‘Lucky’ Justin Thomas win Tournament of Champions playoff
The Minnesota Timberwolves, bolstered by the return from the sick list of Andrew Wiggins, squandered a 25-point second-half lead before coming up with a 118-103 victory over the Cavaliers in Cleveland.
Cleveland’s Dante Exum scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half, when the Cavaliers put together a 30-4 scoring run to seize a one-point lead with 8:26 left to play.
But Minnesota answered with a 13-point run that included two three-pointers from Gorgui Dieng to salvage the victory – and win back-to-back games for the first time since November.
All five Timberwolves starters scored in double figures, led by Dieng who had 22 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.
The Cavs also saw rookie forward Kevin Porter Jr. depart with a knee injury in the third quarter.
He had crumpled to the court after he appeared to get stepped on attempting to make a spin move against Robert Covington.
The Cavs had no immediate post-game update on his condition, but he left the arena on crutches.
The Miami Heat took their league-best home record to 171 with a 122-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
At 26-10 overall the Heat are third in the Eastern Conference led by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Goran Dragic came off the bench to lead the Heat with 29 points and 13 assists. Bam Adebayo added 20 points and the Heat never trailed despite the absence of Jimmy Butler with a sore back.
“It doesn’t matter for us who’s playing or not,” Dragic said. “We don’t use excuses.”
Former Heat center Hassan Whiteside was booed whenever he touched the ball in his return to Miami for the Blazers but finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds.
The NBA day that ended with the Lakers win at Staples Center opened with the Los Angeles Clippers’ 135-132 victory over the New York Knicks on the same court.
Montrezl Harrell came off the bench to score 34 points, leading a trio of Clippers players who scored more than 30.
Paul George and Lou Williams added 32 points each as the Clippers erased the sour taste left by a home loss to the lowly Memphis Grizzlies.
It marked the first time in the club’s 50-year history that three players scored at least 30 points. — AFP
LOS ANGELES: Justin Thomas said he “got very lucky” after botching the last hole in regulation but holding on to win the Tournament of Champions in a playoff on Sunday, edging Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele for his 12th US PGA Tour title.
The 26-year-old American birdied the third extra hole to beat Reed after defending champion Schauffele had been eliminated with a threeputt par on the first playoff green.
World number four Thomas stuck his third shot three feet from the pin at the par-five 18th on the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii, to set up an easy birdie and watched as Reed missed his sevenfoot putt to extend the playoff.
All three had finished 72 holes with 14-under par totals of 278 after Thomas, who enjoyed a two-shot lead with three to play, bogeyed two of the last three holes.
He fell back to 15-under at the 16th before his three-wood second shot at 18 found the thigh-high grass in a penalty area on his way to a bogey in a four-under-par final round of 69.
Playing partner Schauffele, the world number eight, reached the green in two, but missed a seven-foot birdie putt for victory, carding a three-under par 70.
Reed, ranked 11, was already in the clubhouse on 14-under after capping a bogey-free sevenunder 66 with a 20-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole.
Reed, the 2018 US Masters champion, had putts to win on each of the first two playoff holes but was unable to get efforts from 30 feet and 12 feet to drop.
“For some reason I was supposed to win this week,” Thomas said. “I got very, very lucky to have that putt.
“But I also stuck to my process,” said Thomas, who like the entire field in the winners-only event dealt with challenging, gusty winds for a fourth straight day.
“I truly felt like through 15 holes it was one of the best rounds I ever played,” said Thomas who started the day one stroke off Schauffele’s lead and pulled level with a birdie at the eighth where Schauffele bogeyed.
He kept the accelerator down with birdies at nine, 10 and 11, and added two more at 14 and 15 – where his putt through the fringe circled the cup before rattling in.
“I was in such control tee to green, I was putting it beautifully, my irons were awesome,” Thomas said. “I hit a really good drive on 16, just the wind took it more.
“Eighteen,” he admitted, “was just a disaster.
“But it worked out, so I guess I can’t complain,” Thomas concluded.
Schauffele said Thomas’s run of six birdies in eight holes was astonishing, especially given the windy conditions.
“He was hitting ridiculous shots, making good putts in the wind, and he deserved the lead he got,” said Schauffele.
But he was disappointed that he didn’t take advantage of his own opportunity.
“I should have won the tournament,” Schauffele said.
“I mean, JT was right there, but with the circumstances given I should have closed it up and I didn’t.” — AFP