Folayang vs Malaysian
Eduard Folayang makes his muchawaited defense of his ONE Championship lightweight title on home soil when he faces Malaysian contender Ev Ting tonight in the main event of the fight card dubbed as “Kings of Destiny” at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Folayang ended years of hardships last November when he scored a third round TKO win over Japanese fighter Shinya Aoki at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to wrest his first-ever championship in the Asian-based promotion.
The victory made Folayang, nicknamed “The Landslide”, the face of local MMA after chasing a major belt since making his debut in octagon nearly 10 years ago.
He is eager to give the hometown crowd a treat but the Team Lakay standout also expressed wary of Ting's capability of cutting his title reign short.
“I know the stakes. I know what's riding on this fight,” Folayang said recently. “Ev Ting is coming for my belt. He's coming to take what I've worked so hard for my entire career. There is no way I'm just going to let him take it. It's not going to be easy, that's for sure.”
Ting is seeing action for the first time since his submission win over Kamal Shalorus last February in Kuala Lumpur.
OAKLAND, California (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 19 points on an off night, JaVale McGee sparked Golden State off the bench with 15 points, and the shorthanded Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-81 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday night without injured leading scorer Kevin Durant. McGee shined on a night none of the usual stars found their consistent shooting form. The backup big man made all seven of his field-goal attempts and delivered several more of his signature alley-oop dunks as Durant watched with a strained left calf he hurt in the playoff opener Sunday. Draymond Green had another fantastic all-around game, getting 12 rebounds, 10 assists, six points and three more blocked shots after swatting five in Sunday's win. Curry went 6 for 18 and also had six assists and six rebounds. Klay Thompson was 6 of 17 with 16 points and CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard struggled.
ROCKETS 115, THUNDER 111
In Houston, James Harden scored 35 points and the Houston Rockets overcame 51 points from Russell Westbrook in the highest-scoring tripledouble in playoff history, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-111 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Westbrook set a franchise playoff scoring record and added 13 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the sixth career playoff triple-double for Westbrook, who had an NBA-record 42 in the regular season.
But he shot just 4 for 18 in the fourth quarter as the Rockets clawed back from a double-digit deficit to surge ahead before holding on.
Game 3 is Friday night in Oklahoma City.
The game was tied before Houston scored 10 straight points with 3-pointers from Harden, Patrick Beverley and Eric Gordon to make it 114-104 with 1:22 remaining. Westbrook had four straight points to start a 7-1 run after that, but the Thunder wouldn't get any closer. WIZARDS 109, HAWKS 101 In Washington, in a rough-andtumble, foul-filled game, Bradley Beal took over in the fourth quarter with 16 of his 31 points, including a key late 3-pointer, helping Washington beat Atlanta for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
John Wall earned chants of "MV-P!" while finishing with 32 points and nine assists, including the dish to Beal for his shot from beyond the arc with 38 seconds remaining that sealed the win for the hosts.