Spurs rout depleted Lakers 138-110 in last Staples game
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Jae C. Hong)LOS ANGELES — (AP) — Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 30 points, and the San Antonio Spurs routed the slumping Los Angeles Lakers 138-110 on Thursday night in the final event at Staples Center under the 22-year-old arena's original name. Bates-Diop, the fourth-year NBA journeyman who's averaging 3.8 points per game this season, scored 11 points in the third quarter. Los Angeles (16-17) is back under .500 for the first time since Nov. 26. TIP-INSSpurs: They also played in the Lakers' final game at the Forum on May 23, 1999. Tim Duncan scored 33 points then as San Antonio completed a four-game sweep of Los Angeles in the second round of the postseason.
wftv.comBubble Kings: Lakers run past Heat for 17th NBA championship
For the first time since Kobe Bryant's fifth and final title a decade ago, the Lakers are NBA champions. James had 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Lakers beat the Miami Heat 106-93 on Sunday night to win the NBA Finals in six games. Rajon Rondo scored 19 points for the Lakers, who put together the elite talents of James and Davis with this moment in mind. James (Miami, Cleveland) and Danny Green (San Antonio, Toronto) added their names to that list with this title. HEAT SEASONMiami led the NBA with 94 games played this season — 30 more than Minnesota, which played the fewest in the NBA.
As the NBA playoffs begin, here are 10 things to know
Playoff teams will split a record $23,287,266 for making the NBA postseason, a figure that's up about $1.6 million from last year. And the Milwaukee Bucks stand to grab the biggest share of a pool ever, if they win the NBA title. The biggest slices, of course, go to the teams that make the NBA Finals. For winning the NBA title last season, the Toronto Raptors split $5.6 million from the playoff pool. And the last time an NBA Finals had two non-division-winning teams was 2007, when San Antonio topped Cleveland.