Cavs down Wizards, milestone night for James
Gnabry hat-trick in Germany 8-goal romp
WASHINGTON:
Adding a win to their White House visit, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers capped a perfect trip to the nation’s capital by beating the Washington Wizards 105-94 on the strength of 14 3-pointers Friday night. A day after being feted as NBA champions by President Barack Obama, the Cavs improved to 7-1 this season, recovering quickly from their loss to Atlanta on Tuesday. James had 27 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Kevin Love finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Kyrie Irving scored 29 and helped the Cavs hold John Wall to only five of his 28 points after halftime.
CLIPPERS 110, THUNDER 108
Blake Griffin scored 25 points as Los Angeles beat Oklahoma City to improve the best start in franchise history to 8-1. Thunder star Russell Westbrook missed what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds. Jamal Crawford scored 19 points and Chris Paul added 17 points and 10 assists for the Clippers, who have won five straight and own the league’s best record. The Clippers avenged their only loss of the season. The Thunder won 85-83 on Nov. 2 in Los Angeles. Westbrook had 29 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Victor Oladipo scored 18 for Oklahoma City (6-3).
SPURS 96, PISTONS 86
Pau Gasol set season highs with 21 points and six assists as San Antonio snapped a three-game home losing streak with a victory over Detroit. Gasol was 10 for 16 from the field as San Antonio snapped its longest home skid since dropping three straight in December 2014. He also had nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Kawhi Leonard scored 17 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs. Tony Parker had seven points and four assists in 21 minutes after missing the previous three games with a sore right knee. Andre Drummond matched his season high with 20 points and added 17 rebounds in Detroit’s third straight loss.
RAPTORS 113, HORNETS 111
DeMar DeRozan continued his torrid pace, scoring 34 points as Toronto snapped Charlotte’s four-game winning streak. DeRozan came into the game averaging an NBA-high 34.1 points. He shot 14 of 26 from the field and made several key jumpers down the stretch as the Raptors erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win for the fifth time in six games. DeRozan has scored at least 30 points in seven of Toronto’s eight games. His latest big night offset a huge performance from Hornets guard Kemba Walker, who scored 40 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including 7 of 12 from 3-point range. Walker also had 10 rebounds and six assists.
76ERS 109, PACERS 105, OT
Joel Embiid scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead Philadelphia over Indiana for its first victory of the season. Ersan Ilyasova added 14 points for Philadelphia, which was the last winless team left in the NBA. The 76ers snapped a 44-game losing streak in October and November that dated to Nov. 22, 2013. And they can thank Embiid, the No. 3 pick of the 2014 draft who missed the last two seasons due to a broken foot. Paul George had 26 points and Monta Ellis added 19 for the Pacers.
JAZZ 87, MAGIC 74
Gordon Hayward scored 20 points and Derrick Favors added 18 to lift Utah over Orlando. The Jazz bounced back from a loss in Charlotte and moved to 3-1 on their fivegame road trip. The Magic, meanwhile, went more than 9 minutes without a basket and dropped their third straight. Evan Fournier led Orlando with 21 points, but was the team’s only starter in double figures. D.J. Augustin came off the bench to score 19. Utah center Rudy Gobert finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
CELTICS 115, KNICKS 87
Isaiah Thomas scored 23 of his 29 points in the first half to help Boston snap a threegame slide by beating New York. Kelly Olynyk added 19 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics. The Knicks have yet to post consecutive victories this season. They played without Carmelo Anthony in the second half - he was ejected with 4:44 left in the second quarter after picking up back-to back technical fouls. Anthony finished with 12 points and two rebounds. Brandon Jennings also was ejected late in the fourth quarter after receiving consecutive technical fouls.
TRAIL BLAZERS 122, KINGS 120, OT
Damian Lillard had 36 points and CJ McCollum scored 31 to lead Portland past Sacramento in overtime. The teams traded the lead over the final 2 1/2 minutes. Meyers Leonard made two free throws to give Portland a 121-120 edge with 32 seconds remaining, and Rudy Gay missed a jumper at the other end. Allen Crabbe hit one of two foul shots for the Trail Blazers with 14.3 seconds left, leaving the Kings with another opportunity. DeMarcus Cousins missed a jumper and Gay was off target on a 16-foot fadeaway at the buzzer. Cousins led Sacramento with 33 points. Gay had 29 points and 14 rebounds. - AP
SERRAVALLE:
Ex-Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry scored a hat-trick on his senior Germany debut in Friday’s 8-0 World Cup victory at San Marino as coach Joachim Loew set a new record. Gnabry, 21, who left the Gunners before the start of the season, is the first German to score a hat-trick on his debut since Dieter Mueller achieved the feat for West Germany in 1976.
“Of course, I didn’t expect the hat-trick and I’m delighted to have helped the team,” said Gnabry who joined Werder Bremen in August after a lack of chances at Arsenal.
“The last few years have been hard for me, so it’s nice to have had a few goals and I hope it keeps going well.”
Cologne left-back Jonas Hector also netted twice after Germany’s stand-in captain Sami Khedira opened the scoring. Mattia Stefanelli scored a late own goal before substitute Kevin Volland netted Germany’s eighth.
Germany maintain their perfect record of four wins to stay top of their 2018 World Cup qualifying group and five points clear of nearest rivals Northern Ireland.
After a decade in charge, this was Loew’s 95th victory, in his 142nd international as coach, to better the 94 wins of legendary Sepp Herberger, who steered West Germany to the 1954 World Cup title. “We wanted to score as many goals as possible and let them do the running. It worked out well,” said Loew. “Gnabry has showed for Werder, and for us in training, that he’s in good form.” With Toni Kroos and Jerome Boateng injured, Loew gave debuts to both Gnabry and 19-year-old Bayer Leverkusen right-back Benjamin Henrichs. Germany romped to a 13-0 win on their last visit to Serravalle in 2006 and took just seven minutes to take the lead against San Marino’s part-timers. With goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer missing with a virus, Khedira skippered Germany and put his side ahead.
In pouring rain, Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan spotted Khedira’s run into the box and the defensive midfielder buried his shot. Gnabry doubled the lead when a clearance from defender Davide Simoncini went straight to the Werder winger.
His shot beat Simoncini’s twin brother Aido in the San Marino goal on nine minutes. Hector found himself in the strikers’ position when Mario Goezte’s pass picked him out and he tucked away Germany’s third on 32 minutes. Mario Gomez stroked Thomas Mueller’s pass into the net, but he was incorrectly flagged for offside and it stayed 3-0 at the break. The San Marino FA’s Twitter account gleefully pointed out their half-time score was better than Brazil’s 5-0 during the 2014 World Cup semi-final. Gnabry grabbed the fourth on 58 minutes after converting Joshua Kimmich’s floated pass over the defence.
Then Hector added his second after good work from Goetze opened up the defence on 65 minutes. Schalke’s Max Meyer replaced Goetze for the final 20 minutes and hit the post with his first touch of the ball.
Gnabry wrapped up his hat-trick 14 minutes from time before Stefanelli, who became a national hero by scoring their goal in last month’s 4-1 defeat to Norway, turned the ball into his own net. Volland then came off the bench to score the world champions’ eighth four minutes from time. — AFP