It was supposed to be a night to rejoice for the Lakers. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol returned from injury and were set to take a commanding hold of the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. With a 1.5 game lead on the Utah Jazz, the lowly Washington Wizards were in town. Unfortunately for the Lakers, this game followed the poorly written script of their season. The Wizards shocked the Lakers 103-100 at Staples Center, spoiling the Lakers reunion. More from Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Bryant’s three-point shot at the buzzer was short, so the Lakers lost to a team that had been 6-26 on the road. They also blew an easy chance at standings separation from Utah and remained 11/2 games ahead of the Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. But what’s the big rush to the playoffs if the Lakers can’t even win at home against the Wizards? After leading by 18 in the final minute of the second quarter?”
Jason Terry made it back into the headlines Friday afternoon after an interview with Boston’s Mut & Merloni from Dallas, where he’s getting ready to take on his former team, the Dallas Mavericks. Terry discussed the opportunity to play the Miami Heat in the playoffs as a member of the Boston Celtics: “But I’ll tell you right now, I would love to see Miami in the playoffs, because the road to the championship goes through the champion. We’re fired up. We love that matchup.”- More from Terry: “It’s just the Miami Heat,” Terry said. “Is it the red and black? Maybe. I hate that color. I just don’t like them. … It goes back to ’05-06. It doesn’t matter who’s in those Miami Heat uniforms. … [The Mavericks were] up 2-0 and [the Heat] come back and win four straight games and you lose the NBA finals. So, LeBron inherited something bigger than the matchup of he and I. It’s about the Miami Heat and that organization. He picked his poison. “They put him on me to shut me down in the NBA finals in 2011 and he couldn’t get the job done. Hopefully he’ll have another chance this year in the Eastern Conference finals or wherever we match up. But I’m telling you right now, I love us, I love the way we’re built. We miss Rondo, we miss [Jared] Sullinger, but with this team we have, we have a chance.”
- The Denver Nuggets reached a season-high 14-game winning streak on Thursday after a wild ending to their game with the Philadelphia 76ers. They needed a 6-0 run in the final nine seconds to get the job done, but the Nuggets continue to surge. More from USA Today: “Brewer sank a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds left that made it 100-98. He fouled Evan Turner with 7.1 seconds left and Turner, a 75% free-throw shooter, missed both of his foul shots, the first one bouncing out and the second one slowly rimming out. “It’s crazy. To be honest, I didn’t think we had any chance of winning,” Brewer said. “Then he missed those free throws and I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got a little chance.’ He gave us life.”