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Archive for the 'Postgame Comments' Category

BEST IN THE WEST!

Published by Kam Pashai on April 15, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 39 Comments

We’re baaaaaaack! The Lakers have done what was months ago, the unimaginable. Get ready, the real season is about to begin.

Yahoo! Sports: The Los Angeles Lakers began the season in chaos 5 1/2 months ago. They finished it as the Western Conference champions.

Pau Gasol had 22 points, leading MVP candidate Kobe Bryant added 20, and the Lakers beat the short-handed Sacramento Kings 124-101 Tuesday night to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

Lakers run over Spurs; grab top spot in West

Published by Kam Pashai on April 13, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 16 Comments

Yahoo! Sports: The Los Angeles Lakers went from No. 3 to No. 2 in the Western Conference on Sunday. They may soon be No. 1.

MVP candidate Kobe Bryant had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Lakers routed the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 106-85 for their seventh win in eight games.

The Lakers (56-25), who clinched their first Pacific Division championship in four years and the No. 3 seed in the West on Friday night, assured themselves of a second-place finish in the conference.

A victory over visiting Sacramento on Tuesday night in the regular-season finale would put the Lakers in position to be the top seed, giving them homecourt advantage in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Continue reading ‘Lakers run over Spurs; grab top spot in West’

Lakers Clinch Pacific With Win Over Hornets

Published by Kam Pashai on April 11, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 29 Comments

Who would have thought we would be Division Champions? I don’t see too many hands up. Great accomplishment considering our expectations before the season, now our eyes are set on the Conference crown.

Yahoo! Sports: The Los Angeles Lakers are Pacific Division champions for the first time in four years and have a shot at the Western Conference title after winning their most important game of the season.

But they had to survive a tremendous scare, blowing all but one point of a 30-point lead.

Kobe Bryant, making a push for his first MVP award, had 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and the Lakers held off the New Orleans Hornets 107-104 Friday night to move within a half-game of the conference-leading Hornets.

Pau Gasol added 25 points, Derek Fisher scored 15, and Lamar Odom had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Lakers (55-25), who never trailed but weren’t assured of victory until the final minute

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Video Highlight

Lakers’ skid in Portland continues…

Published by Jim Murdoc on April 9, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 40 Comments

ESPN: Though the Trail Blazers are out of the playoffs, that doesn’t mean they’re going quietly.

With the crowd at the Rose Garden chanting “Beat L.A!” Portland held off the Los Angeles Lakers 112-103 on Tuesday night.

Brandon Roy scored 23 points and matched his career high with 12 assists for Portland, which snapped a five-game losing streak. LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Channing Frye, starting in place of injured center Joel Przybilla, had a season-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.

“Coach said, ‘Go out and play with attitude and try to mess with some things in the West,’ and we did that tonight,” Roy said.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the playoff-bound Lakers, fighting to finish atop the Pacific Division. They need three wins — or three Phoenix losses — to take the division for the first time since 2004. The Suns beat the Memphis Grizzlies 127-113 earlier Tuesday night.

Continue reading ‘Lakers’ skid in Portland continues…’

Lakers fend off Kings for fourth straight victory

Published by Jim Murdoc on April 6, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 26 Comments

ESPN: Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Vladimir Radmanovic matched his season high with 21 and the Los Angeles Lakers stayed on track for the Pacific Division title with a 114-92 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night.

Radmanovic hit five 3-pointers and tied his career high with 14 rebounds, while Pau Gasol added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who won their fourth straight. They snapped their longtime rivals’ four-game winning streak with an outstanding second half, including a 23-9 run in the third quarter led by three of Bryant’s four 3-pointers.

Although the Lakers still trail New Orleans by 1 1/2 games for the Western Conference lead, the win pushed Los Angeles (53-24) — which has the same record as San Antonio — two games ahead of Phoenix (51-26) in the Pacific standings with five games to play. The Lakers have 18 division titles, but none since 2004, Shaquille O’Neal’s last season with the club.

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Lakers qualify for postseason for 55th time in 60 seasons

Published by Jim Murdoc on April 4, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 26 Comments

ESPN: Lamar Odom scored a season-high 31 points, Kobe Bryant added 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a playoff berth Friday night with a 112-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Lakers have qualified for the playoffs in 55 of their 60 seasons as a franchise, winning 14 NBA championships and 27 division titles — hoping for a 28th with a magic number of five.

Phil Jackson has made the playoffs in all 17 seasons as an NBA head coach — eight with the Lakers and nine with the Chicago Bulls. Jackson, whose nine NBA titles are tied with fellow Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, also holds the all-time mark for postseason victories with 179.

Pau Gasol had 25 points and seven assists for the Lakers, and Odom grabbed 10 rebounds. It was the sixth time this season that they have had three players with 20 or more points — all victories.

Gasol and reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki both were playing their second game with their respective clubs since returning from ankle injuries. Gasol was 11-for-20 from the field and Nowitzki was 13-for-19.

Nowitzki led the Mavs with 27 points, Jason Terry scored 25 and Josh Howard added 23. Jason Kidd had 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. This was the Mavericks’ 10th loss that was decided by four points or less.

The Lakers won three of the four meetings with Dallas, reversing last year’s results when the Mavs won the season series for the first time since 1986-87 and only the second time overall.

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Gasol contributes 10 points in Lakers’ win over Portland

Published by Jim Murdoc on April 2, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 19 Comments

ESPN: Kobe Bryant scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 10 points in his first game in nearly three weeks and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 104-91 on Wednesday night.

Bryant also had 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers (51-24), who trail New Orleans by 1½ games and San Antonio by one game in the Western Conference standings. The Hornets have eight games left, the Lakers and Spurs seven each.

Gasol, playing for the first time since spraining his left ankle March 14 and admittedly not fully healed, played nearly 32 minutes — far more than expected. He added six rebounds and seven assists.

“It’s going to be sore, there’s going to be pain,” he said before the game. “I just have to deal with it and get over it.”

The Lakers were 5-4 in his absence after going 15-4 in his first 19 games after Los Angeles acquired him from Memphis.

Derek Fisher scored 13 points, Lamar Odom had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Vladimir Radmanovic and Jordan Farmar added 10 points each for the Lakers.

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Kobe pours in 53, but hurt Lakers still fall to Grizz

Published by Jim Murdoc on March 28, 2008 in Postgame Comments. 40 Comments

ESPN: Rudy Gay led five players in double figures with 28 points and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers 114-111 despite 53 points by Kobe Bryant against the NBA’s worst road team Friday night.

The Lakers lost their second in a row to another of the NBA’s lesser teams, having been beaten by Charlotte on Wednesday night. The latest loss kept them from joining New Orleans and San Antonio in a three-way tie for the Western Conference lead.

Bryant scored 50 or more points for the 23rd time and the second this month. He had 52 against Dallas on March 2. The Lakers fell to 16-7 when he goes for that many.

He was limited to six points in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers nearly erased all of a 10-point deficit. He had 10 rebounds and one assist while taking 37 of the Lakers’ 94 shots. They attempted a franchise record 45 3-pointers, making 15.

Darko Milicic had 22 points and 12 rebounds, Hakim Warrick 16 points, Kyle Lowry 11 and Mike Miller 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who are 6-30 on the road and 2-20 away from home against Western Conference teams.

The Grizzlies led by 10 early in the fourth, their largest lead of the game.

Sasha Vujacic hit a 3-pointer to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 109-106 with 3:03 remaining. Miller missed a 3-pointer, but the Lakers couldn’t convert on their end despite four attempts on the same possession, including one by Bryant.

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