In brief: Bulls even series with Celtics

Ben Gordon scored 22 points, hitting the tying 3-pointer in the first overtime, and the Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 121-118 in double overtime Sunday in Chicago to tie their first-round series at two games apiece.

Derrick Rose added 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. John Salmons scored 20 points after a slow start, hitting four free throws in the final 26 seconds of the game and blocking Paul Pierce’s tying 3-pointer.

Boston’s Ray Allen buried a 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 96, and Rose missed a fadeaway in the closing seconds of regulation. Gordon came through with 4.5 seconds left in the first overtime, hitting a 3-pointer over Pierce to tie it at 110.

Pierce led Boston with 29 points, although he was just 9 for 24. Ray Allen added 28, and Rajon Rondo again hounded the Bulls, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

•Rockets up 3-1: Yao Ming had 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Rockets took a 3-1 lead in their playoff series with Portland, beating the Trail Blazers 89-88 in Houston.

Luis Scola scored 17 points and Shane Battier added 14 points and six assists for the Rockets, who snapped a six-game losing streak in Game 4s, coinciding with their 0-6 record in first-round series since 1998.

Brandon Roy scored 31 points and went 13 for 13 from the free-throw line for the Blazers.

•Cavaliers advance: LeBron James had 36 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a first-round sweep of the Detroit Pistons with a 99-78 victory in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Mo Williams scored a career playoff-high 24 for the Cavs. Detroit’s Antonio McDyess had 26 points, tying a career playoff high.

•Magic even series: Hedo Turkoglu nailed a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to lift the Orlando Magic over the 76ers 84-81 in Philadelphia, evening their Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece.

Dwight Howard had 18 points and 18 rebounds, and every Magic starter scored in double figures. Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis each added 17.

Andre Miller led the Sixers with 17 and Thaddeus Young had 15.

Tennis

Nadal reigns in Spain

Rafael Nadal won his fifth straight Barcelona Open title, beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5.

Top-ranked Nadal exploited Ferrer’s inconsistent service game to take the first set and then overcame his own erratic play in the second set to win the Godo trophy at Ferrer’s expense for the second straight year.

Nadal improved to 24-1 in clay court finals in picking up his fourth title of the season.

The four-time defending French Open champion goes into the Rome Masters on a 25-match unbeaten run with only three defeats in his past 133 matches on clay.

•U.S., Italy in Fed Cup final: The United States and Italy reached the Fed Cup final, with the Americans saving a match point in the decisive match of the best-of-5 series and the Italians eliminating defending champion Russia.

The Americans beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in Brno to reach their first final since 2003. Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands saved a match point before defeating Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Francesca Schiavone earned the winning point for Italy, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2. The Russians had won four of the past five Fed Cup titles, with Italy taking the other title in 2006.

The 2009 final, which will be in Italy, is set for Nov. 7-8.

Hockey

Caps force Game 7

Tom Poti had a goal and two assists and the visiting Washington Capitals won 5-3 in Game 6 against the New York Rangers.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist didn’t make it to the third period for the second straight game, and Poti torched his former team as the Capitals tied the first-round playoff series and set up a decisive Game 7 on Tuesday night in Washington.

The Capitals had trailed the series 3-1 before a pair of routs.

•Hurricanes even series: Eric Staal scored two goals less than 3 minutes apart, Cam Ward made 28 saves in his third career playoff shutout and the Carolina Hurricanes routed the New Jersey Devils 4-0 in Raleigh, N.C., to force a decisive Game 7 on Tuesday.

Ray Whitney had a goal and three assists, Jussi Jokinen scored Carolina’s first power-play goal since Game 2, Chad LaRose had two assists and Staal added an assist for the Hurricanes.

•Swiss edge Germany: Mark Streit scored a power-play goal in overtime to lift Switzerland to a 3-2 win over Germany at the world championship in Bern, Switzerland.

Switzerland advanced to the next group phase of the 16-nation tournament along with Group B rival Russia which beat France 7-2. Canada beat Hungary 9-0 with a hat trick from Martin St. Louis to ensure it advanced from Group A.

Also in Group A play Sunday, Oleg Antonenko scored twice in a penalty shootout to give Belarus the win after tying Slovakia 1-1 in Zurich.

Miscellany

Wanjiru wins in London

Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru won his first London Marathon title in a course record, and Irina Mikitenko defended her title in the women’s race.

Wanjiru won in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 10 seconds. Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia was second and Jaouad Gharib of Morocco was third.

In the women’s race, the 36-year-old Mikitenko broke away from the field to win in 2:22.11.

Mara Yamauchi of Britain finished 1:01 behind. Liliya Shobukhova was third in 2:24:24, one of four Russians in the top 10.

•VanDam wins 15th title: Kevin VanDam won his 15th career Bassmaster Elite Series title, edging Matt Herren at the Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl in Moneta, Va.

VanDam, of Kalamazoo, Mich., finished with 61 pounds, 13 ounces on Smith Mountain Lake to earn the $100,000 prize. Herren, of Trussville, Ala., was more than 2 pounds behind.