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NBA Capsules: Bryant's 41 points lead Lakers past Rockets in OT
Comments 0 | Recommend 0HOUSTON — Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza traded elbows, trash talk and last-minute 3-pointers in regulation. In the end, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers got in the last word.
Bryant scored 41 points, Andrew Bynum added 17 points and 17 rebounds and the Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 103-102 Wednesday night for their second overtime win in two nights.
Carl Landry scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures for Houston. Luis Scola added 16 points and 13 rebounds and Chuck Hayes had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Artest and Ariza both scored 15 points in their first meeting since they swapped teams in July. Ariza signed with Houston about the same time Artest left the Rockets to join the Lakers.
Both downplayed how much the game meant to them.
"I was only here one year and really didn't do nothing," Artest said. "I didn't expect anything but to come out here and see Kobe get his 50."
But neither could resist the urge to taunt his former team after hitting a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation.
Artest's 3 from the top of the key with 30 seconds left gave the Lakers a 92-89 lead. As the Rockets walked to their bench for a time out, Artest stood at midcourt and made a mocking timeout signal of his own to the booing fans.
Ariza was tied up in the lane at the other end, then won a jump ball against Derek Fisher with 19.6 seconds left. Ariza quickly got the ball back from Carl Landry and swished a 3-pointer from the wing with 14.2 seconds left. The Lakers called timeout and Ariza held up three fingers for the Los Angeles bench to see.
"It was poetic justice that they both had excellent opportunities to try and help their team win," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
Bryant had the ball in the final seconds of regulation, but Hayes slapped it out of bounds with 0.7 seconds left. The Rockets knocked away the long inbound pass as time expired.
Bryant hit a jumper from the free-throw line with 90 seconds left in overtime. He was fouled by Scola and hit the free throw for a 100-98 lead.
Aaron Brooks sliced through the lane for a layup with 1:06 to go to tie it again. Bryant missed a baseline shot, but Bynum rebounded, got fouled and sank two free throws with 44.2 seconds left to put the Lakers back in front.
Landry hit a hook shot with 37 seconds remaining, ensuring that the Rockets would get one more possession. Bynum was fouled by Hayes and hit one of two free throws with 24.7 seconds left.
Ariza ended up with the ball again in the final seconds of overtime, but Fisher stripped the ball and time ran out.
The Lakers were outrebounded 54-48, but forced 20 Houston turnovers. The Rockets also shot only 29 percent from 3-point range (7 for 24).
Artest guarded Ariza from the opening tip, and the two were immediately jawing at one another. They earned offsetting technical fouls with 9:11 left in the first quarter.
At one point, Ariza said Artest tried to put his hand around Ariza's neck.
"I don't have hard feelings," Ariza said. "It was emotional, I guess you could say."
Artest said he thought about giving Ariza a hard shot, but backed down for fear of a fine or a suspension.
"You know if somebody hits me, I'm going to react," the famously temperamental Artest said. "I got hit with about three elbows. It's just not fair. I don't want to fight, I don't feel like doing it. If you throw an elbow into Ron Artest's chest, do you know who you're hitting?
"But I give up, I just give up," he said. "I'm not fighting anymore. You could elbow me, smack me, use me as a punching bag. I'm not reacting anymore, I'm tired."
Bryant sank four of his first six shots, but the rest of the Lakers missed eight of their first nine and Houston built an 18-10 lead.
Ariza continued to struggle, missing six of his first eight shots, but Landry went 6 for 6 from the field in the second quarter and Houston led 48-44 at the break.
Bryant scored 17 points in the first half, but missed five of his next eight shots after the hot start.
NOTES: Injured Lakers C Pau Gasol could return to practice as early as Thursday after sitting out the first five games with a strained right hamstring. "We'll have a limited practice as it is, with back-to-back games," Jackson said. "There won't be a whole lot of activity, but he should be out there." ... Rockets rookie F Chase Budinger sat out with a sprained left ankle. Budinger scored 17 points in Houston's 113-96 win at Utah on Monday. ... Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon had a courtside seat next to team owner Leslie Alexander.
Hornets topple Mavericks in OT, 114-107
NEW ORLEANS — Byron Scott had been stewing for more than a day over the Hornets' recent 0-2 road trip to Boston and New York when he finally snapped during shootaround as New Orleans prepared to host the Dallas Mavericks.
"We're not a team. We're just a collection of individual basketball players right now," Scott recalled telling his players Wednesday. "I'm pretty good at holding things in for a little while, but when I let 'em out, I kind of let 'em out. I kind of let it out this morning."
Perhaps later this season, the Hornets will look back on their coach's rant as a turning point.
Peja Stojakovic hit a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation and Chris Paul scored six of his 39 points in overtime, lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 114-107 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night, snapping Dallas' three-game winning streak.
David West scored 25 points, converting a crucial three-point play late in the fourth quarter and adding a couple key baskets early in overtime. Bobby Brown added 18 points for the Hornets, including a 3 and a breakaway dunk in the extra session. Emeka Okafor came through with 11 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for his fourth double-double in New Orleans' first five games.
"Coach challenged us before the game," Paul said. "Tonight we weathered the storm. ... We showed a lot of perseverance."
Jason Terry had 35 points and Erick Dampier had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Dallas, which had a 97-94 lead and the ball with 10 seconds to go, but could not hold on.
Terry missed a technical free throw and Jose Barea missed two more foul shots, setting up the dramatic 3 by Stojakovic, who'd been 0 for 5 from long range before that.
"It's a lost opportunity," Terry said. "We showed a lot of heart and a lot of determination. The key things we talk about all of the time and the little things ... free throws, getting out on shooters and fouling when we are up three. Those things are what championship teams do. Obviously, we're not there yet. We'll learn from this."
Dirk Nowitzki scored 12 points, but did not have one of his better games, going 4 for 15 from the floor and fouling out in the last 3 minutes.
It looked as though Dallas would not need him with Terry scoring 18 of his points in the fourth quarter. But Dallas started to fall apart when Terry missed one of two free throws with 13.1 seconds left and a chance to put Dallas up by four.
Still, the Mavs appeared to have the game in hand when Paul was called for a charge on Barea with 10 seconds to go and Hornets coach Byron Scott was called for a technical foul. Dallas needed to make only one free throw but got none.
"You play until it's over," West said. "We committed some fouls, stretched the game out as opposed to saying, 'They're up three or four,' and kind of letting them dribble the game out, we put the pressure on them to make free throws. That's part of the game."
Yet Paul was quick to note that the Hornets, despite their exceptional effort, were nonetheless fortunate not to have fallen to 1-4.
"Just because we win one game doesn't mean everything's solved," Paul said. "The funny thing is, if they make a couple of those free throws and we lose this game, all the questions are: What's still wrong?"
When overtime began, it appeared that the Mavericks, who'd beaten Utah the night before, were worn out.
West scored inside and on a baseline jumper, then Brown added his second 3 of the game, putting New Orleans up 106-99.
Terry's 3 made it 106-102 with 1:22 to go, but Paul came right back with a jumper from the top of the key with 59 seconds left and Dallas was unable to recover after that.
The Hornets led throughout the third quarter, going up 74-66 on Paul's lunging fastbreak layup.
Terry opened the fourth quarter with 10 quick points on three jumpers and a driving scoop as he was fouled during a 15-0 run, giving Dallas an 81-74 lead with about 10 minutes to go in the period.
Dampier's putback of Nowitzki's miss and his alley-oop dunk on Jason Kidd's lob put Dallas up 92-88.
West then fought for an offensive rebound and scored inside while being fouled, then Okafor hit a free throw to tie it, setting up the dramatic close to regulation.
NOTES: Paul was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, making him 12 of 15 on the season. ... The Hornets are 2-0 at home. ... Dallas rookie Rodrigue Beaubois got his first NBA start for the injured Quinton Ross (bruised lower back) and scored the Mavericks' first nine points, but did not score again. ... Kidd had 10 assists. ... Seven of Dampier's rebounds came on the offensive end.
-- Brett Martel
Lieberman to become 1st female head coach D-League
DALLAS — Nancy Lieberman is set to become the first female head coach of an NBA Development League team.
A news conference is scheduled Thursday to introduce Lieberman as the first coach of the team that will begin play during the 2010-11 season in Frisco, a suburb about a half-hour north of downtown Dallas.
