Magic ride big second half to upend Suns
NBA: J.J. Redick scored 24 points, Arron Afflalo and Glen Davis each had 22 points, and Nikola Vucevic added 18 points and 13 rebounds as the Orlando Magic rallied to beat the Phoenix Suns 115-94 Sunday night in Orlando, Fla.
The Magic trailed by as many as 13 points early in the second half, but used a 40-point third quarter to build as much as a 21-point cushion in the fourth.
Luis Scola led the Suns with 24 points and Michael Beasley added 22.
• Lakers earn first win: Dwight Howard scored 28 points, Kobe Bryant had 15 points and eight assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers finally got their first victory of the season, 108-79 over the winless Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles.
Metta World Peace scored 18 points and Pau Gasol added 14 for the Lakers, who went 0-8 in the preseason and started the regular season 0-3 for just the fourth time in franchise history despite adding Howard and Steve Nash over the summer.
Jonas Jerebko scored 18 points for Detroit in the second stop on a difficult six-game road trip.
• Hot-shooting Knicks down 76ers: Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points, JR Smith had 20, and the New York Knicks rode another big 3-point shooting night to a 100-84 victory over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.
Jason Kidd had 12 points and six assists, and Raymond Felton added 11 points for the Knicks, who made 11 3-pointers.
Jrue Holiday had 27 points and seven assists for the 76ers.
• Hawks surge past Thunder: Al Horford had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Lou Williams added 14 of his 19 points during Atlanta’s decisive fourth-quarter and the Hawks beat the Thunder 104-95 in Oklahoma City.
Kevin Martin scored 28 points off the bench to lead the Thunder and Kevin Durant chipped in 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
Czech Republic tops Serbia for Fed Cup
Tennis: The Czech Republic won its second straight Fed Cup when Lucie Safarova routed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-1, in Prague, prompting a burst of on-court dancing by the Czech players.
Safarova won the second reverse singles for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the final of the best-of-five series. Jankovic, a former No. 1 player, was slowed by a back injury and was in tears afterward.
The Czechs took a 2-0 lead after the opening singles Saturday, but Ana Ivanovic made it 2-1 Sunday by beating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5.
• Petrova wins Tournament of Champions: Nadia Petrova stunned top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-1 to win the Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria, clinching her third WTA title of the year in the final event on the WTA calendar.
• Ferrer ends qualifier’s run: David Ferrer ended the amazing run of Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-3 at the Paris Masters, clinching his first Masters title and winning a tour-leading seventh trophy of the season.
The 69th-ranked Janowicz eliminated five top-20 ranked players, including No. 3 Andy Murray, to reach the final.
• Serena avenges earlier loss to Venus: Serena Williams delivered on her promise to avenge an earlier loss to Venus, beating her 6-3, 6-4 in Johannesburg, South Africa, for just her fourth win in 13 exhibition matches between the sisters.
Serena, the current Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion, lost in straight sets to Venus in Nigeria on Friday.
Moffat, Bruin lead Dynamo to victory
Soccer: Adam Moffat and Will Bruin scored for Houston to give the Dynamo a 2-0 win over visiting Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The second leg is at Wednesday in Kansas City.
Moffat put the Dynamo, who are the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed, ahead 1-0 in the 18th minute, one timing a shot on a bounce off a header from Bruin from 30 yards out just right of the center, inside the near post.
• Late goal lifts Earthquakes: Victor Bernadez scored on a free kick deep into stoppage time to lift the San Jose Earthquakes to a 1-0 triumph over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series in Carson, Calif.
The second leg in the aggregate series is Wednesday in Santa Clara with the winner in the aggregate series advancing to a home-and-home matchup with the Seattle Sounders or Real Salt Lake for a berth in the Dec. 1 MLS Cup final.
Richardson sets new mark in 1,500 meters
Miscellany: Heather Richardson set a new mark to win the 1,500 meters at the U. S. Long Track Speedskating Championships in West Allis, Wis.
Richardson’s time of 1 minute, 55.26 seconds shattered the Pettit National Ice Center mark of 1:57.55 set on Jan. 14, 2007, by Canada’s Kristina Groves.
Second-place finisher Brittany Bowe also eclipsed the old mark in 1:56.86.
Shani Davis, who won silver at 1,500 meters in the last two Winter Olympics, won the men’s race in 1:44.94.
• NHL, union making progress: A secret, long-awaited bargaining session has done some good in the NHL labor fight – so much so that the sides already have plans to get back to the bargaining table soon.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr met for long stretches of Saturday in an undisclosed location, marking the first time the sides had gotten together for talks in more than two weeks.
“We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us,” Daly told the Associated Press in an email. “We plan to meet again early in the week.”
• First black decathlon winner dies: Milt Campbell, who became the first black man to win the Olympic decathlon in 1956 and went on to play professional football and become a motivational speaker, has died after a battle with prostate cancer. He was 78.
Linda Rusch, Campbell’s partner of 13 years, said Campbell died Friday at his home in Gainesville, Ga. She said he had been fighting prostate cancer for a decade.
Campbell is the only athlete in both the National Track and Field and National Swimming halls of fame.
• Cycling sponsor sues: Sportswear company Skins is suing cycling’s governing body for $2 million, claiming its brand has been damaged by backing the doping-tainted sport.