Hibbert leads Pacers past Lakers, 98-96

By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) Roy Hibbert scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter playing with a broken nose, and six of his teammates also scored in double figures to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 98-96 on Sunday night.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points for the Lakers, but missed what would have been a tying 3-pointer from 30 feet from the top of the key with 3.5 seconds to play and the Pacers clinched it at the free throw line.

The Pacers (11-5) are off to their best start since 2003-04, when they won 14 of their first 16, finished the regular season 61-21 and came within two wins of getting to the NBA finals.

The Lakers, coming off road losses to Miami and Orlando, failed to reach 100 points for the 11th straight game - their longest streak since a 12-game stretch in 2003-04.

Hibbert, the Pacers' second-leading scorer, left the court with the broken nose after fouling Bryant with 6:46 left in the first quarter. Tyler Hansbrough replaced Hibbert and missed all five shots during Hibbert's brief absence, but grabbed seven rebounds.

Hibbert reported back in with 5:12 left in the second quarter after a trainer stuffed cotton up his nose, but he had difficulty keeping it in at times. He also had eight rebounds in 27 minutes.

Bryant beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 16-footer from the right of the key to give the Lakers a 78-77 lead, and former Pacers forward Troy Murphy got his first points of the game on a 3 that made it 82-77.

Hibbert, more than willing to get his nose dirty, scored six consecutive points in the paint to cut the margin to one with 6:15 left, and former UCLA guard Darren Collison's 3-pointer tied it at 86 with 5:32 left.

West ended the first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the top of the key, capping a 15-6 run and slicing the Lakers' 13-point lead to three at 52-49. He finished the half with 15 points, helping offset 17 by Bryant. Danny Granger's 3-pointer 1:37 into the third quarter gave Indiana a 55-54 lead, its first since Paul George's game-opening dunk.

Notes: The National Anthem was sung by Kareem Rush, whose seven-year NBA career included stints with the Lakers and Pacers. ... Bryant is 180 points away from overtaking Shaquille O'Neal (28,596) for fifth place on the career scoring list. The two-time NBA scoring champ also is 20 field goals shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Lakers career record of 9,935 and needs to make 11 more free throws to eclipse Jerry West's Lakers career record of 7,160. ... Pacers associate coach Brian Shaw, who won three NBA championship rings playing for the Lakers and two more as an assistant coach under Phil Jackson, made his first trip to Staples Center since leaving Los Angeles. He and most of the Lakers players - particularly Bryant - were hoping he'd be hired to replace Jackson as head coach instead of Mike Brown, and Shaw was upset that he had to learn about Brown's hiring from media reports instead of from general manager Mitch Kupchak. ... The last time the Pacers faced the Lakers at Staples Center, they won 95-92 to snap a 14-game road losing streak against them - including three losses in the 2000 NBA finals. ... The Lakers have a rematch with the Clippers on Wednesday night, trying to even the season series after a 102-94 loss Jan. 14. ... Lakers F Josh McRoberts, who spent the previous three seasons with the Pacers, played 20 scoreless minutes and took two shots in his first game against them.

POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike Brown:

On tonights loss:

“This game was real simple, we’ve got to give Indiana credit because they out worked us. They out worked us as a team and it’s too bad because we came out and we played great defense in the first quarter, and then the last three quarters we didn’t play with a sense of urgency. It was almost like when we got up 12 or 13 in the first quarter, we thought Indiana would fold to a certain degree and we just kind of went through the motions. And to give up a 35 point second quarter and a 28 point third quarter, it’s not who we are. That part was disappointing to see, there was no sense of urgency defensively. It was like we were ok trading baskets with them. We haven’t been like that in a while and that’s what makes this game, more than any other game, tough to swallow because of our demeanor on the defensive floor. And then you talk about 50/50 balls, long rebounds, loose balls, Indiana got most of them…This game was tough to swallow from the standpoint that defensively there was just no sense of urgency after we got up 14 in the first quarter. And it’s too bad because offensively I thought we did some nice things. We’re going to get better at that end of the floor, but we showed some improvement from our last few games.”

“I was going to, but Kobe had the ball in the open court and I didn’t want their defense to get set. I started to call one, and then I pulled back. Obviously, hindsight I should have called it whether Kobe had the ball or not. They did a heck of a job getting the stop. But, it came down to me looking and seeing Kobe with the ball in the open floor against a defense that wasn’t set.”

