Established 1961 25 Sports Sunday, January 27, 2019 Harden extends streak as Rockets claim 121-119 victory over Raptors Mitchell helps hot Jazz cool off Timberwolves HOUSTON: James Harden extended his streak of con- Towns scored 33 points and collected 10 rebounds to secutive 30-point games to 22 but had plenty of help as lead Minnesota. Andrew Wiggins added 21 points and 11 the Houston Rockets claimed a 121-119, wire-to-wire rebounds for the Timberwolves, who entered on a three- victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors, who dropped game win streak. back-to-back games for the first time since mid- December. Harden continued his recent struggles from BUCKS 108, HORNETS 99 behind the 3-point line, missing 11 of 13 attempts. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points and However, he relied on a variety of floaters and a 15-for- 14 rebounds, and Milwaukee rallied from a 14-point 15 performance from the free-throw line to produce a deficit in the second half to beat visiting Charlotte. game-high 35 points as the Rockets claimed back-to- Milwaukee won its sixth straight and improved its home back victories for the first time this month. Eric Gordon record to 22-4. The Bucks continue to have the best gave Houston a 119-108 lead with two free throws at the record in the NBA at 35-12. The Hornets had won four of 1:19 mark, then Toronto closed with a dramatic 11-2 run. their previous five games. Kemba Walker, in his first Kawhi Leonard (32 points, seven rebounds, five assists) game since being named a starter in the upcoming All- misfired on a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Rockets Star Game, left with 2:06 remaining after sustaining what held on to win. Kenneth Faried, making his home debut the team called a neck strain in a scrum for a loose ball. for the Rockets, posted an energetic double-double (21 points, 14 rebounds). Gordon added 24 points, PJ Tucker MAVERICKS 106, PISTONS 101 18 and Austin Rivers 13 for Houston. One night after the media and players’ votes overrode the will of the fans to make rookie sensation Luka JAZZ 106, TIMBERWOLVES 102 Doncic an All-Star starter, Dallas’ 19-year-old standout Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and dished out a totaled 32 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in a career-high 11 assists to lead Utah to victory over victory over visiting Detroit. Along with Doncic, recently Minnesota at Salt Lake City. Rudy Gobert tallied 18 embattled Mavs guard Dennis Smith Jr. showed off his HOUSTON: Kenneth Faried #35 of the Houston Rockets drives to the basket during the game against the Toronto points and 16 rebounds for his 41st double-double of the explosiveness with 19 points and five assists to give the Raptors on January 25, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. —AFP season. Kyle Korver added 16 points off the bench. Utah Mavericks back-to-back home wins. Dallas’ dynamic won for the eighth time in nine games. Karl-Anthony backcourt erased a spectacular performance by Pistons forward Blake Griffin, who is practically a shoo-in to be and three steals to pace Denver. Nikola Jokic, the selected as an All-Star reserve next week. He was a one- Nuggets’ leader in scoring, rebounding and assists, was NBA results/standings man show for Detroit, collecting a game-high 35 points, not in the arena after being suspended by the league plus seven rebounds and four assists. earlier Friday for leaving the bench area during a scrum Dallas 106, Detroit 101; Milwaukee 108, Charlotte 99; Brooklyn 109, New York 99; Cleveland 94, Miami 100; Denver 132, Phoenix 95; Utah in Wednesday’s loss to Utah. The Suns have lost seven 106, Minnesota 102; Chicago 101, LA Clippers 106; Houston 121, Toronto 119; Memphis 96, Sacramento 99; Orlando 91, Washington 95. NETS 109, KNICKS 99 straight since beating the Nuggets on Jan. 12. Phoenix Eastern Conference Western Conference Rookie Theo Pinson totaled career highs of 19 points was coming off a 14-point loss to Portland on Thursday W L PCT GB W L PCT GB and eight rebounds as surging Brooklyn extended its and is now 0-9 in the second game of a back-to-back Milwaukee 35 12 0.745 - Golden State 34 14 0.708 - winning streak to six games by beating visiting New this season. Devin Booker scored a game-high 35 points. Toronto 36 15 0.706 2 Denver 32 15 0.681 1.5 York. The Nets also extended their home winning streak Indiana 32 15 0.681 3 Oklahoma City 30 18 0.625 4 to eight games. Brooklyn is 19-5 in its last 24 games, Philadelphia 32 17 0.653 4 Portland 30 20 0.600 5 WIZARDS 95, MAGIC 91 Boston 30 18 0.625 5.5 Houston 28 20 0.583 6 equaling the best 24-game stretch in franchise history, Jeff Green scored 24 points, including the go-ahead Brooklyn 27 23 0.540 9.5 Utah 28 22 0.560 7 which has been done eight times and not since 2006. The bucket in the final minute, and Washington escaped Miami 23 24 0.489 12 San Antonio 27 22 0.551 7.5 Nets recorded their latest win by dominating the glass Orlando. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 27 points-the Charlotte 23 25 0.479 12.5 LA Clippers 27 22 0.551 7.5 on a commanding 60-33 margin, making 32 of 47 free- final two to tie the game with 76 seconds remaining-and Washington 21 27 0.438 14.5 LA Lakers 25 24 0.510 9.5 throw attempts and getting 72 points from reserves. added six rebounds and seven assists. Washington is 8-5 Detroit 21 27 0.438 14.5 Sacramento 25 24 0.510 9.5 since losing John Wall in December and improved to 6-2 Orlando 20 29 0.408 16 Minnesota 24 25 0.490 10.5 NUGGETS 132, SUNS 95 in games on the second night of a back-to-back this sea- Atlanta 15 32 0.319 20 Dallas 22 26 0.458 12 Chicago 11 38 0.224 25 New Orleans 22 27 0.449 12.5 All five Denver starters and three reserves scored in son. Nikola Vucevic led all scorers with 28 points to go New York 10 37 0.213 25 Memphis 19 30 0.388 15.5 double figures, and Denver used a late second-quarter along with nine rebounds for the Magic. Aaron Gordon Cleveland 9 41 0.180 27.5 Phoenix 11 40 0.216 24.5 surge to take control and defeat visiting Phoenix. Paul added 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Orlando has Millsap scored 20 points while recording nine rebounds lost five of its last six games. — Reuters Schimdhofer wins super-G in Garmisch, Goggia Two-time skating second on return champ Gold tells GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: interviews to rest her ankle. Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer won the “Training went well, so I decided to weather-delayed women’s super-G World race. “It wasn’t about skiing fast, it was of crushing battle Cup race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen yes- about skiing with a free head.” Having fin- terday as Olympic downhill champion Sofia ished second in Garmisch last year behind with depression Goggia claimed second on her return from US speed queen Lindsey Vonn, who cur- a fractured ankle. Schmidhofer, the reign- rently has a knee injury, in both downhill ing world super-G champion, clocked 1min races on the Kandahar, Goggia was an ear- LOS ANGELES: Two-time US figure skating 19.98sec down the Kandahar course after ly leader before Schmidhofer bettered her. champion Gracie Gold said in a New York the start was pushed back an hour and a America’s Mikaela Shiffrin, the super-G Times interview published Friday that she half by heavy snowfall. and overall World Cup leader, is sitting out battled suicidal thoughts as she struggled “I am very happy about the win,” this weekend’s races in Garmisch to pre- GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer (L) and Switzerland’s Lara Gut- with depression that has disrupted her life beamed Schmidhofer. “There was a long pare for the world championships which Behrami (R) joke together after the women’s Super G event of the FIS Ski Alpine World Cup and career. wait between the course inspection and the start in Are, Sweden, on February 5. in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, yesterday. — AFP “I was suicidal for months,” Gold told the start. “The course was perfect-I just hope Goggia will have another shot at victory Times, describing dark days when she was liv- there won’t be any more snow over night,” on her comeback in Sunday’s downhill, downhill last week in Cortina d’Ampezzo. “I the gate,” said Ledecka. ing in Detroit three years after a sparkling she added, with one eye on Sunday’s scheduled to start at 1130 local time (1030 have been so close in the past, so I am real- “I tried to correct it with all my might, 2014 season brought her to the attention of downhill. Goggia, who won the downhill GMT), and said she is not thinking about ly pleased,” said Schmidhofer. which is when I fell, but I am okay.” the skating world. title in Pyeongchang last year, announced the world championships-yet. The Czech achieved the feat of winning “If I had just continued the way I was in her return from injury in style by finishing “I am just focused on Sunday’s downhill LEDECKA CRASHES OUT Olympic gold medals in both the snow- Detroit, I’d probably be dead,” said Gold, who just 0.23sec back, while Swiss Lara Gut- and taking it one day at a time,” said Several big names struggled on the boarding parallel giant slalom and skiing’s was shutting out her family and gorging on Behrami was third at 0.45.