Public release date: 3-May-2012[ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Sara LaJeunesseSDL13@psu.edu814-863-4325Penn State A new systematic assessment of malnutrition, created by researchers at Penn State, will aid dietitians and other health care providers in diagnosis and treatment.
Up to 50 percent of patients in hospitals and nursing facilities are estimated to be malnourished, according [...]
It’s been a month since the last Humble Indie Bundle, so it’s time for another. This time, the focus has gone away from introducing Android games and instead includes a brand new game and a feature-length movie. The bundle is actually called the Humble Botanicula Debut Bundle, and with good reason. The game Botanicula is [...]
Mannie Garcia / Reuters Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Bloomberg Television Tuesday that stocks are ‘very cheap.’ By Roland Jones The Dow Jones industrial average hit a four-year high this week, but former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan still thinks you should buy stocks. Speaking to Bloomberg Television Tuesday, Greenspan said stocks are [...]
Population-based evaluation of adenosquamous carcinoma of the colon and rectum. Dis Colon Rectum. 2012 May;55(5):509-14 Authors: Masoomi H, Ziogas A, Lin BS, Barleben A, Mills S, Stamos MJ, Zell JA Abstract BACKGROUND: : Information about adenosquamous carcinoma of the colon and rectum is scarce because of its extremely low incidence. OBJECTIVE: : The aim of [...]
By Reuters WASHINGTON – A nearly three-year-long investigation by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats is expected to find there is little evidence the harsh “enhanced interrogation techniques” the CIA used on high-value prisoners produced counter-terrorism breakthroughs. People familiar with the inquiry said committee investigators, who have been poring over records from the administration of President George [...]
You will be forced to face fear, but if you do not run, fear will be afraid of you.
Michael Jackson’s former bodyguard Matt Fiddes claims that the late King of Pop once tried to have members of his inner circle kill Randy Jackson.
His brother, not the portly American Idol personality of the same name.
In the interview with The Sun (UK), Fiddes claims that Michael was intensely paranoid and “caught in a war with his brothers for years, They were all desperate to sign him up to a $500 million deal for a Jackson 5 reunion tour.”
Fiddes explained that the eccentric Michael eventually grew fearful of his sibling.
“Things reached a head when Randy was trying to force his way past the bodyguards to speak to him in one of his rented homes. Michael ordered him to be shot.”
Of course, no one shot Randy, who is alive and (presumably) well right now.
Fiddes adds, “[Michael] was out of mind on drugs and luckily Randy was OK.”
“Randy was so scared he got on the phone and threatened to call the press. He told the bodyguards, ‘If you shoot me the whole world will know about it.’”
Fiddes also claims MJ despised Madonna and poked holes in a Voodoo doll of Steven Spielberg. None of his accusations have been corroborated.
Plug in your iDevices people, because Apple just released an update. It’s a minor one, to be sure, but brings about some rather helpful bug fixes. Most notably, you should no longer receive the “Unable To Purchase” message when buying digital content from the iTunes or App Store.
Elections in Greece over the weekend saw both far-right and left-leaning politicians gain seats in parliament, setting up a fight over the country’s economic future.
Bailout-reliant Greece faces weeks of financial turmoil after voters angry at crippling income cuts punished mainstream politicians, let a far-right extremist group into Parliament and gave no party enough votes to govern alone.
Skip to next paragraph
The one certainty coming out of Sunday’s election was that parties backing the draconian international rescue package lost their majority in parliament ? raising the chances of a possible Greek exit from the common euro currency.
The uncertainty weighed on markets across Europe, with the Athens exchange tumbling 7.3 percent in midday trading.
Official results showed conservative New Democracy came first with 18.85 percent and 108 of Parliament’s 300 seats. Party leader Antonis Samaras, who backs Greece’s bailout commitments for austerity but has called for some changes to the bailout plan, will launch coalition-forming talks later in the day.
“I understand the rage of the people, but our party will not leave Greece ungoverned,” Samaras said after Sunday’s vote.
After receiving the mandate to start negotiations from President Karolos Papoulias, Samaras will have three days to strike a coalition deal. But that could prove impossible because even with the support of the only other clearly pro-bailout party elected, Socialist PASOK, New Democracy would fall two seats short of a governing majority.
