Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, hitting three pivotal three-pointers in the last six-plus minutes, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their second straight, 99-96 over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night.
Bryant, who scored a season-high 38 points at Minnesota two nights earlier, held his follow-through as his final three went through with a minute left to put the Lakers up 98-92, then wagged his index finger as if to say, “Don’t doubt me,” as he jogged back up court with a good portion of the crowd cheering wildly.
Bryant missed a free throw with six seconds left that allowed the Pelicans a chance to tie the game with a three, but Jrue Holiday’s shot missed the rim.
Photo: Derick E. Hingle - USA TODAY
Anthony Davis scored 39 for the Pelicans, but his missed breakaway dunk in the fourth quarter seemed to define the night for New Orleans, which lost their third straight.
PISTONS 111, KNICKS 105
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Anthony Tolliver and Reggie Jackson made a trio of big three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, and the Detroit Pistons avoided a colossal collapse, beating the New York Knicks.
The Knicks rallied from a 27-point second-quarter deficit, taking a 97-95 lead on a layup by Robin Lopez. Tolliver’s three-pointer put the Pistons back ahead, and Jackson added another to make it 101-97. After a dunk by Lopez cut the margin back to two, Jackson added another three-pointer, and the Pistons were able to hold on.
Jackson finished with 21 points, and Stanley Johnson added 22 and nine rebounds. Andre Drummond had 17 points and 13 rebounds for Detroit.
Lopez had 26 points and 16 rebounds for New York, which lost for the seventh time in eight games.
ROCKETS 111, SUNS 105
In Phoenix, Arizona, Corey Brewer scored 24 points and Trevor Ariza 22 to lead the Houston Rockets past the Suns.
The Rockets won despite a 4-for-19 shooting night by James Harden, who finished with 17 points, more than 10 under his average. Dwight Howard grabbed 16 rebounds in the 200th meeting between the teams.
Archie Goodwin led the Suns with 22 points, while Alex Len added 12 with a career-high 18 rebounds and Devin Booker had 17 points as Phoenix lost its sixth straight.
RAPTORS 110, TRAIL BLAZERS 103
In Portland, Oregon, Kyle Lowry had 30 points and DeMar DeRozan added 29 as the Toronto Raptors snapped Portland’s five-game winning streak.
Damian Lillard had 27 points and 11 assists, while CJ McCollum added 21 points for Portland in the matchup between two of the league’s dynamic backcourts.
The Raptors, who have lost only one of their last 14 games, extended their lead to 94-81 on Lowry’s 3 with 6:52 left in the game. Toronto made 12 of 19 three-point attempts in the game, with Lowry scoring seven of them to match his season high.
Lillard hit a jumper and Allen Crabbe made a pair free throws to pull Portland within 106-101 with 55.3 seconds left, but McCollum missed a 12-foot jumper and Toronto hit free throws to end the threat.
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