Friday, February 27, 2009

Lakers-At-Nuggets Game Results - 27-Feb-09

DENVER (AP) -- For all the pundits who figure the Lakers and Spurs are the only teams to worry about in the West, the Denver Nuggets served notice Friday night that they deserve to be talked about, too.

J.R. Smith scored 22 points and hounded Kobe Bryant all night and the Nuggets beat cold-shooting Los Angeles 90-79 to end to end a nine-game losing streak against the Lakers.

The Nuggets got solid performances from reserves Smith and Chris Andersen, who tied a career high with seven blocks, pulled down 12 rebounds and chipped in 11 points, and their defense was, to a man, absolutely outstanding.

The Lakers, who brought the NBA's best record (48-10) into town when they checked into their hotel at 4 a.m., had their second-worst shooting night since the franchise moved to Southern California nearly a half century ago from Minneapolis -- 29.8 percent.

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Lakers-Suns Game Results - 26-Feb-09

The Los Angeles Lakers scored 70 points in the first half and rolled past the Phoenix Suns 132-106 Thursday night. Lamar Odom had 23 points on 12-for-13 shooting, helping the Lakers to their sixth straight win.

Kobe Bryant had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, while O'Neal had 12 points while taking just seven shots, and grabbed seven rebounds for the Suns in the former teammates' first meeting since sharing MVP honors at the All-Star game.

Pau Gasol added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who own the NBA's best record at 48-10 and lead the Pacific Division by 15 games over the Suns.

Los Angeles' points tied a season high and the team made a season-best 54 of 94 field goals, bettering the 48 the Lakers hit against Minnesota on Jan. 30.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Lakers-At-Thunder Game Results - 24-Feb-09

Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 36 points in a 3-minute span of the fourth quarter to stave off the Thunder's comeback bid and lead the Lakers to a 107-93 victory on Tuesday night. He didn't emerge from the Lakers' training room until about 40 minutes after the game, but he was in a good mood when he did.

Bryant moved into 19th place on the NBA's career scoring list, ahead of Adrian Dantley only one game after he passed Elgin Baylor for 20th. Entering the game, he had needed only 13 points to tie Dantley.

Kevin Durant scored 32 to lead Oklahoma City in its sixth straight loss. It was his ninth time scoring at least 30 points in the last 10 games, and the 13th time in 17 games, during a surge that's landed him right behind Bryant in fourth place in the NBA in scoring.

Rookie Kyle Weaver followed his career-best 19-point outing by scoring 16, and Russell Westbrook finished with 14 points for the Thunder.

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lakers-At-Timberwolves Game Results - 22-Feb-09

Lamar Odom had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant scored 28 to move past Elgin Baylor into 20th place on the NBA's career scoring list in the Lakers' 111-108 victory Sunday night.

Pau Gasol added 25 points for the team with the league's best record, which is 9-1 since Bynum went down with a torn MCL in his right knee on Jan. 31.

Ryan Gomes had 20 points and seven rebounds and Craig Smith scored 19 on 9-for-10 shooting for the Timberwolves, who are 1-4 without Jefferson and have lost six straight home games.

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Lakers-Hornets Game Results - 20-Feb-09

Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 39 points in OT and the Los Angeles Lakers beat New Orleans 115-111 on Friday night, snapping an NBA-record streak of overtime wins by the Hornets dating to December 2005.

Pau Gasol had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the defending Western Conference champions, who won for the 14th time in 16 games. Derek Fisher, whose 3-pointer with 14.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter forced overtime, made four free throws in the final 14.3 seconds of the extra period to ice it.

Lamar Odom grabbed 12 points and 17 rebounds, the fifth time in six games that he had 17 or more boards.

The Lakers improved the NBA's best record to 45-10 and avenged a 116-105 loss to the Hornets on Jan. 6 that ended a 15-game home winning streak. Chris Paul and David West, who combined for 72 points in that one, had 21 and 16 respectively in the rematch while Rasual Butler led the team with 31.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Lakers-At-Warriors Game Results - 18-Feb-09

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Trevor Ariza is just the latest in a long layup line of opposing players who love playing at the Golden State Warriors' breakneck tempo.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, Pau Gasol added 24 points and 13 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers roared from behind in the final 5 minutes for their 13th victory in 15 games, 129-121 over the Warriors on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles trailed late into the fourth quarter against the improving Warriors, but the Lakers made a dynamite 17-3 run beginning with back-to-back 3-pointers by Ariza, who finished with 17 points.

The lanky swingman might not have had the courage to take those big shots earlier in his career, but his confidence is growing along with the Lakers' NBA-best 44-10 record.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Lakers-Hawks Game Results - 17-Feb-09

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- With the All-Star break history and two months remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers are entering what coach Phil Jackson refers to as "countdown time."

Having owned the Western Conference's top spot through the first half, the Lakers got started on maintaining their status with a 96-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

Pau Gasol had 12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his third career triple- double, and Lamar Odom had 15 points and 20 rebounds, Derek Fisher scored 14 points, and Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar added 10 points each for the Lakers.

With his teammates carrying the load, Kobe Bryant scored a season-low 10 points.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Lakers-Jazz Game Results - 11-Feb-09

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- With some time to rest approaching, Deron Williams was determined to leave all his energy on the court.

Williams had 31 points and 11 assists and the Utah Jazz snapped the Los Angeles Lakers' seven-game winning streak with a 113-109 victory Wednesday night.

Mehmet Okur scored 22 points, CJ Miles had 17 and Ronnie Brewer added 16 to give the injury-plagued Jazz their fourth win in the last five games.

Lamar Odom had 19 points and 19 rebounds, but the Lakers allowed the Jazz to shoot a season-high 58.6 percent.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Lakers-Thunder Game Results - 10-Feb-09

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant bounced back quickly from the flu and became the youngest player in NBA history to reach the 23,000-point plateau.

Bryant showed no lingering effects from being sick two days earlier, scoring 34 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' surprisingly narrow 105-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

He obviously enjoys reaching such career milestones.

"It's always fun whenever you talk about the history of the game," Bryant said. "It's always a tremendous honor."

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Lakers handed Cleveland its first home loss

CLEVELAND (AP) - No second All-Star. No triple-double for LeBron James. And now, no more home winning streak.

It's been a rough few days for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lamar Odom scored a season-high 28 points, Kobe Bryant added 19 and the streak-breaking Los Angeles Lakers handed Cleveland its first loss at home this season, 101-91 on Sunday.

The Cavaliers came in 23-0 at Quicken Loans Arena, but were stopped by the Lakers, who ended Boston's 19-game winning streak on Christmas Day and halted a 12-game run by the Celtics earlier this week.

James finished with 16 points on just 5-of-20 shooting for Cleveland, which hadn't lost at home since Game 5 against Washington in the first round of last season's playoffs.

The Lakers weren't intimidated in the NBA's rowdiest arena and went 6-0 on a road trip that also included stops in Minnesota, Memphis, New York, Toronto and Boston.

Pau Gasol added 18 points with 12 rebounds for Los Angeles, which played a solid all-around game and made just six turnovers - none over the final 19:28. The Lakers' trip started rocky with center Andruw Bynum injuring his knee against the Grizzlies, but it couldn't have ended any better.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 22 to lead Cleveland. Mo Williams, whose All-Star snub had infuriated the Cavs, scored 19 and James finished with 12 assists and eight rebounds. It was James' first game since his apparent historic triple-double at Madison Square Garden was downgraded when the league took away one of his 10 rebounds.

Odom, who added a season-best 17 rebounds, scored 15 in the third quarter, when the Lakers outscored the Cavaliers 31-16 to turn a 10-point deficit into a 82-77 lead entering the fourth.

Odom scored 13 of Los Angeles' last 16 points to close the quarter, capping his one-man scorefest with a two-handed dunk off a miss in the final second as the Lakers became just the fourth team this season to lead Cleveland at home after three.

The Lakers pushed their lead to 10 before the Cavaliers rallied and closed to 93-89 on two free throws by Ilgauskas with 3:06 left. But Bryant, who was battling flulike symptoms, hit a high-arching fadeaway, and Gasol dropped one of two free throws to make it 96-89 when the jumbo scoreboard above midcourt inside Quicken Loans Arena went dark, a symbolic moment for Cleveland's players and fans.

James was stripped on the Cavs' next possession, and Gasol made two more free throws and scored on a putback as the Lakers put an exclamation point on one of their biggest wins this season.

Cleveland's crowd was at a playoff pitch from the outset for one of the most anticipated games of the season, a matchup of the league's top stars, both leading MVP candidates, and two of the NBA's best teams.

But the game never materialized into a Bryant vs. James affair as Odom stole the spotlight.

Earlier this week, Lakers coach Phil Jackson attributed some of Cleveland's dominance at home to a raucous crowd that may influence the officials.

"They all wear No. 23 and help him throw that (expletive) up in the air when he's at the scorer's desk," Jackson said. "He gets away with murder, on top of it, on his home court."

Jackson slightly backed off from those remarks before the game.

"I'm just saying, it's home court," he said. "There are going to be more fans who will be involved in every bump and grind and whatever happens individually to him. Those things will affect the decisions of referees."

James hadn't heard Jackson's remarks.

"Me get calls?" he said in a disbelieving tone. "You guys know Phil. He always makes a comment before a big game or rivalry game. He always says something to throw people's focus off. But you guys know that I don't get as many calls as I should get. We're not going to go there."

James was careful not to complain about losing his triple-double in New York, but he was clearly miffed by the league's decision.

"Um. Should I say something?" he wondered before opting to keep his opinion a secret. "We won the basketball game and that's all that matters."

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Lakers Beat Celtics Again

BOSTON (By Jimmy Golen, AP) - Ray Allen was still on the floor, knocked on his back, when the Los Angeles Lakers began hugging and chest-bumping under the 2008 NBA Championship banner that was earned at their expense.

"I wish we would have come here last year with this kind of attitude,'' said Pau Gasol, who scored 24 points with 14 rebounds Thursday night to lead the Lakers to a 110-109 overtime victory over Boston.

"Nobody backed down,'' he added. "We were as physical as anybody.''

In a rematch of an NBA finals in which the Celtics outmuscled the Lakers to the title, Lamar Odom made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left in overtime and Los Angeles held on with physical defense against Paul Pierce and Allen that prevented either All-Star from getting off a clean shot.

The loss snapped the Celtics' 12-game winning streak and dropped them to 0-2 against the best in the West. Boston trails the Lakers by percentage points for the best overall record in the NBA, and would lose a tiebreaker for home court advantage in the finals - if they both make it back.

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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Kobe Bryant Leads Lakers Past Raptors

TORONTO (AP) - Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers warmed up for their showdown in Boston with a victory over Toronto.

Kobe Bryant scored 36 points, Pau Gasol added 31 points and 15 rebounds and the Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 115-107 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight victory and eighth in nine games.

"We got it going a little bit more," said Bryant, who scored 10 points in the fourth to help the Lakers outscore Toronto 30-20 in the final frame. "We obviously picked up our energy a little bit. It felt like the first three quarters, we didn't have the pop we needed to. In the fourth quarter it seemed to be there for us.

Lamar Odom had 13 points, and Derek Fisher added 12 for the Lakers, set to play the Celtics on Thursday night in their first trip to Boston since losing the NBA finals.

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Monday, February 2, 2009

Kobe Bryant Scored 61; Lakers Beat Knicks

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Kobe Bryant knew Andrew Bynum was out, and potential taunts from Spike Lee and Mike D’Antoni could be ahead.

That gave him plenty of incentive to deliver a special night at Madison Square Garden—and he unleashed the biggest game the present building has seen.

Bryant broke the current arena record with 61 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers looked plenty potent without Bynum in a 126-117 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday night.

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