Lakers improve to 17-2 with 105-92 win over Bucks

LOS ANGELES(AP) Kobe Bryant had 20 points and a season-high eight assists, Derek Fisher added 19 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat Milwaukee 105-92 on Sunday, improving their record to 17-2 and equaling the best 19-game start in the franchise's 61-year history.

The Lakers also started the 1985-86 season 17-2. This was the sixth time the team has won 17 of its first 20 games, including the championship seasons of 1971-72 and 2001-02.

All the Lakers' starters scored in double digits, something none of the Bucks' starters did.

Bryant shot 6-for-13, sitting out the final 4 minutes of the third quarter after getting treated for a cut just above his left wrist. He started the fourth and was removed with 7:41 to play and the Lakers up by 19.

Andrew Bynum, who had a career-high 17 rebounds against the Bucks last Jan. 11, grabbed 14 boards and scored 14 points. Pau Gasol had 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Joe Alexander had a team-high 15 points for the Bucks, who have lost 15 of their last 17 against the Lakers in Los Angeles. Beleaguered coach Scott Skiles got only 18 points from his staring lineup, and the team shot a collective 38 percent from the field. Milwaukee has shot under 50 percent from the field in all 22 games this season.

Richard Jefferson, who averaged 22.2 points over his previous six games, scored three during a foul-plagued 9 minutes. He went to the bench after picking up his second foul with 6:36 left in the first quarter, then got his third with 9:22 left in the second quarter - just 40 seconds after reporting in. His fourth came with 8:39 left in the third and Milwaukee trailing by 21.

Compounding the Bucks' woes was the loss of forward Malik Allen, who left for good with 8:36 left in the first quarter because of a rib injury. It occurred when he lost his balance trying to knock down a pass near the Lakers' basket and crashed to the floor.

The Bucks missed their first seven shots. Shooting guard Michael Redd missed his first four and was 1-for-6 with two points in 20 minutes. He averaged 24.0 points in the two meetings with the Lakers last season, and had a 45-point outing against them at Staples Center two seasons ago.

Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut, playing his third game after missing the previous three with a bruised left knee, had nine rebounds, six points and five assists.

Los Angeles never trailed, increasing a 12-point halftime lead to 16-4 run capped by Gasol's layup with 8:08 left in the third quarter. The Bucks never seriously challenged after that.

Notes: The Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers are the only teams to use the same starting lineup in every game so far, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Last season, due to injuries and the acquisition of Gasol, the Lakers used 16 different lineups - with only Bryant and Fisher starting every game. ... No one has scored more than 25 points for the Bucks in any of their last 12 games, and only three times this season has one of their players had more than 25. ... The only player to score 30 or more points against Milwaukee this season is LeBron James, who had 41 on Nov. 11 and 32 on Nov. 29. ... Phil Jackson is seven wins away from becoming the sixth coach in NBA history with at least 1,000 regular-season victories. His .703 regular-season winning percentage is the best in league history. ... The Bucks are 2-12 against teams with won-lost records of .500 or better on the day they played them, and 6-0 against clubs with losing records. ... The Lakers are 13-0 when allowing fewer than 100 points.

The Los Angeles Lakers were hardly thrilled with their latest win, a game where they nearly blew a 20-point lead to the Eastern Conference's worst team to cap their road trip.

The improving Milwaukee Bucks weren't satisfied with their most recent victory either.

Any win against Los Angeles would qualify as impressive, and on Sunday night the Bucks will try to win for just the third time in their last 17 road games versus the Lakers, who have been dominating opponents at home.

Los Angeles (16-2) has looked impressive wherever it's played this season, winning by an average of 12.2 points overall and 13.4 points at Staples Center.

The Lakers won their first five road games by 14.4 points before suffering their first loss away from home Tuesday in Indiana, 118-117 on a buzzer-beating tip-in. They looked sharp in a 12-point win over Philadelphia the next night, but that wasn't the case Friday in Washington.

Los Angeles built a 99-80 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but nearly lost all of it as the Wizards scored 22 of the game's next 26 points. Yet after Caron Butler's 3-pointer missed at the buzzer, the Lakers walked away with a 106-104 win and a 2-1 road trip.

"We have to make sure our minds are always in the game, no matter how big the lead is," said Pau Gasol, who averaged 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds on the trip. "We need to make sure we finish things off."

Coach Phil Jackson took the late breakdown a step further, blaming himself for letting some of his reserves start the fourth quarter while Gasol, Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom watched from the bench.

"Poor coaching," Jackson said. "That's what it was tonight. Putting too much trust and faith in a younger group - a second unit. They just can't hold it on the road. They can't withstand the fury or the intensity of the fourth quarter. I'm going to have to change it up a little bit."

The Lakers weren't the only ones feeling underwhelmed by their latest win. Milwaukee (9-12) wasn't pleased with a 101-96 home victory over struggling Charlotte on Friday, a game that was tight throughout.

"It's good to get a win, but looking back, we didn't play pretty well," said center Andrew Bogut, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds. "You can't take a lot of positives out of it when they shoot 52 percent from the field. We're very, very lucky to get a win."

The Bucks lost all three games that Bogut missed with a bruised left knee, but have won both since he's returned. Bogut's return has also coincided with Michael Redd being back in the starting lineup.

Redd missed 14 games with a sprained right ankle, and he's averaged 19.3 points since his return, including 25 in the win against Charlotte.

Redd averaged 24.0 points last season against the Lakers as the teams split the season series, with each winning at home. Los Angeles won 110-105 at Staples Center on Jan. 11 behind 37 points from Bryant, and probably the best performance of center Andrew Bynum's young career. He finished 10-of-13 for 25 points and a then career-high 17 rebounds.

Bynum, who's been dealing with a small bone spur in his right foot, has scored at least 17 points in five straight games.

The Bucks have lost 14 of 16 at Staples Center to the Lakers, but the last five meetings have all been decided by five points or less.

Copyright 2008 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.

Last season, the Lakers tied their season series with Milwaukee 1-1 after dropping the previous season’s series 0-2 to Milwaukee for the first time since the 2000-01 season. From the 2001-02 season through the 2005-06 season, the Lakers won 10 straight games against the Bucks before falling to Milwaukee 105-109 11/28/06 at STAPLES Center. This will be the 116th meeting between the two teams with the Lakers holding a 72-43 all-time series advantage. In their last 10 games against Milwaukee, the Lakers are 7-3 against the Bucks and have won 20 of the last 25 overall. In Milwaukee, the Lakers are 7-3 in their last ten games, losing their last two meetings in Milwaukee. The Lakers are 7-2 all-time against the Bucks at STAPLES Center and are 8-2 in their last 10 home games (14-2 in their last 16 home games vs. Milwaukee). Under head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are 11-5 against the Bucks. In 21 games including 18 starts against Milwaukee, Kobe Bryant is averaging 23.6 points against the Bucks. Lakers special assistant coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played six seasons with Milwaukee before being traded to the Lakers in 1975 and currently holds the Bucks series scoring record (50 points, 3/17/73 vs. Milwaukee) against the Lakers. Additionally, on November 21, Abdul-Jabbar took part in a halftime ceremony during the Lakers/Bucks game in which his retired number 33 banner was rededicated in celebration of Milwaukee’s 40th anniversary season. Abdul-Jabbar owns Bucks franchise records for points (14,211), rebounds (7.161) and scoring average (30.4) among others. Prior to joining the Chicago Bulls and then the Lakers, assistant coach Frank Hamblen spent nine seasons with the Bucks as both Del Harris and Mike Dunleavy’s top assistant while serving as the interim head coach for Milwaukee during the 1991-92 season.

