Lakers Corral Bulls, 106-90
Elden Campbell, moving from forward to center to replace the injured Shaquille O’Neal, scored 16 of his career-high 34 points in the third quarter and grabbed 14 rebounds Wednesday night as the Lakers beat the Bulls 106-90 at Los Angeles.
The loss snapped an eight-game Chicago winning streak and the 16-point margin matched the Bulls’ worst defeat of the season. The Bulls (42-6) had won 17 of their previous 18 games and five straight on a six-game West Coast road trip.
O’Neal, along with the Western Conference’s Clyde Drexler of Houston and Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks in the East, are the latest injured players to pull out of Sunday’s All-Star Game.
They will be replaced by Kevin Garnett of Minnesota, Chris Gatling of Dallas and Chris Webber of Washington.
Bullets fire Lynam
Jim Lynam was fired as coach of the Washington Bullets, who are fast making a mess of a season that began with great expectations.
The Bullets lost to the Nuggets 106-104 with assistant Bob Staak the interim coach.
Bullets GM Wes Unseld, who flew to Denver to give Lynam the news, also fired assistant Buzz Braman.
He said he had a “short list” of possible replacements but emphatically said he had no interest in returning to the bench.
Unseld in 1988 was the last coach to lead the Bullets to the playoffs.
Amos arrested
The cameraman who gained national attention when he was kicked by Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman was arrested and accused of threatening his girlfriend, according to reports.
Eugene Amos was arrested in Minneapolis Tuesday night and booked after his girlfriend told police he went to her house and threatened her, a TV station reported.
The station also reported the woman had filed a domestic assault report against Amos on Jan. 14, one day before Rodman kicked him while he was filming a Bulls-Timberwolves game.
McKey out
Indiana Pacers forward Derek McKey will be out for several weeks because of a stress fracture in his left foot. McKey injured his foot during Tuesday night’s 111-87 loss to Orlando.