Lakers Gameday | 03/21/09 | Lakers 117, Bulls 109
 Los Angeles Lakers
Western Conference Standing : 1 Streak: Won 2 |
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 Chicago Bulls
Eastern Conference Standing : 8 Streak: Lost 1 |
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---Francisco Gomez, Lakers.com
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Bryant leads Lakers over Bulls, 117-109
CHICAGO(AP) Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, Pau Gasol added 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to a 117-109 victory Saturday over the Chicago Bulls in the first of a season-high, seven-game trip. The Lakers trailed by 16 in the second quarter and 14 at the half, but came roaring back in the third, pulling within one. They tied it early in the fourth, then took the lead with a 14-0 run that made it 106-93. Bryant, who once said he wouldn't mind playing in Chicago, was serenaded with "MVP! MVP!'' chants even though he was just 10-for-25, but this was far from a one-man effort. Gasol grabbed 10 rebounds as the Lakers earned their fifth victory in six games. Trevor Ariza scored 18 points, Lamar Odom added 16 and Jordan Farmar had eight of his 13 in the decisive run. After beating New Orleans and defending champion Boston, along with Oklahoma City, Chicago simply let this one slip away. John Salmons scored 30 and Derrick Rose 25 for the Bulls, who had tied a season high with three straight wins, but their luck ended against the Western Conference leaders. So did their seven-game home win streak. The Lakers had trouble the past four games holding onto big leads, but no problem erasing one Saturday. Trailing 62-48 at halftime, the Lakers went on a 12-0 run to cut it to three after Salmons started the third quarter with a free throw for Chicago. They got as close as one midway through the period and finally tied it at 89 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Sasha Vujacic and Odom less than two minutes into the fourth. The Lakers took their first lead since the early stages on a three-point play by Luke Walton that made it 92-91. After Ben Gordon made two free throws, the Lakers answered with 14 straight to put away Chicago. Farmar hit two 3s and capped the run with dunk that made it 106-93 with 4:22 left, and the Bulls also committed three straight turnovers at one point during that stretch. It was a difficult loss for the Bulls, who seemed poised to knock off another contender. Salmons scored 18 points in the first half, Rose had 14, and both came up with eye-popping baskets in the final minute as the Bulls stalled a mini-spurt by the Lakers. For Rose, it was a double-pump layup on the break with 28 seconds left to make it 59-46. Salmons' moment came after Trevor Ariza put back a 3 by Bryant that hit the side of the backboard with 3.8 seconds left, when he buried one from just beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded. Two big shots. Two big performances. But the Lakers pulled this one out. Notes: Considering how well he's been playing, Salmons may be pushing the injured Luol Deng out of the starting lineup. Salmons was averaging 19.4 points entering Saturday's game since the Bulls acquired him from Sacramento. Deng, meanwhile, has been sidelined the past three weeks with what he has said is a "very small, not even a hairline'' fracture in his right leg. "We have to wait and see when Luol comes back how healthy he is,'' coach Vinny Del Negro said when asked if Deng would start. "He's still got some discomfort there. It's going to take a little time. My focus is to go with the guys who are healthy right now.'' ... Only one of the Lakers' opponents on this trip - Atlanta - had a winning record through Friday. 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
LAKERS - BULLS PREVIEW
The Los Angeles Lakers have the NBA's best road record, and considering they completed a perfect six-game trip earlier this season, a seven-game stretch away from home shouldn't be too intimidating. Starting the trip with a win, though, won't be nearly as easy as it once looked. The Lakers will kick off a road trip critical to their hopes of earning home-court advantage throughout the playoffs Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls, who have strengthened their own playoff hopes by winning seven straight at the United Center. Los Angeles (54-14) is well on its way to having home-court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs, but Cleveland has seized the best record in the league. Should the Lakers need a big road win in the postseason, though, they should be in good shape to get it. Los Angeles is a league-best 23-9 away from home and went 6-0 on a road trip from Jan. 30-Feb. 8 that concluded with wins in Cleveland and Boston. The Lakers, who won 114-106 over Golden State on Thursday, won't have to face anyone the caliber of the Cavaliers and Celtics on this trip. Atlanta is the only opponent they'll face that is currently above .500. "It is good that it is coming up at this time of year," Kobe Bryant said. "If you go out on the road, basically it is us against the world so to speak so we are able to bond and connect and these type of road trips build great momentum." Los Angeles won't have it easy in Chicago, though, where the Bulls (32-37) have slipped into the East's eighth playoff spot with their strong play at home. Chicago hasn't been beating just anyone during its seven-game run at the United Center, either. The Bulls toppled Denver, Orlando and Houston in their first three home wins, then knocked off New Orleans and the Celtics in the past week. Perhaps more impressive than the win over the defending champions was Chicago's ability to dig out a road win the next night. The Bulls had lost seven in a row on the road prior to Wednesday's game, when they went into Oklahoma City and got 25 points from Derrick Rose in a 103-96 victory. "I knew that my team needed me to make plays. I didn't know what type of plays, but it ended up being scoring plays," said Rose, who made all 10 shots he attempted in the second half. Rose played well in his first game against the Lakers, recording team highs of 25 points and nine assists when Chicago visited Staples Center on Nov. 18. The Bulls, though, couldn't stop Pau Gasol, who scored 34 points in a 116-109 Los Angeles win. The player who's really helped Chicago leap into the East's top eight, however, has been John Salmons. The swingman, who came over from Sacramento last month, has averaged 23.