Monday, February 23, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Pau Gasol made back-to-back three-pointers in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, 112-108 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Ramon Sessions scored 22 points, and Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who are 4-1 while the NBA's leading scorer rests his bruised shin.
Metta World Peace had 18 points as Los Angeles rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit before finishing off a four-game season sweep of the defending champion Mavericks, who swept the Lakers out of last season's playoffs.
Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points on 9-of-28 shooting and 14 rebounds, but Jason Terry missed a potential tying layup at the rim with five seconds left in overtime for the Mavericks, whose three-game winning streak ended. Delonte West scored 20 points, and Terry had 21 before missing a shot while trying to avoid Matt Barnes' defense.
Gasol added two free throws with 0.5 seconds left in the Lakers' fifth straight regular-season win over Dallas.
The Lakers boosted their lead over the Clippers atop the Pacific Division to 1 game with six to play. The Lakers also have the tiebreaker edge on their next-door rivals.
Dallas nursed a lead down the fourth-quarter stretch before the Lakers made a 14-6 run, taking the lead on Sessions' 3-pointer with 3:24 left. After Dallas tied it at 98 on Terry's jumper with 55 seconds left, Sessions missed an awkward shot with 1.5 seconds to play, and Nowitzki clanged a 3-point attempt off the back rim at the buzzer.
Gasol had hit just five 3-pointers all season, but he gave the lead back to the Lakers on consecutive corner 3's, with Nowitzki's third 3-pointer sandwiched between them. World Peace put the Lakers up 110-106 with a fadeaway jumper with 1:04 to play.
Bynum has been fighting a respiratory infection, and he got off to an 0-for-5 start that matched the Lakers' early effort. Los Angeles missed 10 of its first 12 shots while the Mavericks jumped to an early 10-point lead propelled by West, who scored 16 points in the first half.
In the second half, Bynum returned to the dominant form he showed while getting 30 rebounds and scoring 30 points in consecutive games, a feat last accomplished by Moses Malone in 1982.
Heat beat Knicks
93-85, clinch the
Southeast Division
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Miami Heat finally came to Madison Square Garden, a sea of orange surrounding them in what looked like a playoff game.
Maybe that's all it took to bring out their best on the road. LeBron James had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade added 28 points and nine boards, and the Heat overcame Carmelo Anthony's 42 points to beat the New York Knicks 93-85 on Sunday to clinch the Southeast Division title.
Originally scheduled to be here in November, the Heat's lone regular-season game in New York came with the compressed regular season coming to a close - and with a chance they'll be back again soon.
"This is obviously a lot of our favorite places to play, but I think it came at a good time for us," Wade said.
Chris Bosh finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat, who pulled away in the fourth quarter of a possible playoff preview. Miami is second in the Eastern Conference and the Knicks came into the game tied for seventh, although they fell back behind Philadelphia after the loss.
JR Smith scored 16 points for the Knicks, who lost all three games against the Heat. Still without the injured Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, New York didn't have the firepower to match Miami's Big Three for 48 minutes.
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