Lakers cruise past Jazz with Gasol, Bynum leading the way
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - When the Lakers have both of their seven footers on the court, they are a team to be feared. Add in Kobe Bryant (when he returns), Ron Artest, Lamar Odom and the killer B's (Brown, Blake, Barnes) and you got yourself a deadly offensive weapon at your disposal. Tonight against the Jazz, the Lakers used that offensive weapon to jump on the Jazz early and continued to jump on them throughout the course of the game ending with a 96-78 victory and improving to 12-4 on the year. Pau Gasol for the third straight game since his return from injury led the Lakers with 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds on 8-13 shooting from the field. Andrew Bynum continued his excellent string of games with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Ron Artest added 9 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. The Lakers as a team held the Jazz to 29-90 shooting for the game and grabbed 60 rebounds while turning the ball over just four times. A far different story from the free throw line then their last game against the Bulls. The Lakers were able to get to the line early and often and that led to 36 free throw attempts.
Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 16 points and 10 rebounds including 3 block shots. Guard Devin Harris added 13 points and 8 assists, but had one of his worst shooting games of the season going 6-20 from the field. His backcourt mate C.J. Miles was ineffective as well going 2-11 from the field. The Jazz were unable to get closer than five points in the second half before the Lakers outscored them 23-16 in the fourth quarter. The Jazz after trading point guard Deron Williams during the offseason after the sudden resignation of longtime coach Jerry Sloan have been struggling with Devin Harris at the point and rookie Derrick Favors coming off the bench for new coach Tyrone Corbin. It's a learning process, but this is a team that had playoff expectations coming into training camp even after the trade and coaching change, but so far they are going in the opposite direction.
Pacers get first victory at STAPLES with low scoring contest
LOS ANGELES, CA - For 10 years the Lakers have dominated the Indiana Pacers when it came to them visiting the STAPLES Center. Going all the way back to the 2000 NBA Finals in which the Lakers captured their first championship of the decade defeating the Pacers 4-2. Every year the Pacers would come in and every year the Lakers would show their dominance. The only thing different about tonight's matchup, there was no Kobe Bryant. Bryant continuing to recover from his injury is still listed as day-to-day, but the Lakers could've used his heroic fourth quarter shooting. The Pacers ended their long losing streak at STAPLES with a 79-76 victory. One of the lowest scoring outputs the Lakers have had over the last three seasons. Both teams just could not find the basket, the Lakers unable to extend their lead for most of the game until the Pacers went on a run that they couldn't answer to.
Derek Fisher led the Lakers with 16 points making 4-7 three point shots before fouling out in the final seconds of the game. Ron Artest scored 13 points and dished out 6 assists. Pau Gasol who had been on a dominating roll since his return from his injury only scored 10 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, but shot a horrible 5-20 from the field. Andrew Bynum had a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but was only 5-14 from the field. The Lakers as a team shot 30-94 from the field and 8-27 from behind the three point line.
Tyler Hansbrough led the Pacers with 16 points, 7 rebounds on 6-14 shooting from the field. Dahntay Jones and Paul George each added 14 points apiece. Guard Darren Collison who played nearby at UCLA made his homecoming a much memorable event with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. The Pacers were even worse from the field going 28-77 and 2-17 from behind the three point line. The Pacers were being outrebounded for most of the game but ended up with 59 rebounds to the Lakers 49.
The Lakers led at halftime 30-29, in one of the lowest first half scores the league has seen in sometime. It didn't get much better in the third as the Lakers outscored the Pacers 16-14 to take a 46-43 lead. The fourth quarter saw both teams almost match their point total for the first three quarters combined as the Pacers outscored the Lakers 36-30 to end up with the victory.
Gasol's triple double leads Lakers over former team Memphis
MEMPHIS, TN - Over three years ago the face of the Grizzlies franchise changed when Memphis according to many people were duped into trading Pau Gasol to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie and draft picks. Obviously if you looked at it on paper it was seemingly giving up Gasol (the 3rd pick of the 2001 draft) for his brother (the 48th pick of the 2007 draft). So trade Gasol for Gasol. Now the Lakers have gone on to win back-to-back championships and three straight finals appearances while the Grizzlies have hovered around mediocrity for several seasons, but last season to today have shown vast improvement and a hunger to win. That hunger was on display last night, but unfortunate for the Grizzlies, Pau Gasol's hunger was greater. Gasol notched his first triple double of the season with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists leading the Lakers from to a come from behind victory 99-93. The Lakers trailed 77-62 halfway through the third quarter when coach Phil Jackson called a timeout. Overhearing Jackson saying to his team, "You guys are allowing them to constantly drive the lane without any type of resistance from you. Quite opening up and trust that your help is there behind you.". Listening to his message the Lakers went on a 10-0 run cut the 15 point deficit to a mere four points, 81-77 at the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was a vastly different game then the previous three quarters played as the Lakers defense tightened up and they found themselves scoring on the inside. They would go onto outscore the Grizzlies 22-12 in the fourth.
The Grizzlies took the lead and control of the game with a strong second quarter and half of the third, but they could only muster up 12 points in the fourth and shot 24 percent (6-25) from the field and went without a free throw attempt. Rudy Gay led the Grizzlies with 19 points and 7 rebounds, but fouled out in the final minute of the game. Zach Randolph who also fouled out in the final minute added 18 points and 9 rebounds. Marc Gasol put up a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and guard Mike Conley contributed with 11 points and 10 assists. "We let one slip away, plain and simple. When we had that big lead in the third we settled and when you settle against the champs, they will use it against you and it showed," said Rudy Gay. "It's hard to be up by that many points and be at home infront of your crowd and then the game suddenly turns on you. We were clicking and insync with each other and next thing you know we couldn't hit a basket and we looked confused," added Zach Randolph.
Spoiler
Los Angeles Lakers (13-5) @ Memphis Grizzlies (8-8)
07-08-2011, 02:08 PM
