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Big Second Half Propels Lakers Past Jazz
04.02.11
Kobe Bryant drives to the basket against the Jazz.
For the first 24 minutes of Friday night’s game in Utah, it seemed like the Lakers were destined to give back the game they gained from Thursday’s nights hard-fought victory against Dallas.
But these Lakers are just playing at a whole other level. The champs rallied from 17 points down, overwhelming the undermanned Utah Jazz in the second half, and scored a 96-85 at EnergySolutions Arena, their ninth straight win, and 17th in the last 18 games.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 21 points and Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol each had 16. Gasol also added a team-high nine rebounds in the win.
Utah jumped on the Lakers early, led 26-13 in the first quarter, and then put together an 11-0 run in the second quarter to build a 41-24 lead. But that’s when the tide began to shift. Los Angeles fought back with an 18-7 run to close the half, and trailed just 48-42 at the break.
The second half was all Lakers, as Derek Fisher’s three-pointer finally got the Lakers even at 62 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. Moments later they took the lead for good when Kyrylo Fesenko was called for goaltending on a Shannon Brown shot. The Lakers led 71-64 after three.
The lead stretched to 83-65 early in the fourth, and the Lakers held off the Jazz the rest of the way for what turned out to be a fairly easy victory. Los Angeles outscored Utah 52-35 in the second half.
Utah played without three of their key players, as Andrei Kirilenko, Devin Harris, and Raja Bell all missed the game with injuries. The Lakers played without Matt Barnes, who was suspended by the NBA for his role in Thursday night’s melee with Dallas.
C.J. Miles, who had been in a shooting slump, scored 13 points in the first half for the Jazz, and finished with a game-high 24. Al Jefferson added 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Paul Milsap chipped in with 16 points.
The Lakers shot just 39.4% from the field in the first half, but finished the game at 47.9% (34-71). They also held the Jazz to 41.5% (34-82) from the floor, and 2-10 (20.0%) from the three-point line. The Jazz did outrebound the Lakers 44-39, including 15-6 on the offensive end, but held a much bigger advantage (28-18) at the end of the first half.
The win, combined with San Antonio’s sixth straight loss at Houston on Friday, brought the Lakers to within 1.5 games for first place in the Western Conference, with seven remaining. The Lakers’ current 17-1 record is the highest post-All-Star break winning percentage (.944) in league history. The Jazz are second, going 31-4 (.885) after the All-Star break back in 1997.
The loss eliminated Utah from the Western Conference playoff race, marking the first time a team started 15-5 and 27-13 and didn’t make the playoffs.
The Lakers now return home for a Sunday afternoon battle at Staples Center against the new-look Denver Nuggets, who have been playing very well since trading their superstar forward Carmelo Anthony last month. The two teams have split their two meetings this year, with the Lakers winning the last game 107-97 in Denver back on January 21.
Link: Lakers @ Jazz Box Score
Lakers Asleep At The Wheel Against Grizzlies
01.04.11
Kobe Bryant drives to basket against Grizzlies.
In another lackluster effort Sunday night, the Lakers lost for the third time in four games at home, and once again to another non-playoff team in a blowout. This time it was the Memphis Grizzlies who took it to the Lakers 104-85, in a game they led almost the entire way.
The Lakers came out flat from the start, and by the middle of the first quarter found themselves behind by nine points, and they never recovered. They trailed by the same nine points at halftime, and did actually get to within one point in the third quarter. But that’s as close as they got to the lead.
Lamar Odom missed two free throws that would have at least tied the game early in the third quarter, the Grizzlies then went on a 19-4 run that buried the Lakers, despite Kobe Bryant scoring 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. It was obvious on this night it was going to take more than Bryant’s heroics to pull out a win, but no one else offered much resistance.
The losses at home are not only alarming because of who the Lakers are losing to, it’s also how they are losing. They’ve now been blown out by two sub-.500 teams by 19 points, in addition to the 16-point waxing by the Miami Heat on Christmas Day. The only win in the last four at home was a close 102-98 victory over Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve, a game the Lakers could have easily lost.
Only two other Laker players scored in double figures Sunday. Shannon Brown had 11 points off the bench, and Pau Gasol had 10 points and eight rebounds. Andrew Bynum scored nine points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had five blocks, but took only eight shots from the floor.
The Lakers actually outshot the Grizzlies from the field, hitting 46.5% (33-71) to 45.6% (41-90), but turned the ball over 20 times, which allowed Memphis to take a staggering, 19 more shots. That was the difference in the game. The Lakers were also outrebounded 44-37, but that stat was not nearly as damaging as the turnovers.
Rudy Gay, who missed the team’s loss on Saturday in Utah, scored 27 points on 10-19 from the field. Zach Randolph scored 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, and O.J. Mayo torched the Lakers off the bench with 15 points.
Bryant also picked up his fifth technical foul in the last six games, as it appears his frustration is growing with more than just the officiating.
The Lakers next game is Tuesday night at home against the woeful Detroit Pistons, whom the Lakers beat easily 103-90 back on November 17th in Detroit. In that game, Bryant had 33 points and nine rebounds, Gasol had 25 and 12 rebounds, and Odom had 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Pau Gasol: Greatest Steal in NBA History
10.01.10
After losing in the Finals in 2004, the Lakers traded Shaq to Miami and missed the playoffs the following season. The following season, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after leading the series 3-1. In the 2007 playoffs, the Lakers were again eliminated by the Phoenix Suns, this time in 5 games. A few weeks later, Kobe Bryant requested to be traded, saying he’d go play on Pluto. He then waffled on the issue, saying that he hoped the Lakers would improve the team personnel so that he could remain in Los Angeles. Rumors abounded about possible deals and trade packages over the summer. Sometimes the best trades are those that are never made. The Lakers opened the season losing at home to Houston. The starters were Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Kwame Brown, Ronny Turiaf and Luke Walton. Jordan Farmar, Andrew Bynum, Maurice Evans, Brian Cook, Chris Mihm and Coby Karl came off the bench. Also on the roster were Vladimir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic and Javaris Crittenton. The Lakers started the season 25-11 before Andrew Bynum dislocated his kneecap and missed the rest of the season. The Lakers then went 3-5. Then on February 1, the Lakers traded Brown, Crittenton, Aaron McKie (who was an assistant coach with Philadelphia), the draft rights to Marc Gasol, a 2008 1st round pick (Donte Green) and a 2010 1st round pick (Greivis Vasquez) for Pau Gasol and a 2010 2nd round pick (Devin Ebanks). After Gasol joined the team, the Lakers finished 22-5, ending the season with the best record in the Western Conference and 3rd best overall. Although they lost to the Celtics in the finals, the Lakers were certainly back in championship form. They have now won back-to-back titles, and should be favored to reach the finals again this season, for the fourth consecutive year. With Pau, the team received a 27 year old, 7 foot All Star who plays center and power forward. The Grizzlies received a very unpopular Laker, an unneeded guard, an unsigned player, another team’s coach, and two late round picks. Maybe San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich is right, and there should be a committee to “scratch all trades that make no sense”. I can’t think of another NBA trade so lopsided as this one, where the impact was significant and immediate. Of course, it must have made some kind of sense to Memphis at the time. Here is an excellent article on the trade:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/31/sports/la-sp-lakers-gasol31-2010jan31
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