Kobe Bryant scored a season-high 48 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat Seattle 123-121 in overtime on Monday, extending their winning streak to seven games.
It was the Lakers' first game without center Andrew Bynum, who will be out for a minimum of eight weeks after MRI tests revealed a bone bruise in his left knee.
In the overtime, Kurt Thomas' jumper gave Seattle a slim 121-117 edge with just over three minutes remaining.
But Bryant stepped up to score the next two baskets, including a 14-footer to tie the game at the 1:39 mark.
Kevin Durant had a chance to put the SuperSonics on top but misfired on a pull-up jumper with 26 seconds left, leaving enough time for Bryant to make another big shot.
The reigning two-time scoring champion drove the left side against rookie Jeff Green before drilling the eventual game-winning step-back jumper.
Seattle had one last chance to force another overtime, but Nick Collison's jumper came up short from the right corner as the horn sounded.
Wizards 88, Celtics 83
In Boston, Caron Butler scored 21 as Washington beat Boston 88-83 on Monday night for the Wizards' second victory over the Celtics in three days.
Antawn Jamison added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who handed Boston its first two-game losing streak of the season.
Butler scored nine points during a 25-6 run over the final 6:24 of the fourth quarter to give the Wizards their fifth win in the last six games against Boston.
Boston also lost consecutive games at home for the first time all season and dropped to 30-6. The Celtics are 2-3 over their last five and have averaged 85 points a game over that span.
Eddie House scored his only five points of the game to give the Celtics their largest lead at 77-63 with 6:24 remaining before the Wizards rallied.
Trailing by 14, the Wizards went on a 19-4 run to take an 82-81 lead with 40.1 seconds remaining, capped off by Butler's 3-point play.
Kevin Garnett failed on a 3-pointer, but Paul Pierce was fouled on the rebound and sank both free throws to regain the lead for Boston at 83-82.
Butler then responded with a high-arcing lay-up as he beat Pierce off the dribble with 19.6 seconds remaining.
Garnett failed on another chance to regain the lead for Boston when his turnaround jumper clanked off the back rim.
Butler got the rebound and hit a pair of free throws for an 86-83 lead with 8.3 seconds remaining.
Garnett led the Celtics with 23 points and Pierce added 18.
Trail Blazers 99, Nets 73
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points to lead Portland to its 18th win in the last 20 games.
Portland never trailed and got contributions from up and down the lineup. Brandon Roy scored 16 points, Jarrett Jack had 15, Travis Outlaw 13 and James Jones 10.
Reserve Malik Allen led the Nets with 17. Vince Carter and Jason Kidd each had 10 points.
Spurs 89, 76ers 82
At San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Spurs.
Tim Duncan added 18 points and 16 rebounds and Michael Finley and Tony Parker scored 14 points apiece to give San Antonio its second straight win.
Willie Green led Philadelphia with 21 points and Andre Iguodala scored 19. Samuel Dalembert added 12 points and 20 rebounds for the skidding 76ers, who have lost seven straight.
Jazz 98, Bucks 87
At Salt Lake City, Deron Williams scored 24 of his 33 points in the second half and had 10 assists as Utah rallied to beat Milwaukee.
The Jazz held the Bucks without a field goal for the first 7:25 of the fourth quarter while pulling away for their fourth straight win, Utah's longest streak since November.
Carlos Boozer added 21 points and 10 rebounds and Paul Millsap scored 11 for the Jazz. Mo Williams added 21 points for the Bucks, who went 0-3 on a Western Conference road trip.
Bobcats 119, Nuggets 116
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Gerald Wallace scored 40 points, Matt Carroll hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left, and the Bobcats made the big plays down the stretch to beat Denver.
After consecutive heartbreaking losses, in double overtime to Cleveland and in overtime to Detroit, Wallace carried Charlotte in a fast-paced game with numerous dunks and little defense.
Carmelo Anthony had 35 points for Denver. Allen Iverson added 23 points and Marcus Camby had 20 points and 23 rebounds for the Nuggets, who lost for the second time in six games.
Wallace was two points shy of matching his career high. Carroll added 19 points and Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte.
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