Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers were able to win without Kobe. Now they’ve won with him.
Kobe Bryant made his season debut with 23 points, Lamar Odom scored 28 and Los Angeles remained unbeaten with a 118-112 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Friday night.
The Lakers won their opening two games while Bryant worked his way back from the arthroscopic surgery he had on his right knee during the offseason.
“I feel pretty good. I wasn’t thinking about the knee that much,” said Bryant, who seemed to be moving as well as usual on the court. “It’s exciting to be back. I am happy to be out on the floor.
“The timing and rhythm was off but that will come back in time. In the first half I jumped off the leg for a reverse layup. That was something I didn’t do at all last year.”
Ray Allen had 30 points and Rashard Lewis added 28 for Seattle (0-2).
Bryant played 41 minutes and went 8-of-15 from the field. He had six assists and four rebounds.
Odom made five free throws in the closing 36 seconds to help the Lakers hold off the Sonics. Luke Walton had a career-high 20 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles.
“Having Kobe back, watching Ronny (Turiaf) come up big in the end, that was awesome. That was a lot more fun for me than having a career high in points,” Walton said.
The 28-year-old Bryant, an eight-time all-star who led the league in scoring with a 35.4 average last season, missed all the Lakers’ exhibition games this fall.
|
Without Bryant, Odom had 34 points and 13 rebounds in a season-opening win over Phoenix and 22 points in the second victory, against Golden State.
“The guys worked extremely hard in the offseason,” Bryant said. “To step up when we needed them at the beginning of the season is great.”
The Sonics led 102-100 with 4:55 left in the game. But Turiaf’s two free throws pulled the Lakers even, and he added a jumper for a 104-102 lead shortly afterward, and Los Angeles didn’t trail again.
|
Seattle coach Bob Hill was unhappy with the disparity in free throws.
“It’s difficult to win a basketball game when one team (Los Angeles) shoots 48 free throws and your team shoots 16 and you go to the basket for two-thirds of the game,” Hill said. “That’s very difficult to overcome.”
He was particularly displeased that Chris Wilcox didn’t get a call late in the game.
“We were down by four with 30-something seconds left to play and we wanted to go two-for-one with a chance to win the game. Wilcox just got knocked,” Hill said. “The Lakers grabbed his arm and just knocked him on his back.
|
“That’s wrong and we earned the right to get a foul on that play. I just can’t believe that Wilcox didn’t get a free throw on that play.”
Allen hit a jumper, was fouled by Bryant and made the free throw to draw the Sonics even at 77-77 with 4:07 left in the third quarter. Down 33-13 nine minutes into the game, the Sonics chipped away at the lead and pulled within 50-48 with 4:44 left in the second quarter. Los Angeles led 65-56 at halftime.
Notes: Bryant wore his new Lakers’ number, 24, for the first time. He had worn 8 in Los Angeles, but decided he wanted to go back to the number he wore as a high school freshman. ... The Lakers averaged 112 points in their two wins without Bryant, defeating Phoenix by eight in the season opener in Los Angeles, then beating Golden State by 12 in Oakland. ... The Sonics lost their season opener 110-106 to Portland on Wednesday. ... The Lakers still are missing F-C Kwame Brown (shoulder), C Chris Mihm (ankle) and G Aaron McKie (back).
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
 | Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman |
Do you have a burning NBA question? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag. |  |
 | Special feature |
 |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
more photos |
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
