Sports / Basketball |
Kobe leads Lakers over hapless Grizzlies(AP )Updated: 2006-11-13 13:58 LOS ANGELES - Kobe Bryant scored 21 points, Lamar Odom had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and Los Angeles beat the hapless Memphis Grizzlies 91-81 Sunday night in Phil Jackson's 500th game as Lakers' coach. Andrew Bynum added 11 points, Smush Parker had 10 and Odom had seven assists as the Lakers ended a two-game losing streak. Mike Miller scored 21 points ! tying his career high with six 3-pointers ! and had 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who lost their fourth in a row overall and third straight on the road. They have yet to beat a Western Conference opponent. Even Miller's long-range success couldn't overcome Memphis' 38.4 field-goal percentage, which ranks last in the NBA. The Lakers frittered away most of a 19-point halftime lead in the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies got within seven. Reserve Damon Stoudamire, who scored 16 points, hit a 3-pointer to pull Memphis within six. But Bryant scored the Lakers' final seven points ! on a 3-pointer, a jumper in the lane and two free throws ! to close out the sloppy win. The Grizzlies trailed 72-62 to start the fourth quarter. They ran off 10 in a row ! four each by Hakim Warrick and Stoudamire ! to get to 79-72. Parker made one of two free throws and then missed a jumper before Maurice Evans' fast-break reverse dunk pushed the Lakers' lead to 82-72 with 5:38 remaining. Bryant started the final 12 minutes on the bench with the usual wrap around his surgically repaired right knee. He returned four minutes in and made a nifty bounce pass in the lane to a driving Parker, whose layup again kept the Lakers ahead by 10. Memphis outscored Los Angeles 32-23 in the third, when Miller hit three 3-pointers and Bryant was limited to four points.
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