Los Angeles Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves 104-92

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant scored 20 points while playing with a small break in his finger, and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up the generous portion of their schedule with their 11th straight victory, 104-92 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Pau Gasol had 17 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for the defending champions, who improved the NBA’s best record to 18-3 while finishing a season-opening stretch with 17 of their first 21 games at home. Ron Artest scored 16 points and Lamar Odom added 13 for Los Angeles, which hasn’t lost since Nov. 15.Yet the Lakers also got a scare when Bryant hurt the index finger on his right hand while reaching for a pass late in the first quarter. Bryant has an avulsion fracture, in which a small piece of bone tears away near a ligament or tendon.”It’s pretty painful,” Bryant said. “I just tried to play through it.”

He got taped up on the bench and returned briefly in the second quarter, but then went to the locker room until returning after halftime with the finger fully wrapped.It’s too soon to tell how the injury will affect Bryant, who was dogged by a nagging pinky injury for most of the past two seasons. The NBA’s second-leading scorer appeared to play with relative ease after the injury in Los Angeles’ ninth straight victory over the Timberwolves.

Al Jefferson had 24 points and 13 rebounds as Minnesota lost for the fifth time in six games to drop to 3-20 under rookie coach Kurt Rambis, who picked up last summer’s NBA championship ring from his longtime employers before the game.

The Lakers’ exceptionally kind early season schedule officially ended with their seventh consecutive home win over the Timberwolves and their first 11-game winning streak since late in the 2003-04 season. With more than 41 percent of their regular-season home schedule already finished, the Lakers will open a five-game road trip at Utah on Saturday night – their first game outside California since Nov. 13.

Ramon Sessions scored 15 points for the Timberwolves, whose lively play couldn’t overcome 17 turnovers. Former UCLA star Kevin Love had an uneven debut in the starting lineup, matching his career high with 19 rebounds but managing just seven points on 3-of-14 shooting.

Minnesota made an impressive run during Bryant’s absence, with Sessions making six consecutive shots to keep Los Angeles’ halftime lead to two points. Bryant hit a 3-pointer and two more baskets in the opening minutes of the second half, propelling the Lakers back ahead.

Los Angeles then scored the final 12 points of the third quarter to take an 86-68 lead. Bryant stayed in the game until midway through the fourth quarter.

Rambis received his ring and a warm ovation from the Staples Center crowd before the game. The longtime Lakers forward and assistant coach accepted the task of rebuilding the Timberwolves last summer, bringing the triangle offense to Minneapolis with little success so far.

“There’s been such a long time from when we actually won ’til now, that all those emotions have kind of gone away,” Rambis said. “But it’s always good to get it, because it signifies a lot. It’s good to show my family, and add it to the others in the attic somewhere.”

NOTES: The Lakers still haven’t lost since Gasol’s return from injury, going 10-0. … Longtime Utah Jazz broadcaster Hot Rod Hundley joined the Lakers’ television team for the first of six games filling in for regular color commentator Stu Lantz. … Rambis played nine seasons for the Lakers, winning four titles, before winning two more rings during seven seasons during this decade as an assistant coach.

LOS ANGELES lakers vs Utah Jazz 101-77

Kobe Bryant

LOS ANGELES Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, Pau Gasol had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers rolled off 19 consecutive points in the fourth quarter of their 10th straight victory, 101-77 over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.Ron Artest scored 17 points for the Lakers, who improved to an NBA-best 17-3 by holding the Jazz to six points and two field goals in a comically one-sided fourth quarter.
After leading by just two points entering the fourth, Los Angeles held the Jazz scoreless for more than six minutes while getting points from five players.

Deron Williams scored 17 points for the Jazz, who couldn’t manage a field goal in the first 7:25 of the final period of their 13th consecutive loss to the Lakers at Staples Center, counting six losses in the past two playoffs.

Mehmet Okur and C.J. Miles scored 14 points apiece for Utah, which managed just two field goals in the fourth quarter on 2-for-18 shooting.

Andrew Bynum scored 14 points for Los Angeles, which forced two shot clock violations by the Jazz during that fourth quarter stretch while getting eight points from Jordan Farmar, the inconsistent backup guard. Williams’ jumper with 4:35 to play was the Jazz’s first field goal of the period, and they didn’t get another until Miles’ basket in the final minute.

Carlos Boozer had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, failing to score at least 21 points for the first time in nine games. Utah, which hasn’t beaten the Lakers at Staples Center since Jan. 1, 2006, rebounded from a loss to lowly Minnesota with a win over San Antonio on Monday, but its fourth-quarter woes in Los Angeles led to just the Jazz’s third loss in 11 games.

Los Angeles’ winning streak is its longest in a single season since winning 10 straight in February 2008.

Bryant played after skipping the morning shootaround, telling the Lakers he was shaken up after a home-invasion robbery occurred in his family’s gated community in Orange County last night, leading to a police standoff.

The Lakers are one game away from completing an undefeated six-game homestand, which concludes Friday with a visit from Minnesota. Los Angeles’ lofty record is little surprise after an exceptionally generous schedule featuring 17 of its first 21 games at home, but the Lakers are on the road for all but nine of the following next 28 games.

Most of the Lakers’ victories have been easy, with the notable exception of last Friday’s one-point win over Miami on Bryant’s self-acknowledged lucky 3-pointer at the buzzer. Coach Phil Jackson felt a few close games would help his team’s late-game execution later on, and they got another test of their tenacity against Utah – until the fourth quarter, that is.

Los Angeles had been outstanding in the middle two periods during its winning streak, repeatedly pulling away from its opponents to render the fourth quarter fairly meaningless. But Utah took the lead in the second quarter and held it largely through superior offensive rebounding until late in the third, when Bryant and Lamar Odom shook the Lakers from their slumber.

NOTES: The teams meet again on Saturday in Salt Lake City. … Longtime Lakers player and assistant coach Kurt Rambis will face the Lakers on Friday night for the first time since taking over the Timberwolves. … Denzel Washington, Jack Black, Emmanuelle Chriqui and poker players Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth were at courtside.

Lakers vs miami heat 108-107 on Friday night

kobe bryant la lakers vs miami heat

LOS ANGELS  Down by two with 3.2 seconds left, Kobe Bryant merely wanted to drive for a tying basket. His foot slipped when he got the ball, and Miami’s defense forced Bryant to throw up an off-balance 3-point shot that was well off target and far too long.Yes, everything went wrong on the Los Angeles Lakers’ final possession.Kobe somehow made it all right.

Bryant banked in his final shot over Dwyane Wade’s outstretched arm at the buzzer, ending the superstars’ sensational duel and sending the Lakers to their eighth straight victory, 108-107 over the Heat on Friday night.Bryant scored 33 points, but his falling bank shot from straightaway likely will rank among the most incredible highlights of his career – even if he refused to take too much credit for it.

“It was the luckiest shot I’ve ever taken, by far,” Bryant said. “It felt good, (but) I just couldn’t believe this ball might go in on this shot.”With 3-pointers by Bryant and Derek Fisher in the final 4.3 seconds, Los Angeles swiped an outstanding regular-season game away from the Heat and Wade, who scored nine of his 26 points in the final 2 minutes. A night of mediocre shooting finally cost the defending NBA scoring champion when he missed a free throw that gave Los Angeles one last chance to tie it with a two-point basket.

Bryant was forced to go for the win, and his improbable shot kept the Lakers atop the overall NBA standings while sending Miami to its eighth loss in 12 games.”If you told me before the game that it would be decided by Kobe shooting a one-legged backboard 3, I’d have taken that,” Wade said. “The basketball gods were with him on that one, but we did a great job and did what we’re supposed to do on the road – give ourselves a chance to win. But a great player hit an unbelievable shot. There are a couple of guys around the league that make big shots, but there ain’t many, and he’s one of them.

The matchup between U.S. Olympic teammates was the center of an action-packed game featuring a shoving match between Jermaine O’Neal and Lamar Odom, leading to Odom’s ejection with 5:07 to play.

Neither star was perfect, with Wade struggling to a 7-of-21 shooting performance and Bryant missing the basket entirely on a potential tying shot with 24 seconds to play. Both came up big in the final seconds, but Bryant was just a bit bigger in front of his raucous home crowd.

“It’s L.A.,” said Fisher, who hit a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left, setting the stage for Wade’s last miss and Bryant’s heroics. “Why not have it be as dramatic as it was? … I had to remind myself this was a regular season game in mid-December. I was jumping on Kobe’s back like it was the finals.”O’Neal had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who rebounded from an 18-point loss in Denver one night earlier with an impressive effort against the defending NBA champions.After Wade put Miami ahead 102-100 with 49 seconds left on an awkward one-handed shot from the baseline, Miami appeared to sew up its first road win over the Lakers in five tries when Wade’s two free throws put the Heat up 106-102 with 9.3 seconds to play.

“I only get a chance to play against them twice a year, and I take on the challenge and I enjoy it,” Wade said. “I enjoy the competitive nature that I know Kobe’s going to bring every night, and I’m going to bring the same things. I think he understands that as well, so it was a good battle going back and forth. He got the last laugh this time.”

Pau Gasol scored 22 points and Andrew Bynum added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who had won seven straight games by double digits while surging to the top of the standings. After several games against struggling opponents, they seemed headed to a narrow defeat in their toughest test in weeks – but Bryant wouldn’t allow it.In the midst of an underwhelming start to the season, Miami showed considerable moxie in its third game in four days. Quentin Richardson hit a 3-pointer with 2:44 to play to put the Heat in front before Wade scored nine of their final 11 points.

Moments earlier, O’Neal and Odom exchanged shoves after Odom fouled O’Neal, who bumped into Odom while hanging on the rim after his dunk. When Odom reacted angrily, O’Neal gave him a one-handed shove in the chest, and Odom responded with a two-handed shove.Both got technical fouls, but the T was Odom’s second, resulting in his ejection.Bryant’s duel with Wade didn’t start out with much excitement: Wade scored one point in the first quarter and didn’t manage a field goal until throwing down two stellar dunks in the final 2:04 before halftime.

NOTES: Gasol fell to the court writhing in pain with 6:03 to play after Odom poked him in the left eye while both players tried to block a layup by Richardson. Gasol returned to the game when Odom was ejected. … Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he discussed Ron Artest’s recent admission of drinking alcohol during games a decade ago – not to talk about Artest’s drinking, but about his decision to discuss it with the media.