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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.
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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.
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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.
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LOS ANGELES - Derek Fisher led the Staples Center crowd in a 3-2-1 countdown to the unveiling of the banner commemorating the Los Angeles Lakers’ 15th championship.
Then the Lakers got back to work on counting to 16.
Nine former Lakers joined the crowd in welcoming the franchise’s latest bunch of champions into their fraternity Tuesday night before the season opener against the Clippers. Wearing purple warmup jackets with 15 gold stars on the back, the Lakers’ remarkably intact roster received its rings from NBA commissioner David Stern and Lakers executive vice president Jeanie Buss.
“Tonight is such a special night for our team,” Fisher said to the crowd. “We know every night we come out here ... the support from you has just been unbelievable all these years.”
Kobe Bryant got the final ring — and congratulations from Lakers greats including Jerry West and Magic Johnson — before the new gold banner was revealed high atop the arena.
Stern encouraged cheers for “a Laker team that showed us an extraordinary amount of dedication ... and to the Laker fans around the world.”
Calling him “the greatest owner in sports,” Johnson urged a standing ovation for 75-year-old Jerry Buss, who watched from a luxury box high up in Staples Center.
West represented the Lakers’ 1972 champions. He was joined by Norm Nixon (1980), Jamaal Wilkes (1982), James Worthy (1985), Michael Cooper (1987), Johnson (1988), A.C. Green (2000), Rick Fox (2001) and Robert Horry (2002). The Lakers also won five titles in Minneapolis.
NBA career scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar even was on hand to accept his ring as a special assistant coach to the current Lakers.
Twelve members of last season’s team are back with the Lakers this season, from noncontributors such as Adam Morrison and DJ Mbenga to every significant member of last season’s squad except Trevor Ariza, who swapped places with Ron Artest in Houston.
The Lakers rolled to their 10th title on the West Coast through a difficult playoff run, including a seven-game series against the Rockets and a six-game triumph over Denver in the Western Conference finals.
Los Angeles finally eliminated the Orlando Magic in five games, leading to a championship parade and celebration at the Coliseum. Bryant was the finals MVP after winning his first title without Shaquille O’Neal.
After the banner unveiling and cheers to the strains of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.,” the Lakers all placed their rings on a table next to the Larry O’Brien Trophy and faced the Clippers, taking a 59-49 lead at halftime.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson got a special ovation from the crowd when he received his 10th championship ring as a coach, in addition to the ring he still occasionally wears from his playing days with the New York Knicks.
That Knicks ring is missing a diamond after he lost it at a Bennigan’s restaurant while he was an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls, whom he later coached to six championships. Yet the Knicks ring is perhaps the only one in his collection that’s suitable for day-to-day wear, given the baubles’ gradual increases in size and ostentatiousness over the years.
“I don’t think any of them are wearable since they went to this format,” Jackson said, calling them “too gaudy, too large. You can’t shake hands with anybody.”
Jackson typically breaks out the ring from his most recent title during the following playoff run, which means he’s been breaking out the Lakers’ 2002 title ring for the past few postseasons.
“I really disliked that ring,” he said with a laugh. “It looked like a clown’s face, actually.”
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.
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A Tinseltown NBA finals Take a visual tour of the celebration of the Lakers’ NBA championship, plus images from the five-game win over the Magic. NBCSports.com |
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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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
On their last trip to Atlanta, the Miami Heat were missing two-thirds of their Big Three.