If you missed this game, you missed an entertaining one. I would have guessed the Lakers to come out sluggish with the 9 am start local time. However, it was the other way around. The Lakers game out hot and blew the game open with a 25 point lead in the third. Boo’s came in regularly and a “fire Isiah” chant could be heard through the arena. Then the Lakers bench came in and everything went wrong. The Knicks backcourt went off on the Lakers. The night was saved by Kobe’s near triple double and Farmar’s game winning steal with 5 seconds left.
My frustration with this game is pretty simple. How do you have 9 less turnovers than the Knicks and only win by 5? And how do you shoot 26 three-point shots against one of the worst interior defensive teams in the league? Was the Curry/Randolph (combined 0.7 bpg) duo that intimidating that we needed to hoist 26 threes? Usually the team that rebounds better wins, but that wasn’t the case tonight as the Lakers got outrebounded by 14 mostly due to David Lee’s 13 off the bench. But anyways, a win is a win right? And the Lakers are 7 games over .500 going into Christmas. A successful trip I would say. Now, the bests of the morning:
Top 3 Laker performers:
1) Kobe Bryant became the youngest ever to 20,000 points for their career. He put in 39 tonight on 50% shooting. Kobe also added 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals.
2) Bynum came back home to NY and gave his family a great game to watch. 6-8 shooting, 8 boards, and 2 blocks. He also held Curry to 2-8 shooting. 1-4 FT’s was his only downer.
3) Jordan Farmar got the game winning steal. This could have been a game the Lakers would want to forget forever, but Farmar came through with the steal that quieted the NY crowd.
Lakers Smush of the Day (Note: STD denotes the Laker that played the poorest): Javaris Crittenton came in for about 3 minutes late in the fourth. He looked nervous and lost out there. If you saw the game, you know what I’m talking about. He needs to play with more confidence.
Key play of the game: Farmar’s steal or Kobe’s three pointer for his 20,000th career point.
What to look for next game: Look for lots of pregame words. If you remember the last game, both coaches got into it with a Timeout Phil called. I expect lots of fouls and a good defensive game from the Lakers. Game is X-Mas day @ 2:00 PM on ABC (hopefully they have a better theme than last year’s song, Right Now).
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