Nets-Lakers Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Apr 02 2012 2:50PM

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to have survived what could have been a crushing blow to their championship aspirations with center Andrew Bynum having avoided serious injury.

The New Jersey Nets haven't been able to rely on their star big man much at all this season, but they've proved to be fairly formidable of late.

The Pacific Division-leading Lakers try for an eighth consecutive victory over the visiting Nets, who look to extend their longest winning streak in more than a year to four Tuesday night.

One night after defeating New Orleans 88-85, Los Angeles (33-20) beat Golden State 120-112 on Sunday behind 40 points from Kobe Bryant. Pau Gasol scored 26 points and Ramon Sessions added 23 for the Lakers, who found themselves short-handed after Bynum exited in the first quarter with a sprained left ankle.

Averaging 22.9 points and 64.6 percent shooting in his previous 15 games, Bynum said afterward that he would definitely play Tuesday. It remains to be seen if he'll suit up, though.

"Hopefully he won't (miss any games) because he's a big presence for us defensively and offensively," Gasol said. "He's become such a point of reference for our team. If he does need to rest then obviously rebounding is one area that everybody needs to make sure we make a conscious effort and it needs to be covered."

If Bynum does play, he won't have to worry about slowing down Brook Lopez, who's out with a sprained right ankle. Lopez also broke his right foot during the preseason and has appeared in five games this season for the Nets (19-35), who have recently picked up the pace despite the absence of their starting center.

Winner of four of five, New Jersey has kicked off its four-game road swing with back-to-back victories to extend its winning streak to three. The Nets haven't taken four in a row since a five-game run March 4-14, 2011.

"We're playing better defensively, which is helping us on offense," point guard Deron Williams told the league's official website. "We're giving a good team effort. It's different guys stepping up ... We're just getting great, great team efforts night in and night out."

Ranking near the bottom of the league with 93.1 points per game, New Jersey has averaged 104.3 during its streak and continued its offensive surge in a 111-99 win at Sacramento on Saturday. The Nets outscored the Kings 60-41 over the second and third quarters.

Williams had 19 points and 15 assists while Anthony Morrow went 6 of 11 from 3-point range and scored 24.

"This is huge. Everybody's playing loose, playing confident," Morrow said. "Coach (Avery Johnson) is really being patient and everything. He's showing a lot of confidence in us and we're showing a lot of confidence in the coaching staff. Everything's working well. We've just got to continue play like we're playing now."

Recently acquired Gerald Wallace seems to finally be getting comfortable with his new team. He's averaged 21.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals over the last two games after scoring 14.0 points with 6.1 rebounds a contest in his first seven with the Nets.

"Even though it's a team game, a lot of (our success) has to do with Gerald Wallace," Johnson said. "It's his defense, his competitive spirit. He settles our team down when we are getting out of sorts."

Los Angeles has outscored New Jersey by an average of 15.2 points during its seven-game run in the series, with Bryant averaging 29.5 points and 53.8 percent shooting in the last four. He scored 27 as the Lakers overcame 35 points from Lopez in the last meeting to win 100-88 on Jan. 14, 2011.

Lakers blow big lead, hold off Nets 91-87

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Apr 04 2012 2:04AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Kobe Bryant's tiebreaking 3-pointer bounced off every available surface, pinballing around the rim and backboard while Staples Center held its collective breath.

Yet the Lakers and Nets all seemed to know exactly where the ball would end up.

Mostly because they know the guy who shot it.

Bryant scored 24 points and rattled home that decisive 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds left, and Los Angeles blew every bit of a 17-point lead before holding on for a 91-87 victory over New Jersey on Tuesday night.

The NBA's leading scorer closed out yet another victory in memorable fashion, beating the shot clock with a 26-footer that bounced roughly a half-dozen times before falling.

Put it this way: According to the official box score, Bryant took the shot with 10.1 seconds left, and the clock didn't stop for another 3.3 seconds.

"It was just one of those shots, I guess," Bryant said. "The basketball gods were with us tonight."

That sure didn't appear to be the case for most of the fourth quarter. Los Angeles led by 12 with 10 minutes left, but Deron Williams led an 18-6 run for New Jersey, tying it on a 3-pointer with 1:29 to play.

Bryant made a long jumper moments later, and the Lakers controlled the ball for 52 straight seconds during the final minute with an offensive rebound and an out-of-bounds deflection. Bryant then made his third 3-pointer, and Williams missed his own 3-point attempt.

"I kept telling our guys, if we can just get it under 10, under eight, under six, we'll have a chance," Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "Kobe just got free. Everybody in the gym knew who was going to take the shot."

Williams scored 20 points, Gerald Wallace had 19, and Kris Humphries added 18 points and 15 rebounds amid steady boos for the Nets, whose first three-game winning streak of the season ended.

Pau Gasol had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Ramon Sessions had 19 points and 11 assists as the Lakers put an ugly finish on their 11th victory in 15 games despite never trailing in their eighth consecutive win over the Nets.

"We feel as a group that when we do get a double-digit lead, we tend to relax a little bit," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "The other team, they're going to amp it up, take chances and be more physical. Next thing you know, it's a three-point game."

The Lakers, who have won three straight and six of eight, didn't blame the late lapses on the absence of All-Star center Andrew Bynum, who sprained his left ankle in Sunday's win over Golden State. Brown isn't sure whether Bynum will play in Wednesday's Staples Center showdown with the Clippers, but Bynum is hopeful he'll suit up.

After largely dominating the first three quarters against undermanned New Jersey, the Lakers missed 13 of their first 16 shots in the fourth quarter, allowing the Nets to trim their deficit to 84-81 on Williams' 3-pointer with 3:08 left. Wallace's layup a minute later cut the Lakers' lead to one point, and Williams tied it on a 3-pointer with 1:29 to play.

"We needed a better start, but we put ourselves in a position to win," said Humphries, who endured repeated booing from the Hollywood crowd. "That was a hell of a play they drew up at the end."

After Bryant's fallaway 22-footer with 1:11 left, Wallace missed one of two free throws. Gasol grabbed an offensive rebound on Sessions' 3-point miss with 32 seconds left, and video review with 10.8 seconds left reversed an out-of-bounds call, giving the ball back to the Lakers.

Humphries laughed about Bryant's bouncing winner.

"When we were warming up, I said, `This rim is loose,"' Humphries said. "'This could hurt us in the fourth quarter.' Not really, but the rim really was loose."

While Bynum sat out for the first time in his best professional season since his season-opening four-game suspension, Brown refused comment on a report the Lakers had fined Bynum for a series of minor disciplinary transgressions, saying only that the club had handled an internal matter.

The Lakers immediately showed why the Nets' opponents have the best field-goal percentage in the NBA, making 10 of their first 12 shots while jumping to a nine-point lead in the first quarter. Los Angeles led 58-41 shortly before halftime and 78-62 late in the third quarter.

NOTES: New Jersey hasn't won four straight games since March 2011 ... Gasol got a technical foul in the third quarter for shoving Humphries in the back and then confronting the ex-Kardashian beau. New Jersey's big men played aggressively all night against the more talented Gasol. ... Green failed to make the Lakers' roster in training camp. ... Fans near courtside included Jack Black and Ashton Kutcher.

Notebook: Lakers 91, Nets 87

Posted Wednesday April 4, 2012 1:57AM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Without one of the top big men in the league, the Lakers needed to look elsewhere for offensive production Tuesday night. They found just enough. Kobe Bryant sank a long 3-pointer that bounced around the rim with 6.8 seconds remaining before settling in the net to give the Lakers a four-point lead, and they held on for the 91-87 victory against the Nets at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "It was just one of those shots, I guess. The basketball gods were with us."
-- Bryant on his final shot.

THE STAT: With All-Star center Andrew Bynum sidelined with a sprained left ankle suffered Sunday against the Warriors, the remaining core players needed to step up for the Lakers and they did. Bryant finished with 24 points, Pau Gasol had 22 points and 12 rebounds and Ramon Sessions contributed 19 points and 11 assists to account for 71.4 percent of L.A.'s offense.

TURNING POINT: The Nets seemed down for the count after the Lakers led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, but they chipped away and got the deficit down to eight with just under four minutes remaining in the game. That's when New Jersey point guard Deron Williams took over, assisting on a basket by Kris Humphries, draining a deep 3-pointer and then assisting on a layup by Gerald Wallace. Following a layup by Metta World Peace that briefly pushed the lead back to three, Williams sank an even longer 3-pointer to get the Nets even with 1:29 remaining, the first time they hadn't trailed since the opening tip. The key play came with 10.8 seconds remaining and the Lakers leading by a point. Sessions tried to pass to Matt Barnes in the middle and the ball went out of bounds. Possession was originally granted to the Nets, but after a video review the ball was awarded back to the Lakers. With just three seconds on the shot clock, Barnes in-bounded the ball from under his basket to Bryant at the top of the 3-point line and he sank a 26-footer to give the Lakers their final four-point lead.

HOT: The Lakers could hardly miss early on, sinking 10 of their first 12 field-goal attempts and shooting 15-for-20 overall in the opening quarter, helping them surge to a 32-23 lead. They were still shooting 65.8 percent at the half, swelling their lead to 13.

NOT: Williams missed his first six shots for the Nets, including an uncontested layup late in the first quarter and a free throw following a technical foul early in the third. His late push allowed him to finish 6-for-15 with a team-high 20 points, but he's now a combined 14-for-45 in the last three games.

QUOTABLE II: "We didn't have a good first quarter but look at the defense we played in the second half, and especially in the fourth quarter ... Normally, those balls like [Bryant's] will bounce out. Unfortunately for us, it bounced in."
-- Nets coach Avery Johnson

GOOD MOVE: Lakers forward Josh McRoberts moved into the starting lineup in place of Bynum. He didn't do much, however, finishing with four points and five rebounds in 29 minutes. He did make one of the more spectacular shots of the game, spinning and shooting a long two-point shot that rattled through the rim to beat the first-quarter buzzer.

BAD MOVE: The Lakers really should have put the Nets away in the third quarter and given their starters a breather heading into Wednesday's huge game against the Clippers. However, they couldn't sustain their hot streak and missed 17 of 22 field-goal attempts from late in the third until Bryant's game-winner.

NOTABLE: Nets guard Gerald Green was signed by the Lakers on Dec. 13, but waived nine days later. New Jersey signed him to his first 10-day contract on Feb. 27 and then for the season on March 18. He seemed to have something to prove, scoring 13 points in his first eight minutes on the floor before going scoreless the next 19.

UP NEXT: For the Lakers, Wednesday @ L.A. Clippers, Friday vs. Houston, Saturday @ Phoenix. For the Nets, Wednesday @ Portland, Friday vs. Washington, Sunday vs. Cleveland.

• Nets: James, Lopez
• Lakers: Eyenga

• Nets: --
• Lakers: Gasol

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #47 Bennie Adams, #23 Jason Phillips, #72 JT Orr
• Attendance: 18997
• Duration: 2:11