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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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.
Getty Images
MIAMI - Dwyane Wade watched the ball leave Kobe Bryant’s hand and sail toward the basket, just as time expired. He watched it drop over the front of the rim, then bounce tantalizingly, adding even more drama to a suspenseful ending.
Finally, the ball fell away.
“About time we got a break,” Wade said.
As the saying goes, the Miami Heat made their own breaks Friday night.
Wade snapped out of a mild slump with 35 points, and the Heat defense stifled the high-powered Los Angeles Lakers’ in ways no opponent has managed this season on the way to an 89-87 victory over the reigning Western Conference champions.
Miami held the Lakers to a season low in points, forced 21 turnovers — Los Angeles’ second-highest total of the year — and survived the final dagger that Bryant, the league’s MVP, could hoist their way.
“It was going down, then just popped out,” said Bryant, who led the Lakers (21-4) with 28 points. “Happens sometimes.”
Bryant made a spinning jumper from the left side of the lane to get the Lakers within two points with 41.7 seconds left, but his final shot from just a couple steps farther back simply wouldn’t go down.
“Shows that we’ve grown up a little bit,” Heat forward Udonis Haslem said, after Miami (13-12) snapped a three-game slide.
For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, everything is always about defense, continuing the mantra he learned from former coach and team president Pat Riley, his mentor on the Miami sideline.
And perhaps the quintessential defensive moment of the season came in the final seconds.
Miami led by two and the Lakers pounded the ball inside, looking to tie the game. Lamar Odom’s 8-footer was blocked by Joel Anthony, and Odom’s attempt at a follow-up was blocked by Wade. Pau Gasol gathered that loose ball — and Wade erased his shot attempt as well.
“Just a fantastic effort defensively at the very end,” Spoelstra said.
The Lakers’ previous low this season was 93 points, and their 21 turnovers represented their second-highest total of the season.
Daequan Cook scored 14 points and Shawn Marion had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Miami, which saw most of a 12-point lead entering the fourth disappear.
Gasol had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who also got 13 points from Derek Fisher and 12 from Jordan Farmar.
“We just did not get ourselves going,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “We had a terrible third quarter.”
A third quarter that came with a spectacular ending, courtesy of Wade.
The game was tied after each of the first two quarters, and was nip-and-tuck again for much of the third before Miami took control in the final minutes of the period.
A 13-2 run over the final 3:33 gave Miami a 75-63 lead entering the fourth, and Wade delivered both the set up and knockout blows of the quarter. He found Cook for a 3-pointer that gave Miami a nine-point edge, and after losing the ball with 5 seconds left in the period, came through with another entry for his burgeoning highlight reel.
Stripped by Trevor Ariza near the 3-point line, Wade dove over the sprawled-out Lakers defender and collected the ball near halfcourt, dribbled to gather himself and let a 32-footer fly in desperation.
It dropped as time expired, and Wade posed on one knee as Ariza — who was still seated on the floor — only shook his head in disbelief.
“I knew it had a good chance of going in,” Wade said. “And how’d you all like my pose?”
The Lakers held Miami scoreless for the first five minutes of the fourth, but never got the margin lower than four until the final minutes.
And by then, there simply wasn’t enough time for Bryant and the Lakers to shake the Heat.
“It’s a loss,” Bryant said. “You regroup and you get back to work.”
Notes: Friday was the fifth anniversary of Alonzo Mourning’s kidney transplant — and the first anniversary of his devastating knee and leg injury at Atlanta. Mourning, who still has a locker in the Heat dressing room, is rehabbing and reiterated before the game that he hopes to re-sign with Miami sometime this season ... Hall of Famer Bill Russell was in attendance. ... Miami had 3-pointers by Mario Chalmers and Cook waved off in the first half because each stepped out of bounds before shooting. ... The Lakers’ Sasha Vujacic put on an impressive display of dribbling at halftime — soccer-style, flicking the ball from foot to foot at least 12 times before a ballboy grabbed it away.
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
 | Special feature |
 | NBCSports.com |
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 |
| Special feature |
 | Race for Rookie of the Year Special feature: There's plenty of play remaining for a talented group to catch front-runners Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo. NBCSports.com |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. 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.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.