Depleted Warriors lose to Pelicans, are 0-6 on road
England to meet New Zealand in Women’s Rugby WC final Jazz continue remarkable start
NEW ORLEANS, Nov 5, (AP): The defending champion Golden State Warriors fell to 0-6 on the road, losing 114-105 to Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins sidelined.
Ingram scored 26 points in his return from a four-game absence because of a concussion and reserve Larry Nance Jr. scored 20 points for the Pelicans, including several fourth-quarter dunks that kept Golden State at bay. CJ McCollum scored 20 points and Zion Williamson added 16 for New Orleans.
Nets 128, Wizards 86
In Washington, Kevin Durant had 28 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Brooklyn beat Washington easily in its first game following Kyrie Irving’s suspension.
Nic Claxton added 18 points for the Nets, who won for only the third time this season despite also being without the injured Ben Simmons and Seth Curry. Brooklyn shot 14 of 28 from 3-point range and 56% from the field overall.
BASKETBALL Bucks 115, Timberwolves 102
In Minneapolis, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, Jrue Holiday scored 29 points and Milwaukee beat Minnesota to improve to 8-0, the best start to a season in franchise history.
Bobby Portis Jr. added 18 points off the bench for the Bucks, the NBA’s only undefeated team. Milwaukee started 7-0 in both 2018-19 and 1971-72.
Jazz 130, Lakers 116
In Los Angeles, Lauri Markkanen had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Jordan Clarkson added 20 points, and Utah Jazz continued its remarkable start to the season.
Kelly Olynyk had 18 points and Mike Conley added 15 points and 10 assists for the first-place Jazz, who are off to a 7-3 start to a season in which they were widely expected to struggle.
Celtics 123, Bulls 119
In Boston, Jayson Tatum had 36 points and 12 rebounds, including some late free throws to help Boston hold off Chicago.
Malcolm Brogdon added 25 points on 9-of10 shooting and Jaylen Brown scored 16 points for Boston, which has won two of three.
Cavaliers 112, Pistons 88
In Detroit, Kevin Love had 21 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds as short-handed Cleveland beat Detroit for its seventh straight win.
Jarrett Allen scored 22 points and Cedi Osman added 15 as the Cavaliers had a 5421 edge in bench scoring and a 58-24 edge in points in the paint.
Knicks 106, 76ers 104
In Philadelphia, Obi Toppin hit a 3-pointer and Jalen Brunson finished off a threepoint play seconds later as New York rallied from 12 points down to beat Philadelphia.
Brunson finished with 23 points to lead the Knicks. R.J. Barrett scored 22, while Toppin had 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Knicks snapped a three-game skid. Julius Randle had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Mavericks 111, Raptors 110
In Dallas, Luka Doncic scored 35 points, his eighth consecutive game of at least 30 to begin the season, as Dallas beat Toronto.
The only other NBA player to score 30 or more points in the first eight games of a season is Wilt Chamberlain, who did it in the first eight games 1959-60 and the first 23 games of 1962-63.
Trail Blazers 108, Suns 106
In Phoenix, Jerami Grant scored a seasonhigh 30 points, including a baseline jumper at the buzzer, to lift short-handed Portland over Phoenix.
The Blazers had just 1 second left when Justise Winslow lofted a high in-bounds pass to Grant, who grabbed the ball and tossed a high-arcing 13-foot jumper in the air. It rattled through the net and after a review, the officials confirmed it left his hands in time.
Clippers 113, Spurs 106
In San Antonio, Paul George scored 33 points and Los Angeles rallied against San Antonio for its third straight victory.
John Wall had 15 points and six assists for the Clippers, who are 5-4 after losing four of their first six games.
Pacers 101, Heat 99
In Indianapolis, Buddy Hield scored 25 points and Indiana held on to beat Miami when Tyler Herro missed a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left.
Rookie Bennedict Mathurin had 23 points and Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points, nine assists and nine rebounds for the Pacers.
Grizzlies 130, Hornets 99
In Memphis, Dillon Brooks scored 23 points, matching his career-high with six 3-pointers, and Memphis ran past Charlotte.
Desmond Bane finished with 19 points as eight Grizzlies players reached double figures. Steven Adams had 13 points and 19 rebounds.
AUCKLAND, Nov 5, (AP): Wingers Abby Dow and Claudia MacDonald combined for a length-of-the-field try that sent top-ranked England into the final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with a 26-19 win over Canada on Saturday which stretched their world-record winning streak to 30 tests.
England will face defending champions New Zealand, which rallied from 17-10 down at halftime to beat France 25-24, also at Auckland’s Eden Park. Caroline Drouin had a chance to send France to their first World Cup final with a penalty in the final minute but hurried the kick and dragged it wide from 30 meters.
Earlier, England faced one of the stiffest challenges to their historic winning streak when they led 18-12 after 50 minutes with Canada battering at their goal line. Several Canada players went close to scoring before England finally forced the turnover that set the try of the tournament in motion.
RUGBY
MacDonald first broke out from behind the England goal line and made lengthy progress downfield. When she met resistance on the left-hand side she swept the ball cross-field to Dow on the right who carried the ball from near halfway to the goal line where, after fending the last defender, she touched down for the match-winning try.
Dow already had scored as England built a 12-0 lead after 15-0 minutes.
Canada came back strongly into the match with tries to backrower Karen Paquin and center Alysha Corrigan which brought the teams level after 35 minutes.
England needed a penalty to Emily Scarratt to earn a 15-12 lead at halftime and led 18-12 soon afterwards with another Scarratt goal.
Then came an England try which may match the fabled “try from the ends of the earth” which France scored against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 1994. An England team famous for the quality of their forward play unleashed their backline in the most unexpected of circumstances and the try that resulted decided the match.
“We’ve come into get into that game next week and Canada really pressed us,” England captain Sarah Hunter said. “For rugby fans out there, hopefully that was a great showcase of what women’s rugby is all about.”
England seemed to be adhering to its well-worn game plan in the first half in
which their forwards gave it 57% of territory and 53% of possession.
Canada pressed the England line for long periods at times and was reward with a try to the center Corrigan in the 35th minute. When the forwards couldn’t find a way through near the line, a long pass found Corrigan in space.
England could rely on the boot of Scarratt at key moments with her penalties either side of halftime.
When England were again under pressure after a try to replacement Tyson Beukeboom in the 68th minute which brought Canada back into the match at 23-19, Scarratt again goaled to make England’s margin secure.
Canada had to resort to a GoFundMe page to support its World Cup campaign.
New Zealand produced an outstanding second-half performance to turn around France’s halftime lead and grab their place in the final. Fans had predicted a final matchup between the world No. 1 and the defending champions but New Zealand needed an extraordinary performance to make that happen.
France were the better team in the first half, composed and controlled. They led early with a try to Romane Menager and, after New Zealand had leveled through Stacey Fluhler, took the lead again with Gabrielle Vernier’s try on halftime.