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Sports 1B Thursday December 26, 2013 Heat beat Lakers for 6th straight win Raiders struggle to find impact players in draft LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade had 23 points apiece, and the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-95 on Wednesday for their sixth straight win. Bosh also had 11 rebounds in the Heat's fifth consecutive victory against the Lakers on Christmas Day. LeBron James added 19 points and Ray Allen had 12. Miami shot 51 percent (41 for 80) from the field while improving to 7-0 against the Western Conference this season. It was its 19th straight win overall against West opponents. Nick Young scored 20 points for the Lakers, who were tied four times in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles shot 42 percent (33 for 79) in its third straight loss. Kobe Bryant was relegated to the sideline with his fractured left knee, leaving him unable to extend his NBA-record Christmas Day appearances to 16. Jodie Meeks had 17 points for Los Angeles, Xavier Henry scored 14 and Pau Gasol had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Jordan Farmar returned from a left hamstring tear after missing 10 games, giving the Lakers a true point guard to run the offense. But he was ineffective, with three points and two assists in 32 minutes. The Lakers stayed right with the Heat despite their poor shooting and the absence of Bryant, Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) and Steve Blake (right elbow). They led by 10 points and never trailed by more than that. Young's basket tied the game for the last time at 83-all. The Heat promptly took off on a 13-5 run. Wade, Norris Cole and James scored all of the Heat's points. Young answered with AP photo Miami Heat forward Chris Andersen, right, fouls Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Wednesday. his fourth 3-pointer of the game and Meeks made 1 of 2 free throws to pull the Lakers to 96-92 with 1:26 to play. But Wade had an acrobatic reverse layup and James made two foul shots to give Miami some breathing room. Young scored 12 points in the third, when the Lakers trailed by nine before scoring the final seven Bulls use big third quarter to rout Nets 95-78 NEW YORK (AP) — Taj Gibson enjoyed coming home for the holidays. Gibson, a Brooklyn native, scored 20 points and Jimmy Butler added 15 to help the Chicago Bulls rout the Nets 95-78 on Wednesday. ''It was stressful,'' said the 28-year-old, who grew up minutes from Barclays Center. ''I did a toy drive and I was tired, but it was great to see my family.'' Gibson led a balanced offense with six players in double figures for Chicago, which was buoyed by the return of guards Kirk Hinrich and Butler. With the Bulls trailing 50-49 early in the third quarter, Butler took over, keying a 21-5 run that gave Chicago control. Butler, who sat out the last game with a right ankle injury, started the burst with a 3-pointer and added a three-point play that made it 57-52. That was the first of 12 straight points by the Bulls. Another three-point play by Butler made it 66-52. ''Coming out of halftime was a focus for us,'' Hinrich said. Chicago (11-16) led by 19 at the end of the period after Reggie Evans' dunk with less than a second left ended a 5 1/2-minute field goal drought for the Nets (919). Brooklyn couldn't get much closer in the fourth and was serenaded with a chorus of loud boos from the fans. ''They cheer when things are good and they let you know when things aren't going good,'' Nets coach Jason Kidd said. ''They expect good and they expect it 90 percent of the time, but right now we are 90 percent bad and so they have every right to boo and express how they feel.'' What once was viewed as a Christmas Day showdown between Eastern Conference contenders became a matchup of two of the NBA's biggest disappointments so far, as both teams have been plagued by injuries. Deron Williams scored 18 points and Mizra Teletovic added 17 for the Nets, who have lost four straight. Tehama Tracker Today's schedule BOYS BASKETBALL Los Molinos vs. TBD 29th Annual Liberty Classic Mercy vs. Quincy, Noon 29th Annual Liberty Classic GIRLS BASKETBALL Los Molinos vs. Hamilton, 10:30 a.m. 29th Annual Liberty Classic Mercy vs. Liberty Christian, 9 a.m. 29th Annual Liberty Classic Sports on TV COLLEGE FOOTBALL • 3 p.m., ESPN — Little Caesars Bowl, Pittsburgh vs. Bowling Green, at Detroit • 6:30 p.m., ESPN — Poinsettia Bowl, Utah St. vs. N. Illinois, at San Diego NBA • 5 p.m., TNT — Memphis at Houston • 7:30 p.m., TNT — L.A. Clippers at Portland SOCCER • 4:40 a.m., NBCSN — Premier League, Manchester United at Hull City • 6:55 a.m., NBCSN — Premier League, Arsenal at West Ham • 9:25 a.m., NBCSN — Premier League, Liverpool at Manchester City points of the period, capped by Young's 3-pointer, to trail 76-74 heading into the fourth. Allen and Wade combined to score the Heat's first 13 points of the second, with Allen hitting 3pointers to bookend the run and pull the Heat into a 34all tie. Bosh took over and scored 10 points in a row, including a layup that gave Miami just its second lead of the game, 40-39. James interrupted Bosh's offensive spurt with a one-handed dunk off Wade's fastbreak alley oop before Bosh made three of four free throws to extend the Heat's lead to 51-41. The Lakers scored the final two baskets to trail 51-46 at the break. ALAMEDA (AP) — For an organization seeking to rebuild through the draft, the Oakland Raiders have struggled to find impact players in the first two drafts under general manager Reggie McKenzie. Whether because of injuries, a lack of enough premium picks or bad decisions, the Raiders have gotten only one starter from the last two grab bags. Of the 16 players taken in McKenzie's first two draft classes, five are no longer with the organization, three are on season-ending injured reserve, and most of the others are struggling to get on the field. With the organization hampered by bad contracts from departed players that are still eating up salary cap space, the misses in the draft are more notable, a clear factor in another disappointing season in Oakland. ''Sometimes things don't work out,'' coach Dennis Allen said. ''Sometimes mistakes are made. But, I'm very confident in Reggie McKenzie and the personnel staff of being able to evaluate football players: quarterbacks, offensive linemen, defensive lineman. I'm very confident in his ability to do that. I'm very confident in our ability as a coaching staff to do that.'' Allen said it is far too early to judge this year's draft class, which has been mostly underwhelming from the top on down. The biggest disappointments have been firstround cornerback D.J. Hayden, who struggled before going on IR, and fourth-round quarterback Tyler Wilson, who spent most of the year on the practice squad before being signed by Tennessee last week. Sixth-round running back Latavius Murray has also missed the entire season with an ankle injury. McKenzie and the Raiders have had much greater success finding productive undrafted free agents, with the most notable being receiver Rod Streater and quarterback Matt McGloin. But with little cap room to sign free agents, the Raiders could ill afford to miss on their top pick. They traded down nine spots to take Hayden 12th overall, despite a near-fatal heart injury that cut short his final season in college. Hayden missed most of the offseason program and was not allowed to partake in contact for much of training camp because of the injury. When he did play, he struggled keeping up physically with NFL receivers and allowed opposing quarterbacks to have a 110 passer rating when throwing in his direction, according to Pro Football Focus. After allowing two touchdowns on four passes against Philadelphia on Nov. 3, Hayden hurt his groin in practice and was shut down for the season. ''Unfortunately some of these injuries have limited what some of these guys can do,'' Allen said. Thunder roll over Anthony-less Knicks NEW YORK (AP) — Not only was there no Kevin Durant-Carmelo Anthony showdown, there wasn't much of a game, either. The Oklahoma City Thunder made sure of it with the most dominant performance ever by a road team on Christmas. Durant scored 29 points, Russell Westbrook had a triple-double by the middle of the third quarter, and the Thunder rolled to a 123-94 victory Wednesday over the New York Knicks. The 29-point victory was the largest for a road team on Christmas. ''I just know that if we play the way we play, team basketball, Thunder basketball, not too many teams that can beat us,'' Westbrook said. The Knicks, without Anthony, weren't one of them. The matchup between the NBA's top two scorers was canceled because of Anthony's sprained left ankle, so the Thunder had the Christmas spotlight all to themselves while winning for the 10th time in 11 games. Westbrook finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in his first tripledouble of the season and seventh of his career. Serge Ibaka added 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting as the Thunder left a sellout crowd of 19,812 booing the home team, or making no noise at all. ''I said that on the bench, I was like, 'Man, it feels like nobody's in here,''' Durant said. Amare Stoudemire AP photo Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) and New York Knicks guard Beno Udrih (18) scramble for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden, Wednesday. The Thunder won 123-94. scored a season-high 22 points, and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 21 for the Knicks, who also were missing starting point guard Raymond Felton. J.R. Smith scored 20 points, but shot 8 for 22 and was booed when he left the court for good. Anthony sat out for the first time this season. The Knicks were never really in it without him and may not have had a chance with him the way the Thunder played. ''Defensively, we just weren't there tonight,'' Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. The Knicks not only had trouble with the Thunder, but also with the special edition sleeved jerseys NBA teams are wearing on Christmas. Beno Udrih hit the side of the backboard on two shot attempts in the first half, tugging on his sleeve after the second as if blaming his struggles on his equipment. Oklahoma City had a much easier time in the uniforms. Coach Scott Brooks said before the game the Thunder hadn't had a formal practice in them, but players had shot around the last few days in the jerseys that featured a giant logo in the middle of the chest and jersey numbers on the left sleeve. ''They look great. Hopefully, we play well in them,'' Brooks said. They played superbly. Coming off a 104-98 loss to Toronto on Sunday that ended a nine-game win- ning streak and was their first setback at home this season, they shot 54 percent and got 18 points from Reggie Jackson. Durant made all five shots in the first quarter, with the Thunder leading 35-29 after shooting 70 percent. Jackson and Durant made 3-pointers to start the second, making Oklahoma City 16 of 22. Ibaka did most of the work in an 8-2 spurt midway through the period that extended the lead to 17, and the Thunder led 60-46 at halftime. Durant and Westbrook took turns being unguardable on the perimeter in the third, boos growing louder as Oklahoma City went on to its sixth straight road victory.