Kobe Bryant scored 34 points, while playing much of the second half in obvious pain with an injured left leg, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied in the final minutes without him to stay in the NBA playoff race with a 118-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
Immediately after the game, the Lakers announced Bryant probably had a torn tendon. He was to have an MRI scan yesterday, but Bryant knows the injury is likely to end his season.
The fifth-leading scorer in NBA history stayed in the game until 3:06 remaining in the fourth quarter, despite injuring his leg early in the second half. Bryant apparently hyperextended his knee, before tearing his tendon later in the half.
Photo: EPA
Stephen Curry scored 47 points in a dynamic performance for the Warriors, but Los Angeles played just enough late defense to hang on for a crucial win.
Los Angeles stayed one game ahead of Utah for the eighth playoff spot in the NBA Western Conference with two games to go. The Jazz hold the tiebreaker.
GRIZZLIES 82, ROCKETS 78
In Houston, Texas, Marc Gasol had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Memphis ended a 13-game losing streak in Houston.
Zach Randolph scored 15 points and Jerryd Bayless had 13 for the Grizzlies, who won in Houston for the first time since April 2006.
James Harden scored 30 points, but missed a potential game-tying jumper from near the top of the key just before the buzzer.
Memphis has won seven of eight games, while the Rockets lost for the third time in 11 home games.
HEAT 109, CELTICS 101
In Miami, LeBron James scored 20 points in 29 minutes and Rashard Lewis added 19 as Miami topped Boston to match the franchise record for home wins in a season.
Dwyane Wade, back after missing six games with bone bruises around his right kneecap, scored 11 in 34 minutes for Miami, who won their 35th home game to match the standard set in 2004-2005.
The Heat erased an early 13-point deficit with a 41-point second quarter, shooting 16 for 19 in the period. Miami also made 12 three-pointers to push their season total to 686, another team record.
Jeff Green scored 25 for Boston, who played without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. The Celtics’ bench was outscored 52-14.
JAZZ 107, TIMBERWOLVES 100
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Al Jefferson tied a career high with 40 points, including a clutch jumper with 39 seconds left, to power Utah past Minnesota.
Jefferson scored 19 points on nine-of-11 shooting in the third to turn a seven-point deficit into an 82-81 lead entering the fourth. His 14-footer as the shot clock expired gave Utah a 101-98 lead with 39 seconds remaining.
NETS 117, PACERS 109
In Indianapolis, Indiana, Deron Williams had 33 points and 14 assists as Brooklyn defeated Indiana to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson each had 24 points for the Nets, who have won four of their last five games.
David West had 26 points and nine rebounds and Paul George had 21 for the Pacers, who have lost three of four.
The Nets are guaranteed the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and pulled within two games of the Pacers for No. 3.
KNICKS 101, CAVALIERS 91
In Cleveland, Ohio, Carmelo Anthony had 31 points and 14 rebounds in just three quarters as New York bounced back after having their winning streak stopped at 13 games one night earlier.
Anthony’s streak of scoring at least 35 points ended at six games as New York coach Mike Woodson chose to rest the All-Star forward the entire fourth quarter.
In other NBA play, it was:
‧ Hawks 109, Bucks 104
‧ Spurs 108, Kings 101
‧ Mavericks 108, Nuggets, 105
‧ Thunder 106, Trail Blazers 90
‧ Raptors 97, Bulls 88
‧ Clippers 96, Hornets 93
‧ 76ers 97, Wizards 86
‧ Pistons 113, Bobcats 93
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier