ESPN

LOS ANGELES -- At the very least, tip your hat to Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris.

The Los Angeles Lakers had no business beating the San Antonio Spurs on Friday with no Kobe Bryant, no Steve Nash and no Steve Blake in the lineup.

Despite Goudelock's MVP campaign in the D-League, they had no business having as much faith in a guy who spent all season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers to start a playoff game against the team that won the second-most games in the West this season.

And even though Morris started 17 games this season and continued to stay in the gym late even when his minutes dwindled the last two months, there was no real evidence that putting the ball in his hands for a crucial playoff game could work.

But you couldn't peg this one on the backcourt. In fact, Goudelock tied Tony Parker with 20 points and Darius Morris scored 24 to go along with six assists.

OK, enough about the silver lining.

Friday wasn't the official death knell for this (literally) painful Lakers season as L.A. doesn't go fishing until the Spurs have won four games, but no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit and this depleted Lakers squad certainly isn't going to be the first.

The 31-point blowout in Game 3 was the worst home playoff loss in franchise history, beating out Game 2 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals when Portland won by 29.

In a way, it seemed fitting.

In a season where everything that could go wrong seemingly did -- from a coaching change, to rampant injuries, slow-forming chemistry and even the death of legendary owner Dr. Jerry Buss -- why wouldn't a record like that be attached to this team?

How it happened: A whole lot of Tim Duncan (26 points on 12-for-16 shooting), some stingy Spurs defense (L.A. shot just 43.2 percent and 4-for-20 from 3) and too much depth from the guys in black and silver against the guys who are black and blue with injuries.

What it means: The offseason questions will begin sooner than a lot of us expected. Is Mike D'Antoni truly safe, or will those "We want Phil!" chants we heard on Friday actually come to fruition? Who gets waived via the amnesty clause -- Kobe? Pau Gasol? Blake? Metta World Peace? Anybody? Will Dwight Howard re-sign? Will Nash and Bryant be able to come back healthy for their 18th seasons?

Hits: Gasol had his third triple-double in his last six games with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Morris and Goudelock (see above).

Dwight Howard had 25 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 7-for-15 from the free throw line.

Misses: After 31 points combined in his last two regular-season games, Antawn Jamison has just 19 points combined in the playoffs.

Stat of the game: The Spurs bench scored 46 points. The Lakers' bench scored nine.

Up next: Game 4 is Sunday at 4 p.m. PT. There's a chance Nash will be back, but you get the feeling that chance would be better if L.A. had won Friday.

LOS ANGELES -- Last week, before the Lakers' already nightmarish season seemingly veered completely off the tracks with Kobe Bryant's ruptured Achilles tendon, Bryant was still confident that the Lakers wouldn’t just make the playoffs but that they could win a championship.

As he sat in front of his locker following the media scrum he said, “Look at what the Kings did last year. They got into the playoffs as the eight seed and won the Stanley Cup. We’re trying to do the same thing.”

Bryant attended a number of the Los Angeles Kings' playoff games with his daughters during their magical and improbable run to the Stanley Cup last summer and didn’t understand why it couldn’t be duplicated on the basketball court this summer.

“There’s no reason we can’t do it,” Bryant said. “Everything resets in the playoffs.”

Of course, that was before Bryant was lost for the season and we found out that Steve Nash's assortment of injuries weren’t just day-to-day bad but taking-two-epidurals-just-to-practice bad. Nevertheless, Bryant’s stance doesn’t change and neither does the Lakers’ goal heading into the playoffs.

After the Lakers clinched a playoff berth that Bryant promised would happen back when the Lakers were well below .500, he tweeted, “And to think some said we wouldn’t make it.. #keepcalm #believe #playoffs now #makehistory”

He later tweeted, “Playoff promise fulfilled #ontothenext”

It doesn’t make sense that the Lakers will be entering the playoffs, without Bryant and possibly without Nash, as confident as they’ve been all season. But that’s exactly the way the Lakers were feeling after their 99-95 overtime win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to clinch the seventh seed and a first round match-up against the San Antonio Spurs which begins on Sunday.

They are finally moving the ball the way Mike D’Antoni envisioned they could. They are finally playing defense with the kind of intensity that Dwight Howard hoped they would. And they are playing inside-out and relying on their bigs as Pau Gasol and Howard have pleaded for since November.

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- It figured to be an emotional night in the first Los Angeles Lakers game since Kobe Bryant went out with that devastating season-ending Achilles tear. And L.A. used the charged atmosphere to its advantage.

Here's a look back at L.A.'s game No. 81 of the season and game No. 1 without Kobe, where the Lakers improved to 44-37, the most games above .500 they've been all season:

How it happened: L.A. controlled the game from the tip and withstood the Hack-a-Howard strategy by the San Antonio Spurs in the third quarter to pull ahead in the end, thanks to some timely fourth-quarter buckets by Antawn Jamison and made free throws by Dwight Howard and Steve Blake.

What it means: If the Utah Jazz lose either of their next two games -- at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday or at the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday -- the Lakers are in the playoffs no matter what happens on Wednesday, when the Lakers host the Houston Rockets in their regular-season finale.

Hits: Howard might have shot just 4-for-11 on free throws in the third quarter, but he was lights out all game for the most part. He clearly wanted to step up in Bryant's absence and finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds, while shooting 9-for-15 from the floor.

Blake scored 23 points, topping the 20-point plateau for just the 17th time of his 10-year career.

Jamison scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Misses: Gasol shot just 3-for-17 from the floor -- but chipped in 16 rebounds.

Stat of the game: The Lakers shot just 31-for-85 from the field (36.5 percent) and still managed to win, holding San Antonio to 37.1 percent shooting overall.

Up next: One game left -- Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Houston. Oh boy.

LOS ANGELES -- With all the 5-0 talk surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers' finish to the season, it was questionable whether L.A. would even have enough fight left to get the first game toward that goal.

The severely sub-.500 New Orleans would seem like an easy opponent to start things off against, but then again, the Hornets led by 25 against L.A. back in March before Kobe Bryant scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to key a ridiculous rally.

He one-upped himself Tuesday, scoring 23 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to put the pesky Hornets away.

How it happened: L.A. led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter before New Orleans used a 14-0 run to erase that to take a 50-45 lead into the locker room. Things were tied at 70-all to start the fourth quarter before Bryant went on a personal 7-0 run, connecting on three straight jumpers, to give L.A. a small cushion, and he extended that spurt to score the Lakers' first 14 points of the final period as the Hornets kept it close.

What it means: The Utah Jazz did their part, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 90-80 on Tuesday. L.A. is back to holding a half-game lead over the Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot as the games continue to be checked off the schedule. The Lakers are back to being in the driver's seat when it comes to meeting their postseason goal; now they just have to stay on the road.

Hits: Metta World Peace returned to the lineup after missing just 12 days following knee surgery. Remarkable stuff. He finished with just four points and one assist, but he was able to play 15 minutes and take some of the load off the starters.

Antawn Jamison scored 13 points off the bench, including a crucial five straight with less than five minutes to go in the fourth when L.A. was getting offense out of only Bryant to that point.

Misses: Earl Clark scored zero points, going 0-for-3 from the field in 24 minutes while picking up four fouls. He did collect five assists, however, often hooking up with Dwight Howard.

Howard had problems with the whistle-blowers, too, getting called for five fouls. He did notch 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes, however.

Howard had a careless violation with 2:16 left, stepping on the endline when he went to inbound the ball, thus turning it over when it was only a six-point game.

L.A. had 16 turnovers leading to 12 points for the Hornets.

Stat of the game: Every Lakers starter had at least four assists as L.A. recorded dimes on 26 of its 40 baskets.

Up next: It's on to Portland, where the Lakers will try to elude the hold the Rose Garden seems to have over them. They also will attempt to sweep a back-to-back for the first time all season. "Save the best for last, probably," World Peace said. He better hope so.

LOS ANGELES -- Dwight Howard had every reason to be upset after the Los Angeles Lakers 109-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center.

All he's supposed to do is play defense, right?

Lock up the middle of the key, protect the rim, cover up his teammates' mistakes. Well, he did that Sunday. He has been doing that ever since he looked himself in the mirror over the All-Star break and realized he needed to start delivering at that end of the floor.

