Clutch Kobe Bryant powers Los Angeles Lakers past Golden State Warriors 104-101: NBA Recap
Kobe Bryant is the most dangerous finisher in the NBA and on Tuesday night, two nights after being benched late in the fourth quarter in a close loss to Memphis Grizzlies, the Black Mamba made Mike Brown, the Los Angeles Lakers
coach, realize his mistake with another clutch show.
Brown however nearly made a mess tonight as well. He benched Kobe for the first 5:21 of the fourth quarter and saw the Golden State Warriors overcome a seven point third quarter deficit to take a 97-95 lead with just 1:22 remaining
in the game. Courtesy of Bryant’s clutch shooting - he netted 6 at the death – the Lakers managed to edge out Golden State Warriors, 101-104 here at Oracle Arena.
Bryant tallied a game high 30 points and dished out 5 assists. His performance compelled Mike Brown to lavish him with praise.
"Kobe was Kobe. He was huge down the stretch. That's what a guy like Kobe can do. You have a special player like that, you put the ball in his hands and you ask him to make a play."
Pau Gasol was also on song, he collected a double-double scoring 19 points to go with 17 boards while Matt Barnes chipped in with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Metta World Peace and Andrew Bynum poured in 11 apiece helping Lakers to bank their 31st victory of this season.
David lee and Brandon Rush tallied 23 apiece for Warriors while Dorell Wright and Charles Jenkins netted 13 and 12 points respectively. Golden State skidded down to a 2game losing streak after this defeat.
The game remained close in the opening frame as it was tied at 8 each with 07:33 in hand. Lakers raced away from the stalemate with a 10-4 run claiming an 18-12 lead, they stretched it further to 23-12 with a 5-nothing spurt and
capped off the segment after enjoying a 25-16 lead.
Warriors could only trim down the lead to 34-27 in the 2nd before Lakers reeled off 8 unanswered points to claim a comfortable 42-27 advantage. Late into the frame they managed to widen the gap to 49-34 but Warriors
rebutted that with a huge 14-4 run, toning down the lead to 53-48. By the end of 1st half Los Angeles were leading the scores with 55-48.
Warriors narrowed the gap to 56-52 early in the 3rd but Lakers reeled off a 13-7 run and reclaimed their double digit 69-59 lead. They cruised through rest of the segment and as the game entered into its last 12 minutes
they were leading the score with 79-72 advantage.
The game remained highly competitive in the conclusive frame and with 2:36 to go Golden State managed to tie the scores at 95 apiece.
Lee came up with a turnaround and inched Warriors out of the stalemate with a 97-95 advantage. Bryant then took charge of the things as he executed a jumper that resulted into a 9-2 spurt, allowing Lakers to claim a 104-99 lead.
Golden state could only reduce the margin of their defeat by 104-101 by the end of 4th quarter.
Tags: