Florida Sentinel Bulletin

LOS ANGELES — Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers’ playboy owner who shepherded the NBA team to 10 championships from the Showtime dynasty of the 1980s to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday. He was 80.

He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant. Buss had been hospitalized for most of the past 18 months while undergoing cancer treatment, but the immediate cause of death was kidney failure, Steiner said. With his condition worsening in recent weeks, several prominent former Lakers visited Buss to say goodbye.

NEW YORK — Authorities say an NFL player has been arrested at a New York airport after police found a loaded handgun in his luggage.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Da’Quan Bowers was arraignmed Monday on charges of criminal possession of a weapon. Bowers was arrested at LaGuardia Airport as he was about to board a US Airways flight to Raleigh, N.C. Authorities say the loaded .40-caliber weapon was found during a search of his carry-on bag.

A Queens district attorney’s office spokeswoman says Bowers will be charged in Criminal Court. Bowers played college football for Clemson University and was chosen by the Buccaneers in the 2011 NFL draft.

POMONA, CA — Courtney Force raced to victory in Funny Car at the NHRA Winternationals and defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown walked away from a fiery crash with only minor injuries on Sunday.

The race was delayed for approximately 90 minutes for track cleanup after Brown’s dragster went out of control and crashed after crossing the finish line in the second round of eliminations. The car’s engine seemed to burst into flames and the dragster slid into a retaining wall. Brown managed to get out of the wreck under his own power.

Jason Terry saw a familiar face when he arrived at the Celtics practice facility Saturday night.

Terry hadn’t played with Rajon Rondo in a few weeks, but there he was again, hanging around the team just as he had ever since tearing his ACL.

Rondo has stayed involved with the Celtics since suffering the season-ending knee injury in late January. The point guard has quietly attended games at the TD Garden, staying in the back and out of the main arena. He isn’t there for the fanfare of the crowd, but rather to support his teammates.

It’s CP3’s world and his teammates are just dunking in it.

Chris Paul was named MVP of the 2013 NBA All-Star Game after leading the West to a 143-138 win over the East in Houston on Sunday night. The Clippers’ point guard scored 20 points and handed out 15 assists in a masterful performance. Paul joins Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas as the only players in All-Star history to notch such a 20/15 performance.

Kevin Durant scored 19 points in the first half and seemed a frontrunner for MVP honors in the case of a West win, but Paul took over the game down the stretch, dissecting the East defense to set up his teammates and create his own shot. The 27-year-old, six-time All-Star scored or was credited with an assist on 15 of the final 24 points scored by the West as it held off the East.

Durant finished with 30 points and enough highlight dunks to hear plenty of Dunk Contest pressure in 2014. Carmelo Anthony paced the East with 26 points and 12 rebounds.

Things are still not looking good for South African Olympian, Oscar Pistorius. A South African newspaper is reporting that a bloody cric-ket bat was found in the home of the athlete, and was used to smash the skull of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius was arrested for the murder of Steenkamp, allegedly shooting her four times from behind a bathroom door. Police had not yet announced that a bat was found, but sources close to the investigation said the motive of Reeva being mistaken for a burglar has been completely ruled out. There is also said to be a strong case built against Pistorius.

The police are also investigating two more possibilities: that Steenkamp may have used the bat in self-defencse, or that Pistorius used it to break down the or door behind which Steenkamp was hiding from him.

A former Tampa Bay Buccaneer died on February 13th. He was 53.

A memorial service will take place on Saturday, at 11 a.m., at Florida Mortuary, 4601 N. Nebraska Avenue. John Holt was chosen by the Buccaneers in 1981 in the fourth round out of West Texas. He played five years for the team, posting 53 starts. As the Bucs advanced to the NFL playoffs, he also averaged 24.9 yards on kickoff returns and 11.1 yards returning punts. After playing for the Bucs, Holt joined the Colts in 1986, and finished his career after 3 seasons there. His final year reflected seven interceptions and nine fumble recoveries.

Doug Williams, former Buccaneer quarterback said when he learned that Holt was ill, he texted him and Holt texted him back, thanking him for his (Williams’) concern. Danny Reece, also a former Buccaneer, said Holt replaced him on the team. “I met him when the Bucs played the 49ers and he was a pleasure to be around. He was a very humble person and was driven. This is another young Buc gone too soon. There are too many young Black men dying from all kinds of strange elements.”

In addition to Ms. Janet Neiden Holt, his wife of 30 years, Holt is survived by his mother, two brothers, four sisters, and other relatives and friends. Donations in Holt’s memory can be made to LifePath Hospice.

INDIANAPOLIS – Dwight Freeney joined the Colts as the 11th overall pick in the 2002 draft, and the impact of his career matched that from totals of his first rookie start when he forced three fumbles and had a sack.

Freeney, the club’s all-time sack leader (107.5), will not be issued a contract offer, and he is free to pursue another direction in his career when the free agency period opens on March 12. Freeney, a seven-time Pro Bowler, had seven of the 17 double-digit sack seasons in club history.

He had 13.0 sacks in his rookie season, a sign of things to come. His other seasons with 10-plus sacks were in 2003 (11.0), 2004 (16.0), 2005 (11.0), 2008 (10.5), 2009 (13.5) and 2010 (10.0). He became the first Colts player to top the NFL in sacks with his total in 2004.

MIAMI — When LeBron James first heard about this streak of games with at least 30 points and 60 percent shooting, he did not immediately think about who was on the list. He thought about who wasn’t. Wilt Chamberlain? Not there. Michael Jordan? Not there. Shaquille O’Neal? Not there, either. In NBA history, only Adrian Dantley and Moses Malone had put together five straight 30-point, 60-percent efforts — that is, until James joined their super-exclusive club.

And now, he stands alone. James scored 30 points on 11 for 15 shooting to get into the NBA record books, Chris Bosh scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Miami Heat wound up beating the Portland Trail Blazers 117-104 in a wild, momentum-swinging game Tuesday night. “It kind of blew my mind,” James said. “To see how small the list was and for me to even be a part of the list, to start off, it’s like, ‘Wow.’”