TD pass to Meredith in the back of the end zone to finish a four-

LOS ANGELES -- Two struggling teams trying to find themselves meet Friday night at Staples Center.The Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns both looked like lost causes lately.The Lakers, who are on a four-game slide, were handed a humiliating 134-95 loss at Houston on Wednesday, the third time they lost by 30 or more points. The Rockets converted 28 Los Angeles turnovers into 42 points and blew the game open by outscoring their counterparts 39-22 in the third quarter.We just didnt compete, Lakers guard Lou Williams told the Los Angeles Times. Williams scored a team-high 24 points but committed six turnovers in the defeat. Simple game to me. Any time you ask me questions, Im not going to give you answers about numbers. Its a simple game. You play hard, play smart, you play together, you give yourself an opportunity to win. We didnt do any of those things.Injuries continue to hamper the Lakers (10-14). They remain without starting point guard DAngelo Russell (sore left knee), starting shooting guard Nick Young (calf strain, right leg), backup guard Jose Calderon (right hamstring strain) and reserve center/forward Tarik Black (right ankle sprain). None of the four is expected to be available against the Suns.Without them, Los Angeles bench, which started out as the most productive in the NBA, is severely depleted. Instead, Lakers coach Luke Walton has been forced to use eight different starting lineups in the past 11 games, including a stretch of five variations in five consecutive contests.Obviously were missing key players, youre gonna lose games, Walton said, according to the Times, but if were just sitting around as a team saying, Hey, lets just wait for Nick and DAngelo and this guy and that guy to get back, what kind of mindset is that? You come out and you play hard.The Suns (6-16) are in the midst of a parallel slump. Phoenix dropped its past three games and five of its past six, a 109-94 setback at home to the Indiana Pacers being the latest debacle.The Suns are off to one of their worst starts in the past 20 years.We just didnt execute and they did, said Suns guard Devin Booker, who scored 13 points against the Pacers. That was the difference in the game. It comes down to stops. We didnt get those. We know were not the most talented team in the league, so we know every game has to be a dogfight for us. Thats what we have to do.As with the Lakers, defense is one of the problems for Phoenix. The Suns rank 29th in points allowed (113 per game) and are tied for 25th in opponents field-goal shooting (46.4 percent).Los Angeles are giving up an average of 110.3 points per game (27th), and they rank last in opposing teams shooting (48 percent).The Lakers are 26th in turnovers (16.4 per game), and the Suns are 25th (16.3).In their initial meeting on Nov. 6 at Staples, the Lakers defeated the Suns 119-108. Custom Uniforms Outlet .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Cheap Custom Wear . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. http://www.customjerseysnearme.com/ . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Custom Basketball Jerseys .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Clearance Custom Jerseys . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. TAMPA, Fla. -- Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears didnt give themselves a chance.Four first-half turnovers and a couple of big defensive lapses undermined the mistake-prone team during a 36-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.Cutler was hoping to build on a strong performance coming off an injury two weeks ago, but the Bears (2-7) were unable to retain their momentum coming out of a bye.Jameis Winston threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns for the Bucs (4-5), while Cutler threw two interceptions, fumbled twice and was sacked four times.Whole team was off today. Not sure how you can put it on one guy, coach John Fox after his team remained winless on the road. We werent as consistent as we were (in a win two weeks ago against Minnesota). I didnt see it coming. I thought we had a great week of preparation.Cutler threw a 50-yard TD pass to Cameron Meredith on the final play of the first half. He finished 16 of 30 for 182 yards, and rookie Jordan Howard rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries.The Bears, however, werent anywhere near good enough to overcome their mistakes.Cutlers first interception was returned for a touchdown, and his second-quarter fumble cost Chicago an opportunity to kick a short field goal that would have trimmed its deficit to 7-6. The quarterbacks other fumble resulted in a safety, and Howards second-quarter fumble set up Winstons TD pass to Cameron Brate.Any given week, you can win, you can lose. It depends on how you execute, Cutler said. Obviously, we didnt get the job done today.A couple more things to know about Bears-Buccaneers:PAINFUL CELEBRATIONTampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter had a bandage above his right eye during his postgame news conference, the result of a head butt from Chris Conte following his interception return for a touchdown.Chris Conte acts like hes never scored a touchdown before, Koetter said with a smile. When you come off after a score, its OK to head butt guys that have helmets on. He head-butted me in the head. Almost bbroke my glasses, my hat was off.ddddddddddddBut it feels good now.SELF-DESTRUCTIONThe Bears offense ventured into Tampa Bay territory on four of its first five possessions, yet only managed a field goal.Well go back to the drawing board, Fox said. Weve got to get better.HAIL MARYDeep in their own territory and down two touchdowns after turning the ball over four times, the Bears werent content with merely running out the final 31 seconds of the opening half. They used timeouts after Jeremy Langfords 13-yard run and Cutlers 4-yard completion to the reserve running back, and then set themselves up for a final play when KaDeem Carey scampered 16 yards to midfield on a reception before getting out of bounds. Cutler heaved his 50-yard TD pass to Meredith in the back of the end zone to finish a four-play, 83-yard drive.YOUNG PASSERWinstons second-quarter TD pass to Brate was the 40th of the second-year pros career. At 22 years, 312 days old, he is the youngest quarterback in NFL history to reach that plateau, doing it in 25 games. Hes on pace to top 4,000 yards passing for the second straight year, and he has thrown for 19 TDs versus 10 interceptions this season.CRAZY PLAYWinston often is at his best when improvising. A prime example was a third-and-10 play from the Tampa Bay 23 that saw him scramble all the way back into his own end zone before heaving a 39-yard completion to Mike Evans. The first overall pick from the 2015 draft threw a 43-yard TD pass to Freddie Martino for a 24-10 lead on the next play.Koetter noted one of Winstons strongest attributes is he almost never gives up on a play.Thats a two-way street. That helps us sometimes. It hurts us other times, the coach said. Youve got to love that kid, the way he battles. Theres just something about him.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '