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.

Read more...

Read more...

Twin Tower Bounced Back in Lakers Win vs. Warriors

Pau Gasol bounced back from a bad game just 24 hours earlier. Gasol had 33 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in their come from behind victory over the Golden State Warriors 114-106 on Wednesday night.

Andrew Bynum also rebounded from a bad game against New Orleans. He had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, whose home loss to the Hornets on Tuesday snapped a six-game winning streak for the Western Conference leaders.

Kobe Bryant added 21 points to secure their seventh victory in eight games. Trevor Ariza, who played for 34 minutes to make up for the absence of injured Lamar Odom, contributed 17 points and 9 rebounds.

In their loss to New Orleans the previous night, Gasol made only 3 of his 8 field goal attempts for 10 points. He also grab just 8 boards and didn't block any shots. In their win tonight, he was 12-of-21, 8 offensive boards and 2 blocks. He's also hit a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.

Bynum only scored 7 points on 2-of-7 shooting with only 8 rebounds in their loss last night. This time he connected on 7 of his 12 attempts, had 4 of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end, and blocked 2 shots.

Jamal Crawford scored went 10-of-26 for 25 points with 9 assists but had 5 turnovers. Corey Maggette added 19 points and Marco Binelli 14.

Andris Beidrins contributed 12 points 3 block shots and 17 rebounds, all in the defensive end. Kelenna Azubuike added 15 points off-the-bench.

Read more...

Lakers-Warriors: Golden State Fails To Make It a Sweep

The Lakers routed the Golden State Warriors 130-113, on December 28. Reigning MVP Kobe Bryant scored 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting, hitting three of his six three-point attempts and a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. He had 4 steals and 4 assists.

Derek Fisher, who had a lot of help from his teammates defensively, played for less than 25 minutes and scored 19 points on 9-of-12 field goal shooting. He had 5 assists and a steal.

Sasha Vujacic scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting hitting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also had aix assists to go with his steal. Andrew Bynum played just over 25 minutes and made 6 of his 12 shots for 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot.

Pau Gasol added 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes. Trevor Ariza contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocked shots off the bench (including a blocked jump shot by Marco Belinelli).

Jamal Crawford returned to the Warriors' lineup after missing two games with a groin strain and scored 22 points with five assists. Belinelli and Brandan Wright had 14 points each.

As expected, the Warriors front-court wasn't be able to match up against the Lakers big men. Andris Biedrins only scored eight points, despite inhaling 17 rebounds (including a season high 15 rebounds in the first half). Biedrins tied Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns for the most reboudns in a half.

Stephen Jackson struggled with his shots hitting 3-of-9 for nine points with a single rebound. Former Laker Ronny Turiaf was scoreless in 20 minutes with a single rebound, despite blocking four shots.

The game was a shootout between the league's best offensive teams. The Lakers are the number one offensive team in the NBA averaging 107.3 points per game while the Warriors are number two with 105 points per contest.

But the Warriors are also the worst defensive team in the league, surrendering 111.3 points per game while the Lakers only allowed their opponents to score an average of 97.6 per game. The Lakers are, in fact, the 3rd leading team in the NBA in terms of point-differential, which is the average margin of victory.

The Warriors have proven that an energetic offensive team playing in their home court could win against a defensive team in their recent game against the Boston Celtics, the number one defensive team in the league that limits their opponents to 41.8% field goal shooting.

The Celtics didn't have enough offense to counter the Warriors' offensive run in the fourth quarter. The Warriors outscored the Celtics in the last period, 35-17 to seal their win.

But against the Lakers? No chance! The Lakers had enough offense to allow any letdown in any quarter in their game against the Warriors. Can the Warriors do it when they play in their home court against the Lakers on Jan. 7 next year?

Maybe... But I doubt it!

Read more...

Warriors Will Try To Get Back-To-Back Wins Against Top Teams vs. The Lakers

Tonight's game against the Lakers (24-5) and the Golden State Warriors (9-22) will be the first meeting between the two teams this season. The Lakers have won 13 of their last 16 games against the Warriors.

They split their four regular games last season 2-2. They last played on March 24, 2008 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. The Lakers won 123-119. But we couldn't use their last season's record match-up to predict this game's winner as the Warriors is now a completely different team with the departure of Baron Davis, who went to the Lakers' hometown neighbor, LA Clippers, and the trade of Al Harrington to the New York Knicks for Jamal Crawford. Plus, Monta Ellis is still out with ankle injury.

Davis, Ellis and Harrington combined for an average of 57.8 points in their 4-game series with the Lakers—that's more than half of their teams' average of 113.8 points scored against their downstate rivals.

The trio scored 62 and 63 total points in their two wins against the Lakers last season. Where would the Warriors get those scoring contributions? From Jamal Crawford? Maybe! Crawford just had a breakout game, scoring 50 points in their 110-103 win against the Charlotte Bobcats last week.

The current Golden State lineup is a typical Don Nelson's small-ball, free-wheeling, offensive team. And they went even smaller after they sent forward Harrington to the Knicks for guard Crawford, who's now playing as their starting point guard while Ellis recovers from ankle injury. Crawford is averaging 19.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.1 steals in 16 games in Warriors uniform this season. He missed last night's game against the Celtics due to groin injury. But he is expected to play tonight's game.

The Warriors were coming from a stunning victory against the Boston Celtics at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. Stephen Jackson returned to their starting lineup and scored eight straight points during the decisive fourth-quarter stretch to finish with 28, and the Warriors sent Boston to back-to-back losses for the first time this season by rallying past the Celtics 99-89. The Warriors won five straight and was 12 of 15 against the Celtics at home.

The Lakers have had some difficulty playing against small teams with quick guards who can penetrate inside. Would Crawford get inspired by his game against Bobcats and his team's win against the Celtics without him in the lineup to score another upset?

I don't think so! First, Jamal Crawford has had difficulty scoring against the Lakers team. He only averages 15.8 points in his last 13 games against the Lakers. The Lakers is no Bobcats! They won't allow anybody to drop 50 on them. Not even Dwayne Wade, whom they allowed to score 35 points in one of their losses. That game would probably be the last time they would allow an opposing player score 35 or more points on them. Well, at least before they visit Lebron James and his Cavaliers on Feb. 8 next year.

Also, the Warriors front-court wouldn't be able to match-up against the Lakers big men. 6'11" Andris Biedrins only averages six points and less than seven boards in 13 games against the Lakers. 6'9" Brandan Wright was also ineffective, scoring just 6 and 0 points in his last two games against the Lakers.

Would Nelson start 6'5" Kelenna Azubuike at small forward with 6'8" Stephen Jackson at power forward? Or maybe former Laker, 6'10" Ronny Turiaf with 4.2 points per game. Maybe he could use Turiaf's 2.2 blocks per game to stop 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

But hey, didn't the small-lineup Heat, playing like David, beat the the Giant Lakers? I'm sure Don Nelson has been spending nights watching and analyzing that game. He'd want to be the next David to defeat Goliath.

Only that Phil Jackson and his coaching staff are doing the same watching and analyzing. I'm sure they've learned already from that game.

I hope...

Read more...