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LOS
ANGELES—The air is already getting pretty thin for the
Denver Nuggets.
Kobe
Bryant was a catalyst in a number of ways and the Lakers
powered through some sluggish periods to beat the
Nuggets, 122-107, on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
This is
relatively new for the Lakers, taking a 2-0 lead in a
playoff series for the first time since 2004, so they’re
almost forgiven for lapses that disappeared in a big way
in the fourth quarter.
And they
can lean against the fact that teams with a 2-0 lead win
a best-of-seven series 93.6 percent of the time in the
National Basketball Association (NBA). Game Three is on
Saturday in
Denver.
Bryant
was a shooter in the first quarter, a passer in the
middle two quarters and a shooter in the fourth quarter,
finishing with 49 points and 10 assists.
He made
18-of-27 shots, including a back-breaking three-pointer
that gave the Lakers a 108-94 lead with
5:21 to play. He scored 40-plus points in a playoff game for the
sixth time.
His high
is 50, set against
Phoenix
in 2006.
Bryant
apparently drew added incentive from exchanging words
with Kenyon Martin in Game One.
“Kobe
was definitely coming out to prove a point tonight,”
Lamar Odom said. “The best can handle that energy.”
Luke
Walton was again a factor, scoring 18 points in a
reserve role, and Pau Gasol had 18 points and 10
rebounds.
Bryant
had 20 points in the first quarter, two short of the
Lakers’ playoff record for points in a quarter. Elgin
Baylor scored 22 in a quarter in a March 1961 game
against
Detroit.
Then he
had 19 in the fourth quarter, again brushing up against
history before checking out of the game with
2:02 to play.
He was
given a standing ovation, to no surprise.
The
Nuggets tried to mix it up, starting Linas Kleiza in
place of Anthony Carter, but they couldn’t extend a
short-lived, one-point lead midway through the third
quarter. Then they began to unravel in the fourth, JR
Smith and Allen Iverson picking up technical fouls in
the last six minutes.
“They
went hot at times,” Walton said. “They went cold at
times.”
The
Lakers were part of the Nuggets’ problems, too.
Bryant
often compares himself to a quarterback waiting in the
pocket to see what the defense gives, and Wednesday was
no different. He made eight-of-10 shots in the first
quarter, then turned into a distributor by collecting a
total of seven assists in the second and third quarters.
He returned to attack mode in the fourth quarter, making
six-of-seven shots.
On one
of them, Sasha Vujacic tracked down a long miss in the
corner, found Bryant up top and yelled his approval
after Bryant moved past Eduardo Najera and Martin for a
finger roll that gave the Lakers a 101-93 lead with 6:41
to play.
The
Lakers haven’t had a 2-0 lead in a series since winning
the first two against Houston in the first round of the
2004 playoffs.
In the
end, Coby Karl became a part of history, checking into
the game with 2:02 to play and becoming the first son to
play against his dad’s team in an NBA playoff game.
History was made after all, on a night when Bryant came
close to getting there on two occasions.
Pistons
rout Sixers to tie series
IN
Auburn Hills, Michigan, the Detroit Pistons routed the
Philadelphia 76ers, 105-88, to even their first-round
playoffs series at a win apiece on Wednesday.
Four of
the Pistons starters scored in double figures as they
took a 17-point lead, then all but Richard Hamilton
rested in the last quarter, while the 76ers had only
André Miller, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the
first half.
In the
Game One loss, the Pistons blew a 15-point they built
midway through the third quarter. They refused to let
the young Sixers rally again, swarming them on defense
and relentlessly going after offensive rebounds for
second and third chances.
Sixers
star André Iguodala got off to another rough start and
unlike Game One, he didn’t bounce back. Iguodala was
scoreless in the first half and finished with four
points after averaging 20 in the regular season and
scoring 16 on Sunday.
Game
Three is on Friday in
Philadelphia.
Celtics
also take 2-0 lead
IN
Boston, Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and
Rajon Rondo added 12 points, eight assists and six
rebounds to lead Boston to a 96-77 victory over Atlanta
and a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
Paul
Pierce returned from a first-quarter knockdown to score
14 points, and Kendrick Perkins added eight points and
nine rebounds for the Celtics.
Josh
Smith, who helped take Pierce down and appeared to land
on him and roll over his head, had 13 points and eight
rebounds for Atlanta. But it was Mike Bibby, who called
the locals fair-weather fans during the week, who drew
the ire of the sold-out Boston Garden crowd.
Bibby
was booed at every touch from the opening introductions.
As he sat on the bench in the fourth quarter and the
game out of reach, the fans chanted “Where is Bibby?”
and “Rondo’s better.” In the first two games of the
series combined, Bibby is four-for-17 from the field
with two assists.
Game
Three is on Saturday in
Atlanta. |
