AP - Kobe Bryant scored 34 points and Los Angeles held off a furious rally by the Utah Jazz for a 108-105 victory Friday night, putting the Lakers in the Western Conference finals for the first time in four years.

AP - The Cleveland Cavaliers packed for a weekend stay in Beantown — not a few weeks on Cape Cod. They've got at least one more game left, and in the NBA, it's as big as they ever get. Game 7. On Sunday. In Boston.

AP - New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick lashed out at the team's former video assistant Friday, saying in a televised interview that Matt Walsh was a low-level staffer who was fired for "poor job performance." "There's not a lot of credibility," Belichick said in an interview broadcast on "CBS Evening News."

AP - Peter Magowan, the owner who brought Barry Bonds to San Francisco, built a new ballpark and kept major league baseball in the city, is stepping down as managing partner of the Giants.

AP - NFL owners could opt out of their agreement with the players union next week, leaving open the possibility of a 2010 season without a salary cap. The labor agreement is on the agenda for the league meetings in Atlanta on Tuesday.

AP - As the roaring crowd nearly drowned out the final horn, LeBron James grabbed the ball and heaved it as far as he could.

AP - Andy Sonnanstine carried a shutout into the eighth inning and added two singles to a 12-hit outburst in the streaking Tampa Bay Rays' 3-1 victory over the sagging St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

AFP - Portsmouth play Cardiff for the FA Cup on Saturday in their first major Wembley final for 69 years. For Harry Redknapp, their 61-year-old manager, the wait has been almost as long.

AP - Rick Nash scored the go-ahead goal to put Canada in the title game of the world hockey championships with a 5-4 win over Sweden on Friday night.

AFP - World number one Maria Sharapova pulled out of the WTA Rome International on Saturday complaining of a strained calf muscle, propelling titleholder Jelena Jankovic into the final.

AP - After two straight top-10 finishes at the AT&T Classic, Jonathan Byrd is poised to win the suburban Atlanta tournament.