Bryant’s 40 lifts Lakers past Blazers
Wolves no match for Thunder; Jack powers Warriors past road-weary Spurs
LOS ANGELES – So often this season, the Lakers and Dwight Howard haven’t found a way.
Despite a variety of adversity against a Portland team likewise vying for a playoff berth, the Lakers got it done Friday night.
They overcame Dwight Howard’s latest shoulder aggravation to win, 111-107, and the Lakers inched to two games of the .500 mark for the first time since January 6.
Kobe Bryant carried the team while Steve Nash was ice cold and Howard labored in the third quarter – Bryant scoring 18 of his 40 points then. Then Metta World Peace delivered several key plays after Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni left him in the game despite being literally hopping mad at World Peace dominating the ball and committing a turnover.
D’Antoni’s let-them-play style hasn’t worked all that often for the Lakers, but it did on this night – especially because Howard did play.
He brought commendable effort both before and after feeling that torn labrum again midway through the game, making several hustle plays late. He finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds on a night when no other Laker had more than Bryant’s seven boards.
Howard cringed in the now-familiar sight of him aggravating the torn labrum in his shoulder while trying to rise up with the ball under the basket with 57 seconds left in the first half. Portland’s Victor Klaver fouled Howard on the play, but he stayed in the game after a timeout.
Howard had been fantastic to that point, giving stellar effort and even sprinting up and down several times in the first quarter. The point was that Howard was testing his limits in a way that he hasn’t always done this season.
(Orange County Register/MCT)
Thunder 127, Timberwolves 111 OKLAHOMA CITY – Rick Adelman exhibited little empathy for the opposition before Friday night’s game at Oklahoma City, and he probably felt even less after the Thunder stopped the sky from falling by beating his Timberwolves.
Last season’s NBA finalists arrived at Chesapeake Arena as losers of three consecutive games, a disaster that led Thunder coach Scott Brooks to quip before the game, “It’s tough to be the Thunder right now, huh?”
The 127 points are the most allowed by the Wolves this season, by 13 points. Adelman gladly would swap problems after the Thunder thumped his guys.
The tag-team combination of all-stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 64 points, while Wolves couldn’t get a stop and were flabbergasted, flummoxed, appalled, dumbfounded, perplexed, disgusted and left incredulous by the officiating all evening.
“What’s their record?” Adelman asked on a night when the Thunder went to 4015 while his team lost for the 17th time in 21 games. “I have no sympathy at all.”
Brooks had blamed that ridiculous three-game losing streak to Utah, Miami and Houston – one shy of the franchise’s longest since its first season in Oklahoma City in 2008-09, when it started 3-29 before abruptly changing course – on his team’s defense, or rather its lack of it.
He declared himself “not thrilled” with said defense again Friday night, but it doesn’t matter as much when your team runs – and scores – at will and reaches 100 points before third quarter’s end.
Westbrook and Durant each approached a triple double. Westbrook had 37 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, while Durant had 27 points, seven assists and seven boards. Kevin Martin scored 19 points off the bench.
(Star Tribune/MCT)
Warriors 107, Spurs 101
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – Jarrett Jack came off the bench to score 30 points as the Golden State Warriors rallied past the road-weary San Antonio Spurs for an overtime victory on Friday.
The win snapped Golden State’s 16game losing streak to San Antonio.
The Warriors last beat the Spurs in 2008.
Jack came up big in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring 17 of his 30 points. He finished the game with 10 assists.
David Lee broke loose for 25 points and 22 rebounds for the Warriors, who trailed by 13 points midway the fