In brief: Millsap leads Jazz over Thunder
NBA: Paul Millsap had 30 points and 16 rebounds, Deron Williams added 16 points and 15 assists and the Utah Jazz avoided matching their worst start in 31 years by beating the Thunder 120-99 in Oklahoma City.
Al Jefferson notched his first double-double since joining the Jazz in an offseason trade with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
The Jazz haven’t started 0-3 since the 1979-80 season, the franchise’s first in Utah. Instead, they snapped Oklahoma City’s season-opening two-game win streak behind a strong push in the middle of the game when they outscored the Thunder 40-13.
Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 29 points and Russell Westbrook scored 22.
• Heat end Nets’ unbeaten run: LeBron James scored 20 points, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were close behind, and Miami ended the New Jersey Nets’ unbeaten start with a 101-78 victory at Newark, N.J.
Bosh finished with 18 points and Wade added 17.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points in the Nets’ first loss this season before new owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who watched his third game this week before heading back to Russia.
• Lakers stay undefeated: Pau Gasol had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Kobe Bryant added 20 points and the Los Angeles Lakers kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a 107-83 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Los Angeles.
Lamar Odom had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who easily improved to 3-0 with their 10th consecutive win over their upstate rivals.
Running: Raymond Bett led a Kenyan sweep of the podium at the Athens Classic Marathon on the 2,500th anniversary of race in Athens, Greece.
Bett won in 2 hours 12 minutes and 40 seconds, followed by Jonathan Kipkorir in 2:14:5 and Edwin Kimutai in 2:15:21. Rasa Drazdaukaite of Lithuania won the women’s race in 2:31:5, followed by Olga Glok of Russia.
• Cherebon wins sixth straight marathon: Jacob Bradosky, a second lieutenant at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, was victorious running his first marathon, completing the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Va., in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 30 seconds.
Janet Cherobon, who has won six straight marathons, won in 2:39:19 in the women’s division.
Clijsters wins WTA Championship title
Tennis: U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters defeated top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to win the WTA Championships final in Doha, Qatar.
Clijsters, who won the title in 2002 and 2003, used a powerful forehand and her vast experience to take control against the 20-year-old Dane. After winning the first set, Clijsters went up 4-1 in the second but Wozniacki fought back to tie the match at 5-all. She broke Clijsters to go up 6-5 on her way to winning the set when Clijsters hit a shot long.
Wozniacki came out strong in the third set, forcing No. 4-ranked Clijsters to make four unforced errors. But Clijsters went up 2-1 and extended the lead to 5-2 before closing out the match.
• Kukushkin earns first title: Mikhail Kukushkin won his first title in his first attempt, upsetting top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.
• Monfils serves past Ljubicic: Third-seeded Gael Monfils of France defeated defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 to win the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, France.
Monfils served 11 aces and made the most of Ljubicic’s 39 unforced errors to claim his third career title, his first since winning in Metz in 2009.
• Melzer defends title in Vienna: Defending champion Jurgen Melzer rallied past Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-7 (10), 7-6 (4), 6-4 to win his third career title at the Bank Austria Trophy in Vienna.
Melzer is the first player to successfully defend the title in Vienna since Ivan Ljubicic in 2005-06.
Iowa tells NCAA of recruiting violations
Miscellany: The University of Iowa told the NCAA the school allowed two basketball recruits to meet celebrity Hawkeye fans Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Such a meeting would be a recruiting violation.
NCAA rules prohibit recruits from contact with individuals considered to represent a university’s athletic interests.
• Canada wins ice dancing title: Canada’s Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier have won the ice dance title at Skate Canada International in Kingston, Ontario, for their first ISU Grand Prix title.
They trailed British siblings Sinead and John Kerr after the short dance, but the Canadians’ performance to “Eleanor Rigby” on Sunday earned them the gold medal with 154.42 points.
The Kerrs took the silver with 149.80 and Americans Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein won the bronze with 139.05.
• Denver hockey player fractures neck: The University of Denver says forward Jesse Martin suffered three neck fractures after taking a hit by North Dakota forward Brad Malone in the second period at North Dakota.
Aaron Leu, the university’s associate director of sports medicine, said in a statement that Martin has feeling in his extremities and will undergo further testing to determine if surgery is required.