OKLAHOMA CITY: Klay Thompson scored 34 points to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-95 on Monday night in a heated matchup filled with trash talking, physical play and technical fouls.
It was Golden State’s second visit to Oklahoma City since former Thunder star Kevin Durant signed a free agent contract with the rival Warriors last summer. Durant has been out since February with a left knee injury and sat on the bench with his team.
Even with Durant out, the negative energy from the first meeting was still there. Stephen Curry exchanged shoves with Oklahoma City’s Semaj Christon just before halftime, and both were issued technical fouls. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Golden State’s Draymond Green also got technical for their roles in the skirmish.
The Warriors were overpowering in this one, leading by as many as 27 points while completing a sweep of the four-game season series.
Curry scored 23 points for the Warriors, who won their fourth straight and halted Oklahoma City’s win streak at five games.
Westbrook scored 47 points the last time the teams met in Oklahoma City. This time, he had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
ROCKETS 125, NUGGETS 124: Harden drove the length of the floor for a layup with 2.4 seconds left to lift Houston over Denver.
Harden had 39 points, 11 assists and was three rebounds shy of his 20th triple-double of the season. Houston outlasted Denver in a duel between the second- and third-highest scoring teams in the NBA.
Harden likely saved the game for Houston, too, when he batted down an inbounds pass to Mason Plumlee near the basket following his layup.
Will Barton gave Denver a one-point lead on a three-point play with less than a minute left. On the following possession, Harden missed a layup, but he got it back on the other end of the floor when he rebounded Jameer Nelson’s air-ball.
Harden took the ball down the court and scored on a finger-roll layup.
CELTICS 110, WIZARDS 102: Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points after missing the previous two games with a bruised right knee, leading Boston to a victory over Washington in another testy matchup between two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Avery Bradley added 20 points and nine rebounds for Boston, which moved 2½ games ahead of the Wizards for second place in the East. The Celtics trail first-place Cleveland by two games.
Jae Crowder and Al Horford each scored 16 with nine boards.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 19 points, and John Wall had 16 points with eight assists.
CLIPPERS 114, KNICKS 105: Blake Griffin scored 30 points, Chris Paul had 13 points and 13 assists and Los Angeles beat New York.
DeAndre Jordan added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and the Clippers blew the game open by outscoring the Knicks 34-19 in the third quarter for a 25-point lead.
The Clippers (42-29) pulled to within one game of the Utah Jazz for fourth in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They have 11 regular season games remaining.
The fading Knicks were led by Kristaps Porzingis’ 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Derek Rose had 18 points and Carmelo Anthony had 16. Largely using their bench, they cut the 25-point deficit to seven points in final minutes.
PACERS 107, JAZZ 100: Jeff Teague scored 21 points, Paul George added 19 and Indiana beat Utah.
Indiana continued its trend of following a loss with a win — failing to do either in consecutive games since Feb. 16. The win helped the Pacers maintain the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
Former Butler star Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with a career-high 38 points. Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 14 rebounds on the final stop of a four-game trip.
While they struggled to put away the win, the Pacers seized control with an early 8-0 run and never trailed after the 6:42 mark of the first quarter.
HORNETS 105, HAWKS 90: Nicolas Batum and Kemba Walker each had 16 points and Charlotte handed slumping Atlanta its fourth straight loss.
The Hornets scored 17 points off 18 turnovers and led by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter.
Frank Kaminsky provided more strong play off the bench for Charlotte with 14 points and five assists. The 7-footer came into the game averaging 16.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in his previous 15 games.
The Hawks played without All-Star forward Paul Millsap and top reserve guard Kent Bazemore and never got in sync on offense.
MAGIC 112, 76ERS 109, OT: Nikola Vucevic had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Evan Fournier scored 19 points and Orlando beat Philadelphia in overtime.
Orlando overcame a 17-point second-half deficit. Fournier led the way in OT with eight points, and Terrence Ross had four points in the extra session and 15 overall. The Magic also beat Phoenix on Friday and have consecutive wins for the first time since December.
Ross gave the Magic a 106-104 lead on a jumper with 34.7 seconds left in overtime and hit two free throws with 17.4 seconds remaining. Fournier and Jodie Meeks then put the game away with four straight free throws.
Richaun Holmes and Robert Covington led the 76ers with 24 points each.
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Thompson scores 34 points to lead Warriors over Oklahoma
Thompson scores 34 points to lead Warriors over Oklahoma
Pakistan bowler Tariq and his unusual delivery courts controversy at the T20 World Cup
- Offspinner’s unconventional bowling action has already mesmerized some of the big names
- As is often the case in cricket, the reasons for Usman Tariq’s potential illegal delivery are complicated
ISLAMABAD: With a momentary pause in his delivery and his statue-like pose at the crease, Pakistan spin bowler Usman Tariq has created plenty of attention at cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup.
Just enough, it seems, to throw off opposing batters.
With it has come a fair share of controversy — that his pause-and sling style of bowling is an illegal delivery, or in cricket parlance, chucking. He’s already been reported twice, but cleared, by Pakistani cricket authorities.
The 28-year-old offspinner’s unconventional bowling action has already mesmerized some of the big names in shortest format of the game and has seen him taking three wickets against an inexperienced United States in Sri Lanka this week in what was his first T20 World Cup game.
As is often the case in cricket, the reasons for Tariq’s potential illegal delivery are complicated.
First there is the so-called “15-degree debate” — that bowlers cannot exceed the ICC’s 15-degree elbow flex limit, which is nearly impossible for on-field umpires to judge accurately in real time.