The offense, the smiling, the dunks are extras. Nice when the Lakers have the time or the latitude in the standings for him to have fun with such things. But right now, with the Lakers fighting to salvage what's left of this disappointing season, the only thing that matters is defense.

Howard did that Sunday. He protected the rim, he intimidated shots, he got back on defense instead of trying to crash the offensive boards.

It was his teammates who regressed on this day. The Lakers' transition defense was horrendous again. Their rotations were slow or ineffective. And the Clippers exploited every one of their failings again and again.

"He should get frustrated when other guys are not doing what they should be doing," Lakers forward Antawn Jamison told ESPNLosAngeles.com. "You can't have one guy defensively do his job and everybody else is not doing theirs. That's been our point of emphasis the last couple games. But we backtracked [Sunday] instead of continuing to concentrate on that.

"And it shouldn't be happening now, especially with where we're at."

Who is that on?

"All of us," Jamison said. "Everyone."

Howard has a different way of showing his anger than most people are used to. He doesn't believe in bashing his teammates publicly. Instead he'll either say very little, or say just enough to clue you in on where his head is.

Sunday afternoon he was about as terse and upset as he has been at any point this season.

His answers were one or two sentences. His expression was sullen.

"We just need to play the right way," he repeated at least five times. "We know what we have to do to win."

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant was running on fumes. Pau Gasol had just a few more jumps left in his sore right foot. Antawn Jamison's sprained right wrist was throbbing after another hard fall. Steve Nash was still in street clothes because of a sore hip and hamstrings.

But whatever the Los Angeles Lakers had left was left on the court Friday night in a gutty 86-84 win over the Memphis Grizzlies that kept their playoff hopes alive another night.

"This is the big push for us," a weary Bryant said after logging another 42 minutes Friday. "It's a very tough stretch, but we're excited for it. If you're going into the playoffs, you want to go in playing the best teams.

"There's no point in being all excited to get to the first round to get your [butt] kicked. You want to be going into the playoffs feeling like you're playing well, playing against top competition, so you're ready for a No. 1 seed."

These are the most desperate times of the season for the Lakers. All the turmoil, all the drama, all the intrigue and dysfunction that has landed them in this ugly place -- fighting for their playoff lives with a roster full of future Hall of Famers -- all that is the past.

The last six games of the season ultimately will determine whether they go down as one of the biggest flops in recent history, whether they're just a garden-variety disappointment or, maybe just maybe, there's a little magic in there after all.

And fittingly, with their backs up against the proverbial wall, the Lakers relied on the 1-2 punch that led them to back-to-back NBA titles not so long ago.

Bryant and Gasol combined to score 43 of the Lakers' 86 points Friday. They made the big plays and the small ones. They facilitated for the rest of the team, they organized the offense, but mostly they just led the way.

"You've seen us run it over the years," Bryant said. "It really is unstoppable."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, with just Bryant and Gasol on the court together (and Dwight Howard off the court) Friday night, the Lakers had a plus/minus rating of plus-46 over 12 minutes. With just Bryant and Gasol on the court this season (and Howard and Nash off the court), the Lakers have a plus-20.4 rating, the highest of any of their two-man combinations.

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- Playing the Memphis Grizzlies on any given night is like signing up for an MMA fight. The Griz are among the NBA's most physical teams. Nothing comes easy against them and their stout defense, which gives up a league-low 89.8 points a game.

Of course that's nothing new for the Los Angeles Lakers in a difficult season. The next thing that comes easy for the Lakers will be the first.

Friday was no exception as the Lakers held off the Grizzlies 86-84 to maintain a tenuous grip on the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.

While L.A. always seemed in control of the game, Memphis was never out of it. It took a key free throw by Dwight Howard with 4.1 seconds left, after a key rebound by Howard off Mike Conley's miss with 4.1 seconds remaining, and every bit of energy Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol had left to pull out the win.

How it happened: The Lakers built a 13-point lead in the first half and a seven-point lead late in the third quarter. But Memphis is the kind of team that never seems to go away. The Grizzlies, who came in having won four in a row, rallied time and again to keep the pressure on the increasingly desperate Lakers.

Ultimately though, the Lakers pulled it out behind clutch performances from Bryant, (24 points), Gasol (19 points, 9 rebounds), Earl Clark (13 points) and Antawn Jamison (13 points).

What it means: After the Utah Jazz took care of business at home against the lowly New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers basically had to win this game to maintain their slim half-game lead in what's shaping up to be a dogfight for the last playoff berth. With Utah owning the season-series tiebreaker, the Lakers need to finish a game ahead of the Jazz to get in as the No. 8 seed. This win was critical.

Hits: With Memphis' interior defense collapsing on Howard every time he tried to post up, Gasol had room to operate out of the high post and had one of his most effective games of the season. Gasol made 8 of 14 shots to finish with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

Clark had another nice game, finishing with 13 points, 5 rebounds and one very impressive fourth-quarter block on Grizzlies guard Quincy Pondexter that you'll be seeing on "SportsCenter."

Misses: Steve Blake had been on a roll coming into this game, averaging 13 points on 52.9 percent shooting in the two games he'd filled in for the injured Steve Nash. But he struggled in this one, finishing with just six points and turning the ball over five times, all in the first half.

Stat of the game: Jamison needed to average 16 points a game over the Lakers' final seven games of the season to get to 20,000 career points. With a badly sprained right (shooting) wrist, it's not going to be easy. But the crafty veteran continues to soldier on, finishing with 13 points in 25 minutes Friday night.

What's next: The Lakers will have a light workout Saturday to prepare for Sunday's 12:30 p.m. PT tip against the Los Angeles Clippers. It figures to be a heated game, because it always is between these two teams, but also because both are playing for playoff seeding, the Clippers for the critical No. 3 seed, the Lakers for the No. 8 spot.

LOS ANGELES -- Antawn Jamison held up his right wrist, flexed it a bit and winced.

"It's killing me," Jamison said. "But as long as we win and get in the playoffs, that's all that matters."

Jamison is among the Los Angeles Lakers walking wounded. He suffered a slight tear in his right shooting wrist March 22 against the Washington Wizards but has been playing through the pain ever since.

You wouldn't know it from his performances in the five games since. He has averaged 10 points, four rebounds and shot 40 percent from the field (17 for 42).

But make no mistake, he's hurting.

"Some days are better than others," he said. "Some days I can't really go back with it," referring to flexing the wrist.

"It's frustrating. I made it so far [into] this season and now this."

Jamison came into Friday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies 112 points away from reaching 20,000 for his career. He'd need to average 16 points a game over his final seven to reach the milestone.

"I don't know, I don't know," he said, when asked if he thought he'd get there. "As long as we win man, that's all that matters."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The second quarter was so ugly that Kobe Bryant decided he had seen enough even while there was still time left on the clock.

Bryant left the court and stalked off to the locker room with 0.5 seconds remaining after the Golden State Warriors had upped their already ample 19-point lead to 23 with two tip-ins in the span of 1.4 seconds.

There was a comedy of errors from the Los Angeles Lakers to end the quarter, from Dwight Howard picking up a technical foul after getting smacked in the face by a David Lee elbow (causing a cut to his lip that required three stitches) to Metta World Peace nearly stealing a ball, only to deflect it to a wide-open Klay Thompson for a 3-pointer, to World Peace throwing a full-court inbound pass away, which led to the second of the aforementioned tip-ins by Andrew Bogut.

Sham-mockery, indeed.

The second half was better, as L.A. held Golden State to 44 points after allowing 63 in the first two quarters, but too much damage was done early on.

How it happened: The Warriors used runs of 8-0 and 7-0 in the first quarter to open up a 12-point lead after the first period. That was the closest L.A. would get the rest of the way. The last time the Lakers came to Golden State in December, they erased a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to win. That was not the case Monday. The Lakers attempted a rally, cutting the Warriors' lead all the way down to six, but a win wasn't in the cards.

What it means: "We’re in a fight for our lives, and let’s act on it," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said before the game.

If the Lakers didn't know that going into the night -- having lost consecutive games to the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards -- they should certainly be well aware of it after getting embarrassed by Golden State.

It's the Lakers' first three-game losing streak since that air-it-out meeting they had in Memphis back in late January.

For a team that has said its strategy to get into the postseason is to win three out of every four games the rest of the way, that constitutes a crisis.

As bad as Utah has played, with a 4-9 record in March so far, the Jazz are just a game behind L.A. for the eighth seed in the Western Conference and hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers.

Hits: Dwight Howard had 15 rebounds.

Steve Nash neared a triple-double with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

This dunk by Bryant.

Misses: Three Warriors players -- Lee, Thompson and Stephen Curry -- scored 20 or more points.

Bryant, while scoring a game-high 36 points, shot 11-for-27 overall and 2-for-10 from 3.

Stat of the game: Jarrett Jack, who scored 29 points the last time the Lakers played in Golden State, scored 19 Monday and nearly matched the 21 points scored by the Lakers' bench contingent of Jodie Meeks (13), Antawn Jamison (five), Steve Blake (three) and Earl Clark (zero). The L.A. bench shot 7-for-26 overall while Jack was 9-for-16.

What's next: The Lakers continue their four-game road trip with a back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday in Minnesota and Milwaukee, respectively, and then finish it up in Sacramento on Saturday.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Antawn Jamison was able to participate in non-contact drills during Lakers practice Sunday and despite his sprained right wrist, plans to play against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

"It will take a lot for me not to be out there," Jamison said. "I should be OK."

A MRI exam taken Saturday revealed Jamison suffered a slight tear in his right wrist in the second half of the Lakers' 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday.

"It's sore, but as long as I'm able to shoot it and put it on the ground for one or two dribbles, I should be fine," Jamison said. "It's just the initial shock of it taking place and trying to get over the soreness and the swelling, but nothing is slowing me down. I was able to shoot the ball."

Jamison wore kinesiology tape on his wrist during practice and is treating the injury with ice and electro-stimulation, as well as wearing a brace when he is off the court.

"The one thing I like about it is each day it's feeling a lot better," Jamison said. "I'm able to get the range of motion to go a little bit more and I've played through pain before, so I just think initially these first two road games (in Golden State and Minnesota) I might have to play with a little pain, but after that I should be back to normal."

The 15-year veteran is averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds this season.

Jamison said the MRI exam also showed he had injured the same wrist earlier in the season unbeknownst to him.

"This is not the first time," Jamison said. "I had some soreness in it a couple of weeks ago. I tried to break my fall and I kind of felt a little bit of tightness, but nothing to the point where it prevented me from lifting weights or even participating in practice. The MRI did show some scar tissue there. This is probably something that happened earlier in the season.

"It's a positive that it has happened before and I was able to still continue to play."

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said Jamison's injury is similar to what Dwight Howard has to play through with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

"You're always concerned, but if he says he's fine, he's fine," D'Antoni said. "The biggest problem is probably re-injuring it or getting hit again. It will sting -- a little bit like Dwight's injury where there's going to be pain and if he can play with it, or if it doesn't hinder him, then he'll be OK. If not, then he'll have to rest."

The Lakers said Jamison's wrist will be re-evaluated after the season, something the 37-year-old Jamison says will be a measure to try to extend his career.

"The biggest thing is I don't want this to be a problem the last year or two (in the league) I have after this season," Jamison said. "So, I want to make sure I'm healthy. We'll look at it after the season and make sure no further damages have taken place and it's something that won't continue to happen."

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison suffered a sprained right wrist in Friday's 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards. X-rays taken after the game were negative, however Jamison is scheduled to undergo a MRI exam on Saturday to further evaluate the injury.

"I'll see how I am tomorrow," Jamison said while walking out of the locker room with a brace on his wrist.

The injury appeared to happen when Jamison's dunk attempt with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter was blocked by the Wizards' Kevin Seraphin.

Jamison finished the game with 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting along with seven rebounds. He did not play in the fourth quarter.

The 15-year veteran is averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds this season.

The timing of Jamison's injury speaks to the revolving-door nature of the Lakers' roster this season as it happened the same night Pau Gasol returned to the lineup after missing 20 straight games because of a torn plantar fascia in his right foot. Gasol finished with four points on 2-for-10 shooting and eight rebounds in 21 minutes.

LOS ANGELES -- It's never easy with this team, is it?

