Mavericks win during Rondo’s Boston return
Rajon Rondo scored the Mavericks’ first 10 points in his return to Boston and finished with a season-high 29 to lead visiting Dallas to a 119-101 victory over the Celtics.
The rebuilding Celtics traded the four-time All-Star to Dallas last month. Monta Ellis scored 22 points to help the Mavericks to their fourth consecutive victory.
• Love, Cavs beat Hornets: Kevin Love scored 27 points, Kyrie Irving had 23 and Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak with a 91-87 win over the Hornets in Charlotte, North Carolina. Gerald Henderson led Charlotte with 14 points.
• Nets hold off late rally by Magic: Mason Plumlee had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Brooklyn beat the Magic 100-98 in Orlando, Florida, for its straight victory. Victor Oladipo led Orlando with 17 points.
• Pistons hammer Knicks: Brandon Jennings scored 29 points and visiting Detroit extended New York’s losing streak to 10 games with a 97-81 victory. J.R. Smith led the Knicks with 22 points.
• Pelicans rout Rockets: Ryan Anderson scored 22 points, Tyreke Evans added 21 and host New Orleans routed Houston 111-83. Dwight Howard scored 12 points and James Harden had 11 for Houston.
• Durant scores 34, leads Thunder past Wizards: Kevin Durant scored 34 points to help the Thunder beat Washington 109-102 in Oklahoma City.
Durant was 12 for 18 from the field in just 32 minutes, including a 4-for-7 performance from 3-point range. Bradley Beal had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Wizards.
Price earns 200th; Canadians top Devils
NHL: Carey Price made 22 saves for his 200th NHL victory in this 400th game, Michael Bournival scored his first two goals of the season and Montreal extended its winning streak to five with a 4-2 victory over the Devils in Newark, New Jersey.
• Penguins power past Lightning: Steve Downie scored twice after missing five games with the mumps, and Pittsburgh used a three-goal, first-period lead to defeat visiting Tampa Bay 6-3.
• Wild too much for Maple Leafs: Kyle Brodziak, Jared Spurgeon and Mikko Koivu scored, Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves, and the Wild beat Toronto 3-1 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• O’Reilly scores in OT, lifts Avalanche over Flyers: Ryan O’Reilly scored at 4:40 of overtime and Colorado rallied to beat Philadelphia 4-3 in Denver to end a two-game skid. Semyon Varlamov had 26 saves and Jarome Iginla also scored for the Avalanche.
• Flames’ Jooris scores OT goal in win over Oilers: Josh Jooris scored 1:08 into overtime to lead the Flames to a wild 4-3 win over Edmonton in Calgary, Alberta.
U.S. loses to Russia in world juniors
Hockey: The United States was eliminated from the world junior hockey championship with a 3-2 loss to Russia in the quarterfinals in Montreal.
The Americans finished out of the medals for the second straight year. Russia advances to a semifinal Sunday in Toronto against Sweden, a 6-3 winner over defending champion Finland in Toronto. In the other semifinal, Canada will face Slovakia.
Canada beat Denmark 8-0 in Toronto, and Slovakia topped the Czech Republic 3-0 in Montreal.
Chizik set to coach Tar Heels’ defense
College Football: Former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik accepted an offer to coach North Carolina’s struggling defense.
Chizik will receive a 3-year contract, according to a person familiar with the situation. The school won’t make an official announcement until the deal is finalized and approved by its board of trustees.
Chizik will replace Vic Koenning, who was associate head coach for defense over the past three seasons.
Rountree named Portland State A.D.
Miscellany: Mark Rountree, deputy athletic director at Miami of Ohio since early 2013, was named athletic director at Portland State. Rountree will join the Vikings on Jan. 28.
Rountree served as associate athletic director for compliance at Oregon State from 2004-08.
• Butler drops interim tag, makes Holtmann coach: Butler is removing the interim tag from Chris Holtmann’s title, making him the new head basketball coach. Holtmann replaces Brandon Miller, who took a medical leave in October.
Under Holtmann, the Bulldogs have gone 10-4 and climbed as high as No. 15 in the rankings.
• Judge who imprisoned Rose dies: A longtime federal judge in Ohio known for his support of civil rights and for sending baseball star Pete Rose to prison has died. S. Arthur Spiegel was 94.
His judicial assistant for his 34 years on the federal bench confirms that Spiegel died Wednesday in Cincinnati. Spiegel ordered Rose to prison for tax evasion in 1990, and he rejected an anti-gay rights initiative in Cincinnati.