The Lakers had a tough weekend, first with a loss to the Hornets on Friday. They lost more than just the game, Pau Gasol going out in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. He’ll most likely be out another two weeks. Chris Paul took advantage of the center lane with the absence of Gasol and a quality point guard. Paul scored 27 points and had 17 assists. Tyson Chandler pulled 20 rebounds and scored 14 points in front of his home town. Kobe Bryant 36 points but it was far from enough.
Sunday the Lakers traveled to Houston to try and stop the Rockets streak at 21, they were unsuccessful. Both teams had a record of 45-20 and were fighting for the number one seed in the west. Once again, the point guard killed the Lakers. Rafer Alston had a career high 31 points hitting eight three pointers. The Rockets played excellent defense, particularly Shane Battier on Kobe Bryant. He forced him to take tough shots, frustrating Bryant, making him increasingly selfish.
Bryant kept the Lakers in the game until late in the forth quarter, but did not share the ball with some very capable teammates. Derek Fisher, Vladamir Radmanovic, and Sasha Vujacic took a combination of 14 shots in the game, to Kobe’s 33. They shot at a higher percentage, going 3-5 three point range. Bryant scored just 24 points going 0-4 from beyond the arc. He proved to be undeserving of an MVP yesterday, not trusting his teammates that have played well all season. And with the injury to Pau Gasol, he’ll need them more than ever. Let’s hope Phil Jackson reminds him that they’ve just lost the top seed in the west because he didn’t pass. They play in Dallas tomorrow night.
After winning the Pac-10 Tournament on Saturday against Stanford, 67-64, UCLA was chosen as a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Darren Collison scored 28 points, playing all 40 minutes in the victory. Other top seeds include North Carolina, Kansas, and Memphis. USC made it with a number six seed, and will face Kansas St. in the first round. UCLA will go up against Miss. Valley St. in the first round which begins March 20th.
The Dodgers played five games this weekend, losing three, winning one, and tying another. In the win on Saturday, 6-1, against the Nationals, Andre Ethier went 3-4, hitting his fourth homerun in spring training off Odalis Perez. Brad Penny got the win pitching five shutout innings, and Takashi Saito made his spring training debut, pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Derek Lowe was not as impressive in yesterday’s 6-7 loss to the Marlins, allowing four runs and six hits. He struck out seven batters and says he feels good, but gave up two costly home runs, for his second loss in a row. Jason Repko hit a two run shot and looks to be fully recovered from last year’s injury. Dodgers play Houston today at 1pm, with just two weeks left until opening day.
Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in dramatic fashion, with a 25 foot birdie putt, giving him his 64th victory, tying Ben Hogan at number three on the tour’s career list, and extending his win streak to five in a row. There have been five winning streaks of at least five tournaments in PGA Tour history. Woods owns three of them, with the others belonging to Hogan (6) and Byron Nelson, whose 11 in a row is considered among the most untouchable records in all of sports.
Tiger shot a 66 on Saturday and Sunday and finished at 10-under 270. He earned $1,044,000, putting him on the cusp of going over $80 million for his career. The next target for Woods is Jack Nicklaus at 73 wins, then Sam Snead’s record of 82. He plays next weekend at the WGC CA Championship in Miami. Woods is the defending champion.
Photos by Wikipedia
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