If the deadlock does not ease, Greece faces new elections under a caretaker government in mid-June, about the time it has to detail new drastic austerity measures worth ?14.5 billion ($19 billion) for 2013-14.
In June, Athens is also due to receive a ?30 billion ($39.4 billion) installment of its rescue loans from the other countries in the 17-strong eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.
Analyst Vangelis Agapitos said protracted instability would threaten the country’s eurozone membership. Greece’s debt inspectors ? the eurozone, IMF and European Central Bank, collectively known as the troika ? could turn the screws by halting release of the bailout funds until Athens moves forward with its pledged reforms.
“Europe can live without Greece but I don’t think Greece can live without Europe,” he said. “If the troika is bluffing, Greece will remain in the euro. But if the troika says: ‘I can negotiate, but first show me some progress,’ Greece has no progress to display right now.”
“If the troika rattles our bars, then either the people will come to their senses at the next elections or the country will enter an alternative course, and when we open that door we will see what kind of chaos ? or paradise ? lies behind,” Agapitos said.
Sunday’s big winner was the anti-bailout Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, whose unprecedented second place with 16.78 percent gives it 52 seats.
Disaffected voters deserted PASOK and New Democracy, the two mainstays of Greek politics, leaving them at their worst level since 1974, when Greece emerged from a seven-year dictatorship. Instead, strong gains were registered by smaller parties, including the extremist Golden Dawn, which rejects the neo-Nazi label and insists it is nationalist and patriotic.
In some ways, Turkish cuisine isn’t a bad choice for me because the main courses tend to be very similar from meal to meal (grilled meat with some combination of salad, grilled veg, flatbread and bulgur wheat), with the more interesting variations coming in the starters or meze plates. Eating out is very reasonable in Istanbul, certainly compared to London, and interestingly, the price of our meals didn’t really vary much, even between small, low-key cafes and smarter restaurants. At most places, we paid about 9-18L (about ?3-6) for a main course and about 6L (?2) for a meze.
Breakfast was included at our hotel (as it is in most of the hotels I researched), and we were able to fill up on bread, fruit, cake, pastries, salad and yoghurt.?I thought I would highlight a few memorable meals, moving through the day from lunchtime onwards.
Lunch. First up is?Karak?y Lokantas??in the former docklands of?Karak?y. This restaurant had a good write-up in Time Out?and was fully booked when we turned up on Thursday evening and I was disappointed because with its turquoise-tiled walls and sleek central staircase,?Karak?y Lokantas? wouldn’t have looked out of place in SoHo and it sounded like the food was pretty good too. Luckily, we were able to go there for a late Sunday lunch.
We sat at one of the leafy sidewalk tables on the quiet side street–a lovely respite on a hot, sunny day. Having finally reached my chicken limit this trip, I caved and ordered lamb k?fte (meatballs), which were delicious. Our meze dishes–something called topik, which was some sort of slightly spicy, slightly fruity potato and onion concoction, and fried shrimp in a slightly spicy garlic sauce, were both excellent.?Karak?y Lokantas? offers a more formal dining experience than many of the other eateries that we visited and I would definitely recommend it for a slightly fancier dinner or weekend lunch. While we were on the Asian shore, we went for a wander through Kadik?y. Based on the description in my guidebook, I was expecting lots of interesting food shops and market stalls but apart from a few quirky places, the town was actually fairly uninspiring. Faced with a choice between a whole street of seemingly near-identical restaurants, the one we picked, which looked the nicest, turned out to be the one Time Out (and other guidebooks) were?recommending:??iya on G?ne?libah?e Sokak. One of their restaurants has a buffet for its meze, for which you pay by the weight; we ate at the other one, which has a huge list of kebabs and other lunchtime options. I had a kind of minty, yoghurty, beefy, beans amalgamation, which was yummy.
