Sluggish start...until Kobe time!

Los Angeles, CA

The Lakers gave up 65 first half points to the visiting Knicks in tonight's game. The game was so poorly started by the home crowd that I'm going to show you some of the first half stats. Make your own decisions on whether this team has what it takes to cut down the nets at seasons end. The Staples center crowd rained down boos as the squad left for the locker room at the end of 24. 

Lakers shoot 19-52; 7-23 in the 2nd, 2-10 from 3, for 37%

Knicks got 19 assists on 23 1st half makes

NY's David Lee has 12 rebounds in first half

Nate Robinson scores 18 pts on 5-8 shooting with 6-6 FT's

The Lakers responded well in the third quarter with a slurry of stops, and started the quarter on an 11-2 run. One more 7 point run towards the end of the third brought the Lakers within three, after trailing by 15 at the half. They trailed 84-88 heading into the final frame. In the the fourth quarter, or as I like to call it, 'Kobe Time', Bryant came through with again. Scoring 9 of his 28 points in the final seven minutes, led to the Lakers 116-114 win before a sell-out crowd in downtown Los Angeles. 

Lakers Bench Mob was active again in this one. Slash led the crew with 13, Sasha added 9 on 4-5 shooting, and Josh Powell put up 5 points and 4 boards. Pau Gasol missed the game with a case of strep throat. He originally came to Staples for the game, but was sent home to rest by team officials. He will travel with the team on their upcoming road trip. His presence was missed in the line-up, especially when the Knicks played small. Derek Fisher played another solid game for Los Angeles. He scored 15, with a season-high 7 assists. Most importantly was his free throw shooting. He came up clutch down the stretch and has converted 21 straight for the Lakers. Fisher is second in the league, shooting 95% from the charity stripe. Fisher also seems to be our best defender at the guard position this year. He came up with a pair of stops in the waning minutes of the fourth. His solid play should become infectious with this team that does seem to feed off each others successes. 

The Knicks did come to play and made the game both exciting and nerve racking. Exciting for director Spike Lee and more nerve racking for Lakers fans. Nate Robinson who missed a short jumper that could have given New York the lead with 12 seconds left, led the Knickerbockers. He totaled a season-high 33 points off the bench for head coach Mike D'Antoni. David Lee and Quentin Richardson each added 18. Lee also had 14 boards, 12 coming in the first half. Tim Thomas scored 14, mostly from outside and Chris Duhon added 12 of his won. Duhon shot a 75 ft. desperation three from the Knicks back court that fell short at the buzzer. New York played without backup forward Jared Jeffries.

LA now heads on a four game road trip. The Lakers play four different cities in five days. Friday the Lakers play the high scoring Dwayne Wade and Miami. Kobe will unveil his latest shoe that night, I'll keep you updated prior to game time. Saturday will be a test for young Andrew Bynum as we face the Orlando Magic. Dwight Howard will surely be a test for our bigs. He leads the leagues in blocked shots as well. Monday night should be an easy one, as long as we don't over look it. The Lakers play Memphis and USC product O.J. Mayo. To close out the stretch we play Chris Paul and the high powered Hornets. Paul has tied an NBA record with at least one steal in 105 straight games. James Posey (NO) played for the Champion Celtics last year.