No walk in the park for James as Cavs lose to Wiz
LeBron James was whistled for taking an extra step while driving for a potential tying layup with 2.3 seconds left, and his Cleveland Cavaliers lost 80-77 to the Eastern Conference-worst Wizards at Washington, despite wiping out a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
His biggest beef was with what he considered a misunderstanding of the way he moved to the basket.
“You have your trademark play, and that’s one of my plays. It kind of looks like a travel because it’s slow, and it’s kind of a high-step, but it’s a one-two just as fluent as any other one-two in this league. I got the wrong end of it, but I think they need to look at it – and they need to understand that’s not a travel,” James said.
None of his teammates scored more than 13 points, the Cavaliers shot 39 percent for the game and they were held to their lowest point total this season.
•Grizzlies finally snap skid: O.J. Mayo scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Grizzlies snapped a 13-game losing skid to the Dallas Mavericks with a 102-82 victory at Memphis, Tenn.
•Pistons win seventh straight: Rodney Stuckey scored 24 points, Tayshaun Prince added 20, and the Detroit Pistons got a critical goaltending call in the final seconds to beat the Clippers 88-87 at Los Angeles for their seventh straight victory in a matchup of injury-depleted teams.
•Chandler paces Knicks over Boston: Wilson Chandler scored a career-high 31 points and the Knicks snapped an eight-game losing streak against the sputtering Celtics at New York.
Al Harrington added 30 for the Knicks, who hadn’t beaten Boston at Madison Square Garden since March 23, 2005, dropping the previous six meetings.
•Lakers win 15th straight at home: Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 19 and the Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-86 at Los Angeles for their sixth consecutive victory and 15th straight at home.
Skiing
Crash costs Vonn likely victory, overall lead
With the finish and the victory literally in sight, Lindsey Vonn made a costly error.
The 24-year-old American crashed just five gates before the finish at Zagreb, Croatia, on the icy Crveni Spust slalom course, losing a likely victory and the overall lead in the World Cup standings.
Maria Riesch of Germany finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 58.69 seconds to win her third straight slalom and take the lead in the standings.
Riesch has 607 points to lead the overall standings. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland is next with 543. Vonn is third with 530.
NHL
Canadiens win shootout
Andrei Markov scored the only shootout goal to give the Montreal Canadiens a 6-5 win over the Florida Panthers at Montreal.
Markov put a backhand through Craig Anderson’s pads on Montreal’s third attempt after the Florida goalie denied Alex Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn.
•Blackhawks douse Flames: Martin Havlat, Andrew Ladd and Patrick Sharp each had a goal and an assist, and the Blackhawks rebounded from consecutive losses to Detroit to beat the Calgary Flames 5-2 at Chicago.
Chicago ended the Flames’ winning streak at five and snapped their points streak at 10 games (7-0-3). Calgary hadn’t lost in regulation since Dec. 9 at Montreal.
Miscellany
USC recruit delivers
Prep quarterback Matt Barkley, who has verbally committed to Southern California, threw for two early touchdown passes to lead his White Team to a 27-16 victory over the Black Team at the Under Armour All-America High School Football Game in Orlando, Fla.
Russell Shepard of Houston, who is going to LSU, threw a 92-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 15-yard score for the Black Team.
•Bodine sleds to win: Todd Bodine laid down a fast first run, then held on to edge Joe Gibbs Racing phenom Joey Logano and capture the first race at the fourth annual Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge at Lake Placid, N.Y.
The Bobsled Challenge raises funds for the U.S. men’s and women’s bobsled teams. It features NASCAR and NHRA drivers, with members of the New York State Army National Guard serving as brakemen.
•Napier, Schaaf qualify for Worlds: John Napier and Bree Schaaf won the U.S. National Bobsled Championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg at Lake Placid and qualified for the World Championships.
•Zoeggler wins luge on birthday: Two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggler of Italy won a luge race on his birthday at Koenigssee, Germany, to extend his overall lead in the World Cup standings. It was his 42nd career World Cup win.