great win for the Lakers.. the only problem with this team is initial motivation... because they most surely have the correct amount of talent to compete with anyone...
If they play up to their capacity, they have a legit shot at one of the two top spots in the west...
SACRAMENTO -- Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Vladimir Radmanovic matched his season high with 21 and the Lakers stayed on track for the Pacific Division title with a 114-92 victory over the Sacramento Kings tonight.
Radmanovic hit five 3-pointers and tied his career high with 14 rebounds, while Pau Gasol added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who won their fourth straight. They snapped their longtime rivals' four-game winning streak with an outstanding second half, including a 23-9 run in the third quarter led by three of Bryant's four 3-pointers.
Although the Lakers still trail New Orleans by 11/2 games for the Western Conference lead, the win pushed Los Angeles (53-24) -- which has the same record as San Antonio -- two games ahead of Phoenix (51-26) in the Pacific standings with five games to play. The Lakers have 18 division titles, but none since 2004, Shaquille O'Neal's last season with the club.
Kevin Martin scored 22 points for the Kings, who simply seemed exhausted after winning at Denver one night earlier. Bryant led Los Angeles to a big lead in the third quarter, and Lamar Odom had 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the Lakers' fourth consecutive win in Sacramento.
Bryant, who scored 17 points in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' win in Sacramento last month, didn't even wait that long in the rematch. He got rolling with 14 points in the first 6:02 after halftime, hitting a series of long shots that drew cheers from the thousands of Lakers fans who infiltrated Arco Arena to start "MVP!" chants.
Radmanovic added eight points in the third, including two 3-pointers. Bryant hit one last 3-pointer with 2:45 to play, putting the Lakers up 110-88 -- and Kobe then waved goodbye to the Sacramento crowd as he ran back downcourt.
The Kings were brought down off their high from upsetting the Nuggets on Saturday night despite playing without injured starters Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Beno Udrih. Artest returned but struggled to 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting against the Lakers, while Miller missed his second straight game with a lower leg strain.
Los Angeles played without forward Luke Walton, who couldn't play after straining his right hamstring in Wednesday's win over Portland. Gasol and Derek Fisher both started for Los Angeles despite injuries.
Sacramento must win its final five games to finish at .500, but the Kings already have improved on last season's win total in coach Reggie Theus' debut year. Before the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Sacramento is much better than it was earlier in the season, citing Martin's development into the NBA's sixth-leading scorer as the biggest reason.
Not sure who said it, but I think this game goes to show how accurate the sentiment is regarding Vlad's play: He's either really on or really off. That does not just include his shooting, but his defense, rebounding, passing, and decision-making. He is an extremely valuable asset on our team when "on," but we might just have to live and deal with the fact he will be "off" just as often. However, that's okay. We have other good 3pt shooters who are arguably more consistent but have less potential to get as hot as Vlad. So let's just enjoy when Vlad's rolling, and when he's not, just realize its not his day and he'll likely bring it the next game. He doesn't have to be good for us to win, but those times he is, just makes us all that more difficult to beat.
Not sure who said it, but I think this game goes to show how accurate the sentiment is regarding Vlad's play: He's either really on or really off. That does not just include his shooting, but his defense, rebounding, passing, and decision-making. He is an extremely valuable asset on our team when "on," but we might just have to live and deal with the fact he will be "off" just as often. However, that's okay. We have other good 3pt shooters who are arguably more consistent but have less potential to get as hot as Vlad. So let's just enjoy when Vlad's rolling, and when he's not, just realize its not his day and he'll likely bring it the next game. He doesn't have to be good for us to win, but those times he is, just makes us all that more difficult to beat.
Or we can just realize when he's "off" that we shouldn't expect much from him so that when he does go big...its an automatic victory.
And truthfully, I cant remember anytime we lost this season when vlad came through for us.
i've said it before, the problem with vlad is when he's off he lets it effect his whole game... he gives up on defense and gets lazy trying to grab rebounds...that's his biggest problem... lots of shooters go cold but they find other ways to contribute, vlad is either all in or all out... rick fox used to have horrid shooting nights, but he gave so much effort everywhere else it really didn't matter, horry the same....
Re: DaManCast: LA Lakers @ Kings 4/6/08