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LAKERS UPDATES

STRONG STARTS
At 16-2, the Lakers are off to their best start to a season through 18 games since 2001-02 when Los Angeles began the year with a 16-1 record, the most wins ever accrued by the Lakers before their second loss, before losing their next two games. The Lakers best undefeated start to a season came in 1997-98 when they opened the year a franchise record 11-0 and ran their record to 12-1 before losing their second game. In all, the Lakers have been 14-1 through 15 games TWICE in franchise history including this season – 2008-09: 14-1 and 2001-02: 16-1. Phil Jackson led teams have now won at least 14 games before their second loss on three occasions, once with the Chicago Bulls and now twice with the Lakers – 2008-09: 14-1, 2001-02: 16-1, 1996-97: 17-1. Currently at 16-2, the most wins ever accrued by the Lakers before their THIRD loss came in the 1985-86 season, when the Lakers started the season with a 19-2 record. With their 95-106 loss to Detroit November 14, the Lakers suffered their first defeat of the 2008-09 season. The loss snapped a seven-game win streak that was the team’s longest to start a season since opening the 2001-02 season 7-0. Only twice in franchise history had the Lakers started the season with a better mark, going a franchisebest 11-0 to open the 1997-98 campaign and 8-0 to start the 1987-88 season. This was the second time under head coach Phil Jackson that the Lakers have opened the season 7-0 (2008-09, 2001-02). Only once has a Jackson-led team opened the season with a better record, with the 1996-97 Bulls going 12-0 to begin the season.

WIRE-TO-WIRE
The Lakers posted their fourth wire-to-wire victory of the season with their 106-104 victory over Washington December 5. On opening night, the Lakers defeated the Portland 96-76 for their first wire-to-wire victory of the season and defeated the Hornets 93-86 at New Orleans November 12 for their second wire-to-wire victory of the season. Their third wire-to-wire victory of the season came in a 104-90 victory over Denver November 21. Last season, the Lakers did not record their first wire-to-wire victory until December 16 vs. LA Clippers. In 2007-08, the Lakers ranked second in the NBA behind the Dallas Mavericks (18) with 15 wire-to-wire victories (games in which they never trailed). The Lakers also posted four such victories during the 2008 postseason, going wire-to-wire against the Jazz in Games 5 and 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals versus Utah and Games 2 and 4 of the Western Conference Finals versus San Antonio.

BRYANT BECOMES 22nd EVER TO 22,000 POINTS (2nd YOUNGEST, 12th FASTEST IN TERMS OF GAMES)
With 28 points December 2 at Indiana, Kobe Bryant became the 22nd player in NBA history to score 22,000 points and in doing so, became the second youngest player ever to 22,000 points (30 years, 101 days), one day older than Wilt Chamberlain (30 years, 100 days) who scored his 22,000th point on 11/26/66. The next youngest to 22,000 points were Oscar Robertson (31 years, 117 days) on 3/21/70 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (31 years, 350 days) on 4/1/79. The youngest player in league history to accumulate 12,000 - 20,000 career points, Bryant became the 12th fastest to 22,000 points in terms of games, reaching the mark in 881 career games. Through his career, Bryant has been the 29th fastest to 15,000, the 22nd fastest to 16,000, the 20th fastest to 17,000, the 16th fastest to 18,000, the 15th fastest to 19,000, the 15th fastest to 20,000 and the 12th fastest to 21,000 points in terms of games. Earlier this season, with 29 points November 14 against Detroit, Kobe Bryant moved past both Larry Bird and Gary Payton on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Bryant (22,013) now trails Clyde Drexler (22,195) for 21st on the all-time list. Bryant, now in his 13th NBA season, passed Bird in his 874th career game. Bird reached 21,791 points in 897 career games over 13 seasons while Payton reached 21,813 points in 1,335 games over 17 NBA seasons. Last season, Bryant became the 25th player in NBA history to score 21,000 points and in doing so, became the second youngest player ever to 21,000 points (29 years, 194 days) and second ever under the age of 30 behind Wilt Chamberlain (29 years, 184 days). Michael Jordan was the third youngest to 21,000 (30 years, 40 days). Earlier in the season, Bryant, at 29 years, 122 days, became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 20,000 career points and the third player ever to reach 20,000 points under the age of 30, ranking ahead of Wilt Chamberlain (29 years, 134 days) and Michael Jordan (29 years, 326 days).