NBA Round-Up Sunday, December 19, 2010 - Part II
Los Angeles Lakers 120 - Toronto Raptors 110
At the Air Canada Centre, the Los Angeles Clippers snapped their three-game losing streak with a 109-107 victory over the Toronto Raptors in the presence of 19,935 basketball fans.
Kobe Bryant found his shot and led the way with 20 points while Pau Gasol added 19 points in the 21st victory of Clippers. Andrew Bynum (16 points), Shannon Brown (14 points), Matt Barnes (12 points), and Lamar Odom (11 points), joined them in
the double figures.
On Kobe Bryant hitting an array of tough shots early, Amir Johnson said, "I've grown up watching Lakers games. It was not really surprising what he did. Kobe's Kobe, what can I say? Those were some tough shots, but he makes them all of the time."
Linas Kleiza did all he could and scored game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds for Raptors. DeMar DeRozan came off the bench and scored 23 points in the defeat. Jose Calderon added 20 points and grabbed 12 assists.
A Raptors team without Bargnani and Weems left a shortened bench that could not keep up with the Lakers reserves.
While the Raptors came out on fire, shooting 60 percent in the first quarter and leading by six after one, the Lakers settled into their offense and outscored Toronto 29-15 in the second quarter to take a 57-49 lead into the break.
In the third quarter, the Lakers further expanded their advantage to 16 points to open the final stanza and took the crowd out of the game. While Toronto would fight until the end, they were unable to come back from a 16-point hole, especially without their
leading scorer.
Chris Bosh hit a 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds left to tie it for the Raptors; however, Bryant hit a 17-foot jumper with 1.9 seconds left, and the Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter finished off a seven-game road trip.
Detroit Pistons 111 - New Orleans Hornets 108
With 7.4 seconds remaining in overtime, Will Bynum scored on a driving layup and helped the Detroit Pistons to a 111-108 home victory over the New Orleans Hornets at Palace of Auburn Hills.
“We want to win. We are not giving up [any] seconds out there on the court despite what the score says. Those are the kind of guys you want to live and die with -- the guys that give it their all -- and I thought that was the difference," Bynum said.
Tayshaun Prince played one of his career’s best games for Pistons and had his first double-double this season capped by 28 points and 12 rebounds. Ben Gordon posted 25 points in Piston’s just third victory in 12 games.
Forward David West led the Hornets with game’s highest 32 points. Guard Chris Paul scored 23 points and grabbed 10 assists in the defeat.
"I watch a lot of games on TV, and had I watched this at home, I'd be wondering how they lost that game, I'm still trying to figure out how we lost this game," Chris Paul said.
Both teams started ice cold and scored 20 each in the first quarter. Hornets played the second quarter offensively and led by 10 points at the half, 51-41.
However, Detroit answered with three straight 3-pointers to begin the third. The Hornets built the lead back up to nine points and a 3-pointer by Gordon to end off third quarter made it 78-72.
Ben Gordon forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 21.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 100.
The Pistons limited Hornets to just 8 points in the overtime and scored 11 to stamp ninth victory of the season.
"We gave up 59 points in the second half, and that doesn't count overtime. We just didn't guard the ball. We kept giving them open 3-point shots when that was all they could hit," New Orleans coach Monty Williams said.
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