Gibson had 23
points and nine rebounds
have won four straight. Ja-
mal Crawford added 19
points.
Kyle Kuzma scored 31 points
for the Lakers, who have
lost three in a row and six
of seven. Jordan Clarkson
had 17 points, seven as-
sists and six rebounds, and
Julius Randle had 16 points
and seven rebounds.
Minnesota pulled away
when Towns and Craw-
ford combined to score 12
straight points after Randle
put Los Angeles up 84-83
with 11:14 to play.
76ERS 105, KNICKS 98
NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Em-
biid had 25 points and 16
rebounds, JJ Redick scored
24 points, and Philadelphia
snapped a five-game los-
ing streak.
Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) blocks Cleveland
Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the second half of
an NBA basketball game in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Dec. 25,
2017. The Warriors won 99-92.
Associated Press
Embiid and Redick were and a career-best 22 re-
cleared to play after go- bounds.
ing through pregame Redick, who missed the last
warmups, and their pres- game with right hamstring
ence gave the 76ers just tightness, helped the 76ers
enough to win their first pull away from an 89-all tie
Christmas Day appear- midway through the fourth
ance since 2001. quarter.
Embiid, who has been bat- Kristaps Porzingis scored 22
tling a bad back, powered points for the Knicks, who
through a big-man duel fell to 22-30 on Christmas
with Enes Kanter, who had with their fifth straight loss
a season-high 31 points on the holiday.q
After nearly five hours of two, with Wild Oats X fourth
racing, LDV Comanche, ahead of InfoTrack.
with America’s Cup Oracle The 630-nautical mile race
Associated Press USA Team skipper Jimmy from Sydney Harbour will
Spithill on board, held a see 102 yachts, including
lead of almost three nau- 27 international entries,
tical miles from Wild Oats make their way down the
XI, with Black Jack another New South Wales state
two-and-a-half astern. Info- south coast and across of-
track was close by in fourth ten treacherous Bass Strait
with American entry Wizard on their way to the island
currently fifth. state of Tasmania.
Earlier, in an easterly breeze The fleet will be pushed
of around eight knots, Black along by favorable 15 to
Jack led LDV Comanche 25 knot north-to-north east-
by one second around erlies into Wednesday, put-
the first turning mark and ting the race record of 1
was first out of the Sydney day, 13 hours, 31 minutes
Heads. and 20 seconds set last
Wild Oats XI turned in third, year by InfoTrack (racing as
a minute behind the first Perpetual Loyal) at risk.q