Roger Mason nailed a 3-pointer with just 10 seconds left as the San Antonio Spurs edged the Los Angeles Lakers 112-111 on Wednesday.
After Kobe Bryant drilled a 3-pointer over Mason that gave the Lakers a 111-109 lead with 12 seconds left, the Spurs called a timeout, setting up Mason for the heroics.
Matt Bonner had trouble inbounding the ball, but found Mason in the corner. He faked, then hit a tough shot as he was fouled by Derek Fisher.
Mason made the ensuing free throw, giving the Spurs a one-point lead.
The Lakers had one last chance but Bryant was doubled out high and passed to Trevor Ariza at the top of the key.
Ariza made a move to split Bonner and Manu Ginobili, was bumped by Ginobili but was called for a travel with less than a second left on the clock.
Bryant, who had 20 points and 10 assists, hit a three-pointer with 5:55 left in the fourth that cut San Antonio’s lead to 102-96.
Josh Powell hit two straight 17-footers from the baseline that trimmed the lead to just two points with 4:43 left in the fourth.
Bryant found Lamar Odom for a dunk, and then out of a timeout, France’s Tony Parker missed a three-pointer. Parker finished with 20 points in 34 minutes of playing time.
The Lakers wasted little time, with Gasol hitting a 14-footer that gave the Lakers a 106-105 lead with 2:10 left in the game. Bryant then drove, kissing a shot off the glass for a three-point lead.
Duncan responded, shaking Gasol back and forth until he got his jumphook. The Lakers missed their next shot, and the Spurs went back to Duncan who lost control of the ball, but managed to get his shot up and in for a 109-108 Spurs lead.
Bryant then took over with his long shot over Mason, but Mason was able to hit his second game-winner of the season.
Ginobili scored 16 of his 27 points by closing out the second and third quarters strongly, including six key points in the final 11 seconds of the third.
San Antonio opened up the second half with a quick 7-2 run, while the Lakers missed all but one of their first seven attempts.
The Lakers never let things get out of hand though, and never trailed by more than nine points in the third despite Ginobili’s best efforts.
HORNETS 104, MAVERICKS 97
At Dallas, Chris Paul nearly showed Jason Kidd what a quadruple-double looks like, putting up 33 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds and seven steals in New Orleans’ win over Dallas.
Paul had to settle for his fourth triple-double of the season, one he’s certain to savor because it came against Kidd, the active leader in that category and the guy who started ahead of him at point guard on the gold medal-winning US Olympic team.
KINGS 135, WARRIORS 133, 3OT
At Oakland, California, John Salmons hit a 17-foot shot with 1.6 seconds remaining in the third overtime as Sacramento held on to beat Golden State.
Salmons finished with 25 points, a career-best 14 rebounds and seven assists for Sacramento, which has consecutive victories against the Warriors for the first time since taking 15 in a row from 2000-2003.
CELTICS 118, NETS 86
At Boston, Paul Pierce shook off a cold first half and scored 18 points in the third quarter with perfect shooting to lead Boston past New Jersey for their third straight win.
Pierce went 5-for-5 in the period, all 3-pointers, and added three free throws as he scored 22 points two nights after getting a season-high 39 in an overtime win over Toronto.
In other NBA games it was:
• Knicks 128, Wizards 122
• Pacers 110, Pistons 106, OT
• 76ers 100, Trail Blazers 79
• Bulls 102, Raptors 98
• Thunder 114, Jazz 93
• Heat 102, Bucks 99
• Hawks 97, Clippers 80
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
RSS