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LOS ANGELES
Kobe Bryant was just being Kobe Bryant when he scored 41 points against Memphis on Friday. It wasn’t anything new. He’s scored 41 points two other times this season.

Still, his dominating play in light of the Lakers’ injury situtation was impressive. He took over in the post, where Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum normally roam but sat out because of injuries and did not count a 3-pointer in his game-high total.

In fact, he didn’t even attempt a long-range shot.

“For the most part, he wa the only one scoring,” Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay said. “He was hitting some tough shots. We played pretty good defense on himi and he hit tough shots. What more can you ask for?

“Kobe was Kobe tonight. What is that, like eight straight shots or something like that, he had? It’s tough. When he’s on like that, it’s tough for any team.”

Post from: Lakers blog

Winning games this early in the season has been somewhat of a struggle for the Lakers without Pau Gasol in the lineup. Take away Andrew Bynum and the task suddenly got that much more difficult.

But not impossible.

The short-handed Lakers, behind the inspired play of Ron Artest, managed to put forget their injury woes for at least the time being and beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 114-98, at Staples Center.

Artest took up the some of the slack left by the Lakers’ two absent 7-footers, scoring 19 points, pulling down six rebounds and handing out seven assists. His spirited play came on the heels of TNY analyst Charles Barkley’s criticism of his off-court activities, including his music career. Barkley suggested Artest wouldn’t be focused enough on basketball.

Artest proved otherwise Friday, coming within one point of his season-high in points.

Kobe Bryant took up the rest of the scoring burden, leading all scorers with 41 points. Bryant became the youngest player to score 24,000 when he hit a 13-foot jumper with 4:14 left in the second quarter. He celebrated by shrugging his shoulders while sitting on the bench during a time out.

“What can I say?” Phil Jackson said. “This is a guy who sees a weakness in a team and exploits it. …. Killer instinct, that’s what he had tonight.”

The rest of the Lakers seemed to shrug off the notion they would have trouble without the two big men. DJ Mbenga, who started place of Bynum, scored five points and collected 12 rebounds.

Gasol has not played since straining his right hamstring in practice early last month and has yet to play in a regular-season game. He has sat out the first six games and his not expected to play Sunday against New Orleans.

Bynum suffered a strained right elbow against Houston on Wednesday and sat out Friday. He could see action Sunday.

The Grizzlies were led by Rudy Gay’s 22 points and Zach Randolph’s 21 points and 15 rebounds.

Post from: Lakers blog

TNT did a nice little feature Thursday on Ron Artest, profiling the newest Lakers’ off-court ventures. They showed his rap career, his community work, serving up milkshakes to his Twitter fans, hanging out in Los Angeles and basically just having fun.

It showed the lighter side of Artest.

But Charles Barkley apparently didn’t like it. The TNT analyst thought Artest is spending too much time on his rappin’ and experiencing the L.A. fun and not being focused enough on helping the team win.

“(The Lakers) are going to be (better) if he controls himself,” Barkley said on-air after viewing the Artest feature.

“If Ron Artest just plays basketball I think they can be better. He’s going to have to keep himself under control. He’s the fifth option, he’s not the fourth … he’s going to have to accept that winning is the most important thing. It’s easy to say that, but he’s the fifth option and he’s going to have to deal with that.”

Artest was hurt by Barkley’s comments and his attempt to take away his “shine” and posted 14 tweets on Twitter.

“Everybody can’t be Tiger,Bird,Stockton,Duncan etc.. Some people turn out to be Rodman , Maxwell and Artest! What’s so bad about that?!!!!.??”

“He wants me to be something I’m not,” Artest said.

He added, “That whole story had nothing to do with that. TNT was trying to make me look good, but Charles tried to turn it into something bad. They were pointing out a lot of good things and Charles totally took my spotlight, you know. He totally could have picked another time to do that.”

Post from: Lakers blog

Wishful thinking indeed.

Bynum (elbow), along with Pau Gasol (hamstring) were not available for Friday’s game against Memphis, leaving Lamar Odom and DJ Mbenga to handle Zach Randolph in the paint.

“Lamar has a big job because Zach Randolph is a prolific scorer,” Jackson said. “So we probably will double-team them in the post.”

Randolph, a 260-poiund power forward, is averaging 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds, while center Marc Gasol is throwing in another 17.6 points a game.

Jackson said it will be important for his post players to stay out of foul trouble considering sudden lack of big men.

“It’s going to be about the foul situation basically,” Jackson said. “We have to stay out of foul trouble and limit their big guys.”

Odom said staying out of foul trouble will be easy.

“Play less defense,” he said.

He laughed, but he sounded serious.

Post from: Lakers blog

Phil Jackson was asked by the locals the first night what he thinks of Oklahoma City. There was potential for the sort of slight that the broad-minded Jackson has given to smaller cities such as Sacramento (”cow town”), Orlando (”plastic”) and New Orleans (”that mildew smell”).

Jackson had sort of held his tongue in Las Vegas last month for an exhibition game, saying he wasn’t going to say anything bad about the city “as much as I’d like to.” This time with the Okies, Jackson basically did the same thing - but getting his opinion across.

The Lakers’ coach said he’s “not really fond” of the Oklahoma area. He praised the sunsets and sunrises, but then added: “The wind is aggravating if you live out here, there’s no doubt about it.”

Post from: Lakers blog

In 34 minutes, he didn’t grab a rebound or dish out an assist. He didn’t have any turnovers, but came up with one important steal at the end of the game that helped the Lakers preserve their overtime victory.

But that’s not enough for some, who are saying that the 35-year-old shouldn’t be starting, that Fisher should step aside. One of those naysayers is not Shannon Brown, the current heir apparent to the point guard spot.

Brown said what Fisher brings to the court is his veteran leadership, and that’s cannot be replaced easily. Like when Fisher gathered the Lakers in a huddle at the end of the Houston game and told his teammates how they need to play better defense.

He then went out and made his game-clinching steal, swiping the ball out of Trevor Ariza’s hands with 5.4 seconds left in OT.

“He can still get it done. He has no problem going up against the ‘young fellas,’ ” Brown said. “He still gets up the to the rack, still knocks donw the outside shot. He still knows what to do out there. I think he has become smarter and wiser out there in his 14 years, so now he doesn’t have to go as fast. He can really slow down and see what’s going on.”

Post from: Lakers blog

In the episode, when the CSIs investigate who or what caused the horrific car accident, both drivers’ darkest secrets are revealed. Gasol guest stars as a person of interest in the case. The show airs Monday, Nov. 16.

Maybe we’ll find out Gasol’s secret is that he will return sooner rather than next week from his hamstring strain. Stay tuned.

Post from: Lakers blog

Here’s the rundown from the Twitter (KevinDing) log …

I was going to tweet it midway through the game and should’ve: I’ve said it before, but Pat Fraher is the worst ref in the NBA. Clueless.

8:18 PM Nov 4th from TweetDeck

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After Kobe’s 10-foot fading turnaround just dropped, Pau looked away on the bench and raised his eyebrows, quite impressed.

7:49 PM Nov 4th from TweetDeck

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Ariza is 4 for 17 from the field. Can Rockets sub in Vlad Rad for him like Phil once would’ve? ;)

7:46 PM Nov 4th from TweetDeck

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Farmar’s 3pter gave Bynum his fifth assist … tying his career high with time still left in the 3rd qu.

7:23 PM Nov 4th from TweetDeck

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Gasol just appeared on the Lakers’ bench. The reason he skips the first half? He’s doing his therapy workout.

7:15 PM Nov 4th from TweetDeck

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Ariza every time overplaying Odom just a tad for Odom to go left, wouldn’t u say? Surprise! L.O. actually spun and went right

6:32 PM Nov 4th from UberTwitter

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Looking at Luis Scola and wondering if Sasha could’ve landed Maria with that dirty, shaggy look instead of the youthful, spikey ‘do

6:19 PM Nov 4th from UberTwitter

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Mascot Clutch dancing to Michael Jackson montage after 1st qu, but Artest actually more interested in talking triangle with Josh Powell

6:08 PM Nov 4th from UberTwitter

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Hakeem, sitting courtside, announced over PA here … prompting Luke and Jordy to entertain selves to no end with Dreamshake imitations

5:57 PM Nov 4th from UberTwitter

Post from: Lakers blog

During Thursday’s Chicago-Cleveland game, play-by-play man Marv Albert said someone on the Cavaliers staff had compared Anthony Parker’s shooting to Miller’s.

“The only thing Anthony Parker and I have in common,” Miller said, without missing a beat, “is, our sisters are better than us.”

Albert and Miller later speculated on a 2-on-2 showdown with Reggie and sister Cheryl Miller, the long-retired USC star, taking on Anthony and his sister Candace Parker, right, the current WNBA star for the Sparks from Tennessee.

Cheryl Miller, who also works for TNT, was a four-time All-American for the Trojans, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. She was the Naismith Player of the Year three times.

“Give us a year,” Reggie Miller said, but then in serious tone added, “not going to happen … We’re done.”

TNT then played a snippet of a Cheryl Miller interview with Shaquille O’Neal, where the Big Aristotle looked into the camera and said that she was better than her brother.

Post from: Lakers blog

That’s why he isn’t inclined to play Friday night against Memphis and sees the logic in also skipping Sunday night against New Orleans to get three more days of rest and rehabilitation before the Lakers’ next game Thursday night against visiting Phoenix. Phil Jackson is still holding out some small hope that Gasol will play against Memphis — the Lakers would be left using DJ Mbenga, Josh Powell and Lamar Odom in the paint, assuming Andrew Bynum (elbow) isn’t playing — but understands the situation.

“He wants to press it (in practice) and see how he reacts,” Jackson said of Gasol.

Gasol is ramping up his activity on his newly healed right hamstring so “my body can do a transition,” he said.

Gasol went through the Lakers’ light practice Thursday with an emphasis on executing triangle-offense sets but did not take part in any contact. He then went through drills with Lakers director of athletic performance and rehab ace Chip Schaefer, simulating game speed and moves. Schaefer even had a football-style blocking pad to give Gasol practice in the post, and Gasol would run rings around the three-point arc in between mid-range jumpers or free throws to create game-like fatigue.

Gasol said he was “not ruling Sunday out” to return. He wants to see how his hamstring feels Friday and then increase his workload gradually Friday and Saturday “and see if Sunday is the day or we want to wait until Thursday.”

Gasol played 104 of the Lakers’ 105 regular-season and playoff games last season. He has been playing recent summers for the Spanish national team also. Is the overload the reason his hamstring gave out in Lakers training camp?

“Probably, it is,” Gasol said. “That’s the way I think it probably happened.”

Post from: Lakers blog