BASKETTBALL

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Cade Cunningham scored 32 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics 112-105 to extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference standings on Monday.

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The Los Angeles Clippers axed veteran point guard Chris Paul on Wednesday, releasing the 12-time All-Star in a shock move that comes with the team struggling near the foot of the NBA standings.

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LeBron James made two free throws with 3.9 seconds left, Luka Doncic scored 29 points and the Los Angeles Lakers recovered from blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter to top the Phoenix Suns 116-114 on Sunday night.

Phoenix trailed 99-79 with 7:48 left, but took a 114-113 lead with 12.2 seconds left on Dillon Brooks’ 3-pointer over James, who made contact with Brooks after the shot. Brooks bumped James on the way back down the court, earning his second technical foul and an ejection.

More importantly, it gave the Lakers a free throw, but James missed it.

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The Phoenix Suns shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road on Monday.

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The short-handed Milwaukee Bucks shook off a slow start and dominated in the second half to beat Boston 116-101 on Thursday and halt the Celtics’ five-game NBA winning streak.

Milwaukee’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo was again sidelined by a calf injury.

But Kyle Kuzma stepped up with 31 points, Kevin Porter Jr. Added a triple-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, and Bobby Portis Jr. Chipped in 27 points off the bench for a Bucks team that had lost 10 of their prior 12 games.

Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and Jordan Walsh added 20 for the Celtics, who led by as many as 14 on the way to a 67-60 halftime lead.

But the Celtics went cold in the second half, connecting on just three of 26 from three-point range after the break. Milwaukee out-scored Boston 27-13 in the pivotal third quarter to seize control.

“You know, they jumped on us at the beginning of the game,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “We got right back in. We came out in the third quarter, I thought our defense was phenomenal.

“We basically took away their threes, and that’s what they kept hunting and we kept taking them away – and I thought it was great.”

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There was to be one more highlight of Finland’s year to remember, as they secured an impressive 83-76 win over France to kickstart their 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification campaign.

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Washington’s C.J. McCollum scored a season-high 46 points and the NBA-worst Wizards snapped a 14-game losing streak on Tuesday by routing Atlanta 132-113 in an NBA Cup contest.