Lakers roll past rockets to take lead

In the NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets in game 3 to take a 2-games-to-1 lead in their second round Western Conference series.

KobeBryant(right)andSashaVujacicoftheLos
AngelesLakerscelebrateathree-pointshotatthe
endofthe3rdquarteragainsttheHoustonRockets
inGameThreeoftheWesternConferenceSemifinals
duringthe2009NBAPlayoffsatToyotaCenter,in
Houston,Texas.TheLakerswon108-94totakea2-1
serieslead.(AFP/GettyImages/RonaldMartinez)

Early in the first quarter, Kobe Bryant knocked down this jumper, putting Lakers ahead by 7.Lakers 11-4. In the second quarter, less than two minutes to go off, Yao Ming drew a right hand hook to tie the game. Rockets 26-26 Lakers.

Seconds before halftime, Yao tipped in a missed three pointer by Aaron Brooks, keeping Rockets in contention, Lakers 50-48 Rockets at half time. 3 seconds to go, Bryant nailed a long-range three pointer at the buzzer, up by 12, Lakers 74-62.

With 1 minute 30 seconds before end, Bryant beautiful drive-in, his lay-up missed, Lamar Odom dunked the rebound decisive score in the fourth quarter. Final Score: 108-94

Nuggets defeat Mavericks 117-105

The Denver Nuggets have gone up 2-0 in their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series against the Dallas Mavericks with another win at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Tuesday.

ChrisAndersen(L)oftheDenverNuggets
knockstheballawayfromthecontrolof
DirkNowitzkioftheDallasMavericksin
GameTwooftheWesternConference
semi-finalsduringthe2009NBAPlayoffs
atPepsiCenterinDenver,Colorado.The
NuggetsdefeatedtheMavericks117-105.
(AFP/GettyImages/DougPensinger)

With J.R. Smith's dunking, Denver had a 6-0 run, equalling the score to 14-14. Then it was Denver who dominate the match, leading the first quarter 30:22.

Near the end of the second quarter, Kidd's 3-pointer, Dallas fall behind 55-58 at the first half.

With 3 minutes 32 seconds to the end of the fourth quarter, Anthony's 3 pointer, enlarging the lead to 18 points.

Finally Denver defeat Dallas 117-105.

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Economic institutes expect strong rebound in second quarter

China's economy will see a strong recovery in the second quarter as the government stimulus package pays off, according to a survey of leading Chinese economic institutes.

The poll of 27 economic institutes by Capital Week, a weekly magazine specializing in securities and investments, showed that the institutes had raised their growth projections for China's economy in the second quarter by an average of 0.51 percentage points to 7.01 percent.

The average forecast of China's annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth had also been raised to 7.84 percent, compared with 7.77 percent three months ago, according to the survey.

China's quarter-on-quarter GDP growth rose to 1.8 percent in the first quarter this year from 0.2 percent in the previous quarter, which was "almost back to normal", said Zhu Jianfang, chief macro-economist of Citic Securities, one of the surveyed institutes.

Zhu said more favorable policies on living standards, employment and consumption should be implemented, as stimulation of investment might not improve employment, which is seen as one of the toughest tasks of the year.

Several foreign banks also raised their forecasts on China's economy for 2009 in recent reports. Goldman Sachs last week revised its prediction for China's GDP growth this year from 6 percent to 8.3 percent after the release of strong economic data in the first quarter.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, adjusted its estimate of China's GDP growth to 7 or 7.5 percent this year from 6.5 percent, while Morgan Stanley raised its forecast to 7 percent from 5.5 percent.

09/04/16 Chinas first quarter growth; Global issue of trade protectionism

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