The Spurs gave the Lakers a great holiday gift tonight—No Duncan, No Parker. This should have been a 20 point rout for the Lakers. Instead, it turned out to be an entertaining game that kept me on the couch for a whole 2.5 hours. Somehow the Lakers found themselves down by 3 in the 4th, and escaped with a 5 point win Thursday night. How the Spurs scored 97 points with that lineup, I cannot tell you. Especially since they only shot 41% from the field.
The Lakers just looked awful tonight and were lucky to come out with a win. The bright side was the defense played on Manu. Manu was held to just 5-17 shooting and 7 turnovers. The other bright side was that the Lakers only had 8 turnovers on the night. Now, the bests of the night:
Top 3 Laker performers:
1) There wasn’t a clear cut number one, but Kobe played well the entire night. He forced some shots he shouldn’t have but his defense made up for it. He finished with 30 points, 7rebs, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Only 1 turnover too!
2) Ronny Turiaf picked up the slack for Bynum. Off the bench, Ronny added 8 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Great game Ronny!
3) While Farmar played well for us, I think Odom made several big plays in the fourth. He finished with 15 and 8 on the night.
Lakers Smush of the Day (Note: STD denotes the Laker that played the poorest):
Andrew Bynum missed several layups tonight. He shot 3-9 and should have had his way out there without Duncan. He also got ejected in the second half.
Key play of the game: There wasn’t an electrifying play tonight. At least none that comes to my mind.
What to look for next game: A high-scoring game. Lakers will need to score 110 in my opinion to come away with a W. Game is Friday night @ 7:30 PM (ESPN).
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