原文: Lakers 109, Kings 108January 1st, 2010, 10:12 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COMLOS ANGELES — The Lakers opened 2010 by making a little history, Kobe-style.
Kobe Bryant continued his march toward a second NBA MVP trophy with his third game-winning buzzer-beater in not even three months. Bryant swished a 3-pointer with just a sliver of a second on the clock and with his heels nearly out of bounds to give the Lakers a 109-108 victory Friday night over the visiting Sacramento Kings.
Bryant popped free when Kings guard Sergio Rodriguez fell down, and Pau Gasol shrewdly led Bryant to open space with his pass. It completed a climb out of a 20-point hole, something the Lakers hadn’t overcome to win since December 2006.
In the end, a shoddy Ron Artest-less defense stiffened just enough — with the help of two Ime Udoka free-throw misses with 4.8 seconds left before Bryant’s hero shot. Bryant shook off a 1-for-5 shooting start to finish with 39 points on 13-of-27 shooting. He also beat the final buzzer to give the Lakers victories over Miami and Milwaukee this season.
Lamar Odom (season-high 20 points) came to life after halftime, the same thing that happened last game against Golden State. The 60 points the Lakers allowed to the Warriors in the first half Tuesday night was the most all season — and then the Lakers gave up 64 to the Kings in the first half. Sacramento made 27 shots while missing just 15 to start the game (64.3 percent) en route to a 64-45 lead.
All that happened with Bryant playing the entire first half the Lakers were so desperate to stay competitive. Bryant’s first rest came with 1:26 left in the third quarter, after the Lakers had cut Sacramento’s lead to 83-77. The first possession of the game without Bryant was a disaster, resulting in Adam Morrison launching a contested 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson sent Bryant back in for the next possession, but the Lakers still entered the fourth quarter down, 86-79. Bryant was back out there for the start of the fourth quarter, setting up an Andrew Bynum dunk to fire up the Staples Center crowd. Bryant made another great pass for an Odom dunk two minutes in and then got a chance to get some sort of rest when Jackson used Bryant as a strong-side decoy and focused the offense on Bynum and Jordan Farmar on the weak side.
Farmar has regained some ground lately in what has been a disappointing contract season for him. He played the entire fourth quarter Tuesday night and Fisher never came back Friday night either. Fisher, who came in having missed 10 of his past 13 shots, missed nine of 10 on Friday night.
The on-court breather Bryant got helped him dominate the game the bulk of the fourth quarter. And then after a 3-pointer by Sacramento’s Spencer Hawes, who scored a career-high 30 points, Gasol came up with a huge 3-point play with 1:14 to play to give the Lakers a 104-103 lead; he finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds.