Lakers 96, Trail Blazers 83
February 26th, 2008, 9:54 pm · 2 Comments · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
LOS ANGELES – Kobe Bryant brought home a game that might well have slipped away without a sterling outing from him Tuesday night. Jordan Farmar tied his career high with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, but Bryant had to do most everything else to beat Portland. Bryant had 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
The key play produced the last three points of the third quarter and gave the Lakers a 67-65 lead after they trailed most of the game. Phil Jackson stresses finishing quarters well and places inordinate importance on the third quarter, which Bryant knows well.
Bryant surveyed Portland’s defense at the top of the key, then vehemently waved Farmar and Lamar Odom from the right side of the court to the left to create a driving lane for Bryant – with only Lakers teammate Sasha Vujacic camped out on the right wing for a 3-point shot if Portland trapped Bryant, as usual.
Portland did – but from the other side, refusing to leave Vujacic, whose hot shooting had him up to ninth in the NBA in 3-point percentage (43.7). Bryant adjusted on the fly, easily switching to his next option: Ronny Turiaf cutting across the lane from the open left side. Bryant dropped the ball off to Turiaf right on time, making Turiaf look good with the three-point play 2.5 seconds before the third-quarter buzzer.
HOMECOMING DANCE
The Lakers finally got to don the home golden armor again. They went 24 days with only one home game (Feb. 19 vs. Atlanta), although they did have an away game with the Clippers on Saturday night.
TRIMMING GASOL
As he continues to settle in, Pau Gasol finally found time to get that shaggy ‘do cleaned up. Speaking of appearances, Bryant has been wearing the high socks lately.
“T” TIME, AGAIN
One game after Bryant was given two technicals and ejected by referee Brian Forte, Jackson got on referee Kevin Fehr in the second quarter after calls went against Odom and Farmar; Bryant got on Fehr in the third quarter after getting shoved on an alley-oop finish without a whistle. Jackson and Bryant both got technical fouls.
NEXT
Miami at Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, TNT, KLAC/570
February 27th, 2008 at 7:34 am
I don’t blame Kobe for picking up the tech that he got last night…it seems like all too often, when a guy is going up for a dunk or layup, a player from the opposing team pushes him while he’s in a potentially dangerous position in mid-air. Not just with Kobe, but with NBA players in general. If they can crack down on hand-checking, then they should look at cracking down on that also before somebody gets hurt as a result.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I agree that NBA should do something about handchecking and push since it may hurt offensive players on flight. Kobe or not Kobe they should call it as it a push if it is one. That event involving a shove on Kobe should remind the NBA league of the mediocre manner of officiating the referees are dishing out in everygame.
The game with Portland shows the maturity of the Lakers team in waking up on a second-rate performance and willingly made huge adjustment to prevail in that game.