A press release sent out Wednesday by the Dallas Mavericks, which will be an affiliate of the Frisco team, touted the pending announcement of "historic additions" to the new D-League franchise. Among the participants listed for the news conference is "Head Coach Nancy Lieberman."
Lieberman didn't return messages left on her cell phone and through e-mail.
Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks president of basketball operations who will be a co-owner of the Frisco team, also didn't return messages.
The Frisco team also will introduce Del Harris as its general manager and Spud Webb as president of basketball operations.
Lieberman was 18 when she played for the U.S. Olympic team in Montreal in 1976 and became the youngest player to earn a medal when the team took silver. A decade later, she became the first woman to play in a men's professional league when she joined the Springfield Fame of the USBL.
In July 2008, at the age of 50, she had two assists in a one-time appearance for the WNBA's Detroit Shock. Before then, she had also been the league's oldest player, when she was played at age 39.
Lieberman played at Old Dominion from 1976-80 and led the school to two AIAW national titles.
She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame three years later.
Beaubois gets first start for Mavericks
NEW ORLEANS — Dallas Mavericks rookie Rodrigue Beaubois got his first career NBA start against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night in place of Quinton Ross, who had a bruised lower back.
Ross' injury had occurred a night earlier in Dallas during the Mavs' 96-85 victory over the Utah Jazz. He was listed as day to day.
Beaubois, the 25th overall pick in the first round of last summer's draft, came to the NBA after playing professionally in France.
The 21-year-old was drafted by Oklahoma City, then was sent to Dallas for No. 24 pick B.J. Mullens and a second-rounder.
The opening minutes of his first start could not have gone much better. He scored the Mavericks' first nine points.
DFW area to get tax help for NBA All-Star game
ARLINGTON — Texas will set aside more than $13 million in sales tax funding as the Dallas-Fort Worth area prepares to host the 2010 NBA All-Star game.
The Arlington City Council on Tuesday approved a financial agreement with the organizing committee and the state comptroller’s office.
The Dallas Morning News reports the financial tool, known as a major events trust fund, uses estimates of how much money the game and related events could generate. The set-aside money can be used for advance costs such as security.
The calcuations are based on anticipated spending by people arriving for the event.
The estimated $13.3 million will be available to Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and the private committee organizing the 2010 NBA All-Star game.
The game is Feb. 14 at the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Ex-NBA referee Donaghy released from jail
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was a free man Wednesday after serving most of a 15-month sentence in a gambling scandal.
Pat Berdan, a consultant working with Donaghy, said he was released from Hernando County Jail in Florida. Donaghy had been jailed there since August after officials said he violated travel restrictions while living at a halfway house in the Tampa area.
A New York judge sentenced the ex-referee in July 2008 after Donaghy said he took thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on games — including games he worked.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce in the tips-for-payoffs scheme.
Donaghy served 13 months of a sentence that began in a federal prison in Pensacola. He was transferred to a halfway house in June and wound up in the Hernando County Jail in Brooksville after being accused of violating his probation by not showing up for work.
During his stay in prison, Donaghy wrote a tell-all book "Blowing The Whistle," that does not yet have a publisher.
Random House said last week that it had decided not to go forward with publication of the book, which in excerpts posted online includes accusations of wagering between officials working games, favoritism toward star players, and desires by the league to extend playoff series.
The NBA has said it will review the allegations that appeared on the Web site deadspin.com.
Executive Prison Consultants, a consulting agency working with Donaghy, has said the former referee plans to live in the Sarasota area and seek a job in sales or marketing.
Pacers to honor late co-owner Mel Simon
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers will honor their late co-owner Mel Simon with a jersey-retirement ceremony before Friday’s game against the Washington Wizards.
The Pacers said Wednesday the banner will hang alongside the retired jerseys of former players Reggie Miller, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown and George McGinnis, and ex-coach Bobby Leonard.
Simon, who died in September at the age of 82, bought the woebegone franchise with his brother, Herb, in 1983. Herb Simon told The Associated Press by telephone that he expects a small, dignified ceremony.
-- Cliff Brunt
Kings sign Ime Udoka
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings have signed swingman Ime Udoka to a contract.
The team did not release terms of the deal announced Wednesday. Udoka spent the preseason with Portland before being waived last month.
Udoka is averaging 6.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in his five-year career. He has played 227 games for the Los Angeles Lakers, New York, Portland and San Antonio.
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