“I would have been okay if we were 11-7. I would have been a lot happier with it. But obviously now it’s not satisfying at this point.”

“We came out well and played very good in the first quarter defensively --- offensively, we were doing the right things. Then we relaxed a little bit defensively, let them back in the game and they got themselves going.”/p>

“We’re really not shooting the ball well. The opposition is shooting the ball much better than we are, especially from 3. We have to start knocking some of those shots down.”

“Defensively, we were extremely poor outside of the first quarter where we held them to 14 points. After that, we opened the floodgates and just let them score at will and then you compound that with the fact that we’re having a tough time scoring.”

“There are a myriad of reasons. We’ve got defensive issues and offensive issues, and we’re not being efficient, so that hurts.”

“It’s tough, it’s a little bit challenging at times. You know, both of us aren’t playing with each other too well. So I think we’ll go back to the gym and we’ll get some stuff going offensively. This team depends on us --- we need to score to win, if we don’t we’re going to lose.

“Obviously, a really big win for us, valiant effort by Roy Hibbert after getting a broken nose in the first half and coming back and really carrying us in the second half, after David West carried us in the first half. But this is what our team is all about. It’s not about a super team of superstars, it’s about a balanced attack, that we share the ball and we win the rebounding wars most nights, we did tonight. We didn’t win the free-throw battle like we want to win but sometimes you’re not going to get the calls on the road, and we expect that and our guys gutted out a big win for us.”

“This team has an incredible desire to compete and to win, collectively. This team just has a collective mindset of grit and determination, to get the job done. They know that this can be a special year and I’ve never been around a team with the desire this team has.”

“They told me not to come back out and play without a mask, but I knew we had to get this win so I tried to be aggressive when I came back out and play better defense. I had a hard time breathing out there because I couldn’t breathe through my nose so I got winded a little bit. The coaches did a good job getting me in and out so I could stay fresh and be aggressive.”

“We are very good passers. I take pride in my passing. If I could score zero points but have 10 assists and 10 rebounds then I would take a lot of joy out of that.”

“This is definitely a confidence booster. To come here on the Lakers floor and take a win is huge. To take this one is big.”

“We’ve got two of the best big men in the league right now in Roy Hibbert and David West. When they get the ball the defense collapses and that leaves us with good looks.”

“We’ve come really far. This game wasn’t a surprise for us. We’re 11-4 right now and we feel like we should be 13-2. We come into arenas expecting a win; we don’t come in as underdogs.”

“That’s a credit to the coaches. We put in schemes to take the ball out of his hands to force other guys to make shots and it worked tonight. We didn’t spring it until the fourth quarter. He was doing his thing but we were still in the game. We knew that when it came down to crunch time Kobe was going to get the ball in his hands and we wanted to get it out of his hands.”

Pacers-Lakers Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN

Kobe Bryant is continuing to encourage his teammates as their perimeter shooting problems persist.

The Indiana Pacers have no such worries about their 3-point attack.

The Pacers ended a lengthy road losing streak against the Lakers last season, and they enter Sunday night's matchup with the better record as they seek a winning three-game trip.

Bryant is in his usual place among the NBA's elite with his 30.4 scoring average, but hasn't been getting adequate help. The Lakers (10-7) are one of the league's worst 3-point shooting teams at 25.7 percent.

Los Angeles made 6 of 20 3s in each of its two road losses this week, falling 98-87 at Miami on Thursday and 92-80 the next night in Orlando.

"I tell them (teammates) that they have to keep shooting them," Bryant said. "They are much better shooters than the statistics are showing right now. We just have to keep shooting them."

Indiana (10-4) is one of the NBA's better 3-point shooting teams at 38.2 percent. The Pacers have split their first two on this trip after making 8 of 16 from beyond the arc in Friday's 94-91 win at Golden State.

Starters Paul George and Darren Collison are southern California natives who are among the NBA leaders, with George shooting 48.9 percent on 3s and Collison 48.1.

The Pacers had dropped 14 straight on the road to the Lakers - including three defeats in the 2000 NBA finals - before a 95-92 victory Nov. 28, 2010. Roy Hibbert had 24 points and 12 boards while Danny Granger added 18 points as Indiana overcame Bryant's 41 points.

