Nets edge Hawks to push NBA winning streak to 10 games

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving drives to the basket against Atlanta Hawks guard Aaron Holiday during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday in Atlanta. (AP)
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Updated 29 December 2022
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Nets edge Hawks to push NBA winning streak to 10 games

  • Heat’s Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo spoiled LeBron James’s latest return to Miami, leading the hosts to a 112-98 victory over James and the Lakers

LOS ANGELES: The Brooklyn Nets pushed their NBA winning streak to 10 games in dramatic style on Wednesday, rallying in the second half then hanging on to edge the Hawks 108-107 in Atlanta.

Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and Kevin Durant added 26 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists for the Nets — whose winning streak is their longest since the 2005-06 season and the longest in the league this season.

The game was just one of the close ones around the league on Wednesday, with Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-118 and the Chicago Bulls downing the Milwaukee Bucks 119-113 in overtime.

In Atlanta, the absence of Hawks leading scorer Trae Young as well as Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter didn’t stop the hosts from taking a 63-56 lead after a first half in which Atlanta made just one turnover to Brooklyn’s eight.

But the Nets clawed their way back in the third and Irving scored eight straight points with a layup and two three-pointers to push the Nets’ lead to 93-82 early in the fourth.

He then fed Yuta Watanabe for a floater that gave the Nets a 13-point lead with 8:40 remaining.

The Hawks, led by Dejounte Murray’s 24 points, responded and knotted the score at 104-104 with 1:48 to go.

Durant made a pair of baskets sandwiched around one for Atlanta’s John Collins and the Nets escaped with the win.

“Sounds pretty good,” Durant said of the 10-game streak, noting the struggles the Nets have endured for a couple of years — including this season’s slow start, the sacking of coach Steve Nash and the anti-Semitism row that engulfed Irving.

“It’s good to get some stability and win a few games along the way and have some fun,” he told an on-court television interviewer, noting the depleted Hawks played “faster and harder without their leader.

“I was glad we were able to play a four-quarter game and understand what we needed to do to get a win,” Durant said.

In New Orleans, Williamson returned after missing three games because of COVID concerns and scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Pelicans.

Williamson scored the Pelicans’ final 14 points and his free throw with four seconds remaining proved the game-winner in a fourth quarter that featured nine lead changes and was tied seven times.

Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell scored 27 points apiece for the Timberwolves, but Edwards missed a potential game winner as the clock ticked down.

In Chicago, DeMar DeRozan scored 42 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Bulls, who withstood a 45-point, 22-rebound performance from Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

DeRozan came up with a steal and fed Ayo Dosunmu for the game-tying dunk in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

After Nikola Vucevic’s three-pointer put the Bulls up 111-110 with 1:28 left in overtime DeRozan scored Chicago’s last eight points – six of them from the foul line.

The Heat’s Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo spoiled LeBron James’s latest return to Miami, leading the hosts to a 112-98 victory over James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Butler, back after missing one game with a sprained ankle, scored 27 points with five rebounds, four assists and six steals.

Adebayo, sidelined for a game by non-Covid illness, had 23 points and 14 rebounds.

James, who led the Lakers with 27 points, said the discrepancy in shots attempted — Miami’s 92 to the Lakers’ 77 — was a direct result of the Lakers’ 26 turnovers.

“They had 31 points off our turnovers. They had 19 second-chance points off offensive rebounds, and that’s pretty much the game right there,” James said.

Things got heated in Detroit, where Orlando’s Moritz Wagner and the Pistons’ Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo were all ejected after a shoving match that had both benches worked up in the second quarter of the Pistons’ 121-101 victory over the Magic.

The Pistons were up by nine when the incident was sparked by Magic forward Wagner, who shoved Hayes off the court as he chased a loose ball down the sideline.

Diallo raced in and pushed Wagner from behind, then Hayes hit Wagner in the back of the head, sending him sprawling into the Pistons bench.


DeChambeau, Crushers GC lead LIV Singapore at halfway mark

Updated 13 March 2026
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DeChambeau, Crushers GC lead LIV Singapore at halfway mark

  • A second-round 6-under 65 has DeChambeau at 10-under through 36 holes

SINGAPORE: Entering Friday, Bryson DeChambeau is tied atop a bunched leaderboard at Aramco LIV Golf Singapore.

After shooting the round of the week, a second-round six-under 65, he sits at 10-under through 36 holes. The Crushers GC captain enters the weekend with a three-shot lead.

After beginning his second round with back-to-back pars, he birdied the third, fourth and eighth holes, making the turn in 32 strokes. His back nine was smooth-sailing until the par-four 15th, when he overdrew an iron off the tee into the harbor.

After taking a drop, he scrambled for a hard-earned bogey, protecting his lead in the process. And bounced back immediately, making a birdie on the 16th. For the round, he finished with a total of six birdies, an eagle and the lone bogey on 15.

“Focus on my golf, what I can control,” said DeChambeau of his mindset.

“I know it’s cliche, but you can’t get too wrapped up with what everybody else is doing and making sure I’m starting it on my lines the way I need to and rolling the putts on my lines like I need to. Barring that, I think I can give myself a good chance.”

DeChambeau’s closest competitors are three shots back at seven-under and include Thomas Detry, Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood and Richard T. Lee.

Detry of 4Aces GC is fresh off a runner-up finish at HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong and has carried that momentum into Singapore. His round included a chip-in eagle on the 18th hole (his 16th of the day) off the back of the green from 37 meters away.

The Belgian remains confident heading into the final two rounds. “I’m up for the challenge,” he said. “It’s definitely a challenge out there, so anything under par is pretty good, and I managed to do that pretty well.”

Hong Kong winner Rahm continues to lurk dangerously on the leaderboard. The Legion XIII captain made 11 consecutive pars from holes five to 17 before finishing his round with a birdie on the par-five 18th to finish at seven-under.

“I played really good today. Felt like I played actually significantly better than yesterday, just little margins,” Rahm said. “Couldn’t really make many putts out there today. Made that one on six and from then on missed a lot of birdie chances.”

Oosthuizen shot a four-under 67 that included six birdies and two bogeys. The Southern Guards GC captain has been fueled by a hot putter and ranks fifth in the field in Strokes Gained Putting at the halfway stage.

“I tried to give myself as many birdie putts as possible,” said Oosthuizen. “I felt I saw the greens really good today, the lines, and rolled the putter really good.”

Westwood, in just his second start after returning from a wrist injury, continues to play steady golf. The Majesticks Golf Club co-captain shot a three-under 68 that included five birdies and two bogeys.

Lee, who is looking to become the first LIV Golf Wild Card to finish better than 12th in a tournament, shot a three-under 68.

Matthew Wolff, Marc Leishman and Charles Howell III all shot three-under 68s as well and are four shots back of DeChambeau at six-under.

On the team leaderboard, the Crushers GC surged to the top after carding a cumulative 10-under for the day. They hold a three-shot lead over the first-round leaders, Legion XIII.

The champions from Hong Kong, 4Aces GC, are just one shot back of Legion XIII and four shots behind the Crushers.