MAVS -at- LAKERS - 3/2 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The MVP... The Lakers had trouble burying the Mavs, doing everything they could at times to give this game away. But Kobe wouldn't allow it.

He struggled early, giving away points at the line in one of those very rare games where he goes into a funk. He missed 7 freethrows before finally dialing it in...and when he did he had the Mavs on their heels badly. Kobe finished with 52 points going 20-27 from the line. He had 22 of the Lakers 28 in the fourth quarter and 8 points in overtime.

There were so many key sequences and key decisions down the stretch in this came that it's hard to pick a couple. Kobe pulled down a huge offensive board off two freethrow misses by Lamar, this as Van Gundy said he didn't like seeing Brandon Bass against Kobe on the boards in that situation. Dirk Nowitzki hit a three with 2 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Jason Kidd had a chance to tie the game in overtime when he scored an And-1 on Gasol, but he missed a freethrow...some of that infamous Mavs Choke rubbing off, I guess. And Lamar Odom finally hit a FT that put the Mavs away for good.

When the dust settled, Kobe took the TKO. The Mavs had no answer for him.


Kobe -- -- He struggled with his perimeter shot in the first half, missing a number of freethrows and jumpers. Then, he turned it on. There was a moment early in the fourth where I thought he had dialed it in. It was a simple elbow jumper that just looked money. Phil then sat him for his only rest of the game, but Kobe came back in and throttled the Mavs with as MVP a performance as you'll see. The Mavs had no answer for him and Kobe attacked relentlessly, getting to the line again and again and again. When Lamar couldn't knock down a couple freethrows, Kobe was there with the clutch offensive board and two more clutch FTs in regulation. In overtime, Kobe worked off the high screen with Gasol effectively, scoring 8 points in the extra session. With the team struggling at times on the defensive glass, Kobe also stepped up there, pulling down 11 rebounds. The freethrow attempts tied Kobe's career high. The Stats: He scored 52 points on 15-27 shooting (2-3 from three, 20-27 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 51 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper on the break. He posted up, drew the D and hit Lamar cutting for FTs. He got tapped on another wing jumper. He blew past his man with a quick first step and dunked. He stepped through a soft double in the post and scored a layup. He missed a 17-footer. He hit Pau slipping the screen off a weave for a dunk (that's a nice play, not sure it was completely intentional). He left Terry wide open for some reason and gave up a three. He collapsed the D on a drive down the middle of the lane and lobbed to Gasol for a dunk. He blew past George and drew FTs, he made one. He dropped a pass out of bounds. He had 4 points in the first quarter. He crossed over in transition and drew FTs, he made one again. He drained a one-dribble 17-footer. He didn't challenge Kidd and gave up the three. He got it back on the other end with a three of his own. He dunked when Sasha stole the ball and outlet to Kobe. He broke down Stackhouse and drew FTs, he made just one again. He settled for a 20-footer and missed, should have kept attacking. He missed another pull-up and wanted the foul. Finally another attack off the dribble and he drew FTs with 2.2 seconds left in the half and missed both of them...sheesh. He had 14 points on 5-11 shooting (3-8 from the line) and was ticked. "I'm shooting freethrows like crap," he said at the halftime interview. He was called for a carry when he was just dribbling on the sideline with no advantage gained. He split a double in the post again for a layup with his left. He attacked and scored around Dirk on the break with his left. He lobbed to Luke on another break for a score. He was stripped on the break and wanted the foul. He missed a sideline pull-up jumper. He missed a layup, point-blank. He got hit hard on the break and yelled at the refs for the flagrant, he missed both FTs again, sigh. "It ain't NFL," Kobe said of the foul. He spun on the wing and banked. He attacked at the end of the quarter to draw more FTs with 2.8 left, he made both, finally. He missed a heave from 40 feet when the Mavs lost the inbounds. He missed a sure And-1 layup out on the break (not sure how he missed that one), he made both FTs. He sank a simple elbow jumper off a screen, his shot looked good on that one. Phil then rested him for the first time. Back in trailing by 6, he attacked and drew FTs, he made both FTs. He drew FTs on the next trip down on a jumper, he made both to cut the lead to 2. He swished a long three on a kickout from Pau. He pulled up off the drive at the elbow and drilled the jumper, forcing a Mav timeout as we had a 3-point lead. He got tapped on a fallaway over Stackhouse, should have attacked. He called for the high screen with Gasol, worked off it and was hit the jumper, he made both FTs. Quick first step around Stackhouse and he drew another foul (he can't guard Kobe on the attack), he made both FTs. They switched Kidd on him, didn't matter, he blew past him, took hard contact from Dampier and banked in the And-1 layup with 1:19 left, he made the FT to give us a 3-point lead. He attacked on his next possession and had his pass stolen. Wow, Van Gundy gave me chills with the call: "You can't leave him one-on-one against Brandon Bass" on the FT line when Lamar was shooting, like clockwork, Kobe pulls down the clutch offensive board on the miss and draws a foul, he made both to give the Lakers a 3-point lead with 6.1 seconds. Sensational fourth quarter by Kobe, too bad LO didn't make that first FT. Overtime: He worked the two-man with Gasol and hit a runner in the lane. He worked off the Gasol screen again and this time hit a hook in the lane. He hit a pull-up from the top of the key over the zone. He missed a layup around Dirk, then fouled him with 29 seconds left in the back court (down by 4, bad decision as a few more seconds off the clock would have meant a foul situation for the Mavs, instead of the two-for-one situation). He was fouled on a defensive rebound with 9.4 seconds left, he made both to give us a 3-point lead. "We ain't losing today. Come on!" he said to his teammates in a timeout. After a sketchy moment or two, we finally closed the door.

