Basketball: Watanabe logs career-high 5 steals in win for Brooklyn

Yuta Watanabe contributed 11 points and an NBA career-high five steals to help the Brooklyn Nets beat the Charlotte Hornets 123-106 on Saturday and extend their winning streak to 11 games. Japanese men’s national basketball team star Watanabe, who currently leads the NBA in three-point accuracy at 51.4 percent, hit 2-of-5 from deep at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. The 203-centimeter forward also grabbed five rebounds in his 19 minutes off the bench. Kyrie Irving led the way with 28 points for the 24-12 Nets, who are two games back from leaders the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference.