Bryant hits game-winner, Lakers edge Raptors 94-92

Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto

Bryant, who scored 27 points, took an inbound pass from Metta World Peace and shot over the outstretched arms of James Johnson to deny the Raptors, who battled back after trailing by as many as 18.

Down 93-92, Toronto blew its best chance for a winning shot when Rasual Butler couldn't inbound the ball and failed to call a timeout before five seconds had elapsed. Bryant made one of two from the line to put the Lakers up by two with 3.7 seconds left.

Jose Calderon inbounded to DeMar DeRozan for the final possession, but he airballed his potential game-tying shot at the buzzer.

Pau Gasol had 16 points and 17 rebounds and Andrew Bynum scored 14 for the Lakers, who went 3-3 on the road trip.

Calderon scored a career-high 30 points for the Raptors, who lost for the seventh time in 10 games. Linas Kleiza added 15 and Leandro Barbosa had 12.

Calderon hit two 3-pointers with less than 5 minutes left to tie the score at 84-84. After a missed jumper by Bryant, DeRozan fed Ed Davis for a fast break dunk, giving Toronto its first lead of the game. Bryant missed again before Linas Kleiza made a driving hook shot, putting the Raptors up 88-84 with 2:12 remaining.

The Raptors led 90-86 with just over a minute left but were on the wrong end of a video review. Bryant made them pay with a 3, then forced a steal and assisted on a driving layup by World Peace, putting the Lakers up 91-90 with 31 seconds left.

Calderon restored Toronto's lead with a pull-up jumper, his 13th field goal of the game, giving the Raptors a 92-91 edge with 16 seconds to go.

That's when Bryant made his decisive shot, evading two Toronto defenders to get open along the baseline.

NOTES: Calderon's previous career-high was 27 against San Antonio on Feb. 11, 2008. ... Andrea Bargnani, who sat for the 16th time in 18 games Sunday with a strained left calf, has been doing plenty of pool work in his rehab. "His new nickname is Flipper," Raptors coach Dawn Casey joked, adding that Bargnani will increase his workload this week to include weight-bearing exercise. There's still no timetable for the return of Toronto's leading scorer. ... Toronto Maple Leafs players Don Phaneuf and James Reimer attended the game.

POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike Brown:

Thoughts on the game.

Whether we won this game or we lost this game, I thought we made some strides offensively just moving the ball and spacing the floor. We have to get to a point where we can sustain it and sustain it for as close to 48 minutes as possible like we are doing with our defense for the most part. The bottom line is Kobe’s (Bryant) two shots at the end of the game, the three was big for us and obviously the shot that he took along the baseline, that’s who he is. If we are in a one-point game or a two-point game the ball is going to be in his hands and we are going to expect him to make a play and he did that tonight. Having said that, Coach (Dwayne) Casey is a heck of a coach. Those guys made a good choice picking him as the head coach. They did a terrific job of mixing in zones and brought us to a stand still a little bit at times. But I thought we had some great looks at the rim, some wide open looks that could have stretched the game, but again you’ve got to give Coach Casey and the Raptors credit. I thought Jose Calderon had a great game and (Jamaal) Magloire had a great game coming off the bench for them too, so you’ve got to give him credit. It’s great to get the win. We would have liked to have more wins on this road trip but to go 3-3 is not bad from the standpoint that I told our guys that they have to remember that this season is not a sprint, this is a marathon. We have just got to keep getting better little by little and again, whether we won or lost I thought we got a little better tonight.

Well, even in the second quarter they slowed us down a little bit. In the first half what hurt us was our turnovers, we turned the ball over, I think we had nine (turnovers) but they had 12 points off our nine turnovers so that they were able to get out and run. In the second half they played zone the entire time and at times we did well and at times we didn’t. But it was great work for us because we don’t get a chance to work against it so the more we face it the better we’ll be.

I wasn’t surprised because it was five seconds. I didn’t go to college but I can count. It was five seconds, good defence on our part.

No. Because I knew he could do that. You are impressed when you don’t expect a player to have games like that. I fully expect that from him. He is a great player and has always been one of my favorite point guards. It wasn’t surprising at all.

I think it is good, it gives him a good boost. It shows in those situations that I have confidence in him. It is a good momentum play for him. He has been playing extremely well for us and it important to reward your teammates in certain situations when you can.

I just noticed a spot on the baseline side. Everything was set for me to catch it down there because I knew I could catch and shoot. At the top of the floor they would key on me and follow me to the basket. Once I noticed that space open it was just a matter of me trying to shake (DeMar) DeRozan to get to the spot.

We are a poor road team and that is what we need to turn around. If we could figure out how to way to win on the road our record would be much, much better. We are a very good home team.

