Kobe leads Lakers past Grizz for 4th straight win

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) Pau Gasol dipped his shoulder and spun, taking two steps and throwing down a vicious reverse dunk from the other side of the rim.

Sure, it was probably the most delicious moment in another game full of treats for the unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers. But Gasol insisted the move wasn't any sweeter because the posterized defender was his kid brother.

Kobe Bryant scored all of his 23 points in the first half, Gasol had 21 points and 13 rebounds against Marc, and the Lakers routed the Memphis Grizzlies 124-105 on Tuesday night for their fourth straight win to open the season.

Gasol had another strong game after winning the season's first player-of-the-week award, adding five assists while jockeying for low-post position with his brother, who had 11 points and eight rebounds for Memphis.

``It's always more of a fun game for me to go against my former team and also my brother,'' Pau Gasol said before his mind went straight to that third-quarter dunk. ``That was a good play. I've done it a couple of times before - not on him, other good quality players.''

The Gasols got together Monday night for an expansive sushi dinner - ``He can eat,'' Pau said - but the Spaniards didn't talk hoops. And even back home in Barcelona, they never play one-on-one for fun - only in real games.

``We're too competitive for that,'' Marc Gasol said. ``We don't mess around, because we know one of us is going to be very mad and frustrated after the game, so we try not to talk about it before or after.''

Pau and Marc famously switched franchises in the trade that sent Pau from Memphis to the Lakers three seasons ago, a twist of fate that used to bother Marc much more.

``I'm very proud about what Pau has done here,'' Marc said. ``He's making his teammates better and he's making his team better. That's always your goal as a player. Pau always plays hard and always tried to win basketball games. That's all he cares about.''

Even if they keep things civil their matchups, their teammates love to watch the low-post play that provided some entertainment in an otherwise one-sided win for the Lakers, who went up by 29 points in the first half.

``I'm glad (Pau) finally dunked on him,'' Bryant said with a grin. ``I was worried he was going a little soft on him.''

There's nothing soft so far about the two-time defending champions. Lamar Odom had 17 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles, while Bryant fell one minute short of matching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the Lakers' franchise leader in minutes played because he sat out the fourth quarter.

Rudy Gay scored 30 points and Mike Conley had 16 points and eight assists after agreeing to a five-year, $40 million contract extension earlier Tuesday with the Grizzlies, who opened a four-game road trip with their fourth straight road loss to the Lakers.

Matt Barnes added 16 points as the Lakers hit 14 3-pointers, including three apiece by Bryant, Odom and Shannon Brown, who scored 13 points. Los Angeles is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in the NBA after outrebounding Memphis 59-36.

Just as in Sunday's win over Golden State, Los Angeles opened with fluid offense and strong defense, forcing the Grizzlies to miss their first nine shots. The Lakers led by 11 points at the close of the first quarter, and punched it to 29 points while outscoring Memphis 39-23 in the second.

``We've got to start off better,'' Conley said. ``You can't get behind 10 or more points to a good team. We've got to play with more energy from the start. They were playing great defense, really packing it in and making it tough on us.''

Odom's 3-pointer put the Lakers up 53-28 midway through the second quarter, and they led 73-46 at halftime - their highest-scoring half since a win over the Clippers on Jan. 15.

``It was the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest, man,'' said O.J. Mayo, who scored just eight points. ``It was just hard to get back into it.''

Memphis trimmed the lead to 14 midway through the third quarter after a lengthy run featuring 13 points from Gay, but the Grizzlies got never threatened to make it a game.

NOTES: Odom scored his 11,000th career point, becoming the 10th-fastest player in NBA history to reach 11,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists. ... Earlier Tuesday, Bryant told coach Mike Krzyzewski he's committed to playing for the U.S. national team at the London Olympics in 2012. ... Memphis big man Zach Randolph was inactive with a bruised tailbone. He could return during the road trip. ``That's a bad place to have an injury,'' coach Lionel Hollins said before the game. ``You don't realize how much you move that tailbone when you're playing and doing things.'' ... Fans near courtside included singer Trey Songz, David Beckham and director Adam McKay.

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Lakers coach Phil Jackson on his team's second half:
"A lot of turnovers out there tonight. [We were] distracted, but there was some animated play by the second unit a little bit in the fourth quarter returning their turnovers. They gave us some thrills, but I wasn't pleased with the second half."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on if he is pleased he was able to give his starters rest in the fourth quarter before their game tomorrow night:
"Yeah, that's nice. I was trying to squeak out that fourth quarter and I just felt a little bit pressed that they got it under 16 or so, and I put Pau back in the ballgame."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on if it was good that he was able to get his bench some playing time and rest his starters:
"Yeah that's good, but the reality is if you go through this schedule with a minimum amount of effort, you want to build the lead and have that available to have rest for players so that they can get off the floor in those minutes. We squandered that third quarter, [and] we came back a little bit at the end, but they had a 30-point third quarter. I know we weren't pleased about that."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on how much the turnovers can be attributed to the Grizzlies play:
"It's about the intensity that [they] came out and played with. They picked up, they started going for steals — they have a good steals team."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Pau Gasol versus brother Marc Gasol:
"It's nice. It was very good."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the biggest challenge going into Sacramento on the second night of a back-to-back:
"They have just come off a really big win coming back from a deficit in the fourth quarter, beating Toronto, so they have a lot of enthusiasm up there. They had a come-from-behind win on their east coast trip against Washington. So they're playing with some confidence, I think that's the biggest part. Their size…they've got big kids that come to the boards and bang on the boards."

Kobe Bryant on the Lakers bench play and shooting 60% for the night:
"Our guys have all adjusted really well. Matt had a great game tonight. He's been playing well for us all season long. Tonight his numbers jump off the page at you but he's been playing well for us since day one. It's good for our bench to come in and play solid, consistent basketball. We shot the ball really well. We took shots that were in the flow and had great looks. Shannon really shot the ball well."

Kobe Bryant on the Pau Gasol trade:
"It really changed things around for us. [Pau Gasol] was a piece that we needed an we've been off and running ever since."

Kobe Bryant on Blake to Ebanks:
"That was crazy. Devon was, I was teasing him a little bit. I told him he's not going to sleep tonight watching it over and over and over on TV. I told him that we can get him a copy."

Steve Blake on how the team shot over sixty percent at the three-point line tonight:
"We will take that every night if we could, but the main part is coming in defensively and getting stops and turning those into easy baskets."

Steve Blake on how he felt with the second string in:
"It's big. Back to back is going to be tough on your body sometimes. So if we let those guys rest that's just an advantage for us."

Steve Blake on Lamar Odom's presence in the second half:
"He is just a total, all around player. He can handle the ball, he can shoot it, great defender, he is always communicating out on the court. I'm very happy when I'm out on the court with him for sure."

Steve Blake on Matt Barnes' stats tonight (16 points, 14 rebounds):
"He's huge. He goes out there and plays with a lot of energy, he gets his hands on everything, on both ends of the floor. And he's fun to play with. He runs the floor well, knocks down shots. It's fun to be out there with him too."

Pau Gasol on whether or not he was surprised in coming back in fourth quarter:
"Phil [Jackson] likes to do that every now and then. I guess he feels comfortable with me in there and things are a little more organized, so I don't mind going in for a couple of minutes."

Pau Gasol on his brother being stronger than him, but trying to get to Pau's skill level:
"I don't know, we never actually…I don't know if we got in the weight room who would lift more, but he's definitely got a bigger body. Let's leave it at that."

Pau Gasol on his moves tonight against his brother Marc Gasol:
"Good, good, effective, the way I been playing lately. Just hope I can continue to play that way, aggressively and effectively and staying healthy; it will be great."

Matt Barnes on his night's performance (16 points, 14 rebounds):
"A lot of those rebounds were my own misses. I couldn't put it in the basket tonight but I continue to play hard and try to help the team."

Matt Barnes on the Lakers performance:
"There is still a little room to improve. We got sloppy a bit in the 3rd and 4th quarter with turnovers. This is a championship caliber team and we can't make those kinds of mistakes. We still have room to improve."

Shannon Brown on the 50 points scored by the Lakers bench:
"We're important. We're definitely important. You know, especially we're trying to win a 3rd championship in a row. Our starters can't do everything. The bench players are going to have to continue to come out and bring energy and do what is needed for us to win. We still have to continue to work on executing on both ends. Once we get our execution down we'll be great."

Memphis Grizzles coach Lionel Hollins on his message to the team after tonight's game:
"I didn't give them a message. I just showed them what we didn't do in the first half and just said we got a game tomorrow night."

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins on if loss is attributed to Lakers clicking on all cylinders:
"We didn't compete in the first half. I thought the third quarter we played much better…I thought the second unit with Mike Conley did a nice job in the fourth quarter. We started getting some steals and deflections, and started running out and scoring, but it was too little, too late."

