Andrew Bynum helped picked up the slack with a career-high 18 rebounds as Los Angeles overcame a poor shooting performance from star Kobe Bryant, rolling to a 95-77 win over Milwaukee.
Bynum also pumped in 17 points for the Lakers, who needed Sunday’s win to avoid losing three straight games for the first time in almost two years.
“We hit the boards pretty hard,” Bynum said. “Next time I am going to try and get 20 [rebounds].”
PHOTO: AFP
Shannon Brown finished with a season-best 19 points, Jordan Farmar added 17 and Derek Fisher scored 11 for the defending NBA champions. Brown scored 15 of his points in the second half. Bryant, who is playing with a broken right index finger, went four-of-21 from the field and finished with just 12 points.
“He has been fiddling around with a [bandage] for the broken finger,” coach Phil Jackson said of Bryant. “He went from using a hard protective plate to nothing at all and it is different for how he shoots the ball. But it wasn’t all about shooting. It was about balls not being there and not coming in.”
Bryant was just one of 14 with four points in the opening half.
PHOTO: AFP
“I played with the splint off. We put it back on in the second half,” he said. “Just trying to get a little bit more flexibility back. The finger felt pretty good, so we tried to go without the splint. It’s just not strong enough. We’re not playing our best basketball and managed to win some games. We know how we need to get better, and tonight we got better. We played extremely well defensively.”
Hakim Warrick had 14 points and Jodie Meeks finished with 12 for the Bucks.
Brandon Jennings, Luke Ridnour and Charlie Bell had 10 each for the Bucks, who had won three straight but dropped to 5-11 on the road.
The Bucks point total was the lowest they have scored against the Lakers in franchise history. In 1973, Milwaukee managed just 82 points against Los Angeles.
■CELTICS V RAPTORS
AFP, TORONTO
Rajon Rondo recorded his first triple double of the season and Rasheed Wallace scored a season-high 29 points as Boston continued their mastery over Toronto with a 114-107 NBA victory on Sunday.
Rondo had 22 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for the Celtics who posted their seventh-consecutive victory over Toronto.
The Celtics came out quickly, charging to a 10-0 lead as Rondo assisted on each of Boston’s first four baskets. He also finished nine-for-17 in posting his third career triple double.
It was just the start the Celtics needed after losing four of six games heading into Sunday’s contest. They nailed 11 three-pointers, including five from Wallace, in front of a crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre arena.
Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins each scored 16 points for Boston.
“Doc put a big emphasis on it before the game to come out and get a good start,” said Rondo. “Getting off to a good start was big for us. We didn’t finish the game extremely well but we got the job done.”
Rondo said his teammates encouraged him to go for it in the final quarter once they realized he was getting close to a triple double. He had 18 points through the first three quarters.
Rondo got a defensive rebound with just over seven minutes remaining to seal the triple double.
Toronto’s Chris Bosh had 31 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out while teammate Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points.
The loss snapped the Raptors’ six-game win streak at home.
■TRAILBLAZERS V CAVS
AFP, PORTLAND, OREGON
LeBron James flirted with a triple double by scoring 41 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as Cleveland defeated Portland 106-94, giving the Cavs their six straight win over the Blazers.
James had 31 points in the first half for Cleveland, who have won nine of their last 11 games and are 1-1 on their current five-game road swing.
Mo Williams added 16 points, Anderson Varajao 12 and giant center Shaquille O’Neal had 11 with 11 rebounds.
Cleveland came out quickly in the fourth quarter, going on an 11-0 run.
Brandon Roy scored 34 points to lead Portland, who have lost three of their last four games.
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Andre Miller had 14 points and eight assists.
HORNETS 115, WIZARDS 110
At Washington, Chris Paul scored eight of his 26 points in the final three minutes to lead New Orleans to its sixth-straight win by beating Washington.
Peja Stojakovic scored 20 points, and Paul added 14 assists for the Hornets, who have won three straight away from home to improve their road record to 5-13.
In other NBA action, it was:
• Spurs 97, Nets 85
• Heat 94, Clippers 84
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS