Watson Took One for the Team

PALO ALTO — A key play in the Bruins’ upset of Stanford came with eight minutes to play, when Earl Watson made a steal at midcourt and knifed in for a beautiful reverse layup. He was hammered on the shot by 7-foot Jason Collins and wound up sprawled on the court, writhing in pain.

It was a scary moment for Watson, who has been bothered by lower-back pain since taking a spill at Arizona State last month. Eventually, he climbed to his feet and drained the foul shot for a 65-55 lead.

“I just had to give up my body,” Watson said. “Collins put his knee right where my back injury was. I had to make sure I had that extra focus on the shot. Then, when I saw it go in, that’s when I felt the pain.”

Watson said his back still felt tender after the game, but he doesn’t anticipate it being a problem this week.

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There are plenty of Steve Lavin critics out there, but one UCLA fan was clearly in his corner after the Stanford game. She stood at one end of the locker-room tunnel after the game and shrieked words of support for the embattled coach, who was speaking to reporters at the time.

Among her high-decibel proclamations: “Steve, we love you!”; “You’re better than Rick Pitino!”; “Steve Lavin, Olympic coach!”; and, “I’ll die happy if you come down here and give me a hug!”

Although he didn’t fulfill the last request, Lavin had a request of his own for the woman: “Can I bring you back to L.A. and put you on talk radio?”

UP NEXT

* Thursday at USC, 7:30 p.m., Sports Arena, Fox Sports Net 2--The Bruins, who have a 117-93 series lead, posted an 80-75 victory over USC on Jan. 11.