Turkish coffee. On one of the days when the prolonged fog and chilliness joined forces with my tiredness and made me want to just go back to the hotel, we decided to seek warmth and caffeine at Smyrna in the hipster Cihangir area (Akarsu Caddesi 29). With its comfy armchairs and sofas and carefully distressed antique furniture, Smyrna has enough “shabby chic” about it to make every candidate in this year’s Apprentice?mint green with envy. We just ordered Turkish coffee (T?rk kahvesi) because, well, when in Istanbul… Turkish coffee is strong and thick and although I quite liked it, I’m glad to be returning to the smoothness of espresso and Aeropress coffee. We sat and people-watched for a while, before heading in search of a view. Smyrna does also do food and the menu looked pretty varied, so it’s definitely worth popping by at lunchtime or in the evening.
Cocktail o’clock. The good thing about a hilly, riverside city is that a lot of places offer great views from their rooftop terrace. We decided to check out the Leb-i Derya bar on the sixth floor of the Richmond Hotel (on Istiklal Caddesi, near the T?nel tram stop). The bar is very minimalist–all decked out in shades of white–because the view is clearly the raison?d’?tre. When we arrived, soon after 7 pm, most of the bar seats were taken but we found a pair with a great view of the city coming to life. The tables, by the huge floor-ceiling windows, are reserved for diners and they were filling up by the time we left, at about 8.30. My cocktail, which involved vodka, red poppy syrup, blackberry juice, lime and basil, was delicious and fruity, and the signature Derya cocktail (green apple vodka, cointreau, lime and mint) was also very good. If you’re too cheap to buy a cocktail (which was a reasonable ?8ish, including nibbles and view), you can take the lift in the Richmond up to the seventh floor and check out the view from the smokers’ terrace. But the view from the bar is much better. Dinner. My favourite restaurant among those where we ate dinner was probably Antiocha, on a side street near?T?nel. It’s a tiny place with only a few tables outside and one on the street, which was where we ate. My chicken??i? came with plenty of roast veggies and some flatbread and was really tasty. It was also fun to dine on the street, especially when a very cute black and white cat adopted me. Unfortunately for him, the waiter shooed him away just at the moment when I was prepared to give away a tiny piece of chicken. At least the cats in Istanbul look a lot healthier than those in Marrakesh (not that that stopped me wanting to be able to adopt them all!). We went to a more touristy place on Asmal? Mescit Caddesi on Saturday night. The place two doors down (Yakup 2) was in the Time Out?guide and was fully booked so we picked one of its less popular neighbours. The food was good and it was still a nice meal–I even tried a tiny bit of?rak?, although it’s not really my kind of drink–but I preferred the more casual Antiocha and the more stylish?Karak?y Lokantas?. Finally, on our first night, we got to the hotel quite late and were in desperate need of sustenance. We found some touristy restaurant in Sultanahmet but the food was actually pretty good–the main course came with lots of bread and veggies and we got various side dishes on the house, too.
[Other Istanbul posts:?introduction,?getting to know the city, adventuring]
PITTSBURGHPeople who have already sifted through online information to make sense of a subject can help strangers facing similar tasks without ever directly communicating with them, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research have demonstrated.
This process of distributed sensemaking, they say, could save time and result in a better understanding of the information needed for whatever goal users might have, whether it is planning a vacation, gathering information about a serious disease or trying to decide what product to buy.
The researchers explored the use of digital knowledge maps a means of representing the thought processes used to make sense of information gathered from the Web. When participants in the study used a knowledge map that had been created and improved upon by several previous users, they reported that the quality of their own work was better than when they started from scratch or used a newly created knowledge map.
“Collectively, people spend more than 70 billion hours a year trying to make sense of information they have gathered online,” said Aniket Kittur, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. “Yet in most cases, when someone finishes a project, that work is essentially lost, benefitting no one else and perhaps even being forgotten by that person. If we could somehow share those efforts, however, all of us might learn faster.”
The research team, including Kristie Fisher and Scott Counts of Microsoft Research, will present their findings May 7 at CHI 2012, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Austin, Texas.
They recruited 21 Microsoft employees for the study, asking them to create knowledge maps on three different subjects, one of which was to be created from scratch, one based on a map previously created by one person and yet another based on a map that had iteratively been modified by four other users. The participants took the least time to generate knowledge maps when they based them on iterated maps and self-reported that the quality and helpfulness of those maps were superior to those developed from scratch or from a map generated by a single person.
