Hornets 116, Lakers 105
Hmmm... Anyone think the Lakers miss Lamar Odom?
With Odom out with a knee injury for the second half of Tuesday's loss to the Hornets, David West went wild, scoring 27 of his game-high 40 points in the second half.
He also helped key a 15-0 New Orleans midway through the 4th quarter, which turned the game from a 99-94 Lakers lead with 8:31 into a 109-99 Hornets lead with 4:48 to go.
In the previous two meetings with the Lakers, West had been relatively quiet, averaging just 17 points on a combined 14 of 34 shooting (41 percent).
But Tuesday night, with the Lakers most versatile athletic big man out, West was virtually unstoppable.
I'm a hardcore Laker fan even though I live way east in Florida.
I am very upset over this loss. Just because Odom was hurt in the second half, everyone else shouldn't be grieving over it. They were up by five and then free-falled just to trail near double digits. I know they can't defend the pick-and-roll. Kobe ran out of gas in the fourth with only two points. Was he benched or they forgot to put the ball in his hands?
Golden State forced the Celtics into consecutive losses. I hope Kobe and the guys bounce back in the Bay tomorrow night. I will check the score.