We needed a win to finish 3-3 on the road trip. It’s better than we have been doing on the road, but we have to continue to get better.

I wasn’t off a back-to-back; there was a day in between. I was just real tired in New York.

It was a great shot he hit tonight, but the game should have never come down to that. We had an early 20 point lead and we need to do better than that.

That is the way we have to look at it. We definitely got a little better on the road and obviously Boston was a very big game for us and we won that one. It just feels good.

He’s our best inbound passer. What teams normally do is put their longest guy on the ball and that is why we put Rasual (Butler) out there. He’s our best inbound passer, he’s our best lob passer, he sees the situation and he is a veteran player.

He did. DeMar (DeRozan) did a good job of making a concentrated effort to get to the basket. They are so long but he did a good job of penetrating and attacking. He’s not going to knock it down every night, but I thought he was being aggressive during the game.

We’d love to and I thought he was being really aggressive coming off the screens and knocking down the shots and that is what we need for him to do. Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not, but when he has the opportunity when it presents itself we want him to be aggressive and be offensive minded. Jose has done a great job of running our team and leading us. I can’t say enough good things about him.

Our officials do a great job. They try to do the best job that they can. I asked him to count out loud for me and he did. I heard four, I turned to call a timeout and he felt like it was five seconds.

Disappointed obviously, you always want your team to get a shot to win a game. I knew what my reads were. They put (Pau) Gasol on the ball and the first look was a look to the rim, which was tough to get over his length. I took my other two reads and when they weren’t open I called a timeout. I thought I called it in enough time. I thought he was turning to the table to award us the timeout, but that wasn’t the case.

We didn’t get open and we needed to help our teammate to get the ball on the court. I wasn’t counting, so whatever happened, we just have to do a better job to get open, that’s all.

I think everybody fought hard, we believed we could come back and we did it. We were there and that L.K. (Linas Kleiza) three was in and out. After that they made a little run, but still we had our options. We have to be a little bit better in the first quarter that was the main theme today. After that it was a great job by everybody.

Lakers-Raptors Preview

By MATT BECKER

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be running out of gas on offense as their longest road trip of the season winds down.

They've rarely had trouble piling up points against the Toronto Raptors.

The Lakers go for an eighth win in nine tries against the Raptors on Sunday in the final stop of a six-game trip.

A night after needing overtime to beat Boston 88-87, Los Angeles (15-12) got off to a listless start against New York on Friday. The Lakers shot 34.2 percent in the first half with Kobe Bryant contributing 10 points on 1-for-6 shooting.

Bryant, the league's scoring leader at 29.4 points per game, finished with 34 but was outplayed by Jeremy Lin in a 92-85 loss. Lin's 38 points helped drop Los Angeles to 4-10 on the road.

"We didn't have the energy to play well," said Bryant, who was 11 of 29 from the field. "We didn't carry it and we seemed very lethargic."

That seemed especially true for Andrew Bynum, who had his worst game of the season offensively with three points on 1-for-8 shooting. The All-Star center also struggled against the Celtics, missing 9 of 15 from the floor to finish with 16 points. He had reached the 20-point mark in each of his previous five games while shooting 64.6 percent.

"I did not shoot really well ... in Boston either," Bynum said. "I am looking forward to practice ... to go hard and try to get my touch back around the rim. I have to be able to stay low."

Bynum isn't the only Laker struggling offensively.

Bryant has hit 38.1 percent from the field during the road trip, while Derek Fisher has combined for 14 points on 6-of-27 shooting in the last four games. Los Angeles has averaged 87.5 points on 39.4 percent shooting while losing three of four.

The Lakers are at 24.4 percent from 3-point range during the road trip, including 2 for 12 by Steve Blake in the past two games after he missed 13 with a rib injury.

A game against the Raptors (9-19) could help the offense find its stride.

The Lakers have won seven of eight in the series while averaging 113.4 points, scoring no fewer than 105 in any of those games. Los Angeles has won the past three meetings and is 24-6 all-time against Toronto.

Pau Gasol, who has posted five straight double-doubles, has averaged 23.8 points in his past six matchups with the Raptors. Bryant has averaged 34.4 in his last 11 against them, a stretch which began with his 81-point outburst Jan. 22, 2006.

Although the Raptors have regularly been run over by the Lakers, they're playing much better defense this season. They're allowing an average of 93.7 points - 11.7 less than a year ago.

Toronto's defense blanketed Boston early on Friday, limiting the Celtics to 14 first-quarter points in a wire-to-wire 86-74 victory to snap a three-game losing streak.

"I thought our disposition was good," coach Dwane Casey said. "We talk about that a lot, guys coming out playing with confidence, playing with swagger and we did that. That is the growth we want to see."

Building on the victory could be difficult, though, as the Raptors have won back-to-back games on only two occasions this season.

