| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
22 |
31 |
22 |
19 |
94 |
| Los Angeles Lakers |
30 |
33 |
24 |
18 |
105 |
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Bryant plays briefly in Lakers' victory
ONTARIO,CA (AP) --Kobe Bryant, coming back from a knee injury, made a brief appearance at the start of Los Angeles' final preseason game Friday night and appeared to be moving fine in the Lakers' 105-94 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said before the game that Bryant would play only as much time as he wanted.
Bryant played the first 7:55e, went 2-of-3 from the floor and had one rebound and one assist before taking the rest of the night off.
Los Angeles' Andrew Bynum had 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while playing 29 minutes in the final tuneup for both the Lakers (5-2) and the Thunder (1-6).
Bynum was 10-of-15 from the floor. Jordan Farmar had 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting for Los Angeles.
Rookie Russell Westbrook scored 23 for Oklahoma City, and Kevin Durant added 15.
Bryant, the NBA's reigning MVP, was back after missing the last game because of a hyper-extended right knee. He was hurt in a collision with teammate Josh Powell on Tuesday night against Charlotte in San Diego.
Slight swelling in his knee led him to sit out Los Angeles' 88-77 victory over the Bobcats on Thursday night in Anaheim.
Bryant was sharp in his brief stint against Oklahoma City, figuring in the Lakers' first eight points as he hit 3-pointers on his first two shots, then fed Pau Gasol under the basket for a layup.
The Thunder-Lakers game in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario was the first sports event at a new arena that will house a minor league hockey team, and drew a sellout crowd of 10,316.
Bynum had 15 points by halftime, including several dunks off lobs from his teammates, to help Los Angeles to a 63-53 lead at the break. Westbrook scored 11 first-half points for Oklahoma City.
The Lakers, beaten by Boston in the last NBA finals, open the regular season at home against Portland on Tuesday. The Thunder, the former Seattle SuperSonics who moved during the offseason, open in Oklahoma City against Milwaukee on Wednesday.
The Thunder have had a string of injuries, including forward Chris Wilcox (hamstring), center Mouhamed Sene (knee surgery) and guard Kyle Weaver (groin). Forward Joe Smith, who had missed time with a fractured nose, wore a clear protective mask and scored seven points against the Lakers.
THUNDER - LAKERS PREVIEW
by Mike Trudell, Lakers.com
Heading into Friday night’s eighth and final preseason game in nearby Ontario, the L.A. Lakers have shown nearly all that the team could expect before the regular season tips off:
- Andrew Bynum looks strong and healthy and has gotten increasingly better playing with Pau Gasol – who, by the way, is already in midseason form.
- Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza have been generally fantastic off the bench.
- Vladimir Radmanovic looks very comfortable in the starting five.
- Luke Walton, Chris Mihm Josh Powell and Coby Karl have been effective despite not getting much playing time.
- And of course, the team’s won five straight games.
So what’s missing? First, there’s the matter of Kobe Bryant’s hyperextended knee. While Bryant’s assured us that he’s just fine and could possible play against Oklahoma City at the 7:30 p.m. tipoff, he might sit to ensure there’s no swelling for Tuesday’s season opener against Portland.
Second, Sasha Vujacic has yet to play in the preseason, but said he expects to go Friday night, a very welcome sign to Lakers fans.
Sure, Phil Jackson and his staff would like to see fewer turnovers and better defensive rotations – particularly on the pick and roll – but by and large, L.A. is looking pretty good, and should have all its ducks in order when Jackson’s two shooting guards take the floor in the same game.
With the Seattle Supersonics city and moniker now a thing of the past, Oklahoma City gets its preseason shot against a team that long ago moved from Minneapolis. The newly named Thunder are led by second-year player and last season’s Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant, who certainly isn’t shy about jacking up field goal attempts. Last year’s No. 5 overall pick Jeff Green and this year’s No. 4 pick Russell Westbrook join Durant on the young Thunder, who also feature 2005 first-round pick Johan Petro, who was impressive in Thursday’s 102-93 loss to Phoenix. That loss was Oklahoma City’s fifth in six preseason games.
Veterans Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, Earl Watson, Desmond Mason and Damien Wilkins figure to see good minutes in the youth movement, but make no mistake: this team belongs to Durant and his young friends, not the veteran collection of journeymen.
You can watch all the action on KCAL HD, or tune in that radio dial to AM 570 … Or to ESPN as the Lakers are showcased on national TV for the second-straight preseason game.
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(/NBAE/Getty Images)
 Los Angeles Lakers
INJURY REPORT
- Sun Yue (mononucleosis) is probable.
- Sasha Vujacic (moderate sprain, left ankle) is doubtful.
- Luke Walton (right ankle surgery) is out.
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Oklahoma City Thunder
INJURY REPORT
Mouhamed Sene (C) - Knee (Out for the Season).
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POST-GAME NUMBERS
+25 - by Vladimir Radmanovic who had an all around good game. He added five rebounds, four assists and six points
23 - points for both Andrew Bynum who had a monster game also adding eight boards two assists and three blocks.
14 - points scored by Jordan Farmar who was again great help for the win, adding three boards and five assists.
9 - points by Pau Gasol and Luke Walton. Luke seems to be getting his rhythm back in the court.
55% - is the Lakers field goal percentage that led them to the win over the Thunder.
---Francisco Gomez, Lakers.com
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GAME NOTES
LAKERS UPDATES
SHOOTOUT
For the NINTH consecutive season, the Lakers will host a four-team shootout at STAPLES Center from October 18-19. This season, the Toronto Raptors will face the LA
Clippers in the first game Saturday, October 18 at 4:30 pm followed by the Lakers taking on Regal FC Barcelona at 7:30 pm. The following day on Sunday, October 19,
the match-ups will be determined by the outcome of Saturday’s games, winners playing winners, losers playing losers. Regardless of outcome, the Lakers will play in the
second game at 7:30 pm. Since the inception of the STAPLES Center shootout, the Lakers have gone 10-6, 4-4 in the FIRST game and 6-2 in the SECOND.
BACK-TO-BACK
The Lakers STAPLES Center Shootout is one of two sets of back-to-back games that they will play during the 2008 preseason; the other coming when the Lakers travel to
Anaheim to face Charlotte October 23 and then head to Ontario where they will meet Oklahoma City October 24. This year, the Lakers will play 19 sets of back-to-back
games during the 2008-09 regular season after having played 17 sets of back-to-backs in each of the previous two seasons. Last season, the Lakers were 13-4 in the first
game and 12-5 in the second game of back-to-backs.
LAKERS vs. SHOOTOUT OPPONENTS
While the Lakers have never faced FC Barcelona or Toronto in the preseason, they have played the Clippers 20 times in the preseason dating back to September of 1979,
meeting not only in Los Angeles but also in Anaheim, CA, Anchorage, AK, Fresno, CA, Las Vegas, NV, San Diego, CA and St. Louis, MO. The Lakers have gone 13-7 against the
Clippers in the preseason but lost their most recent meeting 80-107 earlier this month in Fresno, CA. The Lakers and Clippers have met three times in the STAPLES Center
Shootout with the Lakers going 1-2 in those games, including a 96-112 loss to the Clippers last season in the second game of the event on October 21, 2007.
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