THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Published by: Arab Times Publishing House

Editor-in-ChiefAHMED AL JARALLAH

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ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 44

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E tuesday— (all times are kuwait local)13:00 sydney vs pohang (soccer) ............... bein sports 4 hd13:30 seoul vs luneng (soccer) ................... bein sports 2 hd13:30 urawa vs guangzhou (soccer) ........... bein sports 5 hd14:00 buriram vs sanfrecce (soccer) ........... bein sports 3 hd18:30 lekhwiya vs al nassr (soccer) ............ bein sports 3 hd20:25 al ahli vs al ain (soccer) ................... bein sports 4 hd21:45 barca vs atletico (soccer) ........ bein sports 1 hd, 11 hd21:45 bayern vs benfi ca (soccer) ................ bein sports 2 hd

SportsLatest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com

Warriors rebound from rare home lossCavs hit form Younis resigns as

coach of PakistanLAHORE, Pakistan, April 4, (AFP): Pakistan’s head coach Waqar Younis resigned on Monday weeks after his team’s humiliating exit from the World Twenty20 tournament at the group stage.

The 2009 champions had been widely blasted by fans following a lacklustre performance with just one victory against lowly ranked Bangladesh and big losses to India, New Zealand and Australia.

“I am resigning from my post today with a heavy heart,” he told reporters in Lahore.

Referring to a report written in the aftermath of the World Twenty20 in India that was widely leaked in the Pakistani press, he

added: “I want my recommenda-tions to be implemented. They were not acted on when I first made them in 2015.”

The 44-year-old took on the job for the second time in 2014, hav-ing previously held the post in 2010-11.

He formed a formidable part-nership with Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq to lift the team to number two in the Test rankings late last year, a spot they had previously attained in 2006.

The fast-bowling legend failed, however, to reverse Pakistan’s slide in the game’s shorter for-mats, with the team ranked a lowly seventh and eighth place in Twenty20 and one-day interna-tionals respectively.

OAKLAND, California, April 4, (AP): Stephen Curry scored 39 points and the Golden State Warriors bounced back from their first regular-season home loss in more than 14 months by beating the Portland Trail Blazers 136-111 on Sunday night to tie the mark for the second-most wins in a sea-son.

Draymond Green added 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his 13th triple-double, and Klay Thompson scored 21 for the Warriors, who matched the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls and 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers with 69 wins. Golden State needs to win four of its final five games to break the record of 72 vic-tories set by Chicago in 1995-96.

That chase was dealt a setback Friday when Boston snapped Golden State’s

record 54-game regular-season home winning streak.

Damian Lillard scored 38 points to lead the Trail Blazers, who had their four-game winning streak broken.

Clippers 114, Wizards 109In Los Angeles, Chris Paul had 27

points and 12 rebounds and Blake Griffin scored six points in his return from a three-month absence to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Washington Wizards.

Griffin shot 2 of 7 and contributed five rebounds and two assists while playing 24 minutes after missing 45 games because of quadriceps and hand injuries. The team went 30-15 and clinched a playoff spot during his absence.

Marcin Gortat scored 21 points and Markieff Morris added 18 for the Wizards, who never led in losing for the fifth time in seven games.

Cavaliers 112, Hornets 103In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 31

points, J.R. Smith matched a season high with 27 and the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked down 16 3-pointers while play-ing without an injured Kyrie Irving in a win over the Charlotte Hornets.

James added 12 assists and eight rebounds and Kevin Love added 25 points for the Cavs, who held off a come-back in the fourth quarter to open a 3-1/2-game lead over idle Toronto for the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

Utah Jazz guard Raul Neto (25), of Brazil, is fouled by Phoenix Suns guard Archie Goodwin (20) during the first half of an NBA basketball game on April 3, in Phoenix. (AP)

Smith made six 3-pointers and Love had five.

Kemba Walker scored 29 points 21 in the second half and Marvin Williams added 22 for the Hornets, who got within 96-92 in the fourth before Smith and Love answered with 3-pointers.

Rockets 118, Thunder 110In Houston, James Harden had 41

points with nine assists to help the Houston Rockets improve their playoff chances with a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

With 30 seconds left, Harden stole a pass from Kevin Durant and found Patrick Beverley for a transition dunk to

Celtics 107, Lakers 100In Los Angeles, Isaiah Thomas

scored 26 points and Boston clinched a playoff berth while besting Kobe Bryant for the final time with a victory over the Lakers.

Jae Crowder added 22 points for the Celtics, who blew an early 17-point lead and survived a tense fourth quarter in their first game since ending the Golden State Warriors’ NBA-record 54-game home winning streak.

Bryant scored 34 points in his final showdown with the Lakers’ historic rival, putting up the second highest-scoring performance of his farewell season.

Bulls 102, Bucks 98In Milwaukee, Jimmy Butler scored 25

points on 10-of-11 shooting, Pau Gasol had 16 points and eight rebounds and the Chicago Bulls held off a second-half surge by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Butler had six points and an assist in the final 3:45, when the Bucks had nar-rowed a 19-point deficit to one at 87-86.

Justin Holiday hit a tough jumper from the corner with 1:15 left and later grabbed a defensive rebound on a missed finger roll by Milwaukee’s Giannis Anteto-kounmpo with 43.9 seconds to go.

Pacers 92, Knicks 87In New York, Paul George returned

from an injured ankle to make the tie-breaking jumper with 23.6 seconds left, and the Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks to tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers blew an 18-point lead in the second half against a Knicks team missing its two best scorers, but recov-ered to join Detroit at 41-36 and stay two games ahead of ninth-place Chicago.

give Houston an eight-point lead and the Rockets held on for an important victory.

Mavericks 88, Timberwolves 78In Minneapolis, Wesley Matthews hit

six 3-pointers and scored 19 points and the Dallas Mavericks topped the Minnesota Timberwolves.

J.J. Barea scored 21 points and the Mavericks (39-38) made 14 of 40 3-point-ers to overcome 38.6 percent shooting for their fourth straight victory. They forced 18 turnovers and held their opponent under 100 points for the fourth straight game as they push for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.

Pelicans 106, Nets 87In New York, Tim Frazier had career

highs with 19 points and 13 assists, Luke Babbitt added 21 points and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Brooklyn Nets.

Alexis Ajinca added 16 for the Pelicans as the Nets lost their fifth straight game.

Sean Kilpatrick led the Nets with 15 points. Henry Sims and Markel Brown each had 12 for the Nets.

Jazz 101, Suns 86In Phoenix, Gordon Hayward led five

Utah players in double figures with 22 points, and the Jazz boosted their playoff chances with a win over the Phoenix Suns.

Magic 119, Grizzlies 107In Orlando, Florida, Nikola Vucevic

scored 25 points off the bench, Victor Oladipo and Evan Fournier added 22 points each and the Orlando Magic topped the struggling Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies, trying to hold onto the fifth seed in the Western Conference, have lost six straight games for their lon-gest skid since November 2009.

Orlando, meanwhile, has won three straight games at home and four of its last five. The Magic (33-44) continued their offensive surge that had seen them aver-age more than 118 points in their previ-ous four games heading into Sunday.

HH Amir patronizes final

Al-Arabi, Kuwait in showdown for Amir CupKUWAIT CITY, April 4, (KUNA): Al-Arabi and Kuwait clash in the final match of His Highness the Amir’s 54th Cup at the International Jaber Al-Ahmad Stadium on Tuesday.

Al-Arabi are looking to win the title for the 16th time to be on par with their traditional rivals, Al-Qadsia.

Prior to the final, Al-Arabi beat Al-Yarmouk 2-0 while Kuwait Club thrashed Khaitan 4-0. In the semi-finals, Al-Arabi overwhelmed Al-Salmiya with 4-0 and Kuwait made a hard victory against Al-Qadsiya, 1-0.

In the history of this championship, Al-Arabi won against their foes in

1963, 1969, 1971 and 2014. The team had been crowned champions 15 times since 1962, the year when the national tournament was launched.

Meanwhile, the assistant coach of Al-Arabi, Ahmad Askar, told Kuwait

News Agency (KUNA) that there is high morale in the camp and the players are eager to retake the cup after seven years of failures.

Kuwait supervisor, Mohammad Al-Hajri, affirmed that his players

are ready, and that there are no injury worries among them.

The 1962 tournament was won by Al-Qadsiya, which have a record of 16 victories in this championship, followed by Al-Arabi, then Kuwait, Kazma (seven times), Al-Salmiya and Al-Yarmouk (twice) and Fahaheel (once).

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will patronize the final match of His Highness the Amir’s 54th Cup at the International Jaber Al-Ahmad Stadium on Tuesday between Al-Arabi Sports Club and Kuwait Sports Club.

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (right), drives the ball past Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard (left), during the second half of an NBA basketball game

on April 3, in Oakland, California. (AP)

WASHINGTON, April 4, (RTRS): Results and standings from the NBA games on Sunday.New Orleans 106 Brooklyn 87Cleveland 112 Charlotte 103Houston 118 Oklahoma City 110Dallas 88 Minnesota 78LA Clippers 114 Washington 109

Orlando 119 Memphis 107Utah 101 Phoenix 86Chicago 102 Milwaukee 98Indiana 92 NY Knicks 87Golden State 136 Portland 111Boston 107 LA Lakers 100

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L PCT GBToronto 51 25 .671 -Boston 45 32 .584 6-1/2NY Knicks 31 47 .397 21Brooklyn 21 56 .273 30-1/2Philadelphia 9 68 .117 42-1/2

Central Division W L PCT GBCleveland 55 22 .714 -Indiana 41 36 .532 14Detroit 41 36 .532 14Chicago 39 38 .506 16Milwaukee 32 45 .416 23

Southeast Division W L PCT GBAtlanta 45 32 .584 -Miami 44 32 .579 0-1/2Charlotte 44 32 .579 0-1/2Washington 37 40 .481 8Orlando 33 44 .429 12

Western ConferenceNorthwest Division

W L PCT GBOklahoma City 53 24 .688 -Portland 41 37 .526 12-1/2Utah 39 38 .506 14Denver 32 46 .410 21-1/2Minnesota 25 52 .325 28

Pacific Division W L PCT GBGolden State 69 8 .896 -LA Clippers 48 28 .632 20-1/2Sacramento 31 46 .403 38Phoenix 20 57 .260 49LA Lakers 16 60 .211 52-1/2

Southwest Division W L PCT GBSan Antonio 64 12 .842 -Memphis 41 36 .532 23-1/2Dallas 39 38 .506 25-1/2Houston 38 39 .494 26-1/2New Orleans 29 47 .382 35

NBA Results/Standings

Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (left), drives by Boston Celtics guard Evan Turner during the first half of an NBA basketball game on April 3,

in Los Angeles. (AP)

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