Lakers 106, 76ers 101

December 21st, 2007, 6:33 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM

PHILADELPHIA – At the end of last season, the two positions that Phil Jackson lamented just had to get stabilized for the Lakers to move forward were center and point guard.

So far, so good.

The Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night in large part because of center Andrew Bynum (career-high 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting, plus 11 rebounds) and point guard Derek Fisher (season-high 21 points and seven assists). Fisher’s backup, Jordan Farmar, also contributed seven points and four assists.

Lamar Odom also reminded the Lakers of his fine play from the last postseason with another good game: 21 points and 10 rebounds. The Lakers’ hope is that Odom can more often than not offer that effort through this regular season.

CHANGING ROOM

Odom had a cut on his left elbow open up and leave blood on both his jersey and his shorts; he had to change both right there in front of the bench in plain view.

WASTED MINUTES

Vladimir Radmanovic had 10 very empty minutes, missing all four of his shots in the game and committing two fouls.

FILLING PHILLY

The 76ers have struggled to draw fans and tried hard to milk Kobe Bryant’s visit – bringing in Julius Erving and the 1983 NBA championship team for a halftime presentation, offering dollar hot dogs and scheduling a Lower Merion High game afterward – but still came up short of a sellout.

NEXT

Lakers at New York, 9 a.m. Sunday, KCAL/9, KLAC/570

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