It did not take long for the Los Angeles Lakers to come down from their high of watching Kobe Bryant pass Michael Jordan for third place on the all-time NBA scoring list.
Just 24 hours after Bryant hit a pair of free throws against the Minnesota Timberwolves to pass Jordan, the Indiana Pacers compiled a 33-point halftime lead en route to a 110-91 thrashing of Los Angeles on Monday.
“We were just embarrassed with the way we played in the first half,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “We can’t afford to do that. We have got to come out and be desperate as well.”
Photo: AFP
The Lakers trailed 60-27 at halftime as Bryant shot three for 13 and the bench was two for 19. The Lakers stumbled to 16.3 percent shooting in the first 24 minutes.
The halftime score would have been much worse if the Lakers had not scored the final six points of the half.
Rodney Stuckey posted his second straight double-double for the Pacers, who snapped the Lakers’ modest three-game winning streak.
Photo: AFP
C.J. Miles’ layup at 2 minutes, 22 seconds of the first quarter gave the Pacers a 26-4 lead. Los Angeles scored 11 points in the final two minutes of the period, but still trailed 34-15.
The second quarter was a repeat of the first as the Pacers went on a 14-2 run to push their lead to 48-17 five minutes before halftime.
The Pacers led by almost 40 points before Bryant and Wesley Johnson hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to send the two teams into halftime.
Stuckey tallied 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Miles came off the bench to score 20 points for Indiana, who had not won a game since Nov. 28.
Bryant finished with 21 points on eight-for-26 shooting. Nick Young finished with 18 points on 12 shots, while Carlos Boozer had 13 and 10 rebounds.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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