Bryant scored 31 and Pau Gasol added 28 as Los Angeles won the rematch, 109-94 at Indiana on Dec. 15, 2010.

The Pacers have two new starters from those games in George and David West. They faced one of the departed starters in Brandon Rush on Friday and will face the other, Josh McRoberts, on Sunday.

McRoberts signed with the Lakers as a free agent after developing into a starter in 2010-11 - his third season with the Pacers. He has been a non-factor of late as a Los Angeles reserve.

While the Pacers lost one Indiana native in McRoberts, they added another in George Hill. The former Spurs guard came up big Friday when he stole the ball from Monta Ellis and converted a three-point play with 1.8 seconds remaining.

"Obviously the play of the game was George Hill," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel, an advance scout for the Lakers in 2005-06.

Granger scored a season-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He shot 34.1 percent and averaged 13.7 points over his previous three games.

"We want him to be assertive," Vogel said. "He's an All-Star. We want to go to him."

The Lakers are trying to stay patient with their struggling shooters. Derek Fisher is shooting 24.1 percent on 3s and Metta World Peace is at 12.1 (4 of 33).

Los Angeles shot a season-low 38.2 percent overall for the second time in three games Friday.

"We got a lot of good looks ... a lot of them," Bryant said. "We just have to keep hitting the open man and those shots will fall."

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers split last season’s series with the Pacers 1-1, after sweeping the 2009-10 series with Indiana 2-0. Prior to that, both meetings in 2008-09 involved buzzer beaters, with the Lakers losing in Indiana on a Troy Murphy tip-in at the buzzer 12/2/08 but winning in Los Angeles on a Kobe Bryant game winning shot 1/9/09. This will be the 76th meeting between the two franchises with the Lakers leading the all-time series 55-20. The Lakers are 7-3 in their last 10 games against the Pacers. During the 2007-08 season, the Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak at Indiana with a 134-114 victory 11/2007, but are still just 5-7 at Conseco Fieldhouse since it opened in 1999. At STAPLES Center, however, the Lakers are 11-1 all-time against Indiana in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs, with their one loss coming last season (92-95 Pacers victory on 11/28/10). Lakers head coach Mike Brown spent two seasons as the associate head coach of the Pacers (2003-05), helping Indiana to a division title in 2003-04. Current Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw played four seasons with the Lakers (1999-2003), helping the team to three consecutive NBA Championships (2000, 2001, 2002) before winning two NBA Championships (2009, 2010) as a Lakers assistant coach over six seasons on Phil Jackson’s coaching staff. Lakers assistant coach Chuck Person was drafted 4th overall by the Pacers in the 1986 NBA Draft, winning rookie of the year and ranking 10th on the Pacer’s all-time scoring list with 9,096 points in six seasons with the team. Person also spent two seasons as a Pacers assistant coach (2005-07). In 27 career games (24 starts), Bryant is averaging 25.7 points against the Pacers and owns the series scoring record with 45 points 1/9/06 vs. Indiana at STAPLES Center. Only Bryant and Derek Fisher were on the court for Los Angeles in the 2000 NBA Finals versus Indiana while only Jeff Foster remains from the Pacer’s 2000 Eastern Conference Champion roster (Brian Shaw was also on the court as a member of the Lakers). Additionally, Pacers forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. is the son of former Lakers head coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. as well as a former Lakers ball boy. Josh McRoberts (2008-11), Troy Murphy (2007-10) and Metta World Peace (2002-06) all spent multiple seasons as players for the Pacers.

BUMP IN THE ROAD
While opening the season with a 9-1 mark at home, the Lakers are now 1-5 in away games this season, their worst road start since the 2002-03 season, when they opened the season 1-8 on the road, playing their first seven road games without injured center Shaquille O’Neal, who was sidelined after having toe surgery. That season marked their worst one-win road record since the team moved to Los Angeles. The 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers also started the season with a 1-8 road record, after the 1957-58 Minneapolis Lakers started the season with a franchise worst 1-15 road record. This season, the Lakers were 0-3 on the road before earning an overtime victory at Utah on January 11. The Lakers last opened a season with three consecutive road losses in 1995-96, eventually falling to 0-4 away from home before earning their first road win. Since the end of neutral site games prior to the 1973-74 season, the Lakers have now opened their schedule with three or more consecutive road losses five times: 2011-12 (0-3), 1995-96 (0-4), 1993-94 (0-6), 1984-85 (0-4) and 1978-79 (0-4).

