Bill in California would help farmworkers form unions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees as 17-year-old Maria Vasquez Jimenez pruned grapes for nine hours at a vineyard near Stockton in California’s Central Valley.By the end of the day, the pregnant teen was dead from heat stroke, and her death set off renewed calls among union advocates for greater protections for farmworkers. But in the two years since, efforts to unionize workers have largely been unsuccessful.

Unions claim that’s because employers have illegally interfered with union elections, and their Democratic supporters pushed a bill through the California Legislature last week that will automatically declare a union victory if employer misconduct is shown. The bill is awaiting action by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Between 307,000 and 450,000 people work on California farms, depending on the season, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. But fewer than 16,000 full-time farmworkers belong to a union, and a tally by the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board found 40 percent of agricultural labor elections between 2000 and 2007 resulted in a vote against representation.Critics say the bill passed last week is simply an effort by its sponsor, the United Farm Workers, and other unions to boost their anemic numbers by – in the words of the California Farm Bureau Federation – “foisting union representation” on employees.

Nearly one out of every five union workers in the U.S. lives in California, although union membership among agriculture and forestry workers is low.Under a system established in 1975, the union election process begins when a majority of a farm’s employees sign authorization cards indicating their desire to put unionization to a secret-ballot vote. Workers submit those cards to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which calls for an election.

The bill passed last week, SB1474, would not change that. However, it stipulates that in cases of proven employer misconduct, the authorization cards would be considered evidence of workers’ desire to organize, and a union would be authorized.”This bill is about simple parity and basic equality and something positive for some of the hardest-working people in our state,” said its author, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

While the current system allows tainted election results to be thrown out, union advocates say there’s nothing to keep employers from interfering in subsequent elections. And, since many farmworkers don’t speak English and rely on their jobs to support extended families, they are particularly vulnerable to intimidation by anti-union employers.”Given the long history of illegal conduct by some growers, this bill has incredible significance for farm workers and will even the playing field in terms of available remedies that the (agriculture board) has at its disposal,” said Mark Schacht, deputy director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

The bill’s opponents, including the farm bureau and the California Chamber of Commerce, say the agricultural board thoroughly investigates all reports of employer misconduct and there’s no evidence large numbers of farmworkers are being blocked from joining unions.

“There is an option right now to pursue claims of unfair labor practice, and the unions have not availed themselves of that to a significant extent,” said Rich Matteis, administrator for the farm bureau.The Irvine-based Western Growers Association issued a statement Friday predicting the bill would result in unions bullying the agriculture board into setting aside results from valid secret-ballot elections.

The United Farm Workers said that won’t happen but acknowledged union membership was likely to grow if it became law.”We certainly hope this will lead to a system where farmworkers have the right to participate in a fair election and choose to join a union if that’s what they want,” said Merlyn Calderon, UFW’s national vice president.

First, however, Schwarzenegger would have to sign the bill – an outcome that is far from guaranteed.The Republican governor has vetoed four broader bills intended to offer alternatives to secret ballots, a system he has described as crucial to maintaining the integrity of the election process.(AP)

Fiorina town hall reaches out to Latinos

Reporting from Sacramento Reaching out to a key voting bloc, Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina held a Latino-themed town hall Saturday afternoon in Sacramento, heaping praise on California’s Latino community for representing “the best of who this nation is.””Bienvenidos,” Fiorina beamed to the crowd of less than 20, who were nearly matched in size by her staff in a downtown Mexican eatery.

The event, paired with Fiorina’s launch of a new Spanish-language website, Amigos de Carly, is part of an ethnic outreach tour for the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive in her bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. Last weekend, Fiorina took a spin through a predominantly African American Juneteenth festival in South Los Angeles. The moves represent a sharp shift in rhetorical emphasis, though not policy positions, after a GOP primary in which Fiorina hewed to the political right.

On Saturday, she laced her stump speech with anecdotes that recount her ascent from secretary to chief executive – “the American dream,” as she put it — with new references. “The Latino community is a foundation for the American dream going forward,” she said.

Fiorina’s direct appeal to Latinos follows in the footsteps of her GOP counterpart in the governor’s race, former EBay chief Meg Whitman, who began advertising on Spanish-language TV stations during the World Cup. Most political analysts believe that any statewide Republican must garner a substantial chunk, perhaps one-third, of the Latino vote to win in November.”The Latino community is big, and therefore it’s important,” Fiorina said.But Fiorina faces one barrier Whitman does not: her support for the new anti-illegal immigrant law in Arizona. She made no mention of it during the town hall, but told reporters afterward, “I do support the law, and I think it was a tragedy the law was necessary.”

Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco, the chairman of Fiorina’s Latino-outreach efforts who attended the town hall, seemed to acknowledge that the Arizona law could be an albatross. But, he said, “it’s better to be firm on your position, know where you stand than be wishy-washy.”Boxer called the law “divisive” in Los Angeles on Friday. “In the Latino community there is tremendous opposition to it,” she said.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), a leading Latino legislator, said the GOP overtures to Latino voters demonstrated their power. “What a dramatic change from the time period of Proposition 187, when you could simply openly attack the Latino community and there wouldn’t be a political consequence to that,” he said, referring to the 1994 initiative that sought to cut public services to illegal immigrants.

Cedillo, a liberal, said Latinos tend to be socially conservative and distrustful of government and, therefore, are “poised to be Republicans.” But with Republicans’ anti-immigrant rhetoric in the recent primary, he said, they “may have dug themselves in a hole that’s too difficult to dig out of.”One issue Fiorina is seeking to exploit among Latinos is the fallout from environmental restrictions. Water deliveries have been severely cut to Central Valley farmlands by the federal Endangered Species Act, which protects the Delta smelt, a small fish. Fiorina wants to carve out an exemption to the landmark environmental law to increase the water flow; Boxer does not.

“Tens of thousands of Latinos lost their jobs,” Fiorina said of the effect of the water cutbacks, one of several times she mentioned the issue. “Fish are not more important than families.”She pledged that working to overturn the limits would be the “first thing I will do,” if elected.The Fiorina event ended much the same way it began: in Spanish.”Muchas gracias,” she concluded, to applause.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano talk about the "Calls to boycott Arizona grow over new immigration law "

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she had “deep concerns” with the law and said it could siphon resources needed to target criminals. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said he was considering “the possibility of a court challenge.”

“I think that that law is an unfortunate one,” Holder said. “It is, I fear, subject to potential abuse. And I’m very concerned about the wedge that it could draw between communities that law enforcement is supposed to serve and those of us in law enforcement.”The law makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally and requires police to check suspects for immigration paperwork. The legislation also bars people from soliciting work or hiring day laborers off the street.Gov. Jan Brewer cast the law in terms of public safety, saying, “We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels.” Brewer said she would order the state police training agency to formulate guidelines for law enforcement officers.

But critics said the law will result in racial profiling and discrimination.Calls for boycotts spread throughout California this week after the bill was signed by Brewer on Friday. The law is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends this week.On Tuesday, seven members of the Los Angeles City Council signed a proposal for a boycott, calling for the city to “refrain from conducting business” or participating in conventions in Arizona. Councilman Ed Reyes, who coauthored the proposal with Councilwoman Janice Hahn, said he wants city officials to spend the next 90 days assessing the financial relationships that exist between various city departments and businesses based in Arizona.

“If Arizona companies are taking our money, I want to sever that,” he said.Hahn acknowledged that a boycott would be logistically complicated but said the city should not remain silent. “When people are asked to show their papers, it brings back memories of Nazi Germany,” she said.

A spokesman for City Controller Wendy Greuel identified at least 12 city contracts with Arizona companies that are worth an estimated $7.2 million.San Francisco supervisors introduced a similar resolution Tuesday, and Mayor Gavin Newsom imposed an immediate moratorium on city-related travel to Arizona, with limited exceptions. Newsom also announced the convening of a group to analyze how a boycott would affect city contracts and purchasing.

City Atty. Dennis Herrera said he hoped the city’s resolution would “be an impetus to others taking an aggressive stand in terms of scrutinizing the services they have with Arizona companies.”The leader of the California Senate, Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), called the law a “disgrace” and said the state also should consider a boycott. He sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking for an inventory of Arizona businesses and government agencies with which California does business.

