April 3rd: Lakers over Houston 104-88. Kobe's 43 forge tie with Baylor. Jackson says Charlotte's release of Rush 'vindictive'

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:33 am    Post subject: April 3rd: Lakers over Houston 104-88. Kobe's 43 forge tie with Baylor. Jackson says Charlotte's release of Rush 'vindictive'

Lakers Avoid Lesser Evil
A 104-88 victory over Houston is their fifth straight win over a losing team, the kind that used to torment them. Bryant scores 43.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 3, 2006

These are the games the Lakers wanted to win, needed to win, although it hasn't always been easy to do so this season.

Straightening out some snags in time for a stretch run that appears increasingly likely to earn them a playoff appearance, the Lakers again lashed back at their third-quarter doldrums and dusted off another sub-.500 opponent.

Neither had been guarantees earlier this season — in fact, the opposite often happened — but they were clear factors in a 104-88 victory Sunday over the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

The Lakers stormed through the Rockets with another potent third period, outscoring them, 37-18, and have won their last five games against teams that came in with losing records.

Kobe Bryant had 43 points, 22 in the third quarter, and tied a team record with his 23rd 40-point game of the season. Lamar Odom had 21 points and Smush Parker had 15 points to go with a career-high 10 assists.

After embarrassing losses to Charlotte, Atlanta, Boston, Portland and Seattle in a six-week span, the Lakers have beaten Minnesota, New Orleans, Boston, Seattle and now the Rockets in the last three weeks. It's not the stuff that builds championship resumes, but it makes playoff races less of a strain.

"That's one of Phil [Jackson's] messages when we started this last stand," Bryant said. "He said we've really got to start turning it up, stop playing to the level of our competition. We've been responding to it."


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:34 am    Post subject:

Kobe an outsider in L.A. win
By Ross Siler Staff Writer

If Elgin Baylor lived from 16 feet and in during his playing days, as Lakers coach Phil Jackson put it after Friday's game in Seattle, then Kobe Bryant was all 16 feet and out in matching Baylor's franchise record for 40-point games Sunday.

You won't see a lot of 43-point games like Bryant had in the Lakers' 104-88 victory over the Houston Rockets. The superstar guard made 17 jumpers - his other two field goals came off dunks - and went to the foul line twice in 36 minutes.

It was the kind of game than anyone who has ever shot around in the driveway could appreciate. Bryant did little more than catch and shoot over the likes of rookie guard Luther Head and Keith Bogans and connected on 19 of 32 attempts for the game.

He had 22 points in the third quarter alone - which the Lakers won 37-18 to take an 88-70 lead into the fourth - and didn't even try to drive to the basket knowing how Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy wanted to rotate defenders to stop him.

"I just wanted to come out and provide some energy and my shot started falling and it turned into a lot of momentum for us that Houston couldn't really hold onto," Bryant said. "We wound up breaking the game open."
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:36 am    Post subject:

Bryant's 43 worthy of a high-five
He scores 22 in the third quarter, and the Lakers are five games above .500.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – Adding on to his many other anti-Kobe Bryant theories, Seattle SuperSonics guard Ray Allen reached back for the original Bryant bashing after the Lakers won in Seattle on Friday night: He shoots too much.

"My mentality is not to shoot that many times," Allen said. "I want to get everybody else involved."

If Allen watched the third quarter of the Lakers' 104-88 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday, perhaps he learned something about the power of Bryant's fire. Bryant launched over smaller defenders before help defense could arrive, made almost every jumper, passed a few times to wide-open teammates, and energized the Staples Center crowd and his team's defense.

Bryant single-handedly took the game away from the Rockets, who came in determined to begin one final push for the playoffs. But the victory was the Lakers' sixth in seven games and lifted them five games above the .500 mark (40-35) for the first time all season.

"Kobe had a great performance," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Bryant's 43-point game, which tied Elgin Baylor's club record of 23 40-point games in a season.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:37 am    Post subject:

Kobe's 43 forge tie with Baylor

LAKERS 104, ROCKETS 88 Bryant puts together his 23rd game this season with 40-plus points.

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 2, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

LOS ANGELES - Kobe Bryant shot his way into the Lakers history books again.

Bryant scored 22 of his 43 points in the third quarter of the Lakers' 104-88 victory over the Houston Rockets before 18,997 at Staples Center on Sunday.

He tied Elgin Baylor for the franchise record for the most 40-plus-point games in a single season with 23. Baylor did it in the 1962-63 season.

"I never in my wildest dreams dreamed of being in such great company as Elgin," said Bryant, who was 19 for 32 from the field, 3 for 5 from three-point range.

Bryant wasn't alone in helping the Lakers improve to 40-35 and maintain a 1 ½-game lead over Sacramento for the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Lamar Odom had 21 points and six assists, and Smush Parker had 15 points and a career-high 10 assists.

But it was Bryant who did the most damage, going to work in earnest in the third quarter. He outscored the Rockets by himself in the third, 22-18.

Bryant was 9 for 13 from the field, 2 for 3 from three-point range in the third.

He shot just two free throws in the period, doing most of his work from outside, knocking down jumper after jumper seemingly with ease.

"I just wanted to come out and provide some energy, and shots started falling, and it turned into a lot of momentum for us that Houston couldn't really hold on to," Bryant said.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:38 am    Post subject:

Kobe shakes Rockets in second half
Game gets away after teammates stop going to Yao

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

LOS ANGELES - The Rockets perhaps should have seen the landslide of change coming. When Yao Ming's scoring between the second and third quarters was negative-two, there might have been signs that their fast start and solid first half were over. It turned out, so were their chances.

The box score adjustment, correctly giving Stromile Swift a tip-in that had been credited to Yao, was just the start.

Then Kobe Bryant began the half ripping through the Rockets. The Rockets panicked, and the Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a 104-88 whipping of the Rockets on Sunday before the usual 18,997 at Staples Center.

Yao had 20 points in the first half. But when Bryant's offensive blitz started, the Rockets turned frantic — and away from their center, and best chance to keep pace with the NBA's most unstoppable offensive force.

While Bryant scored 15 of his 43 points in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half, Yao had three touches and scored one point. Yao finished with 33, making more shots (16) than he has in a game, and 16 rebounds.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:40 am    Post subject:

Jackson says Charlotte's release of Rush 'vindictive'
By Ross Siler, Staff Writer

Lakers coach Phil Jackson had strong feelings on the Charlotte Bobcats' decision to release guard Kareem Rush on Saturday with nine games left in the season and heading nowhere with a 20-53 record.

"I thought it was vindictive," Jackson said. "I don't like to see it because he's one of the guys that we nurtured here. He was contributing to us a lot in the championship (run) two years ago.

After making six 3-pointers for the Lakers to close out their 2004 Western Conference finals series with Minnesota, Rush found himself out of Rudy Tomjanovich's rotation and was traded to Charlotte that December for two future second-round draft picks.

Rush started 47 games in two seasons with the Bobcats but battled injuries and fell out of favor. He was dumped Saturday with Charlotte coach/general manager Bernie Bickerstaff issuing a stinging statement in a team press release.

"The Bobcats are about two things - hard work and maximum effort," Bickerstaff said. "With that in mind, we think that it is best to go in a different direction with Kareem."
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:41 am    Post subject:

They Finally Look Like Sunday Bunch
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 3, 2006

The third-quarter curse, as Kobe Bryant refers to it, and a strange inability to beat sub-.500 teams weren't the only things struck down by the Lakers in recent games.

They had been taking Sunday's "day of rest" reputation a little too literally, compiling a 4-9 record in Sunday games before beating the Houston Rockets, 104-88.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson blamed the white uniforms worn in Sunday home games.

"They look like little elves and fairies out there. … The real uniform of the Lakers is the home uniform, which has always been what it is — they have blue on the road and gold at home," he said. "This is something that has advanced in the last five or six years as we sell more uniforms and make more money."

Jackson refused to blame the team's typical Sunday silence on earlier tipoff times.

"It's not as bad," he said. "With [Shaquille O'Neal], you used to know that Shaq was up till three in the morning. His habits were such that it was really tough for him to adjust. But these are young players. They do a lot better with the time changes."
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:42 am    Post subject:

11 a Magic Number?

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 2, 2006

LOS ANGELES - When the Lakers returned from their 1-2 road trip, they were 35-34 and had 13 regular-season games left, 10 at Staples Center.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson gathered his team together and presented a goal to win a certain amount of games to close out the season.

When asked what that number was, Jackson said, "none of your business. It's our business."

Jackson laughed. He joked that the players probably had forgotten the number.

He was wrong, because several said Jackson wanted to win 11 of the final 13 games.

The Lakers have won five out of six since then. They have seven games left -- they don't play again until Thursday -- two on the road and their final five at Staples Center.

Tall Task

Kwame Brown was digging down on defense Sunday, using his 6-foot-11, 270-pound body to defend Yao Ming.

As much as Brown tried, Yao still burned him for 33 points on 16-for-25 shooting.

"He's 7-6, turning and fading. You want a guy to turn out, unfortunately he was hitting the shot," Brown said. "What could I do? I had a hand up. I was, '(Man), another one.' Now I know what it's like when guys play against Kobe (Bryant)."
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:53 pm    Post subject:

The Measure of Success For a Zen-Master

By Vince Grzegorek

This year, barring a tremendous winning streak, the Los Angeles Lakers will accumulate more losses than the 1995 Chicago Bulls.

Why is this significant?

Because, it will mean that this year's Lakers will have the most losses ever by a Phil Jackson-coached team.

With a career record of 871-35, Mr. Jackson has never had to endure a losing season, or even a season below a .550 winning percentage for that matter. With nine championship rings (six with the Bulls and three with the Lakers), Mr. Jackson has a storied coaching record and legacy unmatched by any of his contemporaries. No one would have blamed him had he not come back to Tinseltown this year to head a team reeling from dysfunctionality, but he rode on down from Montana to take the helm of the Lakers once again in search of ring number 10.

However, this time, no one expected him to take L.A. to the Finals.

Many even doubted his ability to get Kobe Bryant to pass the ball enough for his teammates to earn their paychecks, let alone contribute enough for the Lakers to make a playoff run.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:01 pm    Post subject:

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