Lakers survive New York scare but prevail 116-114

Pau Gasol was too ill to play, so Lamar Odom knew he needed to suck it up and go out there, no matter how lousy he felt.

The versatile 6-foot-10 forward gave the Los Angeles Lakers just what they needed.

Odom, making his first start of the season in place of Gasol, had season-best totals of 17 points and 12 rebounds in a season-high 38 minutes, and the Lakers rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the New York Knicks 116-114 on Tuesday night.

Kobe Bryant scored nine of his 28 points in the last 7½ minutes, and Trevor Ariza made the go-ahead basket with 1:03 remaining to give the Lakers (21-3) their 14th win in 16 games.

"I think I have the flu. Who knows?" Odom said afterward. "Pau was out and I kind of willed myself to do it. Football mentality."

Gasol, averaging 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds, came to Staples Center for the game, but was sent home because of strep throat.

"Luke (Walton) was sick, Trevor and Josh (Powell), Pau. ... Like kindergarten," Odom said.



Nate Robinson, who scored a season-high 33 points, had a chance to give New York a late lead, but missed a short jumper with about 12 seconds to play. Two foul shots by Derek Fisher with 6.4 seconds left made it 115-112, and the Lakers then intentionally fouled Robinson, who made two free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining, making it a one-point game.

Fisher made another foul shot with 2.7 seconds left, and Chris Duhon missed a desperation shot from the backcourt as time expired.

"We remembered all the battles we've been through. We didn't panic," said Bryant, who also had seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. "Just to be able to stay calm and push our way through, it was a good game for us to have."

Fisher had 15 points and a season-high seven assists; Walton scored a season-high 14 points, Ariza added 13, and Andrew Bynum had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

"It was a challenging game," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I think we anticipated that as a staff, but I don't think our players anticipated that kind of ballgame."

The Lakers outrebounded the Knicks 49-38 and shot 47.4 percent to New York's 45.7 percent. The Knicks made 13 of 31 3-pointers to 6-of-23 for Los Angeles and went 27-of-28 from the foul line.

"We worry about the losses, but I think we're playing better," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team finished its five-game road trip with a 2-3 record. "We said that this was going to be a measuring stick. We need to learn how to finish games and play a little better together and cut down on some bad shots. But we'll get there."

David Lee had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Quentin Richardson also scored 18 points for New York. Tim Thomas scored 13 points, Duhon had 12 points and 11 assists, and Al Harrington also scored 12 for the Knicks (11-14), who played without backup forward Jared Jeffries.

"I take my hat off to our team tonight," Robinson said. "We played well. Will (Chandler) did a phenomenal job on Kobe. Our team's getting better and better each day, and that's something that we can look forward to. The team is just buckling down, playing great defense and getting stops. We're going to score a lot of points, but it's all about stopping other teams."

Bryant's 19-foot jumper with 1:38 left gave the Lakers a 111-109 lead, but Robinson made a 3-pointer 20 seconds later to give the Knicks a one-point lead. Ariza then scored off a pass from Odom, putting Los Angeles on top for good.

Bryant scored seven points during an 11-2 run that put the Lakers on top 103-101 with 5:18 remaining -- their first lead since the first quarter. Neither team led by more than four points after that.

The Lakers outscored the Knicks 11-2 to begin the second half, trimming New York's lead to 67-61, and scored seven consecutive points later in the third quarter to draw within three. It was 88-84 entering the final period.

A night after going 5-of-37 from 3-point range in a 111-103 loss at Phoenix, the Knicks shot 11-of-23 from beyond the arc in the first half in taking a 65-50 lead. The sellout crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center booed the Lakers off the court at halftime.

The Knicks went 2-of-8 from 3-point range after halftime.

"We made an adjustment in the second half," Ariza said.

Asked to elaborate, Ariza smiled and said: "Don't give up so many 3's."

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Lakers don't dominate but they still beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-86

Though the Lakers do not seem as dominating a they did at the earlier stage of the season - they are still winning the games. At the beginning of the season the Lakers would blow out their opponents early and then Bryant would rest most of, or sometimes the entire fourth quarter. For now, those day are over.

Yes, the Lakers did win with a fourth quarter surge to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-86 but sometimes it seems like they just have to work to hard to beat a losing team like the T-Wolves.

Kobe Bryant had 26 points to lead the Lakers and Pau Gasol had a good overall game as he scored 18 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out 6 assist and blocked 3 shots. Bynum had 14 points and 9 rebound and Ariza came off the bench to contribute 14 points.

The Lakers didn't shoot the ball good in the game, only 44.7%. The key was that Minnesota shot even worse at 36.1%.

Lamar Odom was very disappointed with the Lakers play in the game.

"We can't hold a lead. These guys (Bryant and Gasol) have to come back into the game (in the fourth quarter). That's awful," said Lamar Odom, who had six points and 10 rebounds. "We want to play the same way all the time. That's what great teams do.

The Timberwolves trailed 76-70 before a basket by Ariza and four straight points by Bryant gave the Lakers a 12-point lead with 4½ minutes remaining. Minnesota didn't threaten after that.

Al Jefferson had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Minnesota, but he shot 8-of-24, missing 15 of his last 19 shots. Craig Smith added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Ryan Gomes scored 13 for the Timberwolves (4-19), who lost their ninth straight game and fourth in a row since Kevin McHale took over as coach last Monday.

Lakers get revenge on Sacramento Kings

The Lakers didn't look like world beaters, but were good enough to beat the Kings this time.

Avenging their loss at Sacramento three days earlier, Los Angeles survived a late charge to hold off the Kings 112-103 on Friday night.

"We did better playing against them tonight," said Kobe Bryant, who led the Lakers with 32 points. "In Sacramento we weren't able to contain them in any stretch.

"They made a couple of big 3s down the stretch on a couple of blown assignments. But still in all, we did OK."

Pau Gasol had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who built sizable leads several times only to have defensive lapses that let Sacramento back into the game.

The Kings stormed back from a 92-77 deficit early in the fourth quarter to close to 101-98 on Spencer Hawes' 3-pointer with 3:02 remaining. But Derek Fisher sank a 14-footer, Bryant made a short jumper, then a driving dunk and free throw, and the Lakers suddenly had stretched the lead back to 10.

John Salmons, who led Sacramento with 26 points, expected Bryant to be determined in the rematch.

"The whole world knew that he was going to come out ready for this game," Salmons said. "So it is what it is -- he is Kobe."

One of only three defeats in Los Angeles' 22 games this season was at the hands of the otherwise struggling Kings, a 113-101 upset at Sacramento on Tuesday.

Although they never led, the Kings played the Lakers tough again and were tied 52-all at halftime. Los Angeles opened a 76-61 lead with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter and was up 84-72 heading into the fourth.

Trevor Ariza scored 13 for Los Angeles, and Fisher had 11. Andrew Bynum had eight points and 10 rebounds when he fouled out with 4:24 remaining and the Lakers up 98-91.

Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson had some points to make in his postgame talk to the players.

"I told them we found ways to keep this ballclub in the game, in the end of the first half, in the end of the third quarter, and at the end of the game," he said.

"We did it through a variety of things. Let's not take anything away from Sacramento, but we really kept them in the game."

Beno Udrih had 16 points and Francisco Garcia scored 13 for Sacramento. Hawes finished with 11 points.

Salmons found some solace in the way the Kings came back late in the game.

"I think in the past, we would have quit before the game was over," he said. "We kept fighting and we were right there with them. At this point, we have to take anything that we can get."

Sacramento coach Reggie Theus said his team did a lot of good things, but, "They're a great basketball team and down the stretch, we made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on them."

Salmons' steal off Bryant and fast-break layup with seven seconds left in the first half drew the Kings even at 52. That was the third and last time the score was tied.

In their meeting in Sacramento three days earlier, the Lakers went in with 14 wins in their last 15 games, and the Kings were 5-16 and had lost 11 of their previous 12. But Salmons and Garcia scored 21 points apiece, Bobby Jackson added 15 and the Kings claimed their first home win in nine games.

