Lakers rout Warriors 101-77 after Brown's firing

By GREG BEACHAM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, Pau Gasol added 14 points and 16 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers responded to coach Mike Brown's firing earlier Friday with a 101-77 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Jordan Hill scored 14 points for the Lakers, who had just a few hours to absorb Brown's dismissal after just 18 months on the job. Following a bumpy first half under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff, they pulled away in the third quarter with a 25-9 run led by Bryant, who also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

Stephen Curry scored 18 points and Klay Thompson had 15 for the Warriors, who have lost five straight to the Lakers overall, and nine straight at Staples Center since March 2008.

The comfortable victory doubled the Lakers' victory total for the season and capped one of the most tumultuous days in recent history for a franchise that's never short on drama.

With the talented veteran club off to a Western Conference-worst 1-4 start after a winless preseason, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Jim Buss abruptly dismissed Brown, informing the players during their morning shootaround.

Bickerstaff ran the Lakers as the interim coach, but the veteran NBA bench boss isn't likely to be a candidate for the full-time job. Kupchak is searching for a replacement, possibly making a selection before the Lakers' next game on Sunday against Sacramento.

The Lakers' crowd quickly made its choice known: A chant of "We want Phil!" rose out of the stands while Bryant shot a free throw in the third quarter.

Phil Jackson, the 11-time NBA champion coach who won five rings in two previous stints running the Lakers, is near the top of Kupchak's list again, the GM acknowledged. Mike D'Antoni, the former Knicks and Suns coach, also is thought to be a prime candidate.

Dwight Howard had six points and eight rebounds while playing just 24 minutes for the Lakers in his ongoing return from offseason back surgery. Steve Nash, the other major addition to the club, watched from behind the Lakers' bench, missing his fourth straight game with a small fracture in his leg.

Brown never got the chance to integrate the two stars into his new offense while they were dogged by health issues. Kupchak and Buss still needed to see more success than the Lakers managed in the past six weeks, particularly on defense - and Los Angeles limited the Warriors to 33.7-percent shooting.

The Lakers' offensive struggles evaporated in the third quarter while they leaped to an 18-point lead over the undermanned Warriors, who struggled to contend inside without injured center Andrew Bogut.

Darius Morris had career highs of 10 points and five rebounds while playing the majority of the Lakers' minutes at point guard. Los Angeles' reserves have been largely ineffective during Brown's tenure, but Morris and Hill led a spirited effort against the Warriors, outscoring their counterparts with Golden State 37-17.

NOTES: Lakers F Devin Ebanks was inactive after getting arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs early Friday morning. Rookie Darius Johnson-Odom made his NBA debut in the final minutes. ... Warriors C Andris Biedrins came up roughly 2 feet short on an airballed free throw in the first half. The Latvian veteran has a career free-throw shooting percentage just over 50 percent. ... Brown went 42-29 with the Lakers, coaching them to the second round of the playoffs during the strike-shortened season before his abbreviated start to this fall.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

POSTGAME QUOTES



Bernie Bickerstaff:

On the game:
“I think tonight we recognized mismatches and we went through them and there were some results.”

“You’ve got to make shots and put the ball in the basket and surprisingly when the ball goes in the basket the defensive energy picks up.”

“You share the ball. Defensive is good, but it won’t carry you. You have got to see some results with that ball going into the basket and everyone gets a little pep in their steps. We shared the ball. We had opportunity baskets when we needed momentum.”

“I look at turnovers like the old coaches used to talk about omissions and commissions. As long as they’re commissions they’re fine because that means that you’re trying. A lot of our turnovers come from trying to share the ball.”

“I thought the energy, the effort […] I thought we shared. I thought defensively we played well.”

On Bernie Bickerstaff wanting to simplify games:
“We really just went out there and played almost like a pick-up game. We opened up the floor and when we had opportunities we actually ran some of the Princeton stuff. We really just tried to read each other and react.”

On Pau Gasol tonight:
“He was fantastic. He played with the type of intensity that we are accustomed to seeing from Pau. The important thing is for him to keep up that intensity. He’s so talented he can come out and coast through a 20-point ten-rebound game. We need his intensity.”

On the bench playing:
“They played phenomenally well. Darius Morris just came off the bench here. You can’t ask more from a guy. For a point guard, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a couple steals. His floor game was terrific.”

On the key to the bench’s performance tonight:
“We got an opportunity to play some consistent minutes. We had a chance to knock some of the rust off, because a lot of us haven’t gotten out there this year.”

On his confidence tonight:
“I just have to thank the coaching staff and my teammates for giving me the confidence. We have a lot of veterans on the team that keep me encouraged. Steve Nash gave me great advice after the Utah game, and I just listen to what he says.”

On the bench play:
“We had a lot of energy, that’s our main goal is to bring the energy. We have a good starting 5, but it’s going to be up to the bench all season to continue to bring that consistent energy.”

On the team heading in the right direction:
“We did some good things tonight. I think the biggest thing that stood out was turnovers. We did a pretty good job tonight of not turning the ball over that much. We didn’t think as much as we have in the past couple games. We’ll continue to get better, still trying to figure each other out. It was good for us to get a win.”

On the team heading in the right direction:
“We did some good things tonight. I think the biggest thing that stood out was turnovers. We did a pretty good job tonight of not turning the ball over that much. We didn’t think as much as we have in the past couple games. We’ll continue to get better, still trying to figure each other out. It was good for us to get a win.”

On buying in being a problem:
“Whatever happened, it’s over with. We just have to move forward from it. We just have to play. Bernie is the coach and whatever schemes he has and whatever he wants us to do we have to buy into it. He is our coach and we all have one mission and it’s to win the championship.”

On tonight’s performance:
“We missed shots but that’s not the reason we lost tonight. I thought defensively we come into their building, they shot 40 percent, very good defense. We did not take care of the basketball, 18 turnovers, 12 assists. We didn’t execute and then they dominated us on the offensive boards, 10 offensive boards in the second half. We knew that they were very good on the offensive boards and also points in the paint. Both of those areas hurt us tonight. It’s a make or miss league, were good enough to defend and win ball games on that end.”

On their turnovers:
“We were just out of sync, no excuse. If you’re going to beat a good team on the road, you got to take care of the basketball, you got to rebound. You’re going to miss shots, I’m fine with that. But we’ve got to do a better job closing out possessions. We came in with the mindset to run and they outscored us even in fast break points. Just disappointed overall, good news is we have one tomorrow against another very good basketball team. Looking to get back and hopefully take care of business.”

On their shooting percentage:
“I told the guys at the end of the day, these are shooters getting good looks: Stephen Curry, Clay Thomson. They’re smart enough to turn it down and make plays but I want these guys to continue to be aggressive on the offensive end and don’t turn shots down. If you’re going to clap when they make open shots, you can’t be frustrated, yelling at them when they miss the same ones. They’re knock down shooters who had a tough night.”

On the Warriors’ overall performance tonight:
“We got open shots tonight especially from the three-point line, we just couldn’t buy a bucket. They did a good job on the boards taking advantage of the fact that we were short a couple people down low. Give them credit, they came out and played with really good emotion tonight at home under the circumstances. We didn’t shoot the ball well enough. There’s always going to be days like this on the road and we need to do a better job on the boards to counter that.”

On the Warriors’ turnovers:
“A little bit of [the turnover issue] is playing on the road. We didn’t do our best job of taking care of the ball. I think when we weren’t hitting shots early, we tried to do a little too much with the ball and we passed up a lot of open looks to try and be too creative to try and make the perfect play. If we shoot the ball well we have a chance to win this game. If we shoot the ball like we normally do.”

On defending the Lakers offensive progression:
“They were playing more simple basketball they were running a lot of pick-and-roll, getting Kobe in the post a lot. Gasol didn’t shoot a great percentage but he got up 18 shots tonight, so they did some different things but overall I thought they were a pretty good team to begin with they just had a tough start to the season.”

On the Warriors’ shooting:
“We talked about it half time. It was kind of a balance. We shot a lot of early threes in the beginning of possessions but they were uncontested, a lot of us walking into it. You got to find the balance between zero and one pass possessions where you’re shooting threes versus getting to the basket, trying to get the ball moving a little bit and those same shots coming back around. Sometimes it is hard to turn down wide open threes even if it’s early in the possession and you’ve missed a couple, but we’ve got to find that balance.”

On the Warriors’ overall performance:
“I think we played well, the score doesn’t say that. I think defensively we did a pretty good job, we’re just undersized down there trying to battle the boards and the paint.”

On defending the Lakers offense:
“Kobe was aggressive with the ball in his hands in pick-and-roll and he requires a lot of attention obviously but on the backside it’s tough to match up with those big guys who roll into the paint and they always have a shooter. You take a chance with Steve Blake and [Darius] Morris taking those threes in the corner. That was the game plan and we stuck to it, we just didn’t score enough and make enough baskets and clean the glass like we should.”

On matching the Lakers intensity:
“Regardless of how much emotion they had, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers. They’re obviously a formidable team with or without emotion. We knew we we’re going to get their best shot so we just tried to come out here with as much energy and enthusiasm as we could.”

WARRIORS-LAKERS PREVIEW

By JEFF MEZYDLO

Based on the Los Angeles Lakers' poor start, a visit from the Golden State Warriors no longer seems like a sure victory for Kobe Bryant and his teammates.

The Lakers hope to rebound from another defeat Friday while trying for a ninth consecutive home win over the Warriors, who will be without Andrew Bogut for at least a week.

Even with Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol in the same uniform, Los Angeles (1-4) dropped its first three games before a 108-79 home victory over winless Detroit on Sunday. The Lakers, though, shot 33.8 percent and committed 19 turnovers in a 95-86 loss at Utah on Wednesday.

"We're all frustrated," coach Mike Brown said.

While Nash has missed the last three games with a bruised shin and Brown has taken heat for his new Princeton-style offense, the team has simply struggled to mesh. The Lakers rank near the top of the league with 93 turnovers and went 4 of 23 from 3-point range Wednesday.

"A lot of it just comes from reading each other, getting in sync with each other," said Bryant, who finished with 29 points but missed all four of his 3-point attempts.

Despite playing with a nagging foot injury, Bryant is averaging 27.2 points and shooting 56.0 percent. Howard is putting up 22.4 points per game but has failed to record double-digit rebounds in three straight. He's averaging 9.6 rebounds - 3.4 fewer than his career mark.

The former Orlando superstar has averaged 27.0 points and 18.3 boards in his last four games versus Golden State, while Bryant is averaging 34.6 on 50.4 percent shooting in his last five against the Warriors. He scored a combined 79 points in two home wins over Golden State last season.

Howard might have an easier time in the paint Friday with Bogut out. Bogut missed all four meetings with the Lakers last season after fracturing his ankle, and though he's played in four of Golden State's first five games, he'll sit out the next week to 10 days to get some added rest.

Looking for a fifth straight victory over the Warriors (3-2) and a 17th in the last 18 meetings, Los Angeles has won 33 of 36 between the teams at Staples Center. The Lakers have averaged 114.1 points and won their last eight at home in the series by 13.5 points per game.

Though the Warriors have not beaten the Lakers on the road since a 115-111 win March 23, 2008, they've already won at Staples Center this season, 114-110 over the Clippers on Saturday.

Golden State is 2-1 on the road and looks to build on Wednesday's 106-96 home win over Cleveland. David Lee played through flu-like symptoms to post 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists while Stephen Curry scored 21 as the Warriors prevailed despite blowing a 17-point lead.

"These are those games that you have to have when you look back on the season," guard Jarrett Jack said. "You can't be like, `Ah, this is one of those games that we kind of gave away.' No matter who's in uniform, you have to go out with that mindset that we have to get this `W' no matter the situation is."

Lee has scored 42 points in the last two games after totaling 30 in the first three. He's averaged 21.8 and 10.8 boards in his last four versus Los Angeles.

Curry is averaging a team-high 17.4 points but shooting just 36.7 percent. He missed all four meetings with the Lakers last season.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers took last season’s series with Golden State 4-0 and have now swept five of the last seven season series with the Warriors. The Lakers have not lost a season series to Golden State since they were defeated 2-3 over five games during the 1994-95 season. The Lakers and Warriors have met 301 times in the regular season during the Los Angeles Era with the Lakers leading the all-time series 193-108. Including their time in Minneapolis, the Lakers and Warriors have met a total of 392 times with the Lakers holding a 244-148 all-time series advantage. The Lakers are 30-4 in their last 34 games against Golden State but had their 12-game win streak against the Warriors snapped in their last meeting of the 2010-11 season (4/6/11 at ORACLE Arena (87-95)). At STAPLES Center, the Lakers are 24-2 all-time against the Warriors. On the road, the Lakers have gone 8-2 against the Warriors in their last 10 games at ORACLE Arena. In 59 career games including 50 starts against the Warriors, Kobe Bryant is averaging 27.3 points per game with a high game of 51 points, his 3rd highest average among all teams behind Charlotte (29.2) and Toronto (27.9). The 1,585 points Bryant has scored against Golden State is the highest total among all opponents he has faced. Antawn Jamison was acquired in a draft night trade by the Warriors after being selected by Toronto with the fourth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft in exchange for Vince Carter. Jamison played his first five seasons in Golden State, averaging 20.1 points and 7.5 rebounds in 336 games. Warriors rookie guard Klay Thompson, who played his prep basketball locally at Santa Margarita HS in Orange County and was selected by Golden State with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, is the son of former Lakers forward/center and current radio color analyst Mychal Thompson.

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
Pau Gasol (22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) recorded his fifth career triple-double and Andrew Bynum scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-14 shooting in a Lakers wire-to-wire victory over the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena. Los Angeles outrebounded Golden State 55-40 and outscored the Warriors in the paint 62-42, while recording assists on 34 of their 37 field goal makes. Metta World Peace was the only other Lakers player in double-figures, finishing with 18 points (8-14 FG) and a seasonhigh 9 assists, Ramon Sessions tallied 9 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and Matt Barnes added 6 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench. The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson’s 17 points, while Jeremy Tyler (15 points), Dorell Wright (12 points) and Brandon Rush (10 points) rounded out Golden State’s players in double-figures. With the win, the Lakers sweep their season series with Golden State 4-0 and have now won 16 of their last 17 meetings with the Warriors.