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 Los Angeles Lakers
Western Conference Standing : 1 Streak: Won 5 |
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 New Jersey Nets
Eastern Conference Standing : 11 Streak: Lost 3 |
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---Francisco Gomez, Lakers.com
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Gasol scores 36 as Lakers clinch top seed in West
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.(AP) Pau Gasol had a season-high 36 points and 11 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the top playoff seed in the Western Conference with a 103-95 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Friday night. Shaking off some uncharacteristic poor shooting early and a sprained right ankle before halftime, Kobe Bryant scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and added nine assists as the Lakers (58-14) won their fifth straight. Derek Fisher added 18 points and Lamar Odom had 12 points and 11 rebounds in Phil Jackson's record-setting 728th game as the Lakers' coach. Vince Carter had 20 for the fading Nets, who lost their third in a row. All-Star guard Devin Harris returned from a shoulder injury that sidelined him 12 days and had 13 points and 14 assists. Brook Lopez added 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Lakers had some scary moments in a game in which they nearly blew a 22-point third-quarter lead, but none was scarier than the sight of Bryant falling to the court late in the first half after colliding with Harris on a drive to the basket. The former MVP lay on the court for about a minute before limping off to the locker room with a sprained ankle. He started the second half and finished 5-of-19 from the field. The Lakers played a very inconsistent game, looking unbelievably focused at times and then letting up when they had the Nets on the verge of being blown out. They built a 14-point lead behind Gasol and Fisher early in the second quarter, only to see the Nets cut the deficit to 51-49 at the half with a late 18-6 spurt. New Jersey eventually tied it at 57 early in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Carter. The shot seemed to wake up the Lakers. They scored the next 16 points and 24 of 26 to take an 81-59 lead with less than three minutes left in the quarter. Bryant, who hit two of his first 10 shots, hit a short bank shot early in the run and then brought the Izod Center crowd to its feet late in the run with three consecutive 3-pointers - a feat that had the fans chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P' However, the Nets cut the deficit to 11 points at the end of the third quarter and got to within three points twice, the last on a 3-pointer by Jarvis Hayes, who finished with 19 points off the bench. Odom then followed a Bryant miss with an aggressive rebound and Gasol hit a jumper to push the lead to 97-90 with 1:21 to go. After Lopez and Gasol exchanged baskets, Hayes hit his fourth 3-pointer to get New Jersey within 99-95 with less than a minute to go. But Gasol, who previous high was 34 points this season, drove for a layup and then hit two free throws after getting his final rebound to close out the game. Notes: Riley coached 727 games with the Lakers. ... New Jersey outrebounded the Lakers 48-37. ... The Nets had a season-high 22 turnovers with Bryant getting four steals. ... Gasol was three assists shy of a triple-double. ... The game was a sellout with 19,990 in attendance. ... Los Angeles is 4-0 on its seven-game road trip. 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 - NETS PREVIEW
The Los Angeles Lakers have their sights set on securing home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, and if they end up earning it, they can credit their impressive play away from Staples Center. The NBA's best road team has won five straight in visiting arenas, and the Lakers will look to extend their streak Friday night as they continue their seven-game trip against the New Jersey Nets, who are hoping to get All-Star Devin Harris back from injury. Los Angeles (57-14) is a game behind Cleveland for the NBA's best record, but it's certainly doing its best to stay in the race for home-court through the NBA finals with its play on the road. The Lakers are a league-best 26-9 away from home, including a perfect 6-0 trip two months ago that included wins in Boston and Cleveland. They moved to 3-0 on their season-long seven-game trip on Thursday night, using a 20-0 run to close the third quarter and 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists from Kobe Bryant to win 92-77. "We want to be the best team in the league," said Lamar Odom, who also flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, 10 boards and seven assists. "We have to set goals in order to get better and one of our goals is to be the best, have the best record before the playoffs start. Ultimately we want home-court advantage in the playoffs." The Lakers could have been a step closer to that goal if the Nets (30-41) had been able to help them out in their latest game. New Jersey took a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter Wednesday in Cleveland, but LeBron James took over to lead the NBA-best Cavaliers to a 98-87 win. It was the Nets' sixth loss in eight games, and they're now four games back of Chicago and Detroit, which are tied for the final two playoff spots in the East. "Losing at this time of year is frustrating because we're