Kobe Bryant had 43 points, five rebounds and five steals and the Los Angeles Lakers salvaged the finale of a three-game road trip with a 105-97 win over the Boston Celtics in the NBA on Monday.
With the win the Lakers pulled a half-game ahead of Sacramento for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Lakers avoided falling below .500 for the first time since a loss to Utah on Jan. 3 dropped them to 15-16.
"This was a must win for us," Bryant said. "We played well the entire trip, but it's just that we weren't able to close things out. Tonight was a win that we desperately needed."
Paul Pierce scored 26 and Tony Allen added a season-high 18 points for the Celtics, who have lost four of five to drop four games behind Philadelphia in the race for the eighth Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Lakers' first two games of their road trip ended with missed contested 3-pointers by Bryant. The Lakers lost to New Jersey 92-89 on Friday and to Cleveland 96-95 on Sunday.
Bryant scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the Lakers' last 12.
"When the game is on the line, they put the ball in my hands," Bryant said. "I've gotta do what I've gotta do, I don't care if it's 50 shots, 60 shots, five shots."
Smush Parker scored 14 points and Kwame Brown had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers.
Pistons 91, Hawks 84
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Rasheed Wallace had 26 points and eight rebounds to help Detroit clinch the Central Division title.
Detroit (53-13) also reduced its magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference's best record to nine over Miami. Atlanta has lost five of six.
Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton added 14 points each for the Pistons, who had five players score in double figures. Ben Wallace only had five points, but added 13 rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
Al Harrington led the Hawks with 23 points and Joe Johnson had 17.
Clippers 99, Rockets 91
At Houston, guard Sam Cassell scored 24 points and Los Angeles moved to 13 games over. 500 for the first time since the 1975-1976 season.
Corey Maggette added 20 points for the Clippers, who haven't been this many games over the break-even mark since they were the Buffalo Braves. Appropriately, the Clippers were wearing orange and black Braves uniforms from the franchise's inaugural 1970-1971 season for retro night.
Yao Ming had 25 points and 17 rebounds for his 27th double-double as Houston lost its fifth straight game.
The Clippers outscored Houston 12-2 in a span of 4:15 in the fourth quarter to take an 89-80 lead with 5:16 to play.
Bucks 100, Trail Blazers 93
At Portland, Oregon, Michael Redd had 23 points and T.J. Ford added 19 points and 10 assists for Milwaukee, which beat Portland for the second time in three days.
Zach Randolph had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who have lost five in a row and nine of 10.
Bobby Simmons had 16 points and reserve Charlie Bell added 13 for the Bucks, who beat Portland 97-93 on Saturday.
The Bucks have won four of their last five games.
Joel Przybilla had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Steve Blake had seven points and nine assists for the Blazers.
After a whirlwind of games spanning two rounds, many of college basketball's most dedicated fans awoke Monday morning and tossed their brackets into the garbage. A big upset reminded them that any team was capable of winning the tournament.
The NCAA tournament? No, the National Invitation Tournament.
On Saturday, ninth-seeded Manhattan somehow beat top-seeded Maryland, 87-84. But when a No. 1 team falls in the shadows of the NCAA tournament, it does not make a booming sound. That is still a reality for the NIT, which embraces the best teams not given a shot at the Division I national championship.
This is not, however, the NIT of yesteryear. The tournament received college basketball's equivalent of a blood transfusion seven months ago, and it has a rejuvenated feel.
For the first time in the NIT's 69-year history, teams were seeded 1 through 10 in four regions. The games preceding the semifinals are still being played on campuses, but now the higher-seeded teams automatically play host to the lower-seeded teams. Also, regular-season conference champions not invited to the NCAA tournament received automatic bids, and teams with records below .500 were eligible (though none were invited this year). A new six-member committee of former coaches, including Dean Smith, selected and seeded the teams using virtually the same criteria the NCAA selection committee applied.
The changes, which seem to benefit smaller colleges, have had an impact on the tournament's 40-team complexion. Lipscomb University, which was the Atlantic Sun's regular-season co-champion but lost in the conference's tournament final, was among the seven teams receiving automatic bids.
"I don't think we ever would have gotten in without the rule change," Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said after his team lost in the opening round last week.
"I just thought the visibility, not just for our basketball program but for the school, was great. We have 2,700 students, and we're in Nashville, Tennessee. And everybody was looking at us in the papers."
In August, the NCAA bought the preseason and postseason NIT events for US$56.5 million, ending a four-year legal dispute between the organizations and putting the entire postseason under one umbrella. The NIT had sued the NCAA, claiming that it violated antitrust laws.
The NIT, which is one year older than the NCAA tournament and was once the more prestigious event, was formerly run by an association of five universities in New York City: St. John's, Manhattan, Wagner, Fordham and NYU.
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