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins on Lakers offensive rebounding:
"They're a long team and they keep you out of the middle. That's what their defense tries to do, make you shoot outside with hands in your face…They played well. If they shoot the ball the way they shot it tonight, nobody is going to beat them."

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins on if he thinks this was a rough time to catch the Lakers:
"I don't know if any time is a good time to catch the Lakers. They're shooting the ball extremely well and their team is tried and tested. They've been together for a couple years…and these guys just know what to do. They've seen everything…and they've got great players as well."

Grizzlies' Marc Gasol on where the team struggled tonight:
"I think defensively, obviously, we didn't play our best game. The first half was where we struggled the most."

Grizzlies' Marc Gasol on moving forward:
"We competed—I'm proud of my teammates. Obviously we didn't have the best game in the first half defensively, but at the same time I think we competed, we were aggressive. That's what we have to take away for tomorrow, the aggressiveness of the second half."

Grizzlies' Marc Gasol on the Lakers' performance:
"They made some big shots. They scored a lot from the three-point line too, and they did a good job. They played with a lot of confidence, and sometimes you just lose, they beat you. They played better, they beat us. The thing is that we came back in the second half and competed, and that's what's most important."

Grizzlies' Mike Conley on tonight's game:
"We've got to start off better, you've got to start off at the tip off, and you can't get behind 12 points to a good team. We can't afford to do that with a team like the Lakers, we can't get used to doing that, we have to start off better and play with more energy."

Grizzlies' Mike Conley on their performance:
"It was tough because they were playing great defense, they were really packing it in and making it tough on us. And we kind of shot ourselves in the foot, we were set on taking long shots and we weren't knocking them down like we normally would."

LAKERS VS. GRIZZLIES GAME PREVIEW

By ALAN FERGUSON, STATS Writer

Following the Los Angeles Lakers' latest win, Kobe Bryant and coach Phil Jackson gave slightly different assessments of the All-Star guard's surgically repaired knee.

While Bryant may or may not be 100 percent healthy, his recent efforts against the Memphis Grizzlies have been decidedly robust.

Bryant will try to help the Lakers improve to 4-0 by leading them to their fourth straight home win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday night.

When asked about his knee following Sunday's 107-83 victory over Golden State, Bryant jokingly answered with multiple expletives and insisted that he was 100 percent.

In response, Jackson told the team's website, "He's not 100 percent, but that's good of him to say it."

Whether his knee is fully healthy or not, it hasn't seemed to affect Bryant on the court as he's averaging 24 points during the team's 3-0 start.

The Lakers have been one of the league's best scoring clubs with 111 points per game, and former Grizzlies star Pau Gasol has led the way with a team-best 25.3 per contest. They remain one of three unbeaten teams in the NBA along with Atlanta and New Orleans.

Los Angeles has also seemed to benefit from a retooled bench that includes new faces Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff. The Lakers could get some more help with Luke Walton expected to return soon from a strained hamstring.

"This year, I think we have better chemistry, in terms of the pieces fitting better together coming off the bench," Jackson said. "I knew as soon as we signed those free agents that we would be better, just because you know what they bring.''

While Gasol has averaged 16 points in six all-time matchups with his former club, Bryant has averaged 35.3 in his last 12 games against the Grizzlies (2-1) and 39.0 on 62.3 percent shooting in last season's three matchups.v

His 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds to go gave the Lakers a 99-98 victory in the teams' previous matchup Feb. 23 in Memphis. The Lakers have won 42 of the 56 all-time meetings with the Grizzlies and 23 of 28 at home.

This time, they'll meet a Grizzlies team that's won consecutive games following a 15-point loss to Atlanta in its season opener.

Memphis had a franchise-record 22 steals in a 109-89 rout of Minnesota on Saturday night. Mike Conley collected seven of those to tie his own franchise record.

"I think it's effort," coach Lionel Hollins said. "It's getting back to what we do. ... We had 32 deflections and nine times we had three stops in a row. We had some consistency with our effort."

The Grizzlies' previous 3-1 start was in 2005-06, a season that ended with the franchise's most recent playoff appearance.

Memphis is hoping to see Zach Randolph return from a bruised lower back as it begins a four-game, five-night Western road trip. However, the status of Randolph, who has six consecutive double-doubles against the Lakers, is unknown for Tuesday's game.

Randolph was second on the Grizzlies last season in averaging 21 points in three matchups with the Lakers. Rudy Gay, who averaged 21.3, leads Memphis in scoring this season with 22.3 per game.