Lakers 103, Bulls 91
An 18-4 fourth-quarter run carries the day and carries the Lakers to another victory, their sixth in their last seven games.
-- The Lakers won on a night when Kobe Bryant (18 points, 7 of 19) wasn't at his best. Both Bryant and Derek Fisher got off to slow starts but a team effort brought the Lakers through. Six players scored between 10 and 19 points.
-- You can't stop Sasha Vujacic, you can only hope... well, you know. But Vujacic turned in another remarkable performance with a team-high 19 points. Not sure how long this will last, but the Lakers will ride it for all it's worth.
-- Key stat? The Lakers had 17 offensive rebounds. That definitely made up for the sub-par shooting. And much like the scoring, it was a collective effort, as five players had at least two offensive rebounds. Andrew Bynum had a team-high four. Bynum had 10 rebounds total and Lamar Odom had 16.
-- Another pretty good ball-movement night for the Lakers, who had 29 assists on 37 field goals.
-- Luke Walton shows more signs of coming out of his slump, with 12 points and five assists.
Now it's on to Cleveland...
Hi Rich, enjoy reading your blog.
I was wondering if you can tell me why Kobe Bryant, who is considered the best player in the league today, unable to shoot for a higher percentage on his FG attempts?
Is it because opponents gear their defense to stop Kobe? If that's the case, how were other HOF'ers able to accomplish the feat?
Some friends have suggested to me that it's because of Kobe's questionable shot selection. It seems Phil and Tex have both questioned Kobe's shot selection as recent as this season. So why can't Kobe raise his basketball IQ like the other HOF'ers and become more efficient on the offensive end? Even worse shooters than Kobe, such as Wade and James, are much more efficient.
Wade and James understand their weaknesses and counters it by going strong to the hoop or shoot shots that they are comfortable shooting. The result? Close to 50 percent for both players since their 2nd year in the league.
Is it because Kobe is stubborn? Is it because Kobe isn't as good as people make him out to be? Or maybe a little of both?
-Jeffs Aho