Kobe Bryant had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Lamar Odom scored 21 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers held off a late rally to beat the Phoenix Suns 99-93 on Wednesday and square the NBA first-round playoff series 1-1.
Game 3 is tonight in Los Angeles. Steve Nash had 29 points and Raja Bell 23 for the Suns, who shot 43 percent -- 34 percent in the first half.
Los Angeles led by as many as 17 points late in the second quarter and early in the third after Phoenix went nearly eight minutes without a point.
Pistons 109, Bucks 98
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Tayshaun Prince scored 22 points and Chauncey Billups had 20 to lead Detroit over Milwaukee and take a 2-0 lead in their series.
The two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Pistons had lost three straight Game 2s and four of their last five, dating to the 2004 NBA Finals. Before that stretch, Detroit lost to Milwaukee two years ago in the second game of their first-round series en route to the title.
Bucks star Michael Redd bounced back from an 11-point game with 29, but didn't get much help in the first half as Milwaukee's other starters each scored six or fewer points before halftime. Game 3 is tomorrow in Milwaukee.
Mavericks 94, Grizzlies 79
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and Dallas took a 2-0 lead in its first-round series against Memphis, which has never won a postseason game.
The Grizzlies went 16 straight possessions without a point and 10:47 between baskets over the middle two quarters, taking them out of what had been a close game.
Memphis dropped to 0-10 in its postseason history; that's four more losses than any NBA team has ever had before its first victory. The Grizzlies will head home for Game 3 tomorrow halfway to being swept for the third straight year.
Pau Gasol scored 10 points in the first quarter, but finished with 16. Bobby Jackson scored 12 and Eddie Jones -- who organized a players-only dinner on Monday to try rallying the troops -- scored 11.
Josh Howard scored 17 points and Jason Terry had 16 and nine assists. Erick Dampier wasn't as active as he'd been in the opener, but still managed eight points and six rebounds.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but