Gasol -- -- Pau got off to a quick start as the Lakers collapsed the D and found him for several scores in the first quarter. He was quiet again, until late in the game when he had a number of clutch plays on both ends of the court. Some of his blocks and challenges in crunch time were among the best defensive plays of the game. The one black eye on his game was the combination of missing one FT in overtime and then fouling Jason Kidd for an And-1 on the other when the Mavs needed a three, late in overtime. Pau dropped to his knees on the foul, in disbelief at what just happened. Thankfully, Kidd missed the FT. I'm not as concerned about our issues on the defensive glass against the Mavs. They used to give Bynum trouble (but that was last season). I think we can shut that down when we go big. We also dished some trouble up for their on their own defensive glass, as well. Gasol gave us a number of offensive resets. the Dirk vs. Gasol match ups in this game should be watched closely. If we face them down the line with Bynum, Gasol is going to face a lot more of that. He handled himself reasonably well and will make Dirk work on the other end. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 5-14 shooting (7-8 from the line) to go with 14 boards (5 offensive), 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 44 minutes. The Action: He got bumped on a jumphook and missed. He missed a jumphook when the offense stalled. He filled a lane trailing the play and dunked when Fish found him. He tipped out an offensive board to reset the offense. He slipped the high screen off the weave and dunked when Kobe hit him. He drop-stepped Dampier and banked with his left. He drew FTs off an interior feed from Lamar, he made both. He scored a layup off a Fish drive and dish. He dunked next time down when Kobe drew the D down the middle of the lane and lobbed to him. Dirk dunked on him on iso. He blocked Dirk on his next iso drive. He had 12 points on 5-7 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a jumphook on the left block. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a turnaround. He had 12 points on 5-10 shooting and 6 boards at the half. He missed a wide open elbow jumper. He missed a jumphook. He iso'd in the post, spun and drew Dampier's fifth, he made both (his first points since the first quarter). He blocked Howard's jumper. Huge defensive play, blocking the three-pointer on a closeout. He missed under the hoop, got it back, we reset the offense and set him up for FTs, he made both. He missed a drive to his right. Key offensive sequence in overtime, Gasol spun to lose Dirk badly and was fouled with 16 seconds left, he made one to give the Lakers a 3-point lead. He then fouled Kidd on an And-1 at the other end to allow the Mavs a chance to tie, but Kidd missed the FT. Excellent challenge on Dirk's next three attempt to tie the game and he forced an airball as Dirk had to adjust to shoot over him.

Lamar -- -- Lamar had to D-up Dirk for most of the game and was getting no love from the refs in the process. He still managed to make things difficult for him, that is until late in the game when he gave up a good look at a three to Dirk to tie it up. Offensively, the 2-6 freethrow shooting (1-4 with the game on the line) nearly killed us. He was essentially a non-threat in our offense for most of the night, except when he'd get on the offensive glass, which he did well. I'd like to see him work the two-man game more with Gasol. Lamar also didn't bring the ball up any like had been doing more of. That also helps to get him involved. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-8 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-6 from the line) to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 48 minutes. The Action: He cut off Kobe's double and drew FTs, he made one. He pulled down an offensive board and fed Gasol in the interior for FTs. He swished an open 19-footer when the D sagged off him. He swatted Stackhouse's dunk attempt cleanly and Stackhouse whined for a foul. He had 3 points on 1-1 shooting and 4 boards. He missed a three. He got blocked by Dirk on iso. He got hit on the sideline with no call on Kidd and they called a turnover on LO (not sure what the refs were looking at there, easy call). He rejected Dirk under the hoop. He was about as angry as I've seen when he got knocked down by Dirk and was called for the block foul. He missed a layup on an inbounds. He took a Luke miss and scored the layup. He missed an open three. He tipped an offensive board to Farmar and we got a score off the reset. Wow, Dirk looked OC on a drive and flopped to draw FTs with 2 minutes left, LO was hosed again (that was an absurd call). He was fouled with 6.9 seconds left with a 1-point lead, he choked both FTs but Kobe pulled down the rebound, covering for those huge misses. He gave up another three to Dirk with 4 on the shotclock. He went back to the line with a chance to ice it with 2.5 seconds left, he bricked the first badly short, he swished the next, ballgame.

Fisher -- -- Fish once again struggled with his shot and blew some easy drives. Phil went with Farmar down the stretch and in OT. At least Fish managed to scratch for a few points in this one. Defensively, Farmar does a better job getting to perimeter shooters. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-11 shooting (1-4 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and no fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: He missed a three short. He had a layup goaltended. Great pass, slowing up and hitting Gasol trailing the play for the dunk. Nice help D, stripping Dampier on the drive. He had to force up a jumper with the shotclock low and he drew FTs, he made both. He missed a wing jumper. He attacked baseline and fed Gasol for the score. He got hit upside the head on a poor reach around from Dirk (Staples was ticked), he made both FTs. He drained a baseline jumper from a steep angle. Great effort to tip a loose ball to Gasol on the D end. He missed a baseline jumper on the other end. He bricked a wide open three and it led to a breakaway. He had 8 points on 2-7 shooting in the first half. He bricked a layup, should have made that one for sure. He hit a three on a kickout. He missed another long jumper. He choked a layup again.

Luke -- -- Great opening quarter from Luke on both ends. Nice to also see him overpowering people in the post again when he has the mismatch. Luke struggled with some foul trouble and eventually fouled out. When the iso'd Howard against him, we had some trouble, but for the most part Luke gave us a solid game on the D end. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, no turnovers and 6 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: He spun to lose his man with a good move, then airballed. He stole the ball from Dirk, pushed out the break and missed an easy And-1, he made both FTs. On the other end, he blocked Terry, then stripped Dampier and went to the ground for a jumpball, which he won. He nearly took the ball from Dampier again, then Fish the swiped it. Again, good rebounding position on the other side of the rim on a Fish jumper and he got us another possession. He inbounded, curled around a hand off and hit a runner in the lane. Sensational pass scooping up a loose ball and flipping it behind him while going to the floor, it would have led to a Kobe dunk (they erased the dunk and called a foul instead), Luke made one FT. He bricked a three. Excellent first quarter by Luke. He had 5 points on 1-3 shooting, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in the first half. He missed an open three. He finished a lob from Kobe on the break. He overpowered Kidd aggressively in the post. Out of a timeout, he worked the post and overpowered his man for a layup. He was scored on at the other end. He missed a wing jumper. He gave up an And-1 on the next play and fouled out with 7:11 left.

Turiaf -- -- Not thrilled with Ronny's game. Weak first stint at the C spot on the defensive glass and Phil benched him for Gasol quickly. Later he got a little longer run. Still, I think the defensive glass suffered quite a bit with Ronny at center. He had just 1 board. The Stats: He didn't score in 12 minutes, missing his only shot, he had 1 board, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. The Action: He rejected Kidd at the rim. He rejected Bass, but we couldn't control it and Ronny fouled him on the next attempt. He missed a turnaround in the post. He threw a pass away after he couldn't control the pass from Farmar.

Farmar -- -- Not a great game statistically speaking, but he got some more pressure-cooker minutes under his belt. He matches up with Terry versus going up against Kidd, who is too strong for Jordan. On the few occasions when Kidd and Jordan matched up, Kidd looked to get aggressive. Farmar had a big turnover in crunch time that the coaches can get on him for. Thankfully it didn't cost us. Farmar had a +12, Fish a -8. The Stats: He scored just 3 points on 1-6 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 6 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He swished a wing three a few seconds after entering the game. He missed a wing pull-up. He had his hands full going against Kidd to start the second. He missed a wing jumper from the right side. He missed a pull-up from the top of the key. He hit Sasha on the breakout for an And-1. He missed a wing three. He had 3 points on 1-5 shooting. He settled for a three on the break and missed. He drilled Terry when the two collided for a loose ball, Farmar got to it first. He pulled down an offensive board when LO tipped it to him in a crowd, we scored off the reset. Painful turnover with under 3 minutes left, he tried to thread the needle to Lamar in traffic and it caused a breakaway the other way.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha could have put this game away in overtime, but missed a couple wide open threes...he missed 9 threes in this game. Ouch. The fouling out by Luke pretty much put Sasha into the mix late in the game regardless of how Sasha was doing. He had a good offensive stint in the first half that forced the Mavs to call a timeout. Then, he was cold for the most part. He did hit a three in OT, however. More impressive was the quality D he gave us on JKidd. The open jumpers Kidd got were usually when he was going against Kobe. But when the Lakers really locked down on D, it was with the Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup out there, better rotations. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-12 shooting (1-10 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He missed a three to start the second quarter. He attacked down the lane and flipped up a layup high off the glass (near the top) and it went in. He got out on the break with Farmar, took the pass and finished the And-1 around Kidd, he made the FT. He stole the ball from Howard and fed Kobe for the uncontested dunk, that forced a Dallas timeout. He had 5 points on 2-3 shooting, 1 assist and 1 steal in the first half. Horrible bounce pass on the break, tossing it out of bounds and erasing a sure score with a turnover. He missed a three. He missed back-to-back threes on the same set. Out of a timeout, he let the ball go right through his hands out of bounds. He missed a three on the break. He missed an open sideline three on a great ball reverse and back screen to free him. He missed a long wing jumper with under 4 minutes left. He drained a corner three to start overtime. He missed a three. He missed another wide open corner three, arggh (we were up 6, that would have iced it).

