Another big update
Lakers@ Mavs
This was the first game against a true contender I've played since the big win against the spurs in san antonio. Since that game, I've played Utah, Minnesota twice, Charlotte, Milwalkee, Toronto and Chicago. As you can see they arent the cream of the NBA. Onto the game. I played this last night after the thrilling win in Minnesota, and my mind was still on that game to be honest. Odom was the benificary early of Kobe's passing, but Dallas was dominating the backboards and would lead 30-27 after the first quarter. In the second, a much more rebounding oreientated lineup was put in place and I was able to tie the game at 54 at halftime. Kobe had 16 first half points
2nd half
Once again Dallas were getting all the breaks in the books, offensive rebounds, easy interceptions, freindly rolls. But alot of the time I would look at the score in amazement to see myself tied with the mavs despite Dallas playing well. KVH was starting to play well alongside Dirk, but odom and Kobe had the Lakers up 73-72 at the end of 3. In the 4th, dallas played brillaintly through the entire quarter, and were up by 5 with a little over a minute to go. Thats when Kobe stepped it up again! He drilled 4 3's , including one with 4 seconds remaining that tied the game at 112. Dirk would shoot a 30 footer for the win but missed, and I was in my second overtime game in as many appearences.
In the overtime, Kobe continued his dominance, but Josh Howard and Jason Terry kept the game close. The lakers were up by 3 when Dirk tipped a miss in to make it a one point game. There was 30 seconds to go so I wanted to use as much clock as possible. Kobe dribbled the clock down before being doubled, he kicked it to a wide open Devean George who drilled a 3 as the clock expired to put me up 120-116 with 5 seconds left, and Dallas didnt even get a shot off.
Player of the Game:
Kobe
56 points, 12 assists, 4 rebound, 1 steal
Odom 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists
Smush 10 points, 2 rebounds 2 assists 1 steal
Mihm 12 points and 6 boards
Josh Howard had 32 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 1 block
Dirk had 21 points but in the context of the game, underperformed.
KVH had 19 points and 6 rebounds
Terry had 18 points and 10 assists
Lakers @ Grizzlies
This was the last game on a memorable road trip. The Grizz are 9-11, and I own their draft pick so i want them to finish as bad as they can
. In the first quarter, Gasol was simply a monster on the board and memphis dominated to lead 33-22. In the second quarter Odom and Kobe led a predictable but nice comeback as I closed out the half only down 2 points, 55-53. Odom had 15 1st half points, while kobe had 12.
In the third quarter it was more of the same with Memphis controlling the backboards, and they pushed the lead back out to 10, up 80-70. In the fourth I went back to smush distrubiting the ball and kobe in an attack mode. The swithc paid off, as kobe dropped 18 4th quarter points. It was a odom runner however that gave me a 102-101 lead with 14 seconds left. Gasol was instantly doubled and Odom forced a jump ball, but the grizz won it. Battier had a chance to win it but excellent defense by Parker forced a brick and I walked away with another win.
Player of the game
Kobe
41 points
5 rebounds
7 assists
3 steals
Lamar had 24 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals
Smush 6 points, 4 rebounds, 12 assists, steals and a block
George 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Walton with 7 points
Gasol had 22 points and 15 rebounds. The Grizz outrebounded the lakers 46-27, with a 16-1 advantage on the offensive boards. That's unnaceptable and I've decided to start Cook at pf, with odom at sf until kwame returns.
But looking back on the road trip. I went 6-0, but only outscored my opposition by a combined 28 points in those wins. Thats less than 5 points per win. Also, i beat chicago by 12, so if you take that game out of it I won 5 games by a combined margin of 18 points. After the loss to the twolves, i had 7 games in 10 days, and won all 7 games. But theres rest for the weary, as the next game is:
Wizards @ Lakers
After another thrilling win I couldn't put the controlled down that quickly
. Washington was without Arenas, but the lakers came out tight and only scored 20 1st quarter points, and trailed 25-20 after one. The wizards were doubling kobe and kwame as soon as they put the ball on the floor, and with Jamison and Butler leading the way, they lead 47-43 at half time.
The game remained close throughout the 3rd, and with a minute left to go in the third, the score was tied at 68. Kobe then hit a 3, two free throws, another 3, and a buzzer beater from 20 feet out to finish the third and swing all the momentum my way. The score was 78-70 entering the fourth, and despite Jamison and Butler playing well, they needed that extra star to get them over the hump. The lakers would win 111-96, a succesfull return to the staples center after the road trip and made it 8 straight wins
Player of the Game
Kobe
39 points
5 rebounds
5 assists
1 steal
1 block
odom 26 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
smush 10 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 1 steal
Mihm 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists
Jamison had 29 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal
Butler had 20 points, 3 rbeounds, 7 assists and 4 steals
A nice little showdown with odom and jamison. I'm really enjoying using smush lately. to start the season i didnt know how to play him really, and at one point i thought about starting lue ahead of him. but smush has become the 3rd best player on this team. Theres now only 6 more game days before Kwame returns, and my record is 18-5. Next game is against the rockets, tmac vs kobe is always fun. Then its the mavericks at staples, and we all remember what kobe did in 3 quarters in that corresponding game last season
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