I always enjoy watching the Lakers play the New Orleans Hornets, and last night’s game was no exception. Ever since they drafted Chris Paul in 2005 and made that improbable playoff run a few years ago, the Hornets have been an entertaining team to watch and one I’d love to see in person. CP3 is one of my favorite non-Lakers, a dynamic player who is without a doubt one of the top 3 point guards currently in the league.
Playing the Hornets this year is particularly bittersweet for me because they now have Trevor Ariza, one of my favorite Lakers from the 2009 title run. He came to Los Angeles in November 2007 in a trade for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans (good riddance, I say) and was one of the first new pieces of what would become a championship caliber puzzle. Unfortunately, he was injured just before we got Pau Gasol and didn’t return until the Western Conference Finals. Who knows what we could have achieved if he had been healthy all year and Andrew Bynum hadn’t been injured as well… the short answer is probably another championship, as evidenced by his contribution the following season.
I loved Trevor because of his attitude, his hustle, his acrobatic plays and of course, his steals. It’s easy to say that the Lakers would not have beaten the Denver Nuggets in the 2009 Western Conference Finals without his key inbounds steals in multiple games. I planned on purchasing an Ariza jersey that summer but was prudently warned by my dad to wait and see what happened with trades. As we all know, Trevor was out and Ron-Ron was in. At the time, I was highly skeptical of tinkering with a winning formula and bringing an unknown quantity to the team. In hindsight, it was definitely the right move- Artest has fit in well, and can handle much bigger players in the post.
Next: Lakers Playing With Energy, Attitude
As far as the game last night goes, I was impressed with the Lakers. Whatever they have changed in practice and in attitude seem to be working. They shot a red hot 71 percent in the first quarter, although the Hornets did keep up with 61 percent shooting of their own. It was definitely an offensive contest at first, with neither side playing much defense. A perfect example of the Lakers’ improved ball movement last night, however, would be toward the end of the quarter: D Fish stole the ball, and proceed to play pinball with Kobe and Ron, each passing multiple times with Kobe finishing the play for two points.
Gasol had a strong start, with 10 points and 4 rebounds on perfect shooting- he would go on to finish the game with 21 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. One of his assists came on a gorgeous bounce pass to Shannon Brown cutting inside. Immediately afterwards, there was a bit of a misfire from Shannon- the Hornets missed a shot that didn’t touch the rim, so their shot clock expired. Brown threw a three quarter court heave towards the Lakers own basket because he thought it was the buzzer sound for the end of the quarter, even though 3 seconds remained. Things like that don’t happen too often, and you could see Shannon laughing and saying “My bad”. Hilarious.
The second quarter continued the themes of the first: hot shooting, but too many turnovers. L.O. had an excellent game, especially considering his strained shoulder. He started the quarter with a defensive board and an outlet pass to a streaking Matt Barnes for the layup, and continued the next Lakers possession with a layup of his own. The defensive help by the Lakers was very good and contributed to the cooling off of the Hornets, although the Lakers dipped in production as well. Kobe hit a really awesome, “shake and bake” type of shot, which made me smile.
Of course moments later, he got hit and bent over clutching his finger- I thought I was going to have a heart attack! Luckily it wasn’t catastrophic, which can’t be said for Matt Barnes. He left in the second with a sprained knee, did not return, and needs an MRI. Add in Lamar’s injury the other night, Andrew’s penchant for getting injured, Kobe’s knee/fingers/etc and Steve Blake’s sprained ankle later in the game (which was taped up by the incomparable Gary Vitti and pronounced playable)…. it’s enough to make me nervous for the future. I’m so glad that Bynum is healthy and playing well, and that most of our team is excellent at overcoming adversity due to injuries, but I really want everyone to be healthy and intact. I guess as long as we’re good by April that will have to suffice.
The Lakers closed the first half with a 51-46 lead, and with Kobe 4 points away from passing Oscar Robertson as the 9th leading scorer of all time. One of my favorite moments of the half was actually courtesy of Ron Artest. He hit his first points of the game on a spin-around midrange fallaway shot, and I swear it looked like Kobe. Probably the first and last time I will ever say that, but it was awesome. He had a very nice offensive game, going 4 for 8 from the floor for the night and showing admirable restraint in his shot selection.
Next: Lakers Let Hornets Hang Around, Again
Things got interesting in the second half mainly due to New Orleans playing zone defense; it made the Lakers settle for outside shots. Luckily, the inside game picked up and the excellent play of the bigs (Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and even Lamar Odom) continued. Bynum missed a shot, but got his own board in traffic and finished with a 3 point play. It was indicative of the new sustained effort the Lakers have been employing for the past week. As I mentioned before, Ron was playing within the offense for once and was rewarded with an open lane layup courtesy of Derek Fisher’s 6th assist. Hitting a 3 moments later due to an extra pass continued Artest’s smart play.
With one minute left in the third quarter, Mr. Kobe Bryant hit a running midrange jumper and took his place as the 9th all time scoring leader. The Staples Center crowd began showering their hero with immediate, and deafening, chants of M-V-P. To cap it off, Bryant hit a wicked shot after burning his former teammate Ariza and elevating to hit it off the glass.
While the Lakers definitely need to improve on closing out games, they overcame a sloppy fourth quarter start and played excellent defense. The Hornets erased a ten point deficit halfway through and kept it close enough to require a game of free throw tag at the end. Pau took most of our charity stripe attempts and did a serviceable job. Kobe made some gorgeously difficult baskets down the stretch, and L.A was able to muster up key stops as well.
Next: Finishing Their Business
I won’t lie; with a 3 point lead and inbounding the ball with three seconds left, I was terrified of Trevor Ariza swiping the pass like he did a couple years ago in Denver. We all know what he’s capable of, and luckily the Lakers held on. There was a sweet shot of Andrew and Pau smiling with their arms around each other after the final buzzer sounded. As much as it was Kobe’s game for making history yet again, it was really seemed to belong to our giants in the paint- Gasol and Bynum. The purple and gold dominated down low all night, although the rebounds evened out by the end of the contest.
It was so good to get another W, and I really hope things are going to stay like this in Lakerland for the foreseeable future. I always love them, but it’s easier to appreciate the team when they put the effort and right attitude into the game, no matter the outcome. I thought it was particularly poignant that Kobe passed the Big O, Oscar Robertson, on the scoring list tonight. Kobe has openly talked about modeling his game after Robertson, as well as Jerry West and Michael Jordan. All were transcendent guards in the game of basketball, and Kobe wouldn’t be quite the player he is without being a student of the game and revering his predecessors.
He called it a great honor, but when asked by Fox Sports West’s Patrick O’Neal how high he think he can climb the scoring ladder, Kobe smiled and responded, “We’ll see. The ladder I’m more focused on climbing is Bill Russell’s ladder.” The perfect answer from one of the most competitive athletes in sports.