L.A. BEAT : LAKERS THEY CAN COUNT ON KOBE.The player's recent surge brightens the Lakers' prospects for the upcoming playoffs. And in this case, we're not talking about Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). . Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. , the rookie sensation who jumped directly from high school to the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= , is emerging as a key contributor on what was already a strong bench. Over his last 10 games, he has averaged 13.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 24.5 minutes per game. More importantly, he's playing with much more confidence - and flair - than was evident early in the season. A high point from Sunday's victory over Utah: With 8:41 to play, Bryant broke for the basket, leaped high to grab a lead pass from Nick Van Exel Nickey (Nick) Maxwell Van Exel (born November 27 1971 in Kenosha, Wisconsin) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. Van Exel, a 6'1" left-handed point guard, was most well known for his flashy style of play and his ability to hit critical shots during (Bryant's elbows were even with the rim) and slammed it through. ?13Eric Noland HORSE RACING horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with Wild Rush wins feature Wild Rush, the even-money favorite, overtook Batoile in the stretch and held on to win Sunday's $78,280 La Puente Stakes by a nose at Santa Anita. Ridden by Gary Stevens and carrying 115 pounds, Wild Rush covered one mile on turf in the stakes-record time of 1:34 4/5. The win was the second in four lifetime starts for Wild Rush and was worth $48,280, raising the career earnings of the 3-year-old son of Wild Again to $74,200. Wild Rush, trained by Richard Mandella, was coming off a seventh-place finish in the San Rafael Stakes The San Rafael Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park, located in Arcadia, California. The race is a Grade II event with a purse of $150,000 and is open to three-year-olds willing to race one mile (8 furlongs) on the dirt. at Santa Anita on March 2. ``He settled in real nice today,'' Stevens said of Wild Rush. ``He had a little trouble around the first turn. I was inside Batoile and my horse just doesn't like it inside. So I just let him drop back and got to the outside. He was real professional the rest of the way.'' Batoile, ridden by David Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the and carrying 116 pounds, crossed the finish line 1-3/4 lengths in front of Worldly Way. Worldly Ways, the 19-10 second-favorite ridden by Corey Nakatani and carrying 115 pounds, was two lengths ahead of Starbank at the wire. ?13Associated Press |
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