DeMar DeRozan, Toronto's second-leading scorer at 15.0 points per game behind the injured Andrea Bargnani (calf), had another solid performance with 21 points. DeRozan has reached the 20-point mark in three of four games after scoring 11 or fewer in four of his previous five. He averaged 19.0 points against the Lakers last season.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
This will be the lone meeting between the Raptors and Lakers this season, after the Lakers swept last season’s series with Toronto 2-0. The two teams have split six season series while the Lakers have swept the other nine (2-0). This will be the 31st meeting between the two teams with the Lakers leading the all-time series 24-6. In the team’s 20th meeting back on January 22, 2006, Kobe Bryant made NBA history, scoring 81 points including 55 points in the second half to bring the Lakers back from 18 down to defeat the Raptors 122-104 at STAPLES Center. Only Wilt Chamberlain in March of 1962 scored more points in a game (100) and points in a half (59) than Bryant. In addition, Bryant eclipsed Elgin Baylor’s franchise record 71 points in a game and his own franchise record for points in a half (42) in what was ultimately the Lakers largest come-from-behind victory of the season. The 122 points scored by the Lakers in the contest were the most ever scored by Los Angeles against Toronto, eclipsing the old mark of 120 points established in the teams’ first ever game back on December 8, 1995. Two seasons ago on February 1, 2008, the Lakers matched their largest margin of victory against Toronto with a 121-101 victory at Air Canada Centre. The Lakers are 8-2 in their last 10 overall games against the Raptors. The Lakers are 10-2 all-time against the Raptors at STAPLES Center and are winners of their last nine straight at home. When visiting Toronto, the Lakers are 11-4 all-time against the Raptors and 7-3 in their last 10 visits to Air Canada Centre. In 26 career games (22 starts) against Toronto, Kobe Bryant is averaging 27.9 points. Jason Kapono spent two seasons (2007-09) as a member of the Raptors, averaging 7.7 points in 161 games, while leading the NBA in three-point shooting (.483) for the 2007-08 season. Lakers forward Pau Gasol and Raptors guard Jose Calderon have both played for Spain internationally as members of the 2011 Eurobasket Championship gold medal team, the 2008 Olympic silver medal team and the gold medal winning Spanish 2006 FIBA World Championship team.

BRYANT PASSES SHAQUILLE O’NEAL FOR 5th ON NBA’S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
With a 23-foot jumper at the 5:08 mark in the second quarter 2/6 at Philadelphia, Kobe Bryant moved past Shaquille O’Neal (28,596) for fifth on the 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 (28,601) are 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).

BYNUM RECORDS SECOND CAREER 20-20 GAME
On February 6th at Philadelphia, Andrew Bynum totaled 20 points (8-13 FG) and 20 rebounds, marking his second career 20-point, 20-rebound game (3rd career 20+ rebound game). Bynum’s other 20-20 game came earlier this season on January 3rd, when Bynum totaled 21 points (8-15 FG) and 22 rebounds as the Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 108-99 at STAPLES Center, becoming the youngest Laker to do so (24 years, 68 days) since Rudy LaRuso tallied 30 points and 21 rebounds on February 26, 1961 at the age of 23 years, 107 days. Bynum’s only other 20+ rebound game came on 4/5/11 vs. Utah, when he grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds. The last Laker to record a 20-20 game prior to Bynum was Pau Gasol, who posted 30 points and 20 rebounds on February 16, 2011 at Cleveland.

DOMINATING THE GLASS, BUT LOSING THE GAME
In the Lakers 95-90 loss at Philadelphia on February 6, the Lakers out-rebounded the 76ers 55-30, marking the first time the Lakers lost despite out-rebounding their opponent by 25-plus rebounds since they out-rebounded New Jersey 55-28 in a 109-103 loss to the Nets at STAPLES Center on 1/28/05. The last time any team lost when out-rebounding their opponent by 25-plus rebounds occurred on 3/11/09 at Detroit, when the Pistons out-rebounded New York 64-39, but fell to the Knicks 116-111.

BRYANT NAMED KIA NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE MONTH
On February 3 rd Kobe Bryant was named Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in December and January. The award is Bryant’s 14th Western Conf. Player of the Month honor and 15th Player of the Month award overall. Bryant was also named NBA Player of the Month for December of 2000, a year before the award was divided into Eastern and Western Conferences for the 2001-02 season. Bryant has won multiple Player of the Month awards in a single season four times (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09). Bryant’s previous Western Conference Player of the Month awards came in March 2011, December 2009, January 2009, December 2008, April 2008, February 2008, March of 2007, December 2006, April 2006, January 2006, March 2004, January 2003 and November 2001.

Bryant averaged a league-high 30.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists. On January 1 st at Denver, Bryant became the youngest player in NBA history to score 28,000 points. In a victory over Phoenix on January 10 th , Bryant scored an NBA season-high 48 points, kicking off four straight 40+ point games over a five night span. Bryant also achieved a couple of Lakers milestones, surpassing Jerry West as the Lakers franchise leader in free throws made on January 28 th at Milwaukee, then one night later, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the franchise leader in field goals made in a win at Minnesota.

GONE FOR THE GRAMMY’S
On Thursday, February 2nd, the Lakers headed to Denver, embarking on their annual Grammy’s Trip. Since STAPLES Center opened prior to the 1999-2000 season, the venue has been host to the Grammy Awards each winter, with the exception of the 2003 Grammy Awards, which were held at Madison Square Garden

KOBE BRYANT AND ANDREW BYNUM VOTED ALL-STAR STARTERS
IN 2012 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING PRESENTED BY SPRINT
On February 2nd, the NBA announced that Kobe Bryant is this year’s leading vote-getter in the Western Conference in the 2012 All-Star Balloting program presented by Sprint with 1,555,479 votes, ranking second league-wide behind Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard (1,600,390). This marks Bryant’s 14th consecutive All-Star selection, matching Jerry West, Karl Malone and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in NBA history to be selected that many times consecutively (14 times each). In league history, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19), O’Neal (15), Michael Jordan (14), Malone (14) and West (14) have had as many or more NBA All-Star selections. Andrew Bynum, a first-time All-Star and now the 29th Laker in franchise history to be named to an All-Star team, led all Western Conference centers with 1,051,945 votes. Pau Gasol (470,353), who made his fourth All-Star team last season as a reserve (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011), finished 3rd among forwards in the West behind Kevin Durant (1,345,566) and Blake Griffin (876,451). Chris Paul (1,138,743) will start at guard alongside Bryant in the West. Starting alongside Howard in the East are LeBron James (1,360,680) and Carmelo Anthony (1,041,290) at forward and Derrick Rose (1,514,723) and Dwyane Wade (1,334,223) in the backcourt.

This marks the fifth straight season that 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 now a 14-time All-Star and had started 11 consecutive All-Star games before missing the 2009-10 contest due to a sprained left ankle.

LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
Leading for all but 26 seconds of their January 29th victory at Minnesota, the Lakers managed their second road win of the season despite not recording a single steal for only the second time in franchise history. The only other game in which the Lakers did not record a steal came in a January 7, 2005 victory over Houston (111-104). Since the steals statistic began being compiled prior to the 1973-74 season, this was the 47th time a team has not recorded a single steal in a game. With the lack of steals, the Lakers saw the Timberwolves match an opponent franchise record for fewest turnovers in a game (4), originally established in a 108-114 loss 114 loss 12/21/01 at Memphis.

BRYANT BECOMES FRANCHISE LEADER IN FREE THROWS
MADE & FIELD GOALS MADE ON BACK-TO-BACK NIGHTS
With a free throw at the 6:34 mark in the third quarter 1/28/12 at Milwaukee, Kobe Bryant surpassed Jerry West (7,160 FTM) as the Lakers franchise leader in free throws made. The following night, on a driving reverse layup with 4:52 remaining in the first half 1/29/12 at Minnesota, Bryant passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (9,935 FGM) as the franchise leader in field goals made. Bryant now holds Lakers franchise records for points, field goals made and attempted, free throws made, three-point field goals made and attempted, games played and minutes played while ranking second in steals and free throws attempted and third in assists.

THE CENTURY MARK
Having gone 7-6 over a 13-game span from 1/5 at Portland thru 1/28 at Milwaukee, the common denominator in each contest, win or lose, was that the Lakers scored fewer than 100 points. The 13-game run of sub 100-point scoring games is the longest streak in franchise history since the introduction of the shot clock prior to the 1954-55 season. Prior to the aforementioned streak, the Lakers scored fewer than 100 points in 12 consecutive games during the 2003-04 season when Los Angeles went 12 games from 1/12/04 - 2/2/04 without hitting triple digits; the Lakers went 6-6 during the stretch of games, eventually scoring 111 points in a 111-106 overtime victory 2/4/04 at Cleveland. The Lakers finished that season with a 98.2 point per game scoring average while limiting their opponents to 94.3 points per game, ultimately winning the West before falling to the Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. The 98.2 ppg scoring average is the lowest for a Lakers team in the Los Angeles era. In the shot clock era, only the 1954-55 Lakers have averaged fewer points per game in a season (95.6 ppg). Additionally, the only other Lakers 10-game run without scoring at least 100 points in a game came in 2002 (11/3/02 – 11/22/02), with the Lakers going 3-7 during that stretch.