It was an important night for the Los Angeles Lakers, welcoming two starters back in the lineup in Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and facing a team buried way below .500 after losing to a team just like that Monday in Phoenix.

And boy, did they blow it.

L.A. dropped its second straight game to a team that has no prayer of making the playoffs and instead of using a soft spot in the schedule to build momentum, finds itself back in a bit of a tailspin with just 12 games remaining in the regular season.

Gasol's night started off great, as he grabbed a defensive rebound on the Washington Wizards' first possession and picked up a no-look assist to Metta World Peace on the Lakers' first possession, but he finished with just four points on 2-for-10 shooting and eight rebounds.

That's OK. Gasol had missed close to seven weeks of action and 20 games, so rust was expected.

Turns out Gasol was a minor part of the story.

Former Laker Trevor Ariza ended up having a much bigger impact on the game.

Ariza scored 19 of his game-high 25 points after halftime, setting a new career high by hitting seven 3-pointers as he was able to help Washington come all the way back from an early 18-point deficit to briefly take a two-point lead in the fourth.

While the Wizards came into the game with a 24-43 record, they were actually 19-15 this season with their best player, John Wall, in the lineup, so the fact that they gave L.A. a challenge shouldn't have been a surprise.

Bryant didn't have his normal late-game magic working, as he missed an open 8-foot jumper to tie it in the final minute, and had one more chance at it with a desperation heave at the buzzer on a fadeaway 3, which clanked short off the rim.

L.A. got some help by Utah losing to San Antonio on Friday, so it holds on to its eighth seed for the time being -- but at some point you worry about these missed opportunities piling up.

How it happened: L.A. controlled the game at the start, leading by 16 at the end of the first quarter and never letting up. Washington was playing its fifth game in seven days and its third road game in a row, while the Lakers on came in on three days' rest -- and it showed. Washington made its run on the backs of Ariza and John Wall (24 points, 16 assists) and finished the upset.


What it means: Mike D'Antoni's pregame remarks were pretty prescient.

"We got to win, first of all," D'Antoni said. "We can’t experiment and we can’t play around with it too much. We got to win every game and that’s how it’s going to be played, and hopefully we get better every game because they have some improvement they can do -- a lot of improvement because they haven’t played together. A lot of talent is on the floor; let’s see if we can get it together."

Getting Gasol and Bryant back is certainly a boost to the Lakers' chances down the stretch, but L.A. has to stick to what it did to get back in the playoff hunt in the first place. It can't get too cute.

Hits: Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Jodie Meeks scored 16 points off the bench, including eight in the fourth quarter.

Bryant added another momentum-changing dunk to his season-long aerial display, sending home a reverse jam with 7:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to put L.A. up by 3 when its offense was struggling. It ended up being a moot point, though.

Misses: Seeing World Peace take it upon himself to go 1-on-5 and pick up an offensive foul in a crucial possession when he has playmakers like Bryant and Steve Nash on his team is a crime against basketball.

While Bryant's distribution game was strong (11 assists), his defensive game wasn't. Bryant was routinely late to close out on open shooters (most notably Garrett Temple, who scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting) and L.A. in turn let Washington hang around longer than it should have in the third quarter when the Lakers could have put it away.

Antawn Jamison was brilliant in the first half, scoring 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting to go with seven rebounds, but he suffered a sprained right wrist in the third quarter which ended his night early. He will receive X-rays on it after the game.

Stat of the game: The Lakers had 10 assists on 13 buckets in the first quarter, but finished with 27 on 39 baskets for the game as the ball started to stick.

What's next: For the first time in a long time, the Lakers do not have games on either Saturday or Sunday, as they'll have the weekend to get ready for their final multi-game road trip of the season -- four games through Golden State, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Sacramento beginning Monday. The Warriors game will be doubly important as L.A. is still in the hunt to catch Golden State for the No. 6 seed in the West, and it will also set the tone for the trip.

Antawn Jamison is pretty much the definition of an NBA veteran.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the fifth team the 37-year-old has played for in his 15-season career, meaning he literally has had hundreds of teammates during his time in the league.

None of them have been quite like Kobe Bryant.

"This guy's a different dude," Jamison said of Bryant while a guest on the "Max & Marcellus Show" on ESPNLA 710 radio on Wednesday.

Jamison said Bryant has helped create a contentious atmosphere with him and his teammates, but the conflict has helped the team congeal.

"Kobe will tell you," Jamison said. "He's like, 'Look, you guys as my teammates, yell at me. Let me know that you're open because I'm so programmed,' and this guy has told me this, 'I see nothing but that basket. You could be open, there could be three guys on me, but the only thing I see is that basket so you have to tell me, Look, I was open. Or yell at me mid-play. That doesn't affect me at all and I respect that.' "

Jamison said the veteran-laden roster has adapted to Bryant's style and the players have no problem with confronting the five-time champion.

"I think the thing we've seen in the past was most teammates might have been afraid to come to him or express, 'Kob' I was open,' or, 'That's not what we drew up,' " Jamison said. "The thing I like about this team, Steve Nash -- who is a Hall of Famer -- and Dwight [Howard] as well, Dwight and Kobe have gotten into shouting matches on the bench because Dwight will be like, 'Kob', that's your rotation. Get there.' And after the game he'll be like, 'Appreciate it, big fella. I needed that.' "

Jamison said he doesn't even have to speak to express his concerns with Bryant, and can just let his big eyebrows do the talking.

"I come in there and I look at him a certain way, he'll be like, 'OK, Jamison, you're right. My bad.' "

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- There was a telling quote from Antawn Jamison after the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to win in Indianapolis without Kobe Bryant the other night.

"We have too much talent to think that there's not a chance for us to win when he's not out there," Jamison said.

Bryant didn't play Sunday, marking the first time all season he didn't suit up. But Jamison and the Lakers showed what kind of talent it has without their leader.

Journeyman Jamison reminded everybody why he is No. 43 on the NBA's all-time scoring list and just 176 points away from 20,000 for his career by hitting from all over the court en route to a team-high 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including 5-for-8 on 3-pointers.

Just like in Indiana, it wasn't just Jamison, either.

Steve Nash showed he is just as much a former two-time MVP as he is a 39-year-old, posting 19 points and 12 assists.

Metta World Peace showed he's more than a tough wing defender, scoring 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting, after putting up 19 against the Indiana Pacers.

Dwight Howard looked healthier than he has maybe all season, tallying 12 points, 17 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Steve Blake had 16 points and eight assists. Earl Clark had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Everybody contributed.

Solid win.

How it happened: After Sacramento went on a 10-0 run to cut L.A.'s lead to just 90-88 in the fourth quarter, Blake came up huge, drawing a foul on Jason Thompson to thwart a sure Sacramento Kings bucket on the fast break, then hitting a 3-pointer soon after to put L.A. up 95-88. The Lakers regained control of the game, sparking a 13-2 run overall. They rolled from there, winning by 11 and going four games above .500, at 36-32, for the first time all season.

What it means: "They know where we are [in the standings],” Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said before the game. “They know how important these games are at home, especially. We just can’t kick one like we did in Atlanta." The Lakers made it interesting against a Kings team that came into the game 20 games under .500. But they won, which is what they need to keep doing for the final 14 games of the regular season. Now that L.A. has been flirting with a playoff spot for some time, they can even think about moving up the ladder.

"Just looking at [the standings] real quick, No. 6, right?" D'Antoni said before his team won for the 11th time in 14 tries since the All-Star break. "That seems to be the thing. I wouldn’t think anything else. That would be a goal that we try to get to."

Hits: Sunday marked the first time since Pau Gasol was traded to the Lakers on Feb. 1, 2008, that L.A. won a game in which Bryant and Gasol did not play.

Howard grabbed 17 rebounds, keeping his streak of collecting 12 or more rebounds in every game since the All-Star break intact. The 14 games with 12 or more boards ties the longest such streak he's had in his career.

Misses: With Bryant out, D'Antoni shrunk his rotation even more, playing just seven guys.

L.A. allowed Patrick Patterson to go off for 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting.

The Lakers had 15 turnovers, resulting in 17 points for Sacramento while forcing the Kings into just six turnovers.

Stat of the game: The Lakers average 22 assists per game as a team, ranking 16th in the league, and outdid themselves Sunday with 28 dimes on 41 baskets (68.3 percent).