Phil -- -- There was a lot of debate whether Phil should have fouled when Dallas had the ball in the final seconds down by three. The first time when the inbounds went into Jason Kidd, I thought they should have fouled there. Dallas ending up making one clutch three and missing the other in those circumstances. It's not easy to hit two of those. Gasol had a better challenge than Lamar on that second one. We also had another play with 2 seconds left to win and we once again didn't get a shot off... Dallas opened the game up with a 7-0 run and the Lakers matched with their own 7-0 run. We worked Kobe in the post to draw some doubles early. Kidd was called for a couple early fouls and the Lakers went to lead 29-23 after the first... The Turiaf/Odom combo was getting killed on the defensive glass to start the second quarter. Dallas tied us up and Phil quickly benched Turiaf for Gasol again. The Lakers went on a 12-0 run, sparked by some Machine work... The Lakers led 50-47 at half despite Kobe leaving 5 points at the line... The Mavs shot just 37.5 percent at the half (although they made 7-12 threes). Dampier and Bass had 7 of the Mavs 11 offensive boards in the first half... The Lakers trailed 68-65 after three. "We lost momentum in the second period. We stopped moving the ball," Phil said at the interview at the end of the third... He started the fourth with a Gasol, Turiaf, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup... He sat Kobe a few minutes into the fourth, his first rest (to me, it looked like Kobe had finally dialed it in at this point, but he had to get Kobe a little rest. Not sure I like the way we're doing it, but we seem to be surviving it)... The Mavs got us in the penalty with 7 minutes left to play, but we were the ones taking advantage of FTs... Kobe and Pau helped ignite an 11-2 run to take an 84-81 lead, forcing a Mav timeout... The pass in to Kobe with 2 seconds left was stolen by Kidd and we never got a shot off at the end of regulation... The Lakers led 102-96, Sasha had just missed an open three that would have iced things. The Mavs called timeout with 1:53 left to regroup... The Mavs chipped away and had the ball down by 3 with 15 seconds left. Gasol was called for And-1 foul on Kidd. Thankfully, Kidd missed the FT... No Mbenga in this game. He played Dirk exceptionally well last time we matched up with them. Going big with him might have allowed us to control our glass a little more during the middle parts of the game. But Dirk wasn't killing us until late, when Mbenga wouldn't be in there anyway... The Lakers interior defense struggled at times, but they started to lock down midway through the fourth quarter. In the end, they gave up 17 offensive boards. Way too many. But they outrebounded the Mavs by 5... We shot just 38 percent, holding the Mavs to 37 percent...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out the key 11-2 run in the middle of the fourth. Also note the dips taken at the end of the fourth and OT when we couldn't close out cleanly.

[LakersMDGurl]

FIRSTQ!!! Finally, DB this was quick, great game. We can still beat the Mavs without our A game
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New Beginings

[Bas]

Great Recap DB!!!

Great game. Love games like this...keeps me on the edge of my seat.

[10scott10]

this game is gonna kill sasha's percentages. but i like that he still has the guts to keep shotting, in past years he would have just curled up into a ball and cried. shooters need to stay confident even when their shot is off.

plus he played really good defense on kidd

[Dr. Laker]

Good job.

Sasha was off, but he had the right attitude - he had good looks and I prefer that he take them, rather than passing them up.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[KBryantisclutch]

[Laker7]

I have trashed Luke on many an occasion by I have to admit he had a very good game today.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[VujacicFan]

Sasha was cold, but that's why you have to play both ends of the floor.

[Staccatos]

I have to disagree with the part where you write "The Mavs had no answer for him (Kobe)". Dirk very nearly was that answer. Dirk was puting in clutch shot after another to keep the Mavs close at the end.

However, you're not going to find a lot of players who are able to dial it up to close out games like Kobe does. Most analysts would agree that they wouldn't take any other player over Kobe to take the last shot in a game.

[DancingBarry]

By that, I mean they had no defensive answer. Whomever they put on him couldn't stop him.

[Wolverine]

[Staccatos]

[Trajan]

This game had me pulling my hair out. I love it and hate it now when we play the elite teams. Scary game but like Kobe said, "No, No, we're not losing today". Looking at the upcoming schedule, I expect the Lakers to go into the NO game with a 5 game winning streak. Lookout Sacramento, we're coming to town.