Another talking point has been the pause in Tariq’s delivery stride. Some critics, including former India cricketer Shreevats Goswami, compare it to a football penalty run-up that would be ruled illegal if the shooter stops midway.
Baffling the batters
Batters like Cameron Green of Australia and South African Dewald Brevis are a few notable players that were flummoxed by Tariq’s bowling action.
Power-hitter Brevis fell to Tariq’s only second ball in T20 international cricket in November. Green shook his head in disbelief and mocked Tariq’s bowling action close to the boundary line — but later apologized — when he walked back after slicing a wide delivery straight to the cover fielder during Pakistan’s 3-0 sweep of Australia at Lahore.
Tariq’s rise in T20 cricket has also seen him taking a hat-trick at Rawalpindi when he took 4-18 against Zimbabwe during the tri-series in November. He has taken 11 wickets off his 88 balls in only four T20 internationals.
It was no surprise when selectors included Tariq in the 15-man T20 World Cup squad, knowing that pitches in Sri Lanka would suit slow bowlers more than pacemen.
Tariq’s journey to top-level cricket wasn’t a smooth one. He was twice reported for suspect bowling action during country’s premier domestic T20 tournament — the Pakistan Super League — over the last two seasons, but on both occasions he was cleared after testing at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
“I have two elbows in my arm,” Tariq said. “My arm bends naturally. I have got this tested and cleared. Everyone feels I bend my arm and all that. My bent arm is a biological issue.”
Tariq has also featured in the Caribbean Premier League and with his deceptive bowling action he was the tournament’s second-highest wicket taker for champions Trinbago Knight Riders.
Long pause a problem
“The batters are struggling to read Tariq because of the long pause the moment he steps on the bowling crease,” former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who has played with Tariq in the PSL’s Quetta Gladiators, said.
“The long pause disturbs all the concentration of batters and when he bowls a fastish (delivery, after a long pause), or even a slow ball, it leaves the batters clueless.”
Less than three months ago, Tariq said he had dreamed about playing against archrival India. And after Pakistan withdrew its boycott of Sunday’s game in the T20 World Cup, Tariq’s dream could come true if Pakistan uses five spinners against India.
“I wish there’s a match against India and I can win the game for Pakistan single-handedly,” Tariq said then. “My coaches have injected this thing in me that ‘you have to win matches single-handedly’.”
On Sunday against India, Tariq could do just that.
Just enough, it seems, to throw off opposing batters.
With it has come a fair share of controversy — that his pause-and sling style of bowling is an illegal delivery, or in cricket parlance, chucking. He’s already been reported twice, but cleared, by Pakistani cricket authorities.
The 28-year-old offspinner’s unconventional bowling action has already mesmerized some of the big names in shortest format of the game and has seen him taking three wickets against an inexperienced United States in Sri Lanka this week in what was his first T20 World Cup game.
As is often the case in cricket, the reasons for Tariq’s potential illegal delivery are complicated.
First there is the so-called “15-degree debate” — that bowlers cannot exceed the ICC’s 15-degree elbow flex limit, which is nearly impossible for on-field umpires to judge accurately in real time.
Another talking point has been the pause in Tariq’s delivery stride. Some critics, including former India cricketer Shreevats Goswami, compare it to a football penalty run-up that would be ruled illegal if the shooter stops midway.
Baffling the batters
Batters like Cameron Green of Australia and South African Dewald Brevis are a few notable players that were flummoxed by Tariq’s bowling action.
Power-hitter Brevis fell to Tariq’s only second ball in T20 international cricket in November. Green shook his head in disbelief and mocked Tariq’s bowling action close to the boundary line — but later apologized — when he walked back after slicing a wide delivery straight to the cover fielder during Pakistan’s 3-0 sweep of Australia at Lahore.
Tariq’s rise in T20 cricket has also seen him taking a hat-trick at Rawalpindi when he took 4-18 against Zimbabwe during the tri-series in November. He has taken 11 wickets off his 88 balls in only four T20 internationals.
It was no surprise when selectors included Tariq in the 15-man T20 World Cup squad, knowing that pitches in Sri Lanka would suit slow bowlers more than pacemen.
Tariq’s journey to top-level cricket wasn’t a smooth one. He was twice reported for suspect bowling action during country’s premier domestic T20 tournament — the Pakistan Super League — over the last two seasons, but on both occasions he was cleared after testing at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
“I have two elbows in my arm,” Tariq said. “My arm bends naturally. I have got this tested and cleared. Everyone feels I bend my arm and all that. My bent arm is a biological issue.”
Tariq has also featured in the Caribbean Premier League and with his deceptive bowling action he was the tournament’s second-highest wicket taker for champions Trinbago Knight Riders.
Long pause a problem
“The batters are struggling to read Tariq because of the long pause the moment he steps on the bowling crease,” former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who has played with Tariq in the PSL’s Quetta Gladiators, said.
“The long pause disturbs all the concentration of batters and when he bowls a fastish (delivery, after a long pause), or even a slow ball, it leaves the batters clueless.”
Less than three months ago, Tariq said he had dreamed about playing against archrival India. And after Pakistan withdrew its boycott of Sunday’s game in the T20 World Cup, Tariq’s dream could come true if Pakistan uses five spinners against India.
“I wish there’s a match against India and I can win the game for Pakistan single-handedly,” Tariq said then. “My coaches have injected this thing in me that ‘you have to win matches single-handedly’.”
On Sunday against India, Tariq could do just that.
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