Lakers Racing To Finish
ESPNLosAngeles.com
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- In the short term, the Lakers' next two games will be a practice in pace, as Los Angeles will try to control the tempo against the speedy Warriors and Kings teams up in Northern California by using their size and "imposing their will," as Lamar Odom said after Sunday's practice.
Golden State's "pace factor" (or the number of possessions a team uses per game) is 102.3 while Sacramento's is 96.8, according to ESPN's John Hollinger. The Lakers' pace factor registers at 95.9.
In the long run, however, the Lakers will try to control the pace in which it approaches the last 16 games of the season as they hope to build on the momentum of their team-centric win in Phoenix on Friday.
"At a point the season was moving pretty fast, but now it's not moving as fast," Ron Artest said. "It's at a good pace right now, I think. I don't want it to move any faster because we got a lot of work to do. I don't want it to be April yet."
Schedule: Monday, March 15
Knicks 94, Sixers 84
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Celtics 119, Pistons 93
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Rockets 125, Nuggets 123
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Jazz 112, Wizards 89
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Lakers 124, Warriors 121
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Hornets 108, Clippers 100
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Monday Game Notes
• Rasheed Wallace is shooting .335 from the field in the second half of games this season. That is the lowest second-half field-goal percentage for any player in the league (min: 200 FGA).
• With his game-winning shot on Tuesday against the Raptors, Kobe Bryant has now made six game-winning field goals with 10 seconds or less remaining this season. It's the most such field goals made in a single season since Carmelo Anthony made five during the 2005-06 season.
• Detroit has held the Celtics to fewer than 100 points in each of its last seven games in Boston. That is the second-longest current streak of holding the Celtics to below 100 points in Boston behind San Antonio (11 straight).
• The Celtics have a better record on the road (22-12, .647) than at home (19-12, .613) this season. Only two other teams in the league can make that claim: New Jersey and Philadelphia. There has been only one season in the Celtics' franchise history in which the team finished with a better road record than home record: 1974-75 (32-9 on the road; 28-13 at home).
• Bryant has played in 669 wins for the Lakers. With a victory Monday night he would tie Magic Johnson for the second-highest total in franchise history. The top five: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (743), Magic Johnson (670), Bryant (669), Michael Cooper (636) and James Worthy (622).
• Only Steve Nash (194 times) and Russell Westbrook (131) have had the ball stolen from them more often this season than Monta Ellis (129). Kevin Durant (128) ranks fourth in the league in that category and Stephen Curry (125) ranks fifth.
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