fighting for so much,'' Vince Carter said after scoring 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting. "Not winning takes us backwards and we're continuing to go a little backwards. Hopefully, we can get the next one and get ourselves back in it.'' New Jersey has played its last five games without Harris, who strained his left shoulder in a road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on March 15. Harris, though, could return against the Lakers - he's listed as a game-time decision. The Nets had Harris healthy when they visited Staples Center earlier this season, but the All-Star's 21 points and six assists didn't make a difference. Pau Gasol scored 26 for the Lakers, who stretched a two-point halftime lead out to a 120-93 victory. Gasol and Bryant have carried Los Angeles offensively, but Trevor Ariza has emerged recently to give coach Phil Jackson's team another quality scoring threat. Since Ariza entered the starting lineup on March 11 in Houston, the Lakers have won seven of eight - going 5-0 on the road. Ariza has averaged 13.1 points on 61.4 percent shooting in that stretch. For the Nets to have a chance Friday, they may need a big game from Brook Lopez. New Jersey's rookie center has averaged 15.4 points in his last seven games, but he'll have his hands full against Gasol. The Lakers will be looking for their third straight win against the Nets despite Bryant averaging just 9.0 points in their last two victories. 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 currently lead the season series with New Jersey 1-0, after splitting last season’s series 1-1 and sweeping the 2006-07 series with the Nets 2-0. The Lakers have lost just four total season series to New Jersey since the Nets first season in the NBA (1976-77), most recently dropping the 2005-06 series 0-2. This will be the 70th meeting between the Lakers and Nets with Los Angeles leading the all-time series 50- 19. The Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 overall games but have won four of the last five meetings with New Jersey overall. The Lakers are 6-4 at STAPLES Center all-time against the Nets while in New Jersey, the Lakers are 7-3 in their last 10 games. In their most recent meeting, a 120-93 victory 11/25 at STAPLES Center, the Lakers 27- point win surpassed the old mark of 25 points (3/24/97) as the Lakers largest margin of victory ever against the Nets. Under head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are 11-6 against New Jersey. In 18 games including 14 starts against the Nets, Kobe Bryant is averaging 21.3 points while Lamar Odom (16.9 points, 8.1 rebounds), Pau Gasol (17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds) and Derek Fisher (10.9 points) all average double-figures for their careers against the Nets. Andrew Bynum was born in Plainsboro, New Jersey and attended St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey. Additionally, Nets forward Yi Jianlian and Lakers guard Sun Yue played on the Chinese National Team together in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
LAKERS SCOUTING REPORT
So far, so good…. As we enter the first back to back of this trip we are once again facing a team missing one of their best players. But like most teams, they still possess enough talent to cause us problems. Devin Harris has been out since taking a hard fall against the Clippers. In his absence Keyon Dooling has stepped his game up. He is playing very well and we must contain him. The other adjustment that New Jersey ahs made is that they are putting the ball in Vince Carter’s hands more as a playmaker. He will be the de facto point guard on a number of possessions tonight. This gives the Nets a couple of advantages. First, It takes away the chance for the defense to simply commit to denying him the ball. The toughest place to double team a player is in the middle of the floor up high. From that spot the floor becomes too spread and wide open if you do not successfully execute the doubleteam. The other part is that if Carter gives it up they can then run him off a series of picks or run him to the post for good opportunities there. New Jersey still runs some of the options out of the famed “Princeton Offense” but they now mix it up with a lot more standard NBA offensive playsets. The Nets space the floor well and they do a good job of always keeping shooters in the corners so when players such as Dooling, Carter, and Douglas-Roberts penetrate they know they have a bailout option. If we get sucked in to stop the penetration then the shooters in the corners can hurt us all night long. It is imperative that we take away the direct line path of their drivers. Offensively, we must continue to get the ball from side to side. This team will put solid pressure on the ball handlers and shooters. One of the goals that their coaching staff preaches is to contest every shot. Against this mentality it is important to use our shot fakes and ball fakes to create space for ourselves. After we swing the ball around and as the defense is rushing to closeout the shooter we can ball fake and penetrate to the rim. We have now been on the road for a week and this is when our mental toughness will begin to be tested as much as our physical toughness. We must answer the bell tonight.
LAKERS UPDATES
LAKERS CAN CLINCH #1 SEED IN THE WEST WITH A WIN TONIGHT OR A SAN ANTONIO LOSS PHIL JACKSON TO PASS PAT RILEY TONIGHT FOR MOST GAMES COACHED IN FRANCHISE HISTORY OPPONENTS UNDER 80 |
