Kobe’s 50 points lift Lakers past Clippers
The time off must have done Kobe Bryant a lot of good.
Going on a scoring spree for the second night in a row, Bryant had 50 points Saturday night to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-109 victory over the Clippers.
That ran his total to 98 points in two nights — he had 48 in the Lakers’ win over Philadelphia in his first game back from a two-game suspension.
He scored 40 second-half points against the Clippers, including the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to rally the Lakers.
Bryant’s fadeaway jumper in the lane with 12 seconds left put them up by one. Smush Parker intercepted Shaun Livingston’s pass for Sam Cassell, and Parker’s fast-break dunk with 4.4 seconds remaining gave the Lakers a three-point pad.
“I can’t fully take credit for that last move,” Bryant said of his go-ahead basket. “I stole it from Michael Vick, believe it or not. I knew they were going to run over to double with (Chris) Wilcox, so I picked up the blitz, threw a pump fake at the guy, got him up in the air and went around him.”
Bryant’s key shot in traffic came 13 seconds after Elton Brand’s turnaround jumper from 7 feet put the Clippers in front 109-108.
The Clippers almost tied it at the end. Livingston drove inside before passing out to Cuttino Mobley in the left corner, but Mobley couldn’t get off his 3-pointer before time expired. The shot went in.
Suns 91, Spurs 86: At Phoenix, Shawn Marion and Steve Nash triggered a fourth-quarter surge that lifted the Suns over San Antonio, snapping the Spurs’ five-game winning streak in a matchup of division leaders. Marion scored 11 in the fourth quarter to finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Nash scored 10 in the fourth and had 22 points and 10 assists in the Suns’ seventh victory in eight games.
Jazz 94, Pistons 90 (OT): At Auburn Hills, Mich., Andrei Kirilenko had 24 points and 11 rebounds as Utah beat Detroit for the second time this season.
The win gave Utah a season-series sweep of Detroit and almost as many wins against the Pistons (2) as the rest of the NBA combined (3).
Mavericks 83, Timberwolves 79: At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki overcame 3 1/2 quarters of being pestered by Kevin Garnett to score seven straight points in the closing minutes, helping the Mavericks rally past Minnesota.
Cavaliers 96, Bucks 88: At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 35 points and shook off the effects of a hard fall as the Cavaliers beat Milwaukee.
Bulls 111, Grizzlies 82: At Chicago, Kirk Hinrich scored 26 points and Ben Gordon had 21 as the Bulls shot 62 percent and ended Memphis’ five-game winning streak.
Wizards 103, Celtics 102: At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 31 points, including two free throws with 3.5 seconds left, and the Wizards beat Boston to snap a four-game losing streak.
Hawks 101, Hornets 93: At Atlanta, Al Harrington scored 24 points and the Hawks withstood a career-high 29 points from Speedy Claxton to beat New Orleans, ending the Hornets’ three-game winning streak.
Magic 108, Bobcats 92: At Orlando, Dwight Howard had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the Magic took advantage of the injury-riddled Charlotte frontcourt for a victory.
Off the court
Tim Duncan has officially notified USA Basketball that he will not be a part of the U.S. team that will compete at this year’s world championships and the 2008 Olympics. Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball, said Saturday that Duncan’s agent, Lon Babby, had called with the news earlier this week. … Rockets forward Juwan Howard was suspended one game without pay by the NBA for shoving the basketball into the face of Raptors guard Mike James on Friday night.