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Lakers Finally Win One…Throttle Pistons 108-79
11.04.12
Dwight Howard gets fouled going to the basket.
The By The Numbers recap for the Lakers 108-79 win over the Detroit Pistons at Staples Center on Sunday. The Lakers are now 1-3, and play next at Utah on Wednesday night.
108
The amount of points the Lakers scored on Sunday night, their best offensive output of the season thus far. They also shot 51.9% from the floor and are shooting 50.3% through the first four games.
81
The amount of points the Lakers starters scored against the Pistons, with four of the five in double-figures, led by Dwight Howard’s 28 points on 12-14 from the field.
46
The percentage of threes the Lakers made Sunday, hitting 10-22 from beyond the arc. So far this season, the Lakers shooting from the 3-point line has been impressive at 40.6%, with Steve Blake leading the way hitting 5-8 for 62.5%.
35
The percentage that Detroit hit from the floor, making just 28-79 shots. Think about this…Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Metta World Peace made 25 baskets by themselves.
32
The amount of minutes Kobe Bryant played Sunday, which makes all Laker fans happy. Kobe played 43 minutes Friday against the Clippers, and with a strained foot he doesn’t need to be logging so many minutes this early in the season. He got much needed time off against Detroit, only needing to take 10 shots as well.
28
The Lakers led at halftime on Sunday 62-34, which was easily their best performance in any half this season. They didn’t let up much in the second half, as they increased the lead to 36 at one point, before winning by 29.
15
The amount of turnovers committed by the Lakers Sunday. Might not seem like a big deal, but when a team commits 59 turnovers in their first three games, 15 sounds a lot better. Also keep in mind, many of those 15 came in garbage time with the game out of hand. The Lakers did protect the ball relatively well all night.
1
The Lakers’ current winning streak. Hey, have to start somewhere!
See you guys Wednesday after the Utah game.
Lakers Winning Streak Ends at Nine
04.04.11
Kobe Bryant forcing his way for a shot against Nuggets.
The Lakers played sloppy, shot the ball poorly, Pau Gasol hurt his knee, and they lost the services of Andrew Bynum late. All of that added up to a disappointing 95-90 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center.
Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, but shot just 10-27 from the floor, and was clearly bothered by the Nuggets’ aggressive defense against him, and the lack of foul calls.
His frustration boiled over and he picked up his 13th technical foul in the second quarter after slamming the court with his hand after a missed shot. He also missed several shots in the fourth quarter, including a key baseline jumper in the final moments with the game still on the line.
The Lakers also got a huge scare when Gasol went down clutching his knee after taking a hard foul on a made basket in the third quarter. He briefly went to the locker room, but did return to finish the game. Team officials have said he will have a precautionary MRI on Monday. Gasol finished the game with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but clearly didn’t have the same impact on the game after injuring his knee.
Bynum also left the game Sunday with seven minutes left after tweaking his knee on a collision with Lamar Odom. He appeared to grab his knee on the bench, but said after the game he was fine and expects to play on Tuesday against Utah. He scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
The Lakers led 47-40 at halftime in a very uneven game, with neither team shooting the ball well. The second half was a grind, the Lakers held the lead late in the third until Denver went on a run, and briefly grabbed the advantage. The score was tied at 69 at the end of the quarter.
The Lakers opened up a 75-69 lead early in the fourth, but the Nuggets took over from there. Point guard Raymond Felton scored all 16 of his points in the second half, including several key buckets down the stretch to keep Denver ahead.
With Denver up 91-83, the Lakers scored four straight and had the ball with under a minute left, but Bryant missed a tough baseline shot. The Nuggets split two free throws to go up 92-87. Odom, who had 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench, hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds left to bring the Lakers to within two. After Nene made his first free throw, he missed the second, and Kenyon Martin forced Odom under the basket to grab the putback, which effectively closed the door on the Lakers’ winning streak.
For the game the Lakers shot just 42.9% (36-84) from the floor and 4-18 (22.2%) from beyond the arc. They outrebounded Denver 45-44, but were undone by the 20 turnovers they committed. The Nuggets shot just 43.9% (36-82) from the field themselves, and turned the ball over 17 times as well.
Danilo Gallanari led the Nuggets with 22 points and seven rebounds. Kenyon Martin had 18 points and eight rebounds, and Nene scored 12 to go along with seven boards.
The loss dropped the Lakers 2.5 behind the Spurs for first in the Western Conference with six games left. The Lakers are now 17-2 since the All-Star break.
The champs’ next game is Tuesday night at Staples Center against the Utah Jazz, who were eliminated from the playoff race on Friday by the Lakers. After Tuesday’s game, the Lakers go on the road at Golden St. on Wednesday, and then Portland on Friday.
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 Sluggish in Win Against Raptors
11.05.10
Pau Gasol scores two of his 30 points against the Raptors.
When the Lakers look back on this season, Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors won’t be remembered as one to save for a time capsule, just as a victory. The Lakers shook off a terrible defensive game, and beat a gritty Raptor team 108-103 at Staples Center, to move to 6-0 on the season.
When the Lakers jumped out to a 33-20 lead after one quarter, it looked like the game was headed for extended minutes of garbage time, and another short night for the starters. But the young Raptors, learning about life after Chris Bosh, responded to the adversity on the road and stormed back to take a 58-55 lead into halftime.
The game went back and forth in the third, before the Lakers finally got the lead for good late in the quarter. They held on down the stretch for the win despite some uncharacteristic, shaky play in the last minute.
The Raptors dominated inside and on the boards all night, getting to the basket at will against the bigger Lakers, and outrebounding the world champs 49-31. The Lakers appeared confused on defense all through the game, and had trouble boxing out, as the Raptors also had 19 offensive rebounds to keep them afloat after the Lakers’ early lead.
Pau Gasol had another impressive offensive game, scoring 30 points on 12-22 shooting. He grabbed only seven rebounds, and didn’t have a single board until midway through the third quarter. It was just that kind of night. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points with six assists, and Steve Blake had 14 points, making 4-6 from the 3-point line. Shannon Brown added 12 points off the bench.
The Raptors had six players in double figures, led by Leandro Barbosa off the bench with 17, and USC-product DeMar DeRozan with 15. Amir Johnson off the bench had 12 points, and a game and career-high 15 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end. Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon each added 14 points.
The Lakers did outshoot the Raptors from the field hitting 48.1% to 47.1%, and only turned the ball over 12 times. But those were the few statistical categories the Lakers did win, besides the most important stat, the final score. The Raptors scored 38 points in the second quarter to erase the Lakers early 13-point lead.
Luke Walton saw his first action of the year, playing a little over six minutes and taking just one shot. He had been bothered by a strained hamstring since training camp.
The Lakers look to stay undefeated when they face Brandon Roy and the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Sunday. The Blazers, who always give the Lakers a hard time, are off to a good start at 4-2, despite missing their top two centers Greg Oden, and Joel Przybilla, both still recovering from serious knee injuries last year.
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