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in his last eight games. Salmons also will likely draw the assignment of guarding Bryant, but the NBA's reigning MVP hasn't really excelled against the Bulls in recent years. Bryant has averaged 19.5 points on 39.3 percent shooting in the Lakers' last five meetings with Chicago, although Los Angeles has won six of those games. The Bulls haven't won eight straight at the United Center since Jan. 7-27, 2005. 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
GAME NOTES
NOTES & CONNECTIONS The Lakers lead their season series with Chicago 1-0 after sweeping last season’s series with the Bulls 2-0. This will be the 135th meeting between the two teams with the Lakers leading the all-time series 80-54. The Lakers have gone 7-3 against the Bulls in their last 10 overall games. At STAPLES Center, the Lakers are 8-2 all-time against the Bulls and have won 6-of-their-last-7. In Chicago, the Lakers have gone 5- 5 in their last 10 games at the United Center against the Bulls. Under head coach Phil Jackson, who coached in Chicago for nine seasons, the Lakers are 12-5 all-time against his former team, 7-2 in Los Angeles, 5-3 in Chicago. Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen spent three years as an assistant in Chicago and was a member of the 1997 and 1998 Bulls Championship teams. Assistant coach Jim Cleamons spent seven seasons as an assistant in Chicago and was a member of the 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996 Bulls Championship teams. Lakers Basketball Consultant Tex Winter spent 14 seasons on the Bulls assistant coaching staff, eight under Phil Jackson. Lakers Special Assistant Coach Craig Hodges played four seasons with the Bulls and was a member of their 1991 and 1992 Championship teams. In their November 18 contest against Chicago last season, the Lakers defeated the Bulls by 28 points, surpassing the old series record of 27 established back on February 18, 1968. In 21 career games (17 starts) against Chicago, Kobe Bryant is averaging 24.1 points with a high game of 43 coming back on 11/20/05.
LAKERS SCOUTING REPORT
The Chicago Bulls are a different team than the one we last played in mid-november. Gone are Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Andres Nocioni, and Thebo Sefolosha. New in the rotation are Brad Miller, John Salmons, and Tim Thomas. This team wants to play fast and with star rookie Derrick Rose they can do it. Their motion and energy help them get the job done. They do not have a strong low post game so they try to get penetration in their offense through the use fo screen and rolls and lots of motion and cutting. It will crucial that we restrict this team’s movement both with and without the ball. We must take them out of their comfort zone. They have a lot of combo guards – Rose, Hinrich, Salmons, Gordon – so we expect to see some smaller lineups where three of those players are on the floor at the same time. The primary objective for the Bulls is to make a quick transition from defense to offense by by getting the ball in Rose’s hands. They will set a lot of screen and rolls at various angles as part of their early offensive schemes. If we are able to take away this initial thrust and stay in front of Rose then we will see some standard NBA sets. We will see single – double action especially ones where the bigs step out and set a screen and roll. The screens on these can be set to the middle or to the baseline side so our weakside players need to be ready to react in either direction. The set that they have been running most frequently lately is their “THUMB UP” series. This is the old Sacramento action popularized during Rick Adelman’s tenure in Sac-Town. This is where they put one of their bigs – with the Bull it is most frequently Brad Miller – at the elbow area, feed him the ball and the strong side wing and the point play off of the big on the strong side. After feeding the big man the point will usually cut to the strong corner so there is the big at the hig post with the ball, a wing player, and the guard in the corner. At this point there can be a back pick from the corner man, a down pick from the wing, the big can run a dribble handoff sequence with either of them, etc. etc. Once they have executed this strong side action a number of times, they will look to the weakside where the two players over there can either run a downscreen or a back screen to create an opening. One key to take care of defensively is to make sure we are pressuring Miller at the elbow so he does not have an open shot from there (well within his range) while not creating an opening for him to drive because at that point there is not a lot of help on the backside. This is a tough series to defend but we have a lot of experience in dealing with it so if we communicate we should be able to defend it. Defensively, the Bulls have shown some zone – especially after timeouts. If it is successful they will stay with it. With our recent struggles against the zone defense of the Dallas Mavericks we expect to see the Bulls give this a shot. Their guards will pick up and pressure our guards in the backcourt but with our two guard front that should not bother us. Finally we need to be aware of Tyrus Thomas. He loves to block shots so we need to have our pump fakes ready and whoever he is guarding needs to find the open spot and be ready to receive the ball and score.
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