GASOL THREE POINTS SHY OF 14,000,
WOULD BE 1OTH FOREIGN BORN PLAYER TO REACH MILESTONE
With a season-high 26 points (11-19 FG) January 19 at Miami, Pau Gasol is now three points shy of 14,000 for his career. Only nine other foreign born players have reached the 14,000 career point milestone: Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946 / Nigeria), Dominique Wilkins (26,668 / France), Patrick Ewing (24,815 / Jamaica), Dirk Nowitzki (23,072 / Germany), Tim Duncan (21,854 / U.S. Virgin Islands), Rolando Blackman (17,623 / Panama), Steve Nash (16,073 / South Africa), Kiki Vandeweghe (15,980 / Germany) and Detlef Schrempf (15,761 / West Germany).

GAME WINNERS
Known for his clutch shooting, Derek Fisher delivered once again for the Lakers in their 73-70 victory over Dallas on January 16th, this time in game-winning fashion with a three-pointer from the right side of the arc with 3.1 seconds remaining. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the stat began being tracked prior to the 2000-01 season, Fisher now has SIX game winning field goals, five in the regular season and one in the playoffs (FGM in last 10 seconds of the 4th quarter or overtime). Only three, however, have actually come with the Lakers: the three-pointer vs. Dallas this season, a running three-foot layup high off the glass as the buzzer sounded to give the Lakers an 87-86 victory 12/8/10 at LA Clippers last season and his famous 0.4 second buzzer beater 5/13/04 at San Antonio (74-73 win). Fisher’s other game winners came with Utah (2/10/07 vs. NY (104-102 win) and Golden State (3/25/05 vs. MIL (118-117 win), 12/28/05 vs. BOS (111-109 win)).

In 2009-10, teammate Kobe Bryant famously connected on six game-winners; the most game winning field goals of any player in a single season over the last decade-plus (Carmelo Anthony ranks second on this list with five game-winning field goals in 2005-06). Since the start of the 2000-01 season, Bryant has 20 field goals that have given his team the lead within the last 10 seconds of a fourth quarter or overtime, the most in the league over that span.

BRYANT NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR 30th TIME, SECOND CONSECUTIVE WEEK
Averaging a league-high 43.0 points on 50.4% shooting, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.00 steals while helping the Lakers to a 3-1 record, Kobe Bryant earned his SECOND WC Player of the week award this season for games played Monday, Jan. 9 through Sunday, Jan. 15. It is the second consecutive week Bryant has won the award, also earning the honor for games played Monday, Jan. 2 through Sunday, Jan. 8 when he averaged a league-high 33.0 points on 49.5% shooting, 5.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists while helping the Lakers to a 3-1 record. The award is the 30th of Bryant’s career (28 Western Conference POW, 2 NBA POW), further surpassing Magic Johnson’s 18 NBA POW awards as the franchise’s all-time leader. Johnson, however, earned each of his Player of the Week nods before the award was separated by Conference prior to the 2001-02 season. Bryant’s other WC POW honors came in weeks ending: 11/4/01, 1/20/02, 11/3/02, 12/8/02, 1/12/03, 2/2/03, 2/23/03, 2/17/04, 3/22/04, 11/13/05, 12/18/05, 12/25/05, 1/22/06, 4/16/06, 3/18/07, 3/25/07, 1/13/08, 3/2/08, 4/6/08, 12/28/08, 1/11/09, 3/15/09, 11/22/09, 12/20/09, 12/27/09, 3/27/11 and 1/8/12. His two NBA Player of the Week honors came in weeks ending 4/16/00 and 12/24/00. The NBA began the Player of the Week award in 1979-80.

