Lamar Odom made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left in overtime to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 110-109 victory over Boston on Thursday and snap the Celtics’ 12-game NBA winning streak.
In a contest between last year’s NBA finals combatants and likely title contenders for this season, Kobe Bryant scored 26 points with 10 rebounds and Pau Gasol had 24 and 14 for the Lakers.
It is the second time this season that Los Angeles has stopped a Boston winning streak, after its win on Christmas Day stopped a 19-game run by the Celtics.
PHOTO: AP
Paul Pierce scored 21 points for Boston and All-Star Ray Allen had 22, but he missed a desperation, off-balance shot at the buzzer while Boston fans screamed for a foul call.
Bryant, who scored 61 and 36 points in his previous two games, hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the last with 1:30 left in regulation to make it 101-100 — the Lakers’ first lead of the half. But after Pierce made one of two free throws with 30 seconds left, Bryant’s attempted game winner banged off the rim.
After a timeout with 7.7 seconds left, Pierce dribbled the clock down before Bryant poked the ball away. Eddie House got it and put up a sideways, one-handed 3-point attempt at the buzzer that wasn’t close.
Bryant missed his last five shots of the game.
Gasol made one of two free throws to give the Lakers a 108-107 lead with 1:11 left in overtime, then Boston’s Glen Davis made a jumper — his only basket of the game after six misses. Bryant then Davis both missed before Davis fouled Odom for the winning free throws.
Pierce and Allen had half-chances in the dying seconds for Boston but could not find the winner.
JAZZ 115, MAVERICKS 87
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Deron Williams shook off a deep thigh bruise and scored 34 points and handed out 12 assists to lead Utah to a rout of Dallas.
Kyle Korver scored a season-high 20 points in his first start of the season, Ronnie Brewer scored 17 and Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz.
Josh Howard led Dallas with 18 points and Dirk Nowitzki scored 14 — needing 20 attempts to get there — but the Mavericks saw their four-game winning streak end. It was Dallas’ first loss since coach Rick Carlisle put Jason Kidd in charge of calling plays.
76ERS 99, PACERS 94
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Samuel Dalembert had 18 points and 20 rebounds, and Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala also had double-doubles to lead Philadelphia over Indiana.
The Sixers won only hours after they learned power forward Elton Brand needed season-ending surgery on his right shoulder. The Sixers improved to 11-8 this season without Brand, an encouraging sign their playoff push will continue without their US$80 million man.
Miller had 13 points and 12 assists, while Iguodala had 20 points and 11 assists.
Indiana dropped its third straight.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS