Jan 28, 2018 3 min read

In the NBA

Blake Griffin had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and made a crushing 3-pointer with 43 seconds left, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 112-103 victory over New Orleans Sunday in the Pelicans’ first game since a season-ending injury to All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.

Lou Williams added 22 points, and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 19 rebounds for the Clippers, who erased a 21-point, first-half deficit and snapped New Orleans’ four-game winning streak.

Anthony Davis had 25 points and 17 rebounds for the Pelicans. They’d won seven of eight coming in, but were playing for the first time all season without Cousins, who averaged 25.2 points and 13.9 rebounds before tearing his Achilles tendon in the final seconds of a victory over Houston on Friday night.

• James Harden had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to a 113-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Harden fell two assists shy of his third triple-double of the season. The Rockets beat the Suns for the 14th time in their past 16 meetings, including seven straight.

• Oklahoma City Thunder guard Andre Roberson is expected to miss the rest of the season with a ruptured left patellar tendon.

The Thunder made the announcement in a news release on Sunday. The team also said Roberson had surgery Sunday at the McBride Orthopedic Hospital in Oklahoma City.

Thunder coach Billy Donovan said it will be difficult to fill the void left by one of the league’s top perimeter defenders.

“You don’t replace him,” Donovan said. “It’s no different than having a guy that gets 25 points a game and goes out. You’re not going to have one person go out and replace 25 points.”

Roberson was taken off on a stretcher in the third quarter of Saturday’s game at the Detroit Pistons after landing hard on the court. His left leg seemed to give way as he was beginning to jump for an alley-oop, and he landed on his tailbone or lower back.

The 6-7 Roberson was an All-Defense second-team selection last season. In 39 games this season, he averaged 5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.15. He had missed eight games earlier in the season with left patellar tendinitis.

Man runs half-marathon backwards

A Puerto Rican man ran the Miami Half-Marathon backwards to draw attention to the plight of Puerto Rico, which is struggling to recover after Hurricane Maria.

WPLG Local 10 reported 34-year-old Jorge Cruz finished the 13.1 mile route in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 12 seconds Sunday. Out of the more than 14,000 runners competing in the half-marathon, Cruz placed 1,361

Cruz, who ran the 5K race Saturday with his girlfriend, is hoping to set a Guinness World Record.

The pair has been running races backwards for almost 10 years.

They said they want to raise consciousness to a world that sometimes seems to do things “backwards.”

Pirates’ Turley suspended 80 games

Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Nik Turley has been suspended for 80 games without pay after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

The commissioner’s office said Saturday Turley tested positive for Ipamorelin. The suspension will start at the beginning of the regular season.

The 28-year-old Turley made his major league debut last year for Minnesota, going 0-2 with an 11.21 ERA in 10 appearances. Pittsburgh claimed him off waivers in November.