Lakers 103, Wizards 91
February 3rd, 2008, 11:22 am · 1 Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
WASHINGTON – Kobe Bryant had his second brilliant outing in two games since the Pau Gasol trade. Bryant had 19 points in the first 11 minutes to lead the Lakers to a 30-15 lead. He finished with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting in 35 minutes Sunday in a blowout of the Washington Wizards.
He had scored 46 points against Toronto on Friday night in a performance Lakers coach Phil Jackson described as “enthused” and “joyful” as a result of the Gasol trade that is expected to make the Lakers immediate championship contenders. Bryant elevated everyone’s play again Sunday, with Vladimir Radmanovic (15 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Sasha Vujacic (12 points) giving the Lakers more good minutes.
Gasol is set to debut Tuesday at New Jersey. He watched the second half from the Lakers’ bench with assistant coach Brian Shaw in his right ear with explanations about the triangle offense. He joined the team’s huddles in timeouts and listened in at one point when Bryant was advising Ronny Turiaf. Jackson noted the triangle is easier to learn for big men and said of Gasol’s adjustment: “We don’t think it’s going to take him more than a couple of weeks.”
COPY CAT
Bryant’s buddy, Washington’s Caron Butler, played despite a strained hip but couldn’t keep up when matched against Bryant. But after Bryant did his stylin’ airplane-like celebration after a first-quarter score, Butler hit a layup at the other end and mimicked Bryant’s flying.
HANGIN’ TOUGH
Lamar Odom (14 points, seven rebounds, five assists) often can’t recover from poor starts, but this time he did: Odom shot 1 for 5 and then made his final six shots.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Twice in the fourth quarter, the considerable number of Lakers fans at Verizon Center produced solid “Let Go, Lakers” chants. One guy even could be heard yelling, “We want tacos!” as if it were a game at Staples Center.
NEXT
Lakers at New Jersey, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, KCAL/9 (5:30 p.m.), KLAC/570
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
After letting Kobe go off for 46 last game I thought Mitchell should be fired. After letting Kobe get 19 in the 1st quarter, I know Eddie Jordan should be fired.
At least he didnt sugar coat anything in the post-game interviews.
We didn’t play as a group as well as we need to play to beat a team like the Lakers. Or anybody. We don’t win this game against anybody tonight,” Jordan said. “We had bailouts, we had short cuts and not enough passion from everybody and not enough concentration from everybody
The sisters of mercy would have played better than the Wizards, thats totally un-acceptable at home.