EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol partnership debut featured numerous fourth-quarter celebrations for the two of them as the Lakers pulled away from the Nets – more because of Gasol down the stretch than Bryant.
Twice down the stretch Tuesday night, Bryant drew double teams and passed to a rolling Gasol for even more dependable finishes than Andrew Bynum had been giving on those same plays. Gasol (24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds) made his last five shots of the game while Bryant missed his last three.
Bryant (six points, seven turnovers, eight assists) had his first slow game of this trip in the fourth game, but the Lakers still improved to 3-1 (with the one loss coming by one point in Detroit). Derek Fisher (28 points) was the Lakers’ top scorer.
BRYANT HURT
Bryant dislocated the MP joint in his right pinkie finger with 5:47 left in the second quarter and left the game; he returned a few minutes later with that finger taped to his fourth finger.
QUOTABLE
After Luke Walton deflected a pass into the front row, spilling a fan’s beer, referee Ron Garretson reached into his pocket and said to the fan: “If I had a $20, I’d buy you another one.”
GASOL’S FOULS
Gasol had his first-half playing time limited by fouls: He sat with 6:28 left in the first quarter after charging into Vince Carter for a second foul; he sat again with his third foul 5:13 before halftime.
NEXT
Lakers at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Wednesday, KCAL/9 (5:30 p.m.), KLAC/570
Way to start your Laker career, Pau!! Gasol’s impact on the Lakers might turn out to be much more significant than what I expected.
Welcome to L.A. Pau, welcome to L.A.!!
You can tell what kind of game Gasol has watching him score so easily. He’s so fundamentally sound on defense too. When have the lakers ever won with Kobe scoring 6 points in the years without Shaq?
how come Kobe gets such crap about his outburst last May, when you know darn well the lakers wouldn’t have ariza nor gasol without it! you guys give him crap, but he’s a genius. he got the lead out of mitch’s rear-end. he’s certainly smarter than any columnist covering the sport.
The two-man game between Kobe and Pau is going to be very fun to watch. Although Kobe and Shaq had something of a two-man game, and this year Kobe and Bynum (before his injury) were developing into a promising tandem, Pau’s ability to shoot the mid-range jumper, as well as to finish near the rim, will allow this duo to be pretty darn difficult to stop.
It will be very interesting to see how Pau and Bynum play together, when Bynum comes back, but I can already see Kobe having the option to feed the high-post to Pau or the low-post to Bynum, and then the post-player (whether Pau or Bynum) having the option to give the rock back to Kobe (as he slashes or rolls around to an open spot) or to feed each other for some easy baskets.
There are still a lot of “if’s” but they are “if’s” of hope, as opposed to “if’s” of despair. A very nice feeling indeed…
What a difference a trade makes. When the Lakers get Bynum and Ariza back and if Luke can get healthy , it boogles the mind to think about how good this Laker team can be. Maybe even good enough to match up with the Celtics if they can get that far. They are at least on a competitive level with Phoenix, Dallas , New Orleans and San Antonio.
So much so that Phoenix is in hot pursuit of Shaq to try and off set Gasol and Bynum. This is going to be a great playoff for the western conference title. Maybe the best ever and the Lakers are in the hunt.