Los Angeles Lakers cruise past Portland Trail Blazers 104-87: NBA Recap
Kobe Bryant 10-game streak of topping the 30 points mark came to an end as he, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard spent the fourth quarter on the bench in the 104-87 hammering of the Portland Trail Blazers here at the Staples Center
on Friday night.
Kobe's workload has been reduced a bit after the return of Nash and he must be enjoying it. The Lakers returned to 0.500 (15-15) and it was an all smile affair for the Lakers in the end. Los Angeles have more reasons to enjoy,
as Pau Gasol who has made 28 shots from downtown in his 815 NBA games, but in the last three games he has scored 5 from behind the arc. Tonight he finished off with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and three blocked shots.
"I'm a big believer that the ball will find energy," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "If you put energy on the floor, you end up with a good game."
The Trail Blazers never went in front and trailed by as much as 12 points in the first period and 20 in the second quarter. However, Portland were not out of the contest just yet. Aldridge made a jumper to make it 54-68 for the
Blazers early in the second half. He followed it up with another deuce to cut the gap down to 12 before Bryant scored 5 straight to maintain a sufficient distance from the Blazers. The Blazers could not come closer than 15 points the rest of the game as the
Lakers cruised to victory in the end.
Dwight Howard won’t mind playing against the Blazers more often. He tormented them with a season high 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in their first meeting this season. Tonight he posted 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds going
7 of 13 from the field. Blazers tried intentionally fouling to shut him down but nothing worked on the night.
"When he plays hard, it really takes a toll on the other team at both ends of the floor." Lakers coach Mike D’ Antoni on Dwight Howard.
Portland centre J.J. Hickson came into the game collecting 9 straight double-doubles, the most for a Blazers player since Kermit Washington in 1980. But Howard kept a close check on him as he missed all his 7 field goal attempts
and was kept to a season low 2 points. He could not post even a single-double as he finished off with 8 rebounds for the losing cause.
Guard Damian Lillard must be thinking of an easy matchup against the 38 year old Nash, but D’ Antoni put Darius Morris to guard Lillard. He did a good job, holding Lillard to 11 points as he went 4 of 17 from the field.
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