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Lakers beat Knicks to get to .500

The pieces of the puzzle that have been the Lakers’ confounding season so far are starting to fall into place.

Kobe Bryant engineered a second-half comeback, the defense stepped up, and Los Angeles beat the New York Knicks 100-94 on Tuesday, extending its winning streak to five games.

”We’re .500,” a smiling Dwight Howard said. ”We did it on Christmas, too. I knew this day would come.”

Bryant scored 34 points in his NBA-record 15th Christmas Day game and Metta World Peace added 20 points and seven rebounds while defending Carmelo Anthony, whose 34 points led the Knicks. Anthony said he hyperextended his left knee, but expects to play on Wednesday in Phoenix.

Bryant, the league’s leading scorer, has topped 30 or more points in nine straight games…

The Lakers improved to 14-14 – 9-9 under new coach Mike D’Antoni – and upped their holiday record to 21-18, including 13-9 at home. They returned to .500 for the first time since they were 8-8 on Nov. 30…

The Knicks controlled most of the game behind Anthony and J.R. Smith, who had 24 points. But they struggled offensively in the fourth, when Anthony was limited to seven points and Smith had five as the Lakers’ defense clamped down. World Peace fouled out with 1:58 to play and the Lakers ahead by four…

Nash had 16 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in his second game in nearly two months. He missed 24 straight games while recovering from a small fracture in his lower left leg. Howard had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Gasol had 13 points and eight rebounds…

World Peace scored 16 points in the second quarter, including eight in a row, when the Lakers played catch-up most of the way. His 3-pointer gave the Lakers their first lead of the period with 1:10 remaining. Smith tied it up with a free throw before Nash’s jumper sent the Lakers into halftime leading 51-49.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

Steve Nash returns to action for Lakers

Steve Nash will start for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Golden State Warriors after missing 24 games because of a small fracture in his lower left leg.

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said before the game Saturday night that Nash will have no minutes limit. The 38-year-old was injured in the second game of the season, the former Phoenix star’s first with the Lakers. Los Angeles is 12-14 so far this season.

Nash, a two-time NBA MVP, averaged 4.5 points and four assists in 25 minutes during his two games – both losses – for the Lakers. Los Angeles has won three in a row over Washington, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Courtney Fortson named D-League Performer of Week

Courtney Fortson of the Los Angeles D-Fenders was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played Dec. 10-16.

A 5-11, 185-pound guard out of Arkansas, Fortson led the D-Fenders to a 2-0 record for the week, averaging 27.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 46.5 minutes. He scored a team-high 36 points in a 134-124 triple-overtime win over the Reno Bighorns, 134-124, on Dec. 15 to go with a team-high eight assists.

A second-year member of the D-Fenders, Fortson earned two GATORADE Call-Ups during the 2011-12 season and owns NBA career averages of 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 9.5 minutes in 10 games for the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets.

Other top performers considered include Austin’s Tyler Wilkerson, Bakersfield’s Damion James, Canton’s Jon Leuer, Erie’s D.J. Kennedy, Fort Wayne’s Miles Plumlee, Idaho’s Joel Freeland, Iowa’s Chris Wright, Los Angeles’ Darius Johnson-Odom, Maine’s Shelvin Mack, Reno’s Garrett Temple, Rio Grande Valley’s Tim Ohlbrecht, Santa Cruz’s Travis Leslie, Sioux Falls’ Andrew Goudelock, Springfield’s James Mays, Texas’ Darius Rice and Tulsa’s Jeremy Lamb.

Kobe scores 34, Lakers beat Sixers

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points, Metta World Peace added 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers won consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month with a 111-98 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.

Dwight Howard had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who led 60-50 at halftime. Darius Morris had a career-high 15 points, all in the first half, and Chris Duhon scored 14.

The Lakers (11-14), who beat Washington 102-96 on Friday night, won two in a row for the first time since a three-game streak from Nov. 16-20.

Even without injured stars Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, the Lakers hardly resembled the team which entered the night four games below .500.

Nick Young paced the reeling Sixers (12-12) with 30 points while Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner added 16 apiece. Thaddeus Young had 14 for Philadelphia, which dropped its third straight game for the first time this season.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Melo scores 30, Knicks beat slumping Lakers

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-107 on Thursday night in coach Mike D’Antoni’s return to Madison Square Garden.

Firing in 3-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D’Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

Meanwhile, things are starting as poorly for D’Antoni in Los Angeles as they ended in New York. The Lakers, still without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, were never really in the game while losing their fourth straight and falling to 9-14.

Raymond Felton scored 19 points, and Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith added 18 apiece for the Knicks.

Kobe Bryant had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. Metta World Peace finished with 23 points and Dwight Howard had 20.

The Lakers did cut what was a 26-point deficit to 113-107 when World Peace converted a three-point play with 1:27 remaining, but the Knicks took more than a minute off the clock while twice grabbing offensive rebounds on the next possession before Chandler made a free throw with 18 seconds to play…

D’Antoni was loudly booed during pregame introductions, Knicks fans who appreciated the rugged defensive teams of the 1990s never truly embracing his offense-first style. D’Antoni said he enjoyed his time in New York and said earlier Thursday the Knicks, who lead the NBA in 3-pointers per game and fewest turnovers, were playing the way he’d like his team to play.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Kyrie Irving returns, Cavs beat Lakers

There had to be a low point. The Los Angeles Lakers can only hope they’ve reached it.

This chaotic season has gotten worse.

Kyrie Irving scored 28 points in his return after missing 11 games with a broken finger, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 100-94 win over Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, who look nothing like a team projected to win an NBA title – or anything else.

”This is one of the most challenging stretches of my 17 years, and the most baffling, too,” a puzzled Bryant said after the Lakers lost for the eighth time in 11 games. ”We have the talent and personnel to do it, but we’re not, and it’s baffling. It’s extremely frustrating.

”It doesn’t make any sense. We’re still finding ways to lose games.”

Irving added 11 assists in 39 minutes and showed off his dizzying array of moves as the Cavs, who came in with just four wins, ended a five-game losing streak.

Bryant scored 42 points and Dwight Howard had 19 points and 20 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Lakers, who were still missing Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, from opening a four-game road trip with a with a loss that could sting for a while…

C.J. Miles scored 28 in his first start this season, Anderson Varejao had 20 and Alonzo Gee 17 for the Cavs…

”I’m very upset,” Bryant said. ”When things get hard, you should get more determined, not shake your heads. It just seems when it rains it pours. It’s like this cloud is following us around at all times. I’m one of the fastest guys on the team – and I’m like 50. What does that tell you?”

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Lakers lose to Jazz in Los Angeles

The Lakers still aren’t getting it together under new coach Mike D’Antoni, and the Utah Jazz exposed them again.

Paul Millsap scored 24 points and Mo Williams added 22 in Utah’s third straight victory, 117-110 on Sunday night.

”They did it to themselves,” Millsap said of the 9-12 Lakers. ”Our defense was pretty good, but they had no ball movement and that made it easier on us just to try to load up, keep them out of the paint and let them fire up some 3s.”

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 34 points, making 12 of 14 free throws, as they fell to 4-7 in their last 11 games since D’Antoni took over from the fired Mike Brown…

Al Jefferson and reserves Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter added 14 points each for the Jazz, who improved to 4-9 on the road in ending a two-game skid away from home…

Bryant, who shot 9 of 24 while playing 43 minutes, engineered one last charge. He had seven points in a 17-7 run that got the Lakers to 115-110 with 1:10 to play. But he missed two 3-pointers in the final 33 seconds…

Jordan Hill added a career-high 17 points and Jodie Meeks 16 off the Lakers’ bench.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

Thunder rumble over Lakers, win 7th straight

Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook gorged himself with 27 points in the first half as the Thunder extended their recent dominant run with a 114-108 win over the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.

The victory was the Thunder’s seventh in a row, and their 16th win of the season, while the Lakers are struggling at 9-11.

After trailing by a point after the first quarter, the Thunder (16-4) exploded in the second with 41 to open up a 14-point lead at the half, a gap the Lakers could not reel in.

“That was a solid win, we had some very good stretches but then in the second half we had some not so good stretches. We relaxed some on defense in the second half,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

Westbrook had a huge first half, scoring 27 of his 33 points to help the Thunder open up the big gap.

The battle of the scoring big guns went to Thunder forward Kevin Durant with 36 points and nine rebounds, while Lakers guard Kobe Bryant finished with 35 points.

— Reported by Reuters

David Kahn denies latest Timberwolves-Lakers Pau Gasol rumor

David Kahn made a special guest media appearance at shootaround this morning to shoot down Thursday’s ESPN.com — the latest in a series of semi-regular such rumors — that the Lakers are refusing Wolves’ overtures for Pau Gasol.

Kahn said he hasn’t talked to the Lakers since last June. He didn’t say this, but that was when he was talking with the Lakers about a bigger deal that would have brought Gasol here and sent away Derrick Williams, probably to a third team.

The latest ESPN.com said the Lakers had turned down a Wolves deal built around Williams and Nikola Pekovic.

— Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Mike Brown has no grudge against Lakers

Former Lakers head coach Mike Brown not bitter

“I don’t hold grudges against people, but it’s the Busses’ team and Mitch (Kupchak) is the GM and they have to make decisions and sometimes the decisions are tougher than others.”

Brown shakes off any notion that he got a raw deal. It was believed the Lakers would use a six-game homestand to evaluate Brown, but after numerous discussions, Lakers management unanimously decided that the team was going sideways and Brown was let go.

“I didn’t think anything (about how the decision was made),” Brown said. “My job was to coach the team as long as they allowed me to and that was as long as they allowed me.

“I got no hard feelings. You see me walk in here and I get to watch my son. He’s a senior. I’m enjoying my family. I enjoyed my time with the Lakers. I appreciate the opportunity the Busses gave me and Mitch gave me. I’ve moved on. I really have.” …

“It’s kind of funny because people say, ‘you don’t seem (upset),'” Brown said. “I tell them that I have no control over the decision, and I understand the business. So I’m thankful what they allowed me to do, I’m thankful for the opportunity and now I’m trying to cheer on my son’s team to a third victory.”

— Reported by Janis Carr of the Orange County Register