“The Arizona law is as unconscionable as it is unconstitutional, and the state of California should not be using taxpayer dollars to support such a policy,” Steinberg wrote.Already, several organizations have canceled planned conventions in Arizona. The American Immigration Lawyers Assn. announced that it is moving its fall convention, originally scheduled for Scottsdale in September.

“We just felt that given this new law signed by the governor that it would not be right for our association to meet and convene there and take on the issues of immigration in a state that passed such a misguided bill,” said George Tzamaras, spokesman for the group.Arizona was already reeling from a decline in tourism because of the recession, and the fallout from the law has taken hotel owners by surprise, said Debbie Johnson, president of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Assn.”Obviously our members are concerned,” Johnson said. “I thought there would be political issues. It has become so tourism-focused and that, to me, is the unfortunate side.”

Johnson said 200,000 people, many of them Latinos and legal immigrants, depend on a paycheck from the tourism industry. “They don’t want to lose their jobs,” she said.Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Development Council, compared the boycott resolutions to the aftermath of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigrant measure passed by California voters in 1994.”You didn’t see people in Arizona trying to leverage political gain from California’s issues,” he said.

Brewer said at a meeting in Tucson on Monday that she wasn’t worried about possible boycotts. “I believe it’s not going to have the kind of economic impact that some people think that it might,” she said.But Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who himself called for companies not to plan conventions in the state, said in an interview Tuesday that he expected the state to see declines in business and leisure travel, the trucking industry and retail shoppers from Mexico.

“There are political, legal and economic consequences that are going to hit the state,” said Grijalva, who has received death threats since speaking out against the law. “The disgust goes across state lines.”The concern about the law crossed international borders, with a travel warning posted by the Mexican government Tuesday. The post, on the Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry website, urged Mexican citizens to be careful in Arizona and to expect harassment and questioning.

Golden State Warriors vs Atlanta Hawks 108-104 on Sunday night

OAKLAND, Calif. Stephen Curry scored 32 points and made the go-ahead free throw in the final minute after a technical foul on Jamal Crawford to help the Golden State Warriors rally from an 18-point deficit and beat the Atlanta Hawks 108-104 on Sunday night.Playing with only eight healthy players, the Warriors scored 16 straight points in the fourth quarter to erase the big deficit and went on to win their first game against a team, with a winning record since beating Boston on Dec. 28. Golden State had lost 11 of 13, with the only wins being blowouts at home against struggling Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers.

After losing their big lead, the Hawks lost their cool in the final minute. Leading by two points, Joe Johnson turned the ball over and Monta Ellis went in for a breakaway layup that tied the game at 104 with 1 minute left.After Al Horford missed a jumper, C.J. Watson lost the rebound out of bounds for Golden State. But Crawford was called for a technical, giving Golden State the lead on Curry’s free throw.

Crawford then missed a 3-pointer from the corner with 15 seconds remaining and Ellis hit two free throws to make it 107-104. Josh Smith missed another 3 with 5 seconds to go and Chris Hunter made one of two free throws for the final margin.Johnson led Atlanta with 31 points, Horford added 26 and Smith had 14 points and 17 rebounds. The Hawks have lost three of four.Ellis finished with 26 points for Golden State, but was on the bench for the bulk of the Warriors comeback early in the fourth quarter.

Golden State cut the 18-point lead down to five on two free throws by Curry midway through the period. Curry followed with a 3-pointer and C.J. Watson’s layup tied the game at 95. Curry capped the 16-0 run with a driving layup to give the Warriors a two-point lead with just over 5 minutes remaining.

Ellis gave the Warriors a 102-101 lead when he made one of two free throws, but Johnson answered with a 28-footer as the shot clock ran down to make it 104-102 with 2:22 to go. Atlanta did not score again.The loss was especially tough on Crawford, who had his differences with Golden State coach Don Nelson last season before being dealt to Atlanta. Crawford scored 17 points, topping the 10,000-point mark in his career, but didn’t come through down the stretch.The game was tight for the first half with neither team taking a lead bigger than five points. Atlanta led 52-51 at halftime before breaking the game open in the third quarter.

Horford scored nine points during a 14-2 run that helped Atlanta take a 74-59 lead just past the midpoint of the quarter. Smith added back-to-back dunks, including an emphatic left-hander on a breakaway following a bad pass by Ellis that made it 86-68 late in the third.

NOTES: Warriors F Corey Maggette missed the game with a strained left hamstring. He went to Los Angeles to have the injury examined. … Golden State F Ronny Turiaf missed the game with flulike symptoms. … Ellis topped the 5,000 career point mark as well. …Hawks G Mike Bibby was 1-for-6 from the field and is 3-for-18 over his last three games.(AP)

Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings 109-108

LOS ANGELES With apologies to Jerry West, the Lakers’ modern-day “Mr. Clutch” did it again.Kobe Bryant hit yet another buzzer-beating 3-pointer and finished with 39 points as the defending NBA champions overcame a 20-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings 109-108 on Friday night. The last time the Lakers won a game in which they trailed by 20 or more points was Dec. 12, 2006, when they erased a 21-point deficit in a 112-101 double-overtime win against Houston at Los Angeles.”It looked like they went into a zone coverage on the inbounds pass, and that side was wide open,” said Bryant, averaging 35.7 points in his last 10 games.”It was just a matter of me getting to that spot with enough time to get a shot off. Phil drew up a play for a 3. He wanted me to get a good look and knock it down. I think he wanted to get out of here.”

Lamar Odom had a season-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the NBA-leading Lakers (26-6). Pau Gasol had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four assists – one of which set up Bryant’s clutch basket from in front of the Sacramento bench.”Kobe’s shooting the ball at a high percentage,” Gasol said. “But he’s not always going to shot like that. We understand that, and I think he understands that, too. But when he’s feeling it and the shots are going down, he’s going to keep shooting.”Spencer Hawes had a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Kings, Omri Casspi scored 23 points, and Beno Udrih added 19 points and 13 assists.

“I am so proud of our team – but at the same time, it’s disappointing,” Sacramento coach Paul Westphal said. “We’ve played well enough to beat those guys twice, but they have a knack at the end of games. We got everything we needed, performance-wise, from everybody that played, and we couldn’t close it out. That’s one of the things that makes the Lakers so good. Kobe is an unbelievable player, no question about it.”One night after scoring a season-high 44 points and getting a season-best 11 assists, Bryant added another chapter to his Hall of Fame resume. This miracle shot came exactly four weeks after his off-balance 3-point buzzer-beating bank shot that pulled out a win over the Miami Heat at Staples Center. On Dec. 16 at Milwaukee, Bryant hit a 15-footer as time expired in overtime to give the Lakers a 107-106 win.

“These players – I don’t know how they get themselves into those positions, but they do an unbelievable job of hitting shots that are remarkable shots, marvelous shots,” coach Phil Jackson said. “He’s right there with Michael in that kind of breath you look at.”The Lakers came out as flat as half-empty champagne bottles left over from New Year’s Eve, shooting 37 percent from the field in the first half and trailing 64-49 at intermission. Derek Fisher was the biggest offender, missing nine of 10 shots in the half while the Kings had the highest-scoring half by a Lakers opponent this season.

Fisher, who had six points, played 9 minutes in the third quarter without taking a shot, then sat out the entire fourth quarter.The sellout crowd let the Lakers feel their pain, booing them loudly after Jon Brockman’s layup gave Sacramento a 38-23 lead with 9:12 left in the second quarter. The Kings built the lead to 20 at 52-32 with a 3-pointer by Ime Udoka that capped a 26-9 run with 5:06 left in the half.

“I think we kind of took the pedal off,” Hawes said. “We knew they were going to make a run. It was inevitable. We knew that we couldn’t sit up by 20 points the whole game. And they chipped away and chipped away to put themselves in a position to win it at the end. That’s why he’s Kobe. He makes big shots at big times.”In their previous game, Tuesday night at Staples Center, the Lakers fell behind by 15 points to Golden State and gave up 60 points in the first half before pulling out a 124-118 win.

NOTES: According to Jackson, it looks as though Ron Artest will be back playing by early next week, following the fall at his home on Christmas night that caused a concussion, a deep cut on his left elbow and a slight loss of memory. “He’s improved significantly in the last two days, and optimistic that he’ll be able to practice soon – probably not a full-out practice with contact tomorrow, but will have non-contact activity with the team,” Jackson said. “There’s a number of checks they go through with concussions, like speech patterns. But with Ron, that doesn’t work.” … This was only the third time in the last 36 years that the Lakers played on New Year’s Day. Their overall record on Jan. 1 is 9-6. … It was the first time the Kings played on New Year’s Day since the vagabond franchise moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985-86. They are 11-9 overall on this date (0-3 in K.C., 4-4 in Cincinnati and 7-1 in Rochester). … With 24,800 career points, Bryant is 16 points away from overtaking Patrick Ewing for 15th place.(AP)

Chicago Bulls vs Sacramento 98-87

Derrick Rose (1)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – When the Chicago Bulls won in Sacramento on Nov. 14, they were hoping they’d get their next road victory before Thanksgiving. Instead, it took until New Year’s Eve. “I wasn’t thinking about the streak – I just wanted to get a win,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “This was just a nice, solid win for us.” Derrick Rose scored 22 points, and Joakim Noah added 15 points and 21 rebounds to help the Bulls end a six-week road drought with a 98-87 victory over Detroit. “This feels good,” Noah said after Chicago won its third in a row overall. “I think we are just playing better basketball right now for whatever reason.” Rose finished with a point more than Ben Gordon, who joined Detroit from Chicago this summer. “Ben’s role is to score the ball, and I’m playing point guard, so no one said anything about this being me against him,” Rose said. “I’ll do whatever it takes for us to win, and today that took being aggressive.”

Chicago had lost eight straight on the road, but never trailed while handing Detroit its ninth straight loss. The Pistons (11-21) are 10 games under .500 for the first time since the 2000-01 season, but coach John Kuester was still encouraged. “I saw a number of positive things out there,” he said. “I’m sure people are going to hear that and say, ‘You must be kidding,’ but we did some good things. We lost Rip (Hamilton), Tayshaun (Prince) and Ben Gordon for extended periods of time, and there’s no chance that they were going to come right back in midseason form.” Tyrus Thomas added 19 points for Chicago (13-17), and John Salmons had 17.

Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 22 points despite leaving the game twice in the first half after spraining his left ankle. “The first time Stuck went down, I was really concerned, because the way he fell, I thought this was going to be another long-term injury for us,” Kuester said. “He not only went back in, he hurt it again and he still came back. No one would have blinked if he had taken the rest of the day off, so he earned our admiration.” Stuckey acknowledged playing through severe pain in the second half. “It hurt a lot – it always does when you sprain your ankle – and then it just gave out on me the second time,” he said. “I was going to play though it if I could even walk, though, because we need to get something going. There’s no way this group of players should only be scoring 87 points.” The Bulls led 44-39 after a sloppy first half that saw the teams combine for 22 turnovers. Detroit got to 46-44 in the third quarter, but Chicago led 69-56 at the end of the period. The Bulls led by 20 as the Palace emptied during the fourth quarter.

NOTES: Charlie Villanueva, who had stopped wearing the mask protecting his broken nose, put it back on for the second half, but only wore it for a few possessions. … Detroit has not led in the second half of any of its last six games. Their only lead in the last two games – at home against the struggling Knicks and Bulls – was 2-0 against New York. … Thomas had 10 points in the first three quarters without making a field goal. He was 0-for-2 from the floor and 10-for-12 from the line.

Phoenix Suns vs Los Angeles Lakers 118-103

Amare Stoudemire vs Kobe Bryant

PHOENIX Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points, Jared Dudley matched his career best with 19 and the Phoenix Suns sent the Los Angeles Lakers to their second loss in three games with a surprising 118-103 rout on Monday night.Kobe Bryant scored 34 for the Lakers but sat out the final 7:50 when the game was deemed out of reach by coach Phil Jackson.Steve Nash had 16 points and 13 assists and the Suns’ reserves outscored their Los Angeles counterparts 52-31.Phoenix led by as many as 12 in the second quarter, 19 in the third and 22 in the fourth to improve to 12-2 at home.The Lakers were without Ron Artest for the second game in a row. He sustained a concussion and an injured elbow in a fall at his house on Christmas Day.The margin matched the 15-point victory Cleveland had over the Lakers in Los Angeles three games ago. Only a late spurt kept it from being the most one-sided loss of the season for the reigning NBA champs.Los Angeles’ lone win in the last three came in double overtime two nights ago in Sacramento.

Channing Frye had 14 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for the Suns, who fought the much bigger Lakers to a 43-43 standoff on the boards.The Lakers, playing the third of four games in five days, trailed virtually all night. Leading 56-50 at the half, Phoenix used a 17-4 outburst to go up 87-68 on the first of Dudley’s three 3-pointers without a miss.Nash and Jason Richardson also had 3s in the run, while Stoudemire scored four, including a driving dunk.

Bryant scored nine straight Lakers points, but his driving layup at third-quarter buzzer was blocked by Robin Lopez, and the Suns led 89-77 entering the fourth.Dudley and Goran Dragic sank consecutive 3s and Phoenix led 108-89 with 6:51. By then, Bryant had sat down for good.Coach Alvin Gentry, taking no chances, reinserted Nash and Stoudemire in the lineup with 4:54 left and Phoenix leading 110-94. Stoudemire had a three-point play and Nash made a 3-pointer to give the Suns a 116-94 lead with 3:27 left.

A 12-0 run at the end of the first quarter and start of the second put Phoenix ahead 32-23 on Leandro Barbosa’s two free throws with 10:53 left in the half. Two more at the line by Barbosa gave the Suns their biggest lead of the first half at 39-27 with 8:13 to go.

Bryant’s 3-pointer, followed by his 15-footer cut it to 48-45 with 2:09 left in the half. Stoudemire scored the next six for the Suns, and after Bryant’s driving layup with 9.5 seconds left made it 54-51, Nash sank two free throws with 2.7 remaining to put the Suns up 56-51 at the break.

NOTES: Jackson said he is hopeful Artest will rejoin the team against Golden State Tuesday in Los Angeles. … The Suns lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles by 19 and 21 points. Phoenix was in the second of back-to-back games in both contests. … Phoenix has a victory over the teams with the three best records in the league – the Lakers, Boston and Orlando.

Denver Nuggets vs Sacramento Kings 106-101

Carmelo Anthony(15) vs Donte Greene (20)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Andres Nocioni made four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points, helping the Sacramento Kings beat the struggling Denver Nuggets 106-101 on Monday night.Omri Casspi made a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Kings ahead for good at 97-96. Following a missed shot by Carmelo Anthony, Beno Udrih converted on a fastbreak for a three-point play to give Sacramento a 100-96 lead with 1:41 remaining.Udrih scored 17 points and had seven assists and Donte Greene also had 17 points for the Kings. Jason Thompson contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds.Anthony scored 34 points and Nene had 25 points for the Nuggets, who lost their third straight and fifth in six games. Kenyon Martin added 10 points and 12 rebounds.The Nuggets made just 20 of 35 free throws and shot 41 percent overall. Hounded by Kings defenders throughout, Anthony shot 15 of 35 and was 3 of 7 on free throws.The Nuggets are a different team on the road, where they have dropped six straight. They came into the game averaging just over 100 points in road games while averaging 114 in Denver, where they are 13-2.

Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings 92-85

Kobe Bryant and Jason Thompson

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  Kobe Bryant scored 38 points and the Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from a humbling Christmas Day loss to Cleveland by beating the Sacramento Kings 112-103 on Saturday night in double overtime.After Lamar Odom opened the second overtime with a putback basket, Bryant connected on a pair of 3-pointers to put the Lakers in front 109-103 with 2:37 left. Los Angeles outscored the Kings 11-2 in the second OT.Beno Udrih scored 23 points for the Kings, who held the Lakers scoreless in the final 3:35 of the fourth quarter to force overtime. Tyreke Evans had 18 points, Donte Greene had 16 and Omri Casspi added 15 points and 10 rebounds.Pau Gasol had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who avoided losing consecutive games for the second time this season. Shannon Brown scored 15 points and Odom had 13 points and 15 rebounds.The Lakers lost 102-87 to Cleveland on Friday before a national TV audience and are in a stretch of four games in five days, concluding Tuesday at home against Golden State. They played without starting forward Ron Artest, who the team said suffered a concussion on Christmas evening, falling while carrying boxes down a flight of stairs and injuring his left elbow at his Los Angeles home.

Artest was treated at UCLA Medical Center, undergoing a CT scan and receiving stitches in the back of his head and his elbow. The team said a neurologist examined Artest on Saturday. He is day to day and didn’t travel with the team on its Saturday flight to Sacramento.The youthful Kings were stagnant on offense late in the first overtime and it carried over into the second, when their only basket was a driving layup by Evans with 3:01 remaining. The Kings lost a game earlier in the week against Cleveland when they were outscored 13-0 in overtime.After the Kings scored the first seven points in the first overtime, they went scoreless over the final 2:40 as the Lakers rallied. Gasol tipped in a missed shot by Derek Fisher from close range, tying the game at 101 with .04 seconds left.

The victory moved the Lakers (24-5) past idle Boston for the best record in the NBA.Seemingly bothered by a sore right arm, Bryant missed all four shots in the fourth quarter, when he began passing and shooting with his left. Yet Bryant did slap the ball away Evans in the closing seconds as the Kings never got a shot off, forcing overtime with a 94-all tie.

Bryant was his usual self offensively, but it was Brown helping the Lakers pull away in the fourth quarter. Brown scored eight points over a two-minute stretch, his three-point play putting Los Angeles ahead 92-85 with 4:23 remaining.An enthusiastic crowd, only the second sellout of the season, loudly booed the Lakers when starting lineups were announced and began chanting “Beat LA!” It was reminiscent of the crowds that cheered the Kings in the Chris Webber era, when Sacramento was typically battling the Lakers for supremacy in the Western Conference.Despite Bryant making his first five shots and scoring 16 points in the third quarter, the Kings would not back down. It took a late 3-pointer and a breakaway dunk by Bryant in the final 1:04 to pull the Lakers even at 78 heading into the fourth.

Udrih capped off a highly productive first half by dribbling past Bryant and hitting a 3-pointer with a second left to give Sacramento a 57-55 lead. Making a rare start, Udrih scored 13 points and Greene had 11 for the Kings. Bryant had 14 points and Gasol added 12 for the Lakers, who shot 55 percent.

NOTES: Greene took an elbow from Andrew Bynum in the second quarter that opened a cut on his chin that required six stitches. Greene returned to start the second half. The teams meet again New Year’s Day in Los Angeles. New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia watched the game from courtside seats.

The Cavaliers beat the Pistons 98-88

Cavaliers 98, Pistons 88

In Auburn Hills, Mich., LeBron James scored 12 of his 34 points in the first quarter to help Cleveland build a cushion it used to cruise to a win over Detroit.

Nuggets 124, T-Wolves 111

In Minneapolis, Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points and Nene had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists as Denver Nuggets handed Minnesota its 14th straight loss.

Pacers 86, Clippers 73

In Indianapolis, Troy Murphy had 18 points and 11 rebounds as Indiana beat Los Angeles to snap a four-game losing streak.

Celtics 113, 76ers 110

In Boston, Rajon Rondo scored six points during a key run early in the fourth quarter and made a shot clock-beating jump shot on the baseline in the closing seconds as the Celtics overcame poor 3-point shooting to beat Philadelphia.

Bobcats 116, Raptors 81

In Charlotte, Gerald Wallace broke out of his shooting slump with 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Bobcats to the most lopsided victory in team history, over Toronto.

Heat 99, Magic 98

In Orlando, Michael Beasley dunked a missed shot by Dwyane Wade with 1.6 seconds remaining to lift Miami to a victory over the Magic.

Spurs 118, Warriors 104

In San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 32 points as the Spurs overcame another iron man performance by Monta Ellis in a victory over Golden State.

Ellis tied his career high with 42 points for the Warriors.

Mavericks 130, Rockets 99

In Houston, Jason Kidd moved into second place on the NBA’s career assists list and Jason Terry scored 27 points as Dallas shot 65.5 percent in a victory over the Rockets.

Hornets 102, Bucks 99

In New Orleans, David West had 27 points and 10 rebounds as the Hornets defeated Milwaukee.

Luke Ridnour scored a season-high 23 points for the Bucks.

Suns 126, Grizzlies 111

In Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire scored 18 of his 28 points during a torrid third quarter as the Suns beat Memphis for their 15th consecutive home victory.

Kings 111, Knicks 97

In Sacramento, Donte Greene made six 3-pointers and tied a career high with 24 points, and the Kings never trailed in a victory over New York.