NBALamar Odom scored 21 points and Kobe Bryant added 19 points and a season-high 10 assists as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 99-93 on Sunday night.
Kwame Brown had 13 points and nine rebounds and Smush Parker also scored 13 for the Lakers, winners of five of their last six games. Los Angeles won despite Bryant's 8-of-24 shooting night.
Vince Carter had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Nenad Krstic scored 20, and Jason Kidd had 16 assists for the Nets, who lost their fifth straight -- all to Western Conference teams.
Rookie Jordan Farmar helped to give the Lakers an 80-69 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Nets battled back, drawing within two on a basket by Krstic, but Odom's five points during a 7-1 run made it 95-87 with 3:30 to play.
Luke Walton's 3-point basket with 1:53 left extended the Lakers' lead to 98-89, but the Nets scored the next four points before Kidd's miss with 20 seconds to go. Bryant made a free throw three seconds later to complete the scoring.
Nuggets 103, Clippers 88
At Denver, Carmelo Anthony had 33 points and J.R. Smith added 23 for Denver in the Nuggets' fifth straight win.
Denver, the NBA's highest-scoring team, started strong in the first and third quarters against the tired Clippers, shooting 51 percent and getting 27 assists for its second win in its last nine games against Los Angeles. Andre Miller had 14 points and 10 assists, and Anthony, the NBA's leading scorer, went over 30 points for the ninth time in 12 games.
Corey Maggette had 22 points to lead Los Angeles, which shot 36 percent to lose its fourth straight.
Already playing without center Chris Kaman, who sprained his ankle the night before against the Timberwolves, Los Angeles lost point guard Sam Cassell for most of the second half with a sprained left ankle.
Raptors 92, Pacers 83
At Toronto, Chris Bosh had 17 points and 11 rebounds and four other Raptors reached double figures in scoring as Toronto led from buzzer to buzzer.
Andrea Bargnani -- the No. 1 overall pick in the draft -- had 14 points for Toronto. He made two 3-pointers and shot 5-for-11.
Stephen Jackson and Danny Granger each scored 18 points for the Pacers, who have been behind after the first quarter in 11 of their 14 games this season.
The Pacers trailed by as many as 27, but cut the lead to four in the third quarter with a 12-1 run capped by Lee Tinsley's driving layup.
But the Raptors followed with a 17-4 run bridging the third and fourth quarters.
Suns 119, Trail Blazers 101
At Portland, Oregon, Raja Bell had a season-high 30 points, including seven 3-pointers, to pace Phoenix.
The Suns led by as many as 25 points, and all of their starters scored in double figures in the team's fourth straight win after a slow start to the season.
Amare Stoudemire, coming back from surgery on his left knee that forced him to miss all but three games last season, had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Steve Nash had 23 points and 10 assists. Boris Diaw and Shawn Marion each scored 17.
Zach Randolph had 18 points and nine rebounds, but left the game late in the fourth quarter and did not return.
Travis Outlaw added 22 points for the Blazers, 2-7 in their last nine games after opening the season 4-2.
Spurs 98, SuperSonics 78
At Seattle, Tony Parker scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio improved on the best road start in franchise history.
The Spurs improved to 7-0 on the road and are the only unbeaten road team left in the NBA. San Antonio is the fourth team in the last 10 years to start 7-0 or better on the road. The Spurs will be tested twice more on their current three-game road trip at Golden State and in Utah.
Tim Duncan added 18 points and 16 rebounds and Fabricio Oberto had 16 points for the Spurs, who have won 12 straight regular-season road games dating to the end of last season.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB