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Kobe Closes Out The Warriors as Lakers Win
01.13.11
Kobe Bryant drives towards basket against Warriors.
Kobe Bryant has the reputation of being the game’s best closer. On Wednesday night he didn’t disappoint, taking over the game in the final six minutes, and rallying the Lakers past the pesky Golden St. Warriors 115-110 at Oracle Arena.
Bryant scored 17 of his game-high 39 points in the final 5:49, as the Lakers overcame an early 14-point deficit. He also had a crucial assist on a Ron Artest three-pointer with under two minutes left, that gave the Lakers a five point cushion. Bryant grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists, and hit 13-21 from the field.
But it wasn’t just the heroics of #24 that saved the Lakers on this night. Lamar Odom came off the bench to score 20 points, to go along with nine rebounds, and single-handedly kept the world champs in the game early in the fourth quarter, before Bryant came in and closed it out.
Pau Gasol had another solid game with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Andrew Bynum scored 11 points to go along with a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Warriors led most of the game. They jumped out to a 37-23 lead in the second quarter, behind the sizzling shooing of Monta Ellis, who scored 21 of his 38 points in the first half. After the Lakers went ahead briefly at 43-42, the Warriors went on an 11-2 run to close the half and take a 53-45 to the break.
In the third quarter quarter, the Warriors kept the pressure on the Lakers, keeping the lead between 6-8 points most the quarter. Ellis hit a buzzer-beating jumper that gave Golden St. a 75-69 lead after three.
The fourth quarter turned into a duel between Ellis and Bryant, with the reigning 2-time NBA Finals MVP finally getting the better of his shooting guard counterpart down the stretch, hitting big shot after big shot, including a dagger three-pointer to put the Lakers up 105-99 with just over 30 seconds left. The Warriors hit several threes down the stretch, but the Lakers made all the foul shots for the win.
Ellis for the game hit 15-26 from the field, and 4-5 from three-point line, playing all 48 minutes of the game. Dorell Wright also played the entire game, scoring 27 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocked shots. Stephen Curry had 15 points and 10 assists.
Both teams shot the ball well, the Lakers hit 51.2% (42-82) from the field and 26-29 (89.7%) from the foul line. The Warriors shot 50.6% (44-87) from the field and a ridiculous 13-30 (43.3%) from beyond the arc. Los Angeles dominated on the glass 47-27, including 18 at the offensive end, which gave them a lot of second-chance opportunities, offsetting the massive three-point differential.
And after turning the ball over frequently in the first half leading to 20 fastbreak points for the Warriors, the Lakers finished the game with a respectable 14 turnovers.
The Lakers have now won six straight games, and are sitting in second place in the Western Conference, 4.5 games behind the San Antonio Spurs. They’re now 14-6 on the road, and have won eight of their last nine away from Staples Center.
The champs next face the slumping New Jersey Nets on Friday night at Staples Center. The Lakers won the first meeting in New Jersey 99-92 back in early December, a game that was a lot closer than it should have been. Former Lakers Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic will make their first appearances at Staples Center in uniforms other than purple and gold. Farmar will also receive is 2009-10 NBA Championship ring.
Lakers Show No Mercy in Obliterating Cavs By 55
01.12.11
Pau Gasol slams home two against Cavs.
On a night the Lakers made history, the world champs showed no sympathy for the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers, and humiliated them, 112-57 at Staples Center on Tuesday.
In a season most Cleveland fans and players would like to forget, their loss to the Lakers had to have felt like rock bottom. The Lakers held the Cavaliers to their lowest point total ever at 57, and in the process sent them to their 11th straight loss, dropping their record to an NBA-worst 8-30.
The Lakers’ win was their third biggest since moving to Los Angeles, and only the third time in their history they beat a team by at least 55 points. The last time was March 19, 1972, when they pounded the Golden St. Warriors 162-99 at the Forum. The 57 points were also the fewest the Lakers have allowed in the shot clock era.
Los Angeles had seven players in double figures, led by Ron Artest who had 15 points and six assists. Andrew Bynum also had 15 points, to go along with six rebounds, and five blocked shots. Pau Gasol had 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant, who took just three shots in the first half, scored 13, to go along with eight assists, and five rebounds.
The game was never close, as the Lakers jumped out to a 27-12 lead after one, and it only got worse for Cleveland from there. They led 57-25 at the half with Bryant scoring just two points. The lead ballooned to 50 early in the third quarter, and to add insult into injury, Shannon Brown hit a half court shot at the buzzer to give the Lakers a 92-41 lead after three. The Laker reserves also didn’t let up defensively, and grew the lead in the fourth, outscoring the Cavaliers 20-16 in the period.
The Cavs shot just 29.9% (23-77) from the floor for the game, and the Lakers’ bench nearly outscored Cleveland by themselves, with 46 points from the reserves. They also held the slumping Cavaliers to 1-14 (7.1%) from beyond the arc, and outrebounded them 53-42.
For the game, the Lakers shot 53.5% (46-86) from the field, and 10-20 from the three-point line. They also only turned the ball over 12 times, compared to 19 for the visitors.
Cleveland had just two players in double figures. Alonzo Gee had 12 points, and Ramon Sessions had 10. The Cavs starters had just 23 points combined, shooting 8-37 (21.6%) as a group. Samardo Samuels was 1-12 from the floor, as he was constantly hounded by the bigger Laker frontline. In fact at one point in the third quarter, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum had made as many baskets combined as the entire Cavs team had.
The Lakers win was their fifth straight, as they continue to play solid basketball at the defensive end. They’re now allowing just under 96 points per game for the season after Tuesday night’s defensive clinic.
