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Lakers Top Hornets for Seventh Straight Win
03.27.11
Kobe Bryant drives hard to the basket against Hornets.
The Lakers just keep rolling right along towards the playoffs, as they took care of the New Orleans Hornets 102-84 at Staples Center on Sunday night.
Kobe Bryant, who scored 79 points in his previous two games, poured in a game-high 30 points to go along with five assists, as the Lakers won their seventh straight game, and have gone 15-1 since the All-Star break.
Los Angeles jumped on the David West-less Hornets early, and led 30-19 after the first quarter. After getting up by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Lakers settled for a halftime lead of 57-41.
The Hornets played much better in the second half, and were able to rally back behind the inspired play of Carl Landry, who is starting in place of West. New Orleans got to within six points in the fourth quarter at 78-72, before the Lakers went on a 24-12 run to close the game, and win going away by 18.
Pau Gasol had a big night with 23 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocked shots. Andrew Bynum battled foul trouble all game long, and played just over 21 minutes, but he did have 13 points and five boards in his limited action. Ron Artest was the only other Laker in double figures with 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field.
For the game, the Lakers shot 41-85 (48.2%) from the field, 17-21 (81.0%) from the foul line, but only 3-17 (17.6%) from beyond the arc, with Bryant hitting just 1-6 from deep. The Lakers won the rebound battle 44-43 and committed just nine turnovers.
New Orleans struggled shooting the ball all night, finishing at 40.2% on 35-87 from the floor. They were also a miserable 3-17 (17.6%) from the three-point line, with Marco Belinelli convering just 1-7 from long range.
Landry led the Hornets with 24 points and 10 rebounds playing almost 44 minutes. Emeka Okafor had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Chris Paul had an off night scoring just 10 points on 4-9 shooting, but he did have nine assists. No other Hornet scored in double figures.
The win put the Lakers’ record at 53-20, and they are one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for second place in the Western Conference. The two teams will get together on Thursday night for a battle at Staples Center. San Antonio dropped their third straight and are now 57-16, just four games ahead of the Lakers for the conference lead with nine games remaining.
The champs will get three days off before they take on Dallas, and will try to complete a 7-0 homestand. Sometimes long layoffs can be a bad thing for a team playing well, but the Lakers know they have to be at their best in what will surely be a playoff-like atmosphere on Thursday. The Mavericks and Lakers have split their first two games this season, with the Lakers beating the Mavericks 96-91 in their last meeting in Dallas.
Box Score: Lakers vs. Hornets Box Score
Lakers Take Care of Clips to Extend Streak
03.26.11
Kobe Bryant drives hard to basket against Clippers.
It wasn’t a blowout, but the Lakers led wire-to-wire as they held off the Clippers 112-104 Friday night at Staples Center, to push their post-All-Star game record to 14-1.
Kobe Bryant had a game-high 37 points, coming off his season-high 42 points against Phoenix on Tuesday. He hit 11-21 shots from the field, and went to the line 17 times, connecting on 14 of them. He also had six and assists and four rebounds, and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Pau Gasol, who scored 26 points and had eight rebounds, raised $26,000 for Japan relief as he donated $1,000 for every point he scored in the game. Ron Artest had 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks, three steals, and played superb defense all night on the Clippers’ leading-scorer Eric Gordon, holding him to seven points on 3-14 from the field.
The Lakers jumped out fast on the Clips, taking a 30-14 lead late the in the first quarter. The Clippers rallied in the second quarter and closed to 37-35, but never did get any closer in the first half. The champs led at the break 57-48.
In the second half, the Lakers continued to maintain a healthy lead, pulling ahead by 12 on several occasions, only to see their hallway neighbors continue to battle back. After three the Lakers only led 85-80.
The Clippers kept it close in the fourth, closing the gap to two on several possessions. With Lakers leading by four with 40 seconds left, Artest made a great defensive play in the open court, taking the ball away from rookie sensation Blake Griffin who was heading in for a dunk. The game was sealed when Andrew Bynum tipped in a missed Derek Fisher free throw with under 20 seconds left.
Tempers flared again for the two teams, as Fisher and Clipper center got into a yelling match when Fisher threw out his elbow after a hard screen set on him by Kaman, in the final seconds. Kaman appeared to tell Fisher he’d meet him in the parking lot after the game, as he was being ejected with two technical fouls. Fisher was also assessed a technical.