What's next: The Lakers will have a chance to do something they've failed to do all season in 13 attempts: sweep a back-to-back. L.A. plays in Phoenix on Monday. Coming into Sunday, the Lakers were 5-8 on the front end of back-to-backs and also 5-8 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. They'll have to beware of the 22-45 Suns, however. The Lakers lost the last time they went to Phoenix this season in Nash's return game.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The whole will-he-or-won't-he drama surrounding Kobe Bryant's playing status with that sprained left ankle of his ended up being pretty much a moot point.

Bryant played the entire first quarter, going 0-for-4 from the field with one turnover and two assists, with the Lakers trailing 19-16.

After watching the entire second quarter from the bench and seeing his team compete without him, Bryant called it a night at halftime, spending the rest of the game on the bench with an electric stimulation device strapped to his bum ankle.

For Bryant, he got to keep up his distinction of having played in all 67 games on the Lakers schedule this season and his round-the-clock rehab will surely have his ankle in a better place for the Lakers' next game Sunday than it would have been if he hadn't tried to play Friday.

For the Lakers, the three quarters Bryant didn't play defined the night.

It was about Dwight Howard shaking off early foul trouble and a rough shooting night to still put up 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

It was about Metta World Peace coming back to play in front of fan base that knew him as Ron Artest when he was at his worst and scoring 19 points to lead L.A. when the offense stalled.

It was about Steve Blake (18 points) and Antawn Jamison (17 points) barely missing off the bench, combining to shoot 11-for-18 overall and 9-for-14 from 3.

It was about Steve Nash putting up 15 points and nine assists against just two turnovers.

It was about Earl Clark hobbling on a bum right ankle of his own and contributing with eight points and six rebounds.

It was about a team finding a way to win when the odds were not in its favor.


How it happened: The Pacers built an early 11-point lead with Howard parked on the bench with fouls and Bryant being off the mark, but L.A. got all the way back in it, building an 11-point lead of its own in the second quarter. Indiana came out refocused in the third quarter and went on a 13-0 run, but the Lakers wouldn't go away and had the lead down to just one heading into the fourth. With the game tied at 87 with 1:30 to go in the fourth, Howard had one of his biggest plays as a Laker, getting an and-1 layup to go and converting the ensuing free throw to put L.A. up by three. If Howard put the nail in the coffin, Jamison poured dirt on the grave with a 3-pointer the next time down to double L.A.'s lead from three to six and seal the win.

What it means: The Lakers are back to three games over .500 at 35-32 and won one of those gut-check games that define what it is to be a tough-minded group. This one could pay off down the road.

Hits: The Lakers shot 13-for-26 as a team from 3, good for 50 percent.

Against the toughest defensive team in the league, L.A. had just 15 turnovers compared to 16 for Indy.

Misses: The time keeper in Indiana messed up just before halftime, starting the clock while the ball was still in Earl Clark's hands while he was getting ready to inbound the ball with 5.3 seconds left. Steve Nash ended making a jump shot at the foul line that was disallowed because it left his hands just after the buzzer. However, had the time been kept correctly, Nash would have had another 1.5 seconds to get the shot off.

By NBA rules, the Lakers weren't allowed to play the whole 5.3 seconds over again -- just the 1.5 seconds that went missing because of the clock mistake. L.A. tried a similar inbounds alley-oop from the sideline to a cutting Clark that worked when L.A. was in Detroit, but the Pacers broke it up. The officials had to check the replay once again to determine the Lakers had 0.9 seconds left on the clock. L.A. tried one more time to score before the half but could manage only to get it out to Howard for a long heave from 3 that missed.

Stat of the game: The Lakers were just 2-16 on the road against teams with winning records coming into Friday but were able to knock off the Pacers -- the No. 2 team in the East -- who had a 26-7 home record before the loss.

What's next: The Lakers come to the softest portion of their schedule that they'll face all year, at a time when they can use some easy games. Their next three games are over the course of seven days against three teams that are each hovering around 20 games under .500. It starts off Sunday at home against Sacramento, then Monday on the road in Phoenix followed by three days off before they get Washington at home Friday. Adding to the string of gimmes, the Lakers should get Pau Gasol back in the lineup sometime in the next three games. Time to build momentum.