The Los Angeles Lakers put on a strong team performance to register a 103-91 road win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, the visitors getting double-digit tallies from six players.
With Kobe Bryant struggling through a 7-for-19 shooting night while playing with a troublesome groin, Sasha Vujacic came off the bench to score 19 points and lead a balanced attack.
"People call us a one-man [Bryant] team and we don't care as long as we're winning ballgames," Lakers forward Luke Walton told reporters. "If we start losing, then we'll get mad and we'll get up in arms about it."
Bryant finished with 18 points, Lamar Odom had 17 points and 16 rebounds and Andrew Bynum also had a double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four blocks.
"As eye-popping as Kobe's numbers are, the reason they have the record they do (15-9) is because all the other guys are playing well," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said.
Luol Deng had 26 points and seven rebounds and Kirk Hinrich 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds for the Bulls, who were talking to the Lakers about acquiring Bryant before the start of the season.
"Tonight we survived a rather poor shooting game," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who coached the Bulls to six NBA titles with Michael Jordan leading the way.
"We did it by making defensive stops and getting turnovers in the process," Jackson said.
Skiles added: "We gave up 45 points off turnovers and second-chance points. At some point if the game goes in that direction, with 48 minutes and all the possessions, it is going to catch up with you.
"We made it close, we made enough plays to do that, during the two-minute span we had a couple turnovers and they had a couple of offensive rebounds and that was it," he said.
Kings 106, Nets 101
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, John Salmons scored a career-high 31 points and passed to teammate Francisco Garcia for a decisive 3-pointer to lead Sacramento over New Jersey.
The Kings got their second road win of the season -- and second in five days.
New Jersey has lost six of its past seven games and eight of 10 at home. Sean Williams had eight blocked shots, tying a team rookie record that was set in 1981 by Mike Gminski.
Raptors 80, Clippers 77
In Los Angeles, Chris Bosh scored 12 of his 24 points in the third quarter to help Toronto take the lead for good and down the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bosh also had nine rebounds to become the Raptors' career leader. His 2,847 betters Antonio Davis' mark of 2,839.
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