By the Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — Patty Mills had 27 points and the San Antonio Spurs overcame a career-high 41 points from Spencer Dinwiddie to beat the Brooklyn Nets 118-105 Thursday night.

Mills had 21 points in the second half, shooting 5 for 8 on 3-pointers as the Spurs rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat the Nets for the 17th straight home game.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio.

Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving missed his 17th straight game with a right shoulder impingement. Dinwiddie tried to cover by shooting 14 of 29 from the field, eclipsing his career high by two points.

The Spurs closed the third quarter on a 12-0 run and notched their first lead at 83-81 on Mills’ layup with 3.8 seconds left. San Antonio was 4 for 9 on 3-pointers in the third, including Derrick White’s 3 to tie it at 81.

The Nets never trailed in the first half and led by 14 points while the Spurs plodded along. San Antonio committed nine turnovers and shot 40% from the field in the first half.

Brooklyn opened the game on a 12-2 run, including two emphatic dunks by Jarrett Allen. Allen’s second slam came off an uncontested drive that prompted a timeout by Popovich 3 minutes into the game.

Allen finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for Brooklyn.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 111-104 Thursday night in a showdown of the NBA’s top teams.

Antetokounmpo had seven assists and a career-best five 3-pointers, and George Hill added 21 points off the bench for the Bucks. Milwaukee improved to 25-4 after ending an 18-game winning streak against Dallas on Monday night.

James had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his seventh triple-double of the season, and Anthony Davis had 36 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles. The Lakers dropped to 24-5 largely because their bench was outscored 34-4 by the Bucks’ reserves.

Milwaukee led by six after the first quarter then opened the second with a 20-7 run. Davis and James combined to shoot 6 for 20 in the first half, and the Lakers had 10 turnovers. The Bucks led 65-46 at the break.

The Bucks improved to 3-0 against the two teams from Los Angeles, including a dominant 119-91 win over the Clippers at home on Dec. 6.

The last time two teams that were 20 games over .500 played each other before Jan. 1 was 1980. The Boston Celtics (28-8) played the Suns (32-8) in Phoenix. Boston won 116-97.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

CHICAGO — All-Star weekend will be a homecoming for Common and Chance The Rapper.

The NBA said Thursday night that the Grammy winners will be headline performers at the All-Star Game in Chicago on Feb. 16.

Chance The Rapper and Common were both born in Chicago.

Common will deliver remarks about what basketball means to the city before he introduces the All-Star rosters before the game. Chance The Rapper and some guests will perform at halftime, doing a medley of some of his biggest hits.

Chance The Rapper’s younger brother and fellow rapper Taylor Bennett will perform at halftime of the Rising Stars game on Friday, Feb. 14. Chance and Bennett will also serve as All-Star ambassadors, partnering with the league and the Chicago Bulls for fan engagement and other programs.

Chicago is playing host to the All-Star Game for the third time, having also done so in 1973 and 1988.

Chance The Rapper is a three-time Grammy winner. Common also is a three-time Grammy winner, in addition to having won an Emmy, an Oscar and a Golden Globe award.

The All-Star Game is expected to be broadcast to more than 200 countries, in roughly 50 languages. All-Star voting begins on Christmas Day.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

ATLANTA— Donovan Mitchell scored two of his 30 points on a tricky baseline drive that put Utah ahead for good and the Jazz beat the Atlanta Hawks 111-106 Thursday night.

Mitchell faked a pass from under the basket before slamming the breaks and connecting from beneath the backboard with 3:47 left. That made it 101-99, and he cemented the win with two free throws with 13 seconds left.

The Jazz won their fourth straight game by dominating near the rim. They outscored the Hawks 62-46 in the paint and outrebounded them 52-39. Rudy Gobert had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Utah.

Point guard Trae Young led the Hawks with 30 points, but Atlanta lost its sixth consecutive game. Jabari Parker scored 23 points.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Game Friday

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7 p.m. — NorthPort vs Ginebra

(Ginebra leads series 2-1)

Jeff Chan has become an important part of the last two victories that put Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on the cusp of advancing to the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.

The veteran shooter made his presence felt Wednesday when he dropped 11 of his 17 points during a decisive second quarter that keyed Ginebra’s 132-105 win over NorthPort for a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series.

Chan made Ginebra’s first seven points of the second to make the score 43-34, more than two minutes into the period, setting the stage for another blowout victory that quickly atoned for the shock 124-90 defeat in Saturday’s series opener.

“He spearheaded the breakaway that we had in that second quarter and he hit some shots,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, whose team is 4-0 this conference when Chan scores in double figures.

Chan had 12 in Ginebra’s 113-88 win in Game 2 last Monday.

“I think importante yung defense namin,” said Chan, stressing how Ginebra’s defense has resulted in a good play on offense. “Pag nakaka-stop kami nagta-translate sa offense. Yung shooting namin mas gumaganda dahil sa transition at pag may open. Yun siguro nagpapalamang sa amin.”

Ginebra has been getting the chunk of points from Justin Brownlee, who ended Game 3 with 41 points, and Stanley Pringle, who’s averaging 19.3 points in the series. But Chan has been making sure that he’ll make things more difficult for NorthPort.

“It’s tough when you’re trying to focus on Justin Brownlee or Stanley Pringle and Japeth (Aguilar) or Greg (Slaughter) inside,” said Cone. “Then you got Jeff out there spotting around and it’s hard to account for him.

“And when he’s knocking down shots, it makes the game easier for us. He was by far the best player off the bench and if he can continue to do that in this series, and if we can get to the next one, we’re gonna be tough to beat,” he added.

Ginebra is looking to close it out at 7 p.m. Friday and advance to the finals for the fifth time in Cone’s tenure.
Cone and the Kings are fixtures in the season-ending conference, having won the 2017 and 2018 editions both at the expense of the Meralco Bolts. Last year, Ginebra’s bid for a three-peat was squashed by eventual champion Magnolia in the semis.

As much as the momentum has swung in Ginebra’s favor,  Cone refused to be carried away.

“It’s still 50-50 (in Game 4) but it’s nice to get ahead and dictate the series and force the other team to make adjustments,” said Cone.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Game Friday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. — NorthPort vs Ginebra
(Ginebra leads series 2-1)

Game Saturday
(Ynares Center, Antipolo City)
6:30 p.m. — TNT KaTropa vs Meralco
(TNT leads series 2-1)

TNT KaTropa survived another dominant display by Meralco import Allen Durham to hack out a 101-97 win Thursday and gain a 2-1 lead in their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Struggling for almost two-thirds of the match, import KJ McDaniels found ways to make an impact with his rebounding and crucial baskets in the fourth to give the KaTropa a hard-fought victory that put them on the threshold of another finals appearance.

McDaniels scored 10 of his 18 points in the payoff period, including a tip-in off a missed runner by Jayson Castro that gave TNT a 100-97 lead, 35.9 seconds remaining.

The KaTropa also benefited from a major blunder from Durham, who threw a corner pass to no one thinking that teammate Cliff Hodge was in the game.

Hodge was standing at the sidelines when Durham, who thought that a Meralco player was open, made the error with 11 seconds left.

It was a terrible ending to what was another strong showing from Durham, who finished with 32 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists.

A split by Castro, 10.3 to go, sealed the final count for TNT, which bounced back from a 114-94 defeat two nights ago.

TNT can finish the job on Saturday when the series shifts to the Ynares Center in Antipolo City for Game 4.

Troy Rosario topscored with 25 points, Castro had 17, Roger Pogoy 15 points and eight rebounds and rookie Ray Parks Jr. 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

McDaniels had 14 rebounds to make up for his early offensive struggles.

Coach Bong Ravena, active consultant Mark Dickel and the KaTropa fashioned out the win despite going down 53-42 at the start of the third.

Meralco was ahead 64-57 when Jayson Castro knocked down a triple and Ryan Reyes hit back-to-back from rainbow territory to make it 66-64 in favor of TNT, 3:41 left in the third.

TNT went up 82-71 almost a minute into the fourth as McDaniels scored a three-point play.

But the Bolts eventually came back and took the lead twice, the last on Newsome’s three with under two minutes remaining for 97-96.

Castro answered for 98-97 KaTropa before McDaniels made the crucial tip-in a few possessions later.

The scores:

TNT KATROPA 101 — Rosario 25, McDaniels 18, Castro 17, Pogoy 15, Parks 12, Reyes 9, De Leon 5, Digregorio 0, Williams 0, Vosotros 0.

MERALCO 97 — Durham 32, Newsome 20, Amer 19, Quinto 8, Pinto 5, Caram 4, Almazan 4, Hodge 3, Maliksi 2, Faundo 0.

Quarters: 23-29; 42-51; 77-71; 101-97.

Source: Manila Bulletin

LOOK: Top photos of Manila Bulletin in the 30th Southeast Asian Games for Dec. 10, 2019

Featuring:

• Mission accomplished as Gilas Pilipinas nails 18th gold medal
• PH cagebelles end long misery, win first-ever gold with rout of Thailand
• PH delivers 3 golds for kickboxing
• Silver lining in PH men’s volleyball heartbreaker

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

Rubilen Amit kissed her 2019 Women’s World 9-Ball Championship title bid goodbye after yielding to veteran Jasmin Ouschan of Austria 9-2 in the semifinals on Wednesday in Sanya, China.

Amit failed to recover after Ouschan, a 10-time European 9-ball champion, dominated the first five racks.

The 38-year-old Amit first survived Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wan Ling 9-8 and then toppled China’s Bai Ge 9-5 before succumbing to Ouschan.

She was the last Filipino standing in the tournament after Chezka Centeno lost in the opening round and Floriza Andal and Iris Rañola failed to get past the group stage.

Amit battles for third place against Zhou Doudou after the Chinese bet lost to Great Britain’s Kelly Fisher 9-5.

Amit’s best finish in the tournament is runner-up in the 2007 edition.

Source: Manila Bulletin

LOOK: Top photos of Manila Bulletin in the 30th Southeast Asian Games for Dec. 9, 2019

Featuring:

• Samboy Lim’s daughter Jamie skywalks to top, bags gold in karate
• Boxers Carlo Paalam, Rogen Ladon hammer out victories, bag gold medals
• Eumir Felix Marcial by KO, Nesthy Petecio via unanimous decision
• Athletics, boxing deliver more golds for PH
• Clinton Bautista pulls off shocker, bags 110m hurdles gold

Source: Manila Bulletin

LOOK: Top photos of Manila Bulletin in the 30th Southeast Asian Games for Dec. 8, 2019

Featuring:

• Heroic Roger Casugay bags PH’s first gold in surfing
  
• Taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez returns to former weight class, bags gold
• Vietnamese wins 100-m gold, upsets Kristina Knott

Source: Manila Bulletin