In most cases, the organization of the knowledge map, rather than any specific content, was most useful. For instance, two people looking to start a garden might live in different climates or settings, so the types of seeds they might plant could be different, but each would benefit from elements such as “design ideas,” “how to” and so on.
Using eye tracking, the researchers showed that as knowledge maps are modified successively by multiple users, new users spend less time looking at specific content elements, shifting a greater balance of their attention to structural elements like labels. “This suggests that distributed sensemaking facilitates the process of ‘schema induction,’ or forming a mental model of the information being considered,” Counts said.
But this structure did not start to emerge until a map had been modified at least once. This would explain why participants favored the iterated maps over the others, Fisher said.
One problem for distributed sensemaking is overcoming the “first iteration hump,” the researchers noted. Though the participants favored maps that had been improved by a succession of users, they also favored their maps created from scratch over those created by one other person. One way to get people to use newly created maps instead of making their own might be to pay them to modify another user’s map, or to require users to integrate some “first-round” maps before they are given access to the highly iterated ones. It may also be possible to use automated methods to produce maps that look more like maps that have been revised by multiple users.
###
This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft and the Center for the Future of Work at Carnegie Mellon University.
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university’s seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of “Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University,” which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 7-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Byron Spice bspice@cs.cmu.edu 412-268-9068 Carnegie Mellon University
PITTSBURGHPeople who have already sifted through online information to make sense of a subject can help strangers facing similar tasks without ever directly communicating with them, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research have demonstrated.
This process of distributed sensemaking, they say, could save time and result in a better understanding of the information needed for whatever goal users might have, whether it is planning a vacation, gathering information about a serious disease or trying to decide what product to buy.
The researchers explored the use of digital knowledge maps a means of representing the thought processes used to make sense of information gathered from the Web. When participants in the study used a knowledge map that had been created and improved upon by several previous users, they reported that the quality of their own work was better than when they started from scratch or used a newly created knowledge map.
“Collectively, people spend more than 70 billion hours a year trying to make sense of information they have gathered online,” said Aniket Kittur, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. “Yet in most cases, when someone finishes a project, that work is essentially lost, benefitting no one else and perhaps even being forgotten by that person. If we could somehow share those efforts, however, all of us might learn faster.”
The research team, including Kristie Fisher and Scott Counts of Microsoft Research, will present their findings May 7 at CHI 2012, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Austin, Texas.
They recruited 21 Microsoft employees for the study, asking them to create knowledge maps on three different subjects, one of which was to be created from scratch, one based on a map previously created by one person and yet another based on a map that had iteratively been modified by four other users. The participants took the least time to generate knowledge maps when they based them on iterated maps and self-reported that the quality and helpfulness of those maps were superior to those developed from scratch or from a map generated by a single person.
In most cases, the organization of the knowledge map, rather than any specific content, was most useful. For instance, two people looking to start a garden might live in different climates or settings, so the types of seeds they might plant could be different, but each would benefit from elements such as “design ideas,” “how to” and so on.
Using eye tracking, the researchers showed that as knowledge maps are modified successively by multiple users, new users spend less time looking at specific content elements, shifting a greater balance of their attention to structural elements like labels. “This suggests that distributed sensemaking facilitates the process of ‘schema induction,’ or forming a mental model of the information being considered,” Counts said.
But this structure did not start to emerge until a map had been modified at least once. This would explain why participants favored the iterated maps over the others, Fisher said.
One problem for distributed sensemaking is overcoming the “first iteration hump,” the researchers noted. Though the participants favored maps that had been improved by a succession of users, they also favored their maps created from scratch over those created by one other person. One way to get people to use newly created maps instead of making their own might be to pay them to modify another user’s map, or to require users to integrate some “first-round” maps before they are given access to the highly iterated ones. It may also be possible to use automated methods to produce maps that look more like maps that have been revised by multiple users.
###
This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft and the Center for the Future of Work at Carnegie Mellon University.
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university’s seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of “Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University,” which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
TONOPAH, Arizona (AP) ? Acting on a tip, U.S. marshals in Arizona put an end to an Illinois couple‘s life on the lam, a dozen years after they fled punishment for running a Ponzi scheme that targeted friends, the elderly, and even family members, authorities said.
