LOS ANGELES – The lesson the Lakers learned from their Friday night debacle vs. Memphis? Not necessarily to shoot a lot fewer 3-pointers, but to shoot a lot better ones.

The Lakers (14 of 27 on 3-pointers) got back to their inside-out, sharp-passing game with a tone set by ball-sharing Kobe Bryant (26 points, 13 assists) and beat Washington. The Wizards did dazzlingly well on 3-pointers (17 of 30), too, making for a dramatic game because Bryant’s jumper was flat all game. Caron Butler leaned into a 3-pointer over Derek Fisher with 10.1 seconds left for a 111-111 tie before Fisher missed an open 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer.

Fisher did score five consecutive Lakers points to key an overtime comeback, though. Washington’s Nick Young, the 16^th overall pick in the June draft out of USC, scored a career-high 27 points, but he committed a key turnover in overtime after Phil Jackson switched Lamar Odom to guard Young. Sasha Vujacic was sent in for the next possession and stopped Young on a fadeaway that was short.

ODOM’S RIGHT KNEE

Why does Odom ice his right knee at halftimes and often wear a sleeve or band over it during games? He is bothered by tendinitis in that knee, which also bothered him last season.

FISHER’S FINE FORM

Fisher had much better lift on his shot and more assertive overall in his second game playing with a torn tendon in his right foot.

BUTLER DOING IT

Butler has expanded his whole game since he was a Laker – logical given how serious he is about his craft – and his passing was particularly on display for a Wizards team still missing Gilbert Arenas (knee) and losing Antonio Daniels (wrist) in the opening minutes.

NEXT

Portland at Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, FSN, KLAC/570.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under 2007-08, Game reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.