Bryant scored 28 in that loss, but was just 9-for-25 from the floor and the Lakers were held to 40 percent shooting. He was 11-for-21 in the rematch and the Lakers shot 50 percent.

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Lakers back on track - beat Phoenix Suns for 5th time in lat 6 meetings

The Los Angeles Lakers battled like crazy to put the short-handed Phoenix Suns away.

That's precisely what Kobe Bryant expected they would have to do.

Pau Gasol scored 28 points, Bryant had seven of his 18 in the last 6½ minutes, and the Western Conference-leading Lakers struggled to a 115-110 victory Wednesday night.

Andrew Bynum added 17 points and 11 rebounds, Sasha Vujacic scored a season-high 15 points and Derek Fisher had 13 for the Lakers (18-3), who were coming off a lethargic 113-101 loss at Sacramento on Tuesday night and didn't clinch this victory until the final minute.

The Suns (13-10) played without Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and rookie Sean Singletary, traded to Charlotte earlier Wednesday for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a 2010 second-round pick.

Phoenix also was without former Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal, whose 92-year-old great-grandmother died this week. O'Neal was in New Jersey for funeral services and hopes to return in time to play Friday night against Orlando. O'Neal scored 35 points Tuesday night -- his most in nearly three years -- in a 125-110 victory against Milwaukee.

"That's what always happens when a team has eight players, nine players," Bryant said. "They always come out with a lot of energy. We did a good job down the stretch."

The Lakers held off the Suns by making 17 of 22 foul shots in the fourth quarter, including 8 of 10 in the last 30 seconds. But their defensive difficulties continued -- they've allowed the opposition to score 100 or more points in seven of their past 10 games.

"Our record is great," Bynum said. "(But) the way we're playing, we're not going to beat the good teams."

Gasol agreed, saying: "We're not playing our best. Most of the time, I think we can do a lot better defensively. We're giving up a lot of points. We have to consciously every single game go out there and be focused on our defense. We know we can score. We also know that if we want to get to the next level, the championship level, we have to be consistent on our defense. It's something that we haven't been doing very well."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he thought the Suns brought the best out of the Lakers.

"We weren't playing our best when we started the game, but we eventually had to play," Jackson said. "Maybe not the best, but we had to play well enough to win."

Matt Barnes had season-high totals of 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead Phoenix. Grant Hill scored 23 points, Amare Stoudemire had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Leandro Barbosa added 18 points for the Suns. Steve Nash shot 2-for-12 and was held to seven points and nine assists.

"It was a huge challenge for us," Stoudemire said. "We didn't have our guys tonight and were short-handed, but we all knew what we had to do. For us to go out and compete, it took a total effort from everybody. We came out with a lot of energy and intensity and played well despite having only eight guys out there playing. So we can accept that. We were happy with the way we played."

Barbosa scored five consecutive points early in the fourth quarter to give the Suns an 86-85 lead. But a basket by Gasol and two more by Lamar Odom put the Lakers ahead 91-86, and they led the rest of the way.

It was 91-90 when Bryant made a 3-pointer and Odom added two free throws to give the Lakers some breathing room. The Suns weren't closer than four points after that.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win that ballgame, so I was pleased with what I got," Suns coach Terry Porter said. "It is always difficult (being short-handed), but in this league, that happens sometimes. You just have to have someone else step up."

Barnes scored 10 points during an 19-6 run that gave the Suns a 76-74 lead, their first of the game. Nash's 3-pointer -- his first field goal in nine attempts -- put Phoenix on top. The Lakers led 82-81 entering the final period.

With Gasol and four reserves on the floor, the Lakers scored 10 consecutive points early in the second quarter for a 39-27 lead -- largest of the game for either team. But the Suns hung tough, getting as close as three points before Los Angeles settled for a 53-48 halftime lead. Bryant was hardly noticeable in the opening 24 minutes, shooting 2-for-7 for four points.

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