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LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 29: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakerscatches a pass from Steve Nash #10 in front of Eric Gordon #10 of the New Orleans Hornets
The LA Lakers just defeated the New Orleans Hornets today, the final score being 111-106. The Lakers came in having won 19 of 25 games, while the Hornets have won 15 of 29. The Lakers were on a 2 game win streak which by itself is unusual for this dysfunctional team this season. Even more of a stunning stat is that Kobe Bryant came in having had 14 assists in the last two games. The Lakers secured their longest winning streak of this season, making it three games today. Here are some points from today’s game-
The New Orleans Pelicans. That’s what they are going to be known as. A Pelican is a bird. Not a bird of prey if you ask Kevin McHale. If you ask me, Pelicans is no more of a silly name than the names of half the teams in the league. The Knickerbockers? The Magic? The Spurs? We have become acclimated to those names and thus don’t think twice about it. Same deal with Pelicans; soon everyone will be used to it. In the meantime, everyone will enjoy taking the monkey out of them-
“Not very intimidating”, said Kobe. And that’s mild when compared to what follows-
“What are they going to do? Poop on you?” This coming from a white haired coach.
Aliens exist. They have abducted Kobe Bryant in their spaceship and replaced his soul – Space Jam style – with that of a rational basketball player. Six of the Lakers finished with double figures. Kobe Bryant attempted 12 shots and had 11 assists. He finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds with his 11 assists. The other Lakers who finished in double figures were Earl Clark with 20, Dwight Howard with 24 points and 4 rebounds, Steve Nash with 12 points and 5 assists and Antwan Jamison with 16 points and 7 rebounds.
The Lakers attempted 33 free throws to 21 of the Hornets. Its hard to get a win on the road when you can’t get to the line too often. But their advantage was neutralized a little as the Lakers only shot 21 of 33 and the Hornets shot 19 of 21 from the free throw line.
The Lakers had four players who got 7 rebounds or more. They out-rebounded the Hornets 41-29. Anthony Davis only had 3 rebounds for them. The young rookie needs to be a dominant presence night in and night out for the Hornets to get anywhere. Robin Lopez led them with 9 boards.
The Hornets put up a great fight, with five of their players finishing in double figures. Anthony Davis had 18 points, Robin Lopez had 16, Eric Gordon had 25, Greivis Vasquez had 15 and Ryan Anderson had 16.
Pau Gasol – deserving of more game time?
Mike D’Antoni continues to bring Pau Gasol off the bench. The big Spaniard played very well in the limited time he got. He was on the floor for only 21 minutes, and had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. If you ask me, with Kobe playing rationally, any power forward inserted with Kobe, Nash, Howard and World Peace will look good if he is competent. Earl Clark is quite competent, no knock on the big guy. But Paul Gasol has accomplished a lot more as a player and has proven himself time and time again. He deserves to get minutes if he can outplay Clark, which he can. The question remains, a dubious one, of fitness. Can Gasol fit within the Lakers better than Clark? The logical answer ought to be a resounding ‘Yes’! But as long as the Lakers are wining, Gasol isn’t one to complain. Earl Clark played well today; he had 20 points on 8-11 shooting and went 4-5 from three point range, along with 12 rebounds and 4 assists. The Lakers were still -6 when he was on the floor, compared to +21 when Gasol was on. In the long term, it makes more sense to acclimate Gasol in this winning mentality the Lakers have got into. Hopefully it will happen soon.
I’ve always been baffled by how people use this stat – the head to head record of the teams versus each other. In this case, one stat which just cropped up was that the Lakers have won eight consecutive matchups versus the Hornets and have won six straight at home versus them. Did both teams have similar lineups? No. Why then would this stat be relevant? Of course, I realize that it’s relevant from the point of view of a rivalry. But by no stretch of imagination can it be used as an indicator of who will come out on top in this matchup.
The Lakers have a relatively easy schedule in the next few games and if they can keep this form up, they may squeeze into the postseason, but it’s still a long shot.
Here are the first half highlights-
Guess the Lakers players!
