Los Angeles Lakers Blog – Page 161 – NBA Blog

Quick talk with Kobe

Here’s a bit of what Kobe Bryant had to say in Phoenix Friday at NBA All-Star weekend:

Question: Do you remember the time when people started telling you were good enough to be in the NBA?

Kobe Bryant: Nobody ever told me that.

Question: When did you start to believe it?
Kobe Bryant: When I first got drafted.

Question: That’s when you believed you could make it in the NBA?
Kobe Bryant: Yep.

Question: What was your first game like, when you scored your first points?
Kobe Bryant: It was a pass from Eddie Jones.

Question: What’s going on with the Lakers?
Kobe Bryant: We want to win another championship. We have a good team, have the team to do it. That’s our goal.

Question: Why has it been so relatively easy ‑‑ not easy, but going without Andrew, you still seem to be going on a roll.
Kobe Bryant: Our team is used to playing with guys coming in on the lineup because we had to do it last season. It was tough but we had to figure it out.
I think because of that, having that experience, we kind of come back.

Question: Can you talk about Lamar, he seems to have stepped up his game?
Kobe Bryant: He has locked in. I think what you are seeing now, you are seeing Lamar at an All‑Star level.

Question: When Andrew went out, have you changed in terms of your attitude, more leadership?
Kobe Bryant: A little bit more aggressive, obviously. We got to command more double‑teams.

Jordan Farmar is back

The Press Enterprise (Jeff Eisenberg) reports: The emphatic one-handed dunk Jordan Farmar attempted Tuesday against Oklahoma City served at least one purpose, even though the play resulted in a charging foul. It proved to Farmar that his surgically repaired left knee is fully healthy again. “Just the fact that I didn’t think about it, I got an open lane, went and jumped off my knee with no second thought about it, that’s good,” Farmar said. “It tells me that I’m back to 100 percent.” In the 10 games since he returned, Farmar has averaged 6.6 points and 2.6 assists in 18 minutes per game, very similar numbers to those he put up prior to getting hurt in late December.

D-Will 31 and 11, Jazz beat Lakers 113-109

The AP reports: Deron Williams had 31 points and 11 assists and the Utah Jazz snapped the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with a 113-109 victory Wednesday night… Mehmet Okur scored 22 points, CJ Miles had 17 and Ronnie Brewer added 16 to give the injury-plagued Jazz their fourth win in the last five games… Lamar Odom had 19 points and 19 rebounds, but the Lakers allowed the Jazz to shoot a season-high 58.6 percent.

Bryant reaches 23,000, Lakers beat Thunder 105-98

The AP reports: Kobe Bryant showed no lingering effects from the flu, scoring 34 points and becoming the youngest player in NBA history to reach 23,000 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 105-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. Pau Gasol had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Lamar Odom had 12 points and a season-high 18 boards for the Lakers, just back from a 6-0 trip they concluded with wins against Boston and Cleveland… Kevin Durant finished with 31 points, his fifth 30-point game in a row, and 10 rebounds in the loss. Russell Westbrook had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Shaq says Kobe is better than LeBron

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Jodie Valade) reports: If Sunday’s Cavaliers-Lakers game wasn’t enough evidence, take Shaquille O’Neal’s word for it. Kobe Bryant is better. LeBron James? He’s pretty good, too. But Kobe is the best the Big Diesel has ever played with. “Kobe’s probably a 10,” O’Neal said Tuesday night. “LeBron’s a 9.7, 9.8. He’s a fabulous player who does it the right way and gets everybody involved. Those guys [Cavaliers] are playing at a very, very high level right now because of him.”

Kobe Bryant hits 23,000 points

The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliot Teaford) reports (via blog): When Kobe Bryant made a free throw with 3:21 remaining in the first half, he reached 23,000 points for his career. He hit the milestone faster than any other player in NBA history at 30 years, 171 days. Wilt Chamberlain did it in 30 years, 176 days.

InsideHoops.com editor says: I’m a better player than both guys mentioned above. It just doesn’t show on the stat-sheet.

Jim O’Brien: LeBron better than Kobe

LeBron James enters tonight’s game averaging 28.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists, the third season he has topped 25-7-7. He had his 20th career triple-double taken away last week when he was incorrectly given a rebound in his 52-point, 11-assist, nine-rebound performance against the New York Knicks. “He’s the best player in the league,” Pacers head coach Jim O’Brien said. “I don’t even know if it’s close right now. Certainly, Kobe Bryant is a great player and there are other great players in the league. But he is so big, so strong, so quick, so good off the dribble and so powerful, when he’s hitting 3-point shots, he’s unguardable.”

Adam Morrison to wear no.6

The Press-Enterprise (Jeff Eisenberg) reports: Newly acquired Adam Morrison will switch from No. 35 to No. 6, symbolic of his quest for a fresh start with the Lakers. “Some people have forgotten about his skill as a basketball player, but this is an opportunity to start over,” Jackson said. “It’s the Western Conference, he’s a Western kid. It’s a much more hospitable environment for him.”

Lakers stop Cavaliers home winning streak

The AP reports: With Kobe Bryant suffering from the flu, Lamar Odom scored a season-high 28 points—15 in the third quarter— and Paul Gasol scored 18 as the streak-busting Los Angeles Lakers dominated the second half and handed Cleveland its first home loss this season, 101-91 on Sunday to complete a 6-0 road trip… Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 22 to lead Cleveland, which shot just 28 percent (11-of-39) in the second half and didn’t play its customary shutdown defense. Williams, whose All-Star snub had infuriated the Cavs, scored 19 and James finished with 12 assists and eight rebounds. Odom, who added a season-best 17 rebounds, was unstoppable in the third, when the Lakers outscored the Cavaliers 31-16 and turned a 10-point deficit into a 82-77 lead entering the fourth.

Celtics set moving picks, says Jackson

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson is fun sometimes. Here’s an example. The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliot Teaford) reports:

Asked about the difference between having Kobe Bryant guard Boston’s Ray Allen and having him check Cleveland’s LeBron James, Jackson said.”Chasing Ray Allen off multiple picks, especially ones that move as often as Boston’s do, it’s just not feasible to wear him out and get run into by (Kendrick) Perkins and (Kevin) Garnett.”

That’s gold.