Both teams shot the ball well from the floor. The Lakers hit 50.0% (39-78) and the Clippers also hit half of their shots (42-84). Neither team shot the three ball well, the Lakers went 6-18 (33.3%) and the Clips 5-17 (29.4%) One of the big differences in the game was the Lakers going to the line 39 times, hitting 28, while the Clippers went 15-18 from the charity stripe. The Lakers won the rebound battle, 41-34, and committed two less turnovers at 16-14.
For the Clippers, Mo Williams had a season-high 30 points and six assists, hitting 11-16 from the floor and 4-7 from the three-point line. Griffin had a fairly quiet 22 points and only six rebounds, but did have a few highlight dunks, which as become the norm for him nightly. Randy Foye had 12 off the bench, and Al-Farouq Aminu scored 11 points off the bench as well.
The Lakers moved their record to 52-20 as they won their sixth straight, and now lead the Dallas Mavericks by 1.5 games for second place in the Western Conference standings. They also only trail the San Antonio Spurs by 5.0 games with 10 left to play. They won their eighth straight game at Staples, and took the season series against the Clippers 3-1.
Los Angeles tries to continue their undefeated homestand against the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday. The Hornets lost their leading-scorer David West to a torn ACL this week, so they will rely much more on All-Star point guard Chris Paul to pick up the scoring slack, as they battle for playoff position in the West. The Hornets are currently in seventh place in the conference.
Lakers Survive 3 OT Thriller Against Suns
03.23.11
Kobe Bryant drives to basket against Suns.
In one of the more-exciting games of the NBA season, the Lakers continued their post-All-Star game roll as they outlasted the Phoenix Suns in a three-overtime marathon, 139-137 at Staples Center on Tuesday night.
Kobe Bryant scored a season-high 42 points, including five in the closing minutes of the third overtime to get the Lakers their 13th win in 14 games since the break. He just missed a triple-double, as he tallied 12 rebounds and nine assists in 48 minutes.
Ron Artest made two of the biggest plays of the game, as he stole the ball from Steve Nash and slammed home a dunk with 1:11 left to put the Lakers ahead 135-132. He then drilled an off-balance 15-footer with the shot clock winding down to put the Lakers up 137-132.
After Channing Frye hit one of his five three-pointers to bring the Suns back to 137-135, Bryant hit a runner in the lane with 14 seconds left to put the Lakers up 139-135. The Suns scored two points in the final seconds, but had wasted too much time to give themselves a chance to win the game.
By the middle of the third quarter the game looked liked it would an easy victory, as the Lakers had pushed the lead to 89-68 on a Bryant shot from beyond the arc. The Suns had gone cold from the three-point line, and it looked their erratic shooting would finally catch up to them. But Steve Nash then hit back-to-back three-pointers to get the Suns within 15, and the run was on.
After a wild rally in the final quarter where the Suns were down nine with three minutes left, Grant Hill tied the game with 31 seconds left on a three from the corner. After a Bryant miss, Phoenix then missed a chance to win the game in regulation on an errant shot by Vince Carter. They also had a chance to win the game in the second overtime, but Grant Hill was unable to get off a desperation heave at the buzzer.
Lots of players put up huge numbers for both teams in this offensive marathon. Five players scored at least 20 points, six players had at least 10 rebounds, and 12 players scored in double figures.
Lamar Odom, starting for the suspended Andrew Bynum, put in a season-high 29 points and 16 rebounds on 13-22 from the field. Pau Gasol had 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Ron Artest scored 18 points.
For the Suns, Frye scored a career-high 32 points and 14 rebounds, hitting 5-13 shots from deep. Marcin Gortat had 24 points and 16 rebounds off the bench, and Nash had 19 points and 20 assists, playing over 49 minutes. He was clearly gassed at the end of the game, as he turned the ball over several times in the third overtime, and most of his shots fell short. Vince Carter scored 17 points but hit just 7-23 from the field.
The Lakers took 120 shots from the floor, making 53 for 44.2%. They hit 11-27 (40.7%) from the three-point line and 22-25 (88.0%) from the foul line. They only turned the ball over nine times. A very low number for a game that was so up-and-down the court. They also had 30 assists on their 53 baskets. Los Angeles outrebounded Phoenix 56-52, and had 18 offensive rebounds against the smaller visitors, even without Bynum.
