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Lamar Odom leaves Dallas Mavericks after
rocky, disappointing season.And so it's come to this: Lamar Odom's time as a
member of the Dallas Mavericks ends not with a bang, not with playoff redemption
or a long-hoped-for moment in the sun after a season shrouded in darkness, but
with a whimper of what amounts to a release.
According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, an
agreement reached Sunday allows the two sides to part company immediately, with
the long-struggling Odom leaving Dallas for the remainder of the season without
the defending NBA champs actually having to release him, and thus holding on to
his rights.
A young European sensation scores on one
of the sport's most difficult and dramatic plays.
Just 20 years old, Basel's Xherdan
Shaqiri has already been one of the Swiss Super League's most talked about
talents for some time now. During Basel's impressive Champions League campaign
this season, he attracted more international attention and ended up that will be
finalized this summer. And this is exactly why Bayern were so eager to grab
him.
Helping Basel to a 1-1 draw against (a
distant) second-place Luzern, Shaqiri executed a brilliant and powerful scissor
kick from an angle that proved far quicker than the opposing goalkeeper's
reflexes. So that's why they're smiling in Munich right now.
Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and hit the
go-ahead shot with nearly three minutes left, and the Lakers claimed another
installment of their Los Angeles rivalry with a 113-108 triumph to snap the
Clippers' six-game winning streak.
Andrew Bynum returned from a one-game
absence and dominated with 36 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, as the
Lakers won their fourth straight contest and moved 2 1/2 games ahead of the
Clippers for first place in the Pacific Division.
"It feels good to win," Bynum said. "My
ankle is a little sore, but as the game went on it didn't hurt as much. It was a
fight for a playoff spot."
Caron Butler had 28 points and Chris Paul
tallied 22 points and 16 assists, but the Clippers had their seven-game home
winning streak snapped. Blake Griffin totaled 15 points and 14 rebounds, while
DeAndre Jordan scored 11 to go with 13 boards.
"I didn't like the way we played in the
first half, but in the second half we were more aggressive," Clippers coach
Vinny Del Negro said. "Our turnovers hurt us and Bynum hurt us definitely. We
had opportunities down the stretch, but they did what they had to do to
win."
Paul came back by hitting a quick jumper,
but Bryant then rose up from the left baseline, and despite a hand in his face,
swished in a jumper with 24.5 on the clock. Bryant then spread his arms in an
airplane motion coming off the court during the ensuing Clippers
timeout.
Paul missed a three-point shot, and Pau
Gasol and Matt Barnes combined to go 3-for-4 from the foul line in the closing
seconds.
"We miscommunicated at the end," Paul
said. "There's no moral victory here."
Earlier in the game, the sellout crowd at
Staples Center gawked at the power of Griffin, who rose above Gasol for a
thunderous putback jam. Then, in the third quarter, Griffin used his left hand
to deliver a blow to Gasol's face and used his right to throw down a powerful
dunk. That one cut the Clippers' deficit to 73-64, but it was an uphill
battle.
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reading.
Kobe Bryant's tiebreaking 3-pointer
bounced off every available surface, pinballing around the rim and backboard
while Staples Center held its collective breath.Yet the Lakers and Nets all
seemed to know exactly where the ball would end up.Mostly because they know the
guy who shot it.
Bryant scored 24 points and rattled home
that decisive 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds left, and Los Angeles blew every bit of
a 17-point lead before holding on for a 91-87 victory over New Jersey on Tuesday
night.
"It was just one of those shots, I
guess," Bryant said. "The basketball gods were with us tonight."
That sure didn't appear to be the case
for most of the fourth quarter. Los Angeles led by 12 with 10 minutes left, but
Deron Williams led an 18-6 run for New Jersey, tying it on a 3-pointer with 1:29
to play.
Bryant made a long jumper moments later,
and the Lakers controlled the ball for 52 straight seconds during the final
minute with an offensive rebound and an out-of-bounds deflection. Bryant then
made his third 3-pointer, and Williams missed his own 3-point
attempt.
"I kept telling our guys, if we can just
get it under 10, under eight, under six, we'll have a chance," Nets coach Avery
Johnson said. "Kobe just got free. Everybody in the gym knew who was going to
take the shot."
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reading.
Kobe Bryant isn't on Twitter. He doesn't
have a personal Facebook account. He says he doesn't usually listen to sports
talk radio or read sports blogs.
Of course, that doesn't mean what is
written about him doesn't eventually get back to him. When he struggles he isn't
immune to the barrage of criticism directed his way, and there was plenty on
Saturday after Bryant missed his first 15 shots against the New Orleans Hornets
and was held scoreless through three quarters.
Bryant responded one day later by scoring
40 points against the Golden State Warriors. He hit 16-of-28 from the field and
made all three of his 3-point attempts. It was Bryant's 112th 40-point game but
he wondered how many people remembered the first 111 after the way fans reacted
on Saturday.
What will happen again, however, is
Bryant being criticized for shooting too much and shooting too little, playing
too much and not playing enough, and being too vocal and being too silent. It's
a fact of life Bryant has come to expect in Los Angeles even if it's one he has
never really embraced.
It is one of many reasons he has refused
the urge to become active in social media and get on Twitter like the rest of
the world. He laughed when he was told his poor performance was a trending topic
worldwide on Twitter as fans chronicled his shooting ineptitude, one missed-shot
joke tweet at a time.
"I guess on Twitter you don't have to
respond to idiots, do you?" Bryant said. "You can block them, right?"
Bryant's comeback game 24 hours after
arguably the worst game of his career didn't come as a surprise to Lakers coach
Mike Brown, who also viewed Saturday as an aberration.
