Mavs set record in win over Clippers
Luka Doncic scored 24 points and the Dallas Mavericks led by a NBA-record 50 points at halftime in a 124-73 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday to earn their first win of the season.
Josh Richardson added 21 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points for the Mavs, who kept up their dominance in the second half, too.
The Clippers trailed
77-27 at halftime, with their 50-point deficit being the largest at the break in the shot-clock era, which began in 1954-55.
Paul George led the
Kawhi Leonard- less Clippers with 15 points before sitting out the second half.
Serge Ibaka added 13 points and nine rebounds in the team’s first loss. The Clippers began with victories over the defending NBA champion Lakers and Denver.
Los Angeles got outrebounded 32-16, had just three assists, and missed 18 of 19 three-pointers in the first half. George was the only Clipper in double figures with 13 after missing all six of his 3-point attempts.
Doncic had 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the first half. He scored as many points (13) as the Clippers in the first quarter. The Mavs scored nearly every time down the court while forcing the Clippers into 9 of 37 fieldgoal shooting.
The Clippers opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run — their biggest spurt of the game — to get within 40 points. The Mavs connected on four consecutive three-pointers — three by Hardaway Jr. — to restore their lead to 50. They were ahead 104-57 going into the fourth.
Elsewhere: Gordon
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Hayward had 28 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and the host Charlotte Hornets handed the Brooklyn Nets their first loss of the season, 106104. … Markelle Fultz and Terrence Ross each scored 26 points as the Orlando Magic mounted a big fourth quarter comeback and beat the host Washington Wizards 120113 night to start a season 3-0 for the first time since 2009-10. … Brandon Ingram had 28 points and 11 rebounds and the host New Orleans Pelicans held on for a 98-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
AWARDS
OSAKA NAMED WOMAN ATHLETE OF YEAR
With tennis, like so much of the world, shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Naomi Osaka found herself with time to read and think.
And while she won the U.S. Open for her third Grand Slam title, she also stood out for speaking out about racial injustice and police brutality.
“It was difficult to be isolated from my family for large parts of the year, but that’s nothing compared to others. It was sad to watch and read the news of people suffering from COVID-19, and the economic and social effect on so many – losing jobs, mental health. It was such a tough year for so many people,” Osaka wrote in an email interview. “And then watching the police injustices like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake (to name just a few) in the summer broke my heart. I am proud of my U.S. Open victory, but more so that I got people talking about the real issues.”
As noteworthy in 2020 for her activism away from the tennis court as her success on it, Osaka was selected by The Associated Press as the Female Athlete of the Year in results revealed Sunday after a vote by AP member sports editors and AP beat writers. Osaka collected 18 of 35 first-place votes and a total of 71 points.
WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart was next with nine first-place votes and 60 points, followed by Sarah Fuller, the Vanderbilt soccer player who kicked for the school’s football team, with one firstplace vote and 24 points.
ETC.
Soccer: Liverpool
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dropped points at Anfield for the first time this season after conceding an 82nd-minute equalizer to draw 1-1 against lowly
West Bromwich Albion.
Tennis: Roger Feder
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er withdrew from the Australian Open while he continues preparing to return to action after two operations on his right knee and a tour absence that will have lasted longer than a year, his agent told The AP. Tony Godsick — Federer’s long-time representative and CEO of their management company, TEAM8 — said he is working on putting together a 2021 tennis calendar for the 20-time Grand Slam champion, who plans to get back to competition soon after the year’s first major tennis tournament.
Obituary: Baseball
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Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who pitched well into his 40s with a knuckleball that baffled big league hitters for more than two decades, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, has died after a long fight with cancer, the team announced Sunday. He was 81. The Braves said Niekro died Saturday night in his sleep. He lived in the Atlanta suburb of Flowery Branch, where a main thoroughfare bears his name. Niekro won 318 games over his 24-year career, which ended in 1987 at age 48 after he made one final start with the Braves.