As fugitives, Nelson Grant Hallahan, 65, and wife Janet Hallahan, 54, lived in several states in the Southwest and had used a number of aliases, the Marshals Service said Sunday.
The two were arrested by deputy marshals Saturday afternoon in Tonopah, a desert community 50 miles west of Phoenix. Officials believe they hid in Arizona for the past couple years.
“The 12-year run from justice of the Hallahans, also known as the ‘Mini Madoffs,’ has come to an end,” U.S. Marshal for Arizona David Gonzales said in a statement. “Their investment scams involving family, friends, and the elderly, ruined many lives.”
The agency said it received a tip about their location after they were featured on “America’s Most Wanted” the previous night.
The couple pleaded guilty in Illinois federal court to bank and mail fraud conspiracy charges and money laundering. They didn’t show up for their sentencing and began life on the run.
While living in Peoria, Ill., the couple promised their victims significant returns on investments, the Marshal Service said. They were actually running a Ponzi scheme, repaying earlier investors with proceeds from new ones. They also defrauded investors by selling interests in a tanning salon they later sold without telling investors, the statement said.
The Marshal Service said the couple netted millions of dollars from victims, and maintained a lavish lifestyle, buying yachts, luxury vehicles, designer clothes and jewelry.
Teresa Allred, 63, said she and her husband went to dinner with the Hallahans several times and had considered them friends.
They gave the Hallahans $15,000 to buy more tanning beds for the salon. Allred, who lives with her husband just outside Peoria in Morton, Ill., said the Hallahans promised them a 10 percent interest rate on the investment.
Allred told The Associated Press Sunday night that they never saw the money again.
“When she (Janet) was borrowing money from us to buy tanning beds, she had already sold the tanning salon,” she said.
“With friends like that, who needs enemies?” she said.
According to a profile on the AMW website, Nelson Hallahan was a successful life insurance salesman. Janet Hallahan was his assistant and secretary, and the couple married in 1988.
The Hallahans owed nearly $1.2 million to investors when they disappeared just days before they were to be sentenced in January 2000.
Matt Hershey, a supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal, said the Hallahans were living apart and were arrested without incident at separate homes.
“I’m just glad that they’ve been found,” Allred said. “We may or may not see our money, but at least I feel like there’s a little bit of restitution.”
Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Blake, left, blocks a shot by Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, center, of Italy, as Lakers guard Kobe Bryant looks on in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 92-88 victory in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Blake, left, blocks a shot by Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, center, of Italy, as Lakers guard Kobe Bryant looks on in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 92-88 victory in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Blake, front, is hugged by forward Pau Gasol, of Spain, after Blake hit a key three-point basket against the Denver Nuggets late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 92-88 victory in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, right, hugs guard Steve Blake after he hit a key three-point basket against the Denver Nuggets late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 92-88 victory in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum, back, jokes with guard Steve Blake as time runs out in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 92-88 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, left, is congratulated by Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey after the Lakers’ 92-88 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round NBA basketball series in Denver on Sunday, May 6, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
DENVER (AP) ? Crunch time for the Los Angeles Lakers usually belongs to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol.
Not this time.
Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake put the dagger in the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, swishing 3-pointers in the final minute to lead the Lakers to a 92-88 comeback win that gave L.A. a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series.
The Lakers can wrap it up Tuesday night when the series shifts back to Southern California for Game 5.
Bryant (22 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and Bynum (19 points, seven boards and three blocks) had bounce-back games and Gasol came up with huge plays at both ends as the Lakers controlled the tempo by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, stymieing the faster, younger Nuggets who blew them out in Game 3.
With the game tied in the final minute, however, it was the Lakers’ supporting cast that iced it.
“They got the two 3s to go down at the end of the game,” Nuggets coach George Karl said, “but conceptually what we’re trying to do at the end of the game is not let Kobe, Bynum and Gasol beat you.”
Instead, it was Sessions and Blake ? after top reserve Jordan Hill sparked a comeback from a six-point halftime deficit with a double-double off the bench.
“Sessions has hit big 3s. Even when I was out he hit some big 3s to win games. He did it again tonight. I have confidence in him,” Bryant said. “If you’re observing the game in the third quarter, I hit Sessions for an open shot, Blake for an open shot and (Matt) Barnes for an open shot and they missed all three of them. George, being observant as he is, saw I was (ticked). I was and (he) didn’t think I would trust them at the end of the game to knock down those shots, but they stepped up and knocked them down.”
With the game tied at 86, Danilo Gallinari was covering Bryant when a hard screen from Gasol sent the Italian to the floor grabbing his throat. While Gallinari stayed down, Sessions’ 3-pointer from just in front of the Nuggets bench put the Lakers ahead 89-86 with 48 seconds remaining.
“It was a tough pick, you’ve got to expect that in the playoffs,” Gallinari said. “I’ve got to be ready and play defense. Unfortunately, they hit a big shot out of that.”
Andre Miller was whistled for basket interference at the other end, and Bryant found Blake for a 3-pointer from the left corner with 18.9 seconds left for a six-point cushion, L.A.’s biggest of the night.
Sessions, whose acquisition from Cleveland this spring led to the trade of five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher, finished with 12 points, and Blake had 10.
“Those are tough shoes to fill because he had experience,” Bryant said of Fisher, who’s now with the Oklahoma City Thunder. “But you have to start somewhere. Fish and I started somewhere. … This was the beginning for them.”
Gallinari led the Nuggets with 20 points, and Miller had 15.
After torching the Lakers for 50 points combined in the previous two games, Ty Lawson was held to 11 points and Nuggets big men Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee weren’t nearly as effective on offense or disruptive defensively as they were in Game 2, when they combined for 28 points and 30 rebounds.
Together, they had 14 points and 11 rebounds Sunday.
Bynum, who blamed his scoreless first half 48 hours earlier on failing to properly prepare in the pregame, was much more active early on, scoring 11 in the first half, which ended with the Lakers trailing 51-45.
The game was briefly delayed with 1:10 left in the first half when a female fan started walking across the court while the Nuggets were setting up a play. The woman walked several steps onto the court as Lawson brought the ball past halfcourt. Officials blew the whistle to stop the play and the woman was escorted away by security.
The woman, identified as 20-year-old Savannah McMillan-Christmas of Denver, was cited for trespassing.
Al Harrington scored nine points in his return to the Nuggets’ lineup. He started out with a clear face mask protecting his nose that was broken Friday night by an inadvertent elbow from Bynum, but he ditched the mask in a matter of minutes.
Harrington missed his first six shots but then sank four straight, including a 3-pointer that put the Nuggets ahead 76-75 early in the fourth quarter.
This is the 11th time the Nuggets have faced a 3-1 deficit and they’ve never overcome such a deficit to win a series.
“Oh, it’s going to be difficult, no question about it,” said Arron Afflalo. “We have to get two on their home floor. Game 5 on their home floor would give some life to this series if we’re able to win it.”
Karl figures his young team has grown a lot over the last week and isn’t ready to concede the loaded Lakers stand all that much taller than his hodgepodge of hustling ballers.
“I don’t think it’s an impossible challenge,” Karl said. “I think it’s a great challenge for this young team. For me, I’ve been blessed with having great runs in the playoffs and I think I probably have one or two more left in me in my lifetime. I’d like to see it come this year.”
NOTES: Bryant got a handshake from Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey as he walked off the floor after the game. … The Nuggets have lost 18 straight playoff games when scoring fewer than 90 points. … Denver was 3 for 19 from long range, their fewest conversions and lowest percentage in a playoff game since April 30, 2007, when they went 2 for 16 against San Antonio. .. The starters for both teams combined to go 7-for-14 from the free throw line. … The Lakers have never lost consecutive playoff games in Denver.
___
Reach Arnie Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton
Move over Harry Potter: There’s a new record-breaking franchise in town. The Avengers just dethroned the Boy Wizard finale’s bar-setting opening weekend (set only 10 months ago in July 2011) with a shockingly huge $200.3 million debut.
Plug in your iDevices people, because Apple just released an update. It’s a minor one, to be sure, but brings about some rather helpful bug fixes. Most notably, you should no longer receive the “Unable To Purchase” message when buying digital content from the iTunes or App Store.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 7-May-2012
Share ]