The champs will play tomorrow night in Oakland against the Warriors, in the second game of a back-to-back. The Warriors have been blown out twice at Staples Center, once by 24, and the other game by 28. This will be the teams’ first meeting in the Bay Area this season. The Warriors have been playing better ball lately, they’ve won six of their last 10 games.
Lamar Odom Leads Lakers Past Sixers
12.17.10
Lamar Odom drives to basket for two against Sixers.
On a night when Kobe Bryant scored a season-low nine points, Lamar Odom picked up the slack and scored 28, as the Lakers pulled away from the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth quarter, and won 93-81 at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday.
In a game devoid of artistic merit, the Lakers put together 12 great minutes of basketball in the fourth quarter, and turned a 62-58 deficit into a 12-point win, led by the play of Odom and reserve forward Matt Barnes.
Odom hit back-to-back three-point plays early in the fourth quarter to give the Lakers a 66-64 lead with a little over nine minutes left. Barnes, who scored 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds off the bench, kept the rally going with solid defense and timely shooting. His three-pointer with just over seven minutes left was part of a 27-8 Lakers’ run in the quarter, and put them ahead 71-64 as they never looked back.
Bryant, a day after having the gym at his alma mater Lower Merion High School renamed in his honor, had trouble getting into a rhythm all night. He scored just nine points on 3-11 shooting, and shockingly was never really a factor in the game. On this night, however, it didn’t matter, as the Lakers’ frontcourt just dominated the game.
Pau Gasol scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Nobody else on the Lakers had more than eight points.
The game was very choppy for three quarters, and neither team shot the ball well, especially from the three point line. The Lakers shot a miserable 3-15 (20.0%) from beyond the arc, and the 76ers were an even more-inept 3-21 (14.3%) from long range. The Lakers have now held their opponents to under 90 points in five of their last eight games, and haven’t given up more than 94 points in their last six.
The 76ers were led by Spencer Hawes and Andre Iguodala, who both scored 18 points. Hawes also added 13 rebounds. No other Sixer scored in double-figures, and the team shot just 37.5% from the floor for the game. Despite that however, they led 62-58 after three quarters, before it came apart in the final stanza.
The Lakers have now won four straight, seven out of eight, and are 5-1 on this current road trip that finishes up Sunday in Toronto. The Lakers beat the Raptors 108-103 at Staples Center on November 5, in a game that was tight throughout. Pau Gasol scored 30 points that night, Kobe Bryant added 23.
Link: Lakers @ 76ers Box Score
ESPN: Lakers Trade Sasha Vujacic to New Jersey
12.14.10
Joe Smith. The newest Laker?
From ESPN.com:
The New Jersey Nets agreed to trade Terrence Williams to the Houston Rockets in a three-way deal that will land them Los Angeles Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic and a pair of first-round draft picks, sources confirmed to ESPN.com.
The trade, which has been agreed upon in principle, will also send Nets veteran power forward Joe Smith to the Lakers, while New Jersey will receive Los Angeles’ 2011 first-round pick and Houston’s 2012 lottery-protected first rounder, sources said.
Read the entire story here. So long Sasha, thanks for those two fouls shots in Game 7. Oh yeah, your girlfriend was hot too. Hello Joe Smith.
Lakers Do Enough To Get By Wizards
12.08.10
Pau Gasol lays in two against Wizards.
In game that was far closer than it should have been, the Lakers got 32 points from Kobe Bryant and beat the slumping Washington Wizards 115-108 at Staples Center on Tuesday night.
The game wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for the Lakers, although it looked like it would be for a while. They led 69-56 at halftime, and by the middle of the third quarter, had a 19-point lead.
But the Wizards chipped away late in the period, and cut the Lakers’ lead to 87-84 after three. They got no closer in the fourth, however, as the Lakers managed to make enough plays down the stretch for the 7-point victory.
Pau Gasol nearly had his second triple-double of the season. He wound up finishing with 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, and five blocked shots, in almost 43 minutes. It appears that whatever was wrong with Gasol’s hamstring seems to have improved over the last several days, as he showed no signs of injury on the court.
Lamar Odom also had a nice night with 24 points and seven rebounds. Shannon Brown added 12 off of the bench.
Former USC-star Nick Young scored 30 points off the bench in his return home to lead the Wizards. Gilbert Arenas played his first game against the Lakers in over three years, scoring 23 points. The last time he played at Staples, he scored 60 points in a 147-141 overtime win. That was also the last time the Wizards beat the Lakers, they have lost eight straight since.
Rookie John Wall was very impressive, scoring 22 points and dishing out 14 assists, as he showed his incredible speed and quickness in the open court scoring several dazzling layups.
The game certainly wasn’t a thing of beauty for the Lakers, as their field goal percentage plummeted in the second half, and they finished shooting just 44.9% from the floor for the game. They also struggled again from the three-point line, hitting just 7-25 (28.0%). They did outrebound the Wizards 45-34 including 22-9 on the offensive end. The Wizards also did turn the ball over 17 times, compared to only 13 for the Lakers.
While it may not have been the ideal way to go out before the upcoming seven-game road trip, a victory is still a victory. And with everyone in the West playing so well right now, the Lakers can ill afford to falter against any more sub-.500 teams.
The Lakers’ next game is tomorrow night against the Clippers. And while the Lakers are technically considered the “road” team for the game, they really won’t hit the road until they play in Chicago on Friday. It will be the Lakers’ first look at Clipper rookie-sensation Blake Griffin.
The Lakers also hope to have Andrew Bynum back at some point on the road trip, as he completed his first full practice on Monday with the team, and experienced no pain or swelling in his knee. A good sign for a return soon.
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