[20,000]

My family had to go get dinner at halftime. So I TIVOed it. When I got back, I saw everything up to four minutes remaining in the 4th. By that point, the game was over so I missed all of the ending.


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Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[frenzy]

This game was great, a lot of ups and downs but we were able to pull out the win.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

KOBE = MVP
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[krstell]

thanks for the recap.
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“I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.” - Kobe

[sec 110]

This game is a perfect example of how the Lakers play to win and other so called "contenders" play for calls. The refs tried to keep it close since the game was on abc but Kobe knew they owed him a few when he came back in the 4th. Kobe needed a game like this on national tv for his mvp candidacy.

[Rigged4fun]

Is it me or is it that the league now feels that playing very physical with the Lakers is going to take them out of their game? Between the Blazers and Mavs, there's been some pretty rough playing directed towards the Lakers. It reminds me of the old Celtics who roughed up the opponent to intimidate them. I'm real proud of the Lakers for not folding and playing like the good team that they are. Phil mentioned that Kobe hurt his finger against the Blazers which may have caused his shooting to be off, however in his interview after the game he said seeing his daughters loosened him up. I would sure like the find out what Lamar takes to be so totally out of it when it comes to crunch time.

I think the real losers were the refs today. They showed their ineptitude. So many inconsistant calls and phantom fouls. The moving screens and picks are going to get someone really hurt, and the refs not calling it just invites injury.

[24KaratGold]

A win is a win. Even though we didn't get it the way we wanted, the coaching staff can worry about fixing the mistakes. I'm going to enjoy the victory, and tip my hat off to Dirk. He answered all of Kobe's shots, or was it the other way around?
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Double rings > Double rainbow

[Tony Almeida]

Thanks DB.

Lakers have 42 wins, matching last years total for the season.

22 games to go.

[LakersFan_73]

A few thoughts:
Kobe was amazing as usual! Glad to hear the announcers give him some MVP love. We'll see if they keep their word when the vote actually takes place (even though I know Kobe would much rather have the championship in his hand).

Sasha was cold as heck but his D on Kidd wasn't all that bad. He hustled and kept Jason on his toes.

Luke had a pretty good game but man, when he misses, it's a BRICK.

There's a lot of recent Fish hate of this board lately, but I think he'll be an asset come playoff time.

Oh also, I have no idea why, but to me Gasol is a lot like Lamar where I think he's having a stale game then all of a sudden you realize he has 17pts and 14rbs.

Thanks for your recap, DB!

[macwebb]

[LakerLanny]

Odom went brain dead a couple of times late in the game on Dirk defensively, plus the refs give Dirk that ridiculous flop when Odom played him well.

The three Dirk made to tie the game was 1/2 Odom going completely brain dead and half on the refs for missing as obvious of a moving screen to free Dirk as you will ever see.

It was a good move by Jackson to put Pau on Dirk in the OT and I thought Pau's 2 llate blocks (other than everything Kobe did, he was incredible) were the key to the win.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Mation]

Thanks DB! One hell of a write-up. Must be tough when we go into overtime and you have to do the extra recap. Glad we got the W in the end.

Good to see that head-to-head battle between Dirk and Kobe. This gives some hard proof of the measuring stick of an MVP. Really surprised how the Mavericks handled him defensively. Looking at this game, I think Nate MacMillan really shows his worth as a coach. Awesome double-double for Kobe. Didn't even need the free throws to do it.

"Some of his blocks and challenges in crunch time were among the best defensive plays of the game." I completely agree. Loved it when I saw that Gasol was covering Dirk on that last three; airball. He also came through with some clutch free throws as well.

What Lamar and Vujacic lacked with their offensive game, they redeemed themselves defensively. Big upgrade over what happened against Portland. I wonder if the injuries and increased minutes for Sasha, Farmar, Turiaf and Fisher are affecting their shooting. Turiaf and Fisher especially really seem to be in a slump with their jumpshots. I'm glad that Luke is playing well on this two-game stretch.