Silva: 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 NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
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.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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 - Phil Jackson prefers when none of his starters has to play more than 34 minutes. Not only did he get his wish in the Lakers’ one-sided win over Denver, but none of them spent 30 minutes on the court — and they still kept Carmelo Anthony in check.
Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 29 points in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth, Andrew Bynum had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Los Angeles coasted to a 104-90 victory on Friday night.
“It’s about taking care of business. That is how we push it,” said Bryant, who is averaging just under 34 minutes. “It’s a push against the clock. I think it shows the business attitude that we have, as well as depth. I wanted to do a little more service, especially in these sleeper games.”
The defending Western Conference champion Lakers (10-1) are off to their best start through 11 games since the 2001-02 championship season, when they won 16 of their first 17. All of their victories have been decided by seven or more points — which was their winning margin against four teams.
“They have a lot of offensive weapons, and they’ve turned themselves into a pretty good defensive team,” Denver coach George Karl said. “They’re much improved defensively from last year, and they haven’t had a close game.”
Anthony, the runner-up to Bryant for the league scoring title in 2006-07, had 10 points on 5-for-19 shooting and is averaging just 16.3 points over his last six games. He has scored 30 or more points 57 times since the start of the ’06-07 season, the third-highest total during that stretch behind LeBron James (77) and Bryant (75).
“I think it’s very difficult to be a star when defenses are designed and manipulated to take you out and stop you from being successful,” Karl said. “Right now we’re not getting a lot of opportunities for him. He’s taking a lot of tough shots and getting frustrated over the shot selection. I think he’s got to be patient and work with us, and we’ll figure out how to help him gain more success.”
Anthony didn’t get to the free throw line all night. He sat out the fourth quarter and kept his double-digit scoring streak alive at 218 consecutive games when he hit a 15-foot jumper with 11:15 left in the third.
The last time the six-year veteran was in single digits was Nov. 28, 2005, when he played just 1½ minutes against New Jersey before leaving with a sprained ankle and had two points.
“We focused on not giving him open opportunities, getting a body on him when he gets the basketball, turning him to the baseline a lot of times and trying to keep him from the middle so he couldn’t penetrate,” Jackson said. “Vlade (Radmanovic) did a good job on him and I thought guys focused on him and knew where he was.”
Nene and J.R. Smith had 18 points apiece for Denver. Chauncey Billups made his first three shots, but was 3-for-9 the rest of the way and finished with 15 points and nine assists before going to the bench with 10:39 remaining.
Billups, a three-time All-Star, is averaging 18.3 points and 6.2 assists in nine games since the Nuggets reacquired him from Detroit in a trade that sent Allen Iverson to the Pistons.
“This team taught us a lesson tonight, and they beat us in every aspect,” Billups said. “When you come out against a team like this and don’t give 100 percent, it shows.”
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
 | Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
 Lin on on 'Linsanity' Knicks guard Jeremy Lin discusses the hype surrounding his recent rise in New York. |
 | 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 |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
| Special feature |
 | NBCSports.com |
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
Silva: 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 NFC teams.