Warriors beat Jazz in OT as Spurs still perfect at home

Mavericks rally for key win over Knicks

SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, (Agencies): Stephen Curry scored 31 points, including six straight in overtime as the Golden State Warriors continued their historic run with a 103-96 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.

The Warriors (68-7) surpassed last season’s victory total and can break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72-10 with five wins in their last seven games.

Golden State’s Klay Thompson hit a tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining in regulation after an offensive rebound and kickout from Shaun Livingston after Thompson missed the previous attempt.

The Jazz (37-38) fell into a tie with Houston for the No. 7 slot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Curry had seven rebounds and four assists, while Thompson finished with 18 points. Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 21 pints and Rodney Hood added 20.

Spurs 100, Pelicans 92 In San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 20 points as the Spurs beat the injurydepleted Pelicans for their NBA-record 38th straight home victory to open a season. San Antonio topped the 37-0 start by the Chicago Bulls during their record 72-victory season in 1995-96. Golden State has an existing 36-game home win-

Curry San Antonio Spurs forwards Kawhi Leonard (left), and Tim Duncan (right), defend New Orleans Pelicans center Omer

Asik, of Turkey, in the first half of an NBA basketball game on March 30 in San Antonio. (AP)

steals and four blocks as the Kings hurt the Wizards’ playoff hopes.

The Wizards dropped their second straight and fourth in five games, falling 3-1/2 games behind Indiana for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Bradley Beal scored 24 points and Otto Porter had 20 for Washington. John Wall contributed 14 points and 13 assists.

Clippers 99, Timberwolves 79 In Minneapolis, Chris Paul had 20 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds in leading the Clippers to their fourth straight victory.

J.J. Redick scored 17 points for Los Angeles and DeAndre Jordan had 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. The Clippers held Minnesota to 34.5 percent shooting and only turned the ball over seven times.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have been humming along with one of the league’s best offenses since the All-Star break until they hit the Clippers wall. Andrew Wiggins had just seven points and six turnovers and left the game midway through the third quarter with a lacerated chin.

Mavericks 91, Knicks 89 In Dallas, J.J. Barea scored 26 points and made the go-ahead layup with 49.9 seconds left to help Dallas rally in the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks tied the Rockets for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Barea’s basket put Dallas ahead 90-89 after the Mavericks trailed by seven with 8 minutes left. Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points for New York and Derrick Williams added 15 in his third start of the season.

Bucks 105, Suns 94 In Milwaukee, Khris Middleton scored nine of his 26 points in the final 7:31 while Jabari Parker added 21 points as Milwaukee stopped a five-game slide.

Milwaukee’s reserves outscored Phoenix’s backups 32-9. Phoenix has lost four straight and five of six.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 10 points and six assists in the Bucks’ first game since coach Jason Kidd announced Tuesday that the 6-foot-11 forward would play point guard in the 2016-17 season.

Kenyan lawmakers have held the preliminary reading of a bill criminalising sports doping, just days before a deadline to avoid threatened Olympic expulsion.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) gave Kenya until April 5 to tighten its anti-doping law and provide funding for a proposed Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), after the east African track giants missed an earlier Feb 14 deadline.

The Anti-Doping Bill establishes the anti-doping agency and proposes a $1,000 (100,000 Kenyan shillings, 872 euros) fine, and/or a year in jail for athletes caught doping.

Those caught smuggling or administering banned substances face a $30,000 (3 million Kenya shillings, 26,200 euros) fine or a three-year jail term.

The new bill, the preliminary reading of which was held late on Wednesday, is intended to save Kenyan athletes from an Olympics ban threatened by IAAF president Sebastian Coe.

However, parliament is on recess for the next 10 days — until after the April 5 deadline — and the bill requires two further parliamentary hearings, possible committee hearings and presidential assent before becoming law, a process that can take months.

When Kenya missed the February deadline to prove it was doing enough to combat drug-taking, Coe said he would severely punish any country guilty of attempting to cover up doping.

Efforts to comply with the new extended deadline were hampered in February when Athletics Kenya chief executive Isaac Mwangi stepped aside to allow a probe into allegations he sought bribes from two suspended athletes, claims he denies.

The IAAF says Croatian-American marathon runner Lisa Nemec and Belarusian race-walker Hanna Drabenia,