Well our Lakers head up north to take on Mark Jackson's Golden State Warriors. I love to say that because that means I won't have to hear his ridiculous commentary any longer. According to the practice report this game should've been an easy one. Their star Stephan Curry is hurt, they still have Monte Ellis who is also a threat, but both of them together are deadly. Also with David Lee we have and advantage over them inside...so here we go..As expected Bynum opens the game with a monster dunk. I figured that was a good sign. But, sigh..the Lakers seem to be sleepwalking again just like the Portland game. The " Curryless" Warriors were having their way. It's not that they were playing exceptionally good, but the Lakers were just playing bad. The score was 18-18 to end the first and the Lakers seemed like they couldn't get anything going offensively.
Golden State went on an 11-2 run to start the 2nd to put them up by five. To add insult to injury the Lakers already had 5 turnovers. Nate Robinson debuted as a Warrior tonight and was typical Nate. Taking Ill advised and often rushed shots..making most of them. He had 7quick points. We were now shooting a woeful 39%. Our 3point shooting continued to do a disappearing act. We also had many problems on the offensive glass. The floor spacing was also a mess. When the ball goes down low, the players need to either cut or space the floor. The Lakers did neither. Bynum didn't look on track to have a monster game . The coaching staff urged the team to dump the ball inside, but when Bynum touched the ball the Lakers were 4-14, and they were 7-13 when he didn't. Not very much difference. Well we go to the half down by 4. Kobe led the Lakers with 13 and Donkey led the Warriors with 9. Gasol only had 3 points and Bynum was 3-9. Our big guys needed to step it up and bad. We only shot 37%. in that half, and 12 turnovers!! The report from the lockeroom was that our team was tired from the game last nite,and the flight, but no excuses we have work to do.
I'm not sure what was or wasn't said in the lockeroom, but from the first play...It was all.Kobe. Let me just interject that in my opinion Kobe is damed if he does and damed if he doesn't. If he takes too many shots that he is a ballhog who is going away from the offense and playing his own game. But, when the ship is sinking and he doesn't take over we are all confused. When he takes over and bails us out we are all singing his praises. I don't get it. At any rate, all the cries of playing inside out and feed the big man went out the window. Besides, Bynum wasn't having that much of an impact anyway. But, Kobe being Kobe saw the Lakers couldn't make two points with a paper and pencil and he went to work. He was making layups, shooting fade aways, dunking, and he even fell out of bounds on the defensive end only to get back up and sprint to the other end for a layup. The guy was everywhere. No matter who the Warriors thru at him it didint matter..it never does. He had 17 in the fourth quarter alone.
When Kobe went to work that sparked Matt Barnes. He was making great passes, great defensive plays, and ended up with 16 points before he fouled out. He was actually with Mike Brown on the plane studying tape of the last game and it showed. Pau ended with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Bynum was one assist shy of a triple double, but didnt have nearly as dominating as the last two games. We out scored them in the third quarter 32-19. That made the score 67-58 going into the fourh quarter. We did get sloppy at the end letting our defense slip a little and the Warriors pulled to within four. They actually rattled off 32 points led by Monte Ellis. But our determination and resilience led us to a victory. We ran off 30 more shots and shot 10-19 in the quarter to win by 7. It wasnt our best game, but once again with Kobe's help and his 39 points we found a way to win. We won the battle of the boards pulling down 47 to the Warriors 34.
Kobe is still in a lot of pain with his wrist. He's been getting hormone shots before the game and he was seen whincing on the sidelines and he got it messaged during a time out. He won't have the normal three weeks rest, or even two day in between game rest he normally would get due to the shortened season. With the tighten scheduled and the fitigue and injuries Kobe said we would have some ugly victories....this was definitely one of them.