Basketball/nba
Milwaukee 112, Washington 98 Memphis 94, Oklahoma City 88 Sacramento 116, Minnesota 108 Houston 99, Chicago 93 L.A. Clippers 94, Dallas 75 Utah 102, Portland 97
In his seventh season with the Los Angeles Lakers, center Andrew Bynum was on the verge of something special.
The first-time All-star, who is averaging career highs of 17.9 points and 11.9 rebounds, was in the stretch run of completing his second full season without a major injury. He’s played in 49 of 53 games this season.
Then Bynum left in the first quarter of Sunday’s 120-112 win vs. the Golden State Warriors, spraining his left ankle while coming down on the foot of teammate Josh Mcroberts.
X-rays showed no breaks. Bynum got treatment Monday and is listed as day-to-day ahead of today’s home game vs. the New Jersey Nets.
Bynum was coming off a productive March, when he averaged 22.2 points and 10.9 rebounds in 17 games. “He’s gotten better,” Kobe
Bryant said after the game. “You see him working on his footwork a lot; he has a lot of moves in his arsenal that he didn’t have before. He’s much more comfortable doing it, and he’s gained a great deal of confidence.”
Eight is great:
The fight is on for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with the New York Knicks two games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks.
“We’ve put ourselves in this position,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “I don’t think any games should have any more pressure than any other one. Every game is a must-win for us right now . . . and then probably hope for a little help.”
The Bucks have a more favorable schedule, with nine games at home and six vs. teams with a .500 or better record. New York has five at home and eight vs. teams with a .500 or better record. The teams play April 11.
“We’ve got a five-game homestand coming up,” Skiles said. “We need double-digit wins from here on out, at least to give ourselves a chance.”
-The Knicks’ parent company denied a New York Daily
News story that the team withheld news of guard Jeremy Lin’s knee injury to sell more playoff tickets to season ticketholders. The Daily News said the Knicks didn’t announce Lin would need surgery until after Wednesday’s deadline to buy playoff tickets.
“The suggestion that the timing . . . is in any way connected to a longstanding Knicks playoff ticket deadline is a malicious attack on the Madison Square Garden Company. Jeremy Lin decided on Saturday to have surgery now in hopes that he would be able to return in time for, or at least during, the playoffs,” Madison Square Garden Company said in a statement.
Ping-pong balls calling:
The 7-43 Charlotte Bobcats already have a leg up on the NBA’S worst record, with the 12-41 Washington Wizards next. Bobcats coach Paul Silas said he would start the younger players — guards Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson, forwards Reggie Williams and Byron Mullens and center Bismack Biyombo — to find out what he has for next season. The players collectively have 151 starts. “We still want to win games,” Silas said. “If we were going for a playoff berth or something like that, then absolutely we would want our veteran players in there. But we’re not.”