Los Angeles Lakers cruise to third-straight win
The defending champions Los Angeles Lakers bagged their third-straight win of the season when they defeated the Golden State Warriors, 107-83, on Sunday 31 October at the jam-packed Staples
Center.
Spanish centre Pau Gasol led the Lakers’ attack with his 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant added 20 points, helping the Lakers snap their state rival’s two-game winning run.
"We're pretty happy with how things are going right now," Gasol said. "We've been pretty successful against them the last couple of years, but the thing you can't do is relax. If you fall
asleep, they can score a lot of points."
Lamar Odom also had a big night as the 2010 World Championship gold-medallist scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 14 boards, while five-time champion point guard Derek Fisher chipped
in 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor.
Odom, Bryant, and Fisher spearheaded a huge Lakers’ attack in the opening period as they combined for 29 points, giving Los Angeles a huge 34-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Lakers were hardly challenged and protected their lead for the entire match, out-rebounding the Warriors, 54-42, and converting 23 free throws as compared to their opponents six made
shots from the foul line.
Despite starting the season with a perfect 3-0 record, former Most Valuable Player Bryant said that there’s nothing special considering the tough challenge ahead of them in their title defence
this season.
"We're 3-0, but that's nothing to go by at this point in the season," Bryant said.
Monta Ellis, who led his team to their first 2-0 start in 16 years, had 20 points, while Dorell Wright added 18 points and five rebounds for the Warriors, who missed second-year guard Stephen
Curry with a sprained right ankle.
Brandan Wright added 11 points, outplaying teammate David Lee, who finished the game scoreless and only had three rebounds. Lee, who was acquired by the Warriors in an off-season trade, had
a lot of difficulties in dealing with the Lakers’ big men, Gasol and Odom.
"That's why they're defending world championships," Lee said. "They beat us up on the boards at all five positions and got to the free throw line a lot more than we did. They did a good job
making sure we didn't get any easy buckets to get any kind of rhythm."
The Warriors, who opened the season with two-straight wins against the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns, found themselves trailing by as much as 32 points in the final quarter en route to
their first loss of the season.
"Our starters did not perform the way they need to play against the Lakers at their place," Golden State coach Keith Smart said. "You have to be firing on all cylinders to have a chance to
beat that team. That's why they've got that banner out there."
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