BRYANT AMONG 20 FINALISTS FOR 2012 U.S. OLYMPIC MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
On Monday, January 16, Kobe Bryant was named as one of 20 finalists for the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team by USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo . The official 12-man U.S. Olympic team roster will be announced later this year. Bryant is one of eight 2008 Olympic gold medalists in the final 20 along with 10 members of the 2010 USA World Championship gold medal winning team. Others named as finalists in addition to Bryant include: LaMarcus Aldridge (Trail Blazers); Carmelo Anthony (Knicks); Chauncey Billups (Clippers); Chris Bosh (Heat); Tyson Chandler (Knicks); Kevin Durant (Thunder); Rudy Gay (Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Hornets); Blake Griffin (Clippers); Dwight Howard (Magic); Andre Iguodala (76ers); LeBron James (Heat); Kevin Love (Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Mavericks); Chris Paul (Clippers); Derrick Rose (Bulls); Dwyane Wade (Heat); Russell Westbrook (Thunder); and Deron Williams (Nets). The 2012 USA coaching staff is led by Duke Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. Serving as assistants are Syracuse Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni, and Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

KOBE BRYANT LEADS WESTERN CONFERENCE AFTER FIRST ROUND OF ALL-STAR BALLOTING
On January 12th, the NBA announced its FIRST returns of 2012 NBA All-Star balloting with Kobe Bryant (690,613) LEADING all Western Conference players in All-Star voting while ranking second league-wide behind Dwight Howard (754,737). Pau Gasol (185,428), who made his fourth All-Star team last season as a reserve, ranks 4th among forwards in the West behind Kevin Durant (633,538), Blake Griffin (394,264) and Dirk Nowitzki (231,832). Andrew Bynum (496,597) leads all West centers, with DeAndre Jordan (134,961) and Marc Gasol (102,116) ranked second and third respectively. Chris Paul (540,173) ranks 2nd among West guards behind Bryant. In the East, LeBron James (640,789) and Carmelo Anthony (496,351) lead all forwards in voting, Derrick Rose (640,476) and Dwyane Wade (637,912) are the top two votegetters at guard and Howard leads all centers in balloting.

In each of the last four seasons, Bryant has led the Western Conference in all-star balloting. Last season, Bryant, who was the youngest All-Star in NBA history in 1998, received 2,380,016 votes to lead all players in balloting, the second time in his career he has done so (2003). In 2009-10, Bryant received 2,456,224 votes, finishing second overall to Cleveland’s LeBron James (2,549,693). In 2008-09, he accumulated 2,805,397 votes, finishing third in overall balloting behind Dwight Howard (3,150,181) and James (2,940,823). In 2007-08, Bryant garnered 2,004,940 votes to finish fourth in overall voting behind Kevin Garnett (2,399,148), James (2,108,831) and Howard (2,066,991). In 2006-07, when he earned his second All-Star MVP, Bryant finished third overall in balloting behind James and Yao Ming. A four-time All-Star MVP (2002 Philadelphia, 2007 Las Vegas, 2009 Phoenix, 2011 Los Angeles), Bryant is a 13-time All-Star and had started 11 consecutive All-Star games before missing the 2009-10 contest due to a sprained left ankle. Gasol has made four All-Star appearances (2006, 2009-11) and in 2009, became the 27th Laker in franchise history to be named to an All-Star team. Bynum has yet to make an All-Star Team, finishing 2nd among West centers (974,546) a year ago behind Yao Ming (1,146,426).

BRYANT NEARING SHAQUILLE O’NEAL FOR 5th ON NBA’S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Last season, Kobe Bryant moved past Hall-of-Famers Moses Malone (27,409) 3/8/11 at Atlanta, Elvin Hayes (27,313) 2/27/11 at Oklahoma City, Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946) 1/28/11 vs. Sacramento, Oscar Robertson (26,710) 1/7/11 vs. New Orleans, Dominique Wilkins (26,668) 1/4/11 vs. Detroit and John Havlicek (26,395) 12/10/10 at Chicago on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Next on the all-time list ahead of Bryant (28,144) are Shaquille O’Neal (5th/28,596), Wilt Chamberlain (4th/31,419), Michael Jordan (3rd/32,292), Karl Malone (2nd/36,928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1st/38,387). Among the top six scorers in NBA history, five have worn the Lakers uniform.

Bryant has been steadily moving up the list over the past few years. In 2009-10, he passed Alex English (25,613), Reggie Miller (25,279), Jerry West (25,192), Patrick Ewing (24,815) and Allen Iverson (24,368). In passing West with a slam dunk at the 4:14 mark of the third quarter February 1, 2010 at Memphis, finishing the game with 44 points (West’s retired number), Bryant became the leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. In 2008-09, Bryant passed Gary Payton (21,813) and Hall-of-Famers Charles Barkley (23,757), Robert Parish (23,334), Adrian Dantley (23,177), Elgin Baylor (23,149), Clyde Drexler (22,195) and Larry Bird (21,791).