The Suns shot 51-106 (48.1%) from the floor and took an unbelievable 41 shots from beyond the arc, making 17 for 41.5% That means the last two times they have played against the Lakers at Staples Center, they have made an incredible 37-81 (45.7.%) from distance. They also had 34 assists on their 51 baskets.
In the end though, it’s another win for the champs, as they proved they are one of the most versatile teams in the league, being able to play a slowdown game like the 84-80 win against Portland on Sunday, or a shootout against a very up tempo Phoenix Suns.
This was the Lakers first three-overtime game at home since February 2, 1969 when they played the San Francisco Warriors. The Lakers actually lost that game 122-117.
The champs next face the Clippers on Friday night at Staples of course. The Lakers are the designated home team for the game, as they look to improve on their current 4-0 homestand. They are 2-1 against their hallway neighbors this season, and beat them last on February 25th easily 108-95.
Kobe and Fish Rally Lakers Past Blazers
03.21.11
Kobe Bryant shoots jumper against Portland.
Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher have 10 championship rings between the two of them. On Sunday night they provided a glimpse as to why, as they both hit several big buckets late, rallying the Lakers to an 84-80 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center.
The Lakers played the game without center Andrew Bynum, who was suspended two games by the NBA for his flagrant foul on Friday night. Without Bynum patrolling the paint, the Blazers were able to dominate the Lakers on the glass, and led the game for most of the night despite very poor shooting. In fact, neither team looked good on offense.
Bryant led the Lakers with 22 points, but scored 10 of them in the fourth quarter with the game very much in doubt. His short jumper in the lane with just over a minute left gave the Lakers an 80-76. Thirty seconds later, he hit a picture-perfect fallaway baseline jumper over Brandon Roy that gave the Lakers an 82-77 lead. That seemingly was the dagger for the champs.
However Portland wouldn’t quit. After they got to within two at 82-80, Fisher stuck a 17-foot jumper with 10 seconds left and the shot clock running out to seal the victory the Lakers. Fisher also had two sensational defensive plays in the final minutes, and scored a layup with just under two left to put the Lakers up 78-76, a lead they would never relinquish.
The win pushed the surging champs to 12-1 since the All-Star game, and clinched their fourth straight Pacific Division crown. They also stayed one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for the second place in the Western Conference standings. Los Angeles is now 3-0 against Blazers this year, marking the first time since the 2004-05 season the Lakers will win the season series.
Lamar Odom, starting for Bynum, scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Pau Gasol had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Ron Artest chipped in with 10 points.
For the game, the Lakers held Portland to a miserable 38.6% (32-83) from the field and just 6-25 (24.0%) from the three-point line. Neither team shot the ball particularly well. The Lakers did finish at 44.9% (35-78) from the floor, but just 3-17 (17.6%) from beyond the arc. The one bright spot was they hit 11 of their 12 free throws. Portland won the rebound battle easily 45-35, including 17-9 at the offensive end, certainly a sign the Lakers missed Bynum’s presence in the middle.
Nicolas Batum led the Blazers with 25 points, scoring 22 of them in the first three quarters. He did make 4-9 from long range. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points to go along with six rebounds, and Rudy Fernandez was the only other Portland player in double figures. He had 10 points, but hit just 3-10 shots. At one point the Portland went on 15-0 scoring run in the game, spanning halftime.
The Trail Blazers did lose forward/center Marcus Camby late in the game as he appeared to injure his ankle. A big loss for a team trying to make a push towards the playoffs, and with a tough schedule coming up.
The Lakers are now 3-0 on their seven-game homestand, and will take on the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night at Staples Center. The last time the Suns were in Los Angeles, they hit 22-40 three-pointers on their way to a shocking 121-116 win back on November 14. The Lakers have won both games in Phoenix this season.
The Lakers Nation Podcast on 03.22.11
03.23.11
Posted by Brett in Lakers News
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Information and links to last night’s Voice of the Nation podcast after the Lakers thrilling three overtime win against Phoenix.
David Brickley, and Kevin Figgers come to you after a triple over-time thriller at Staples against the Phoenix Suns, for another LIVE post-game edition of the Voice of the Nation.
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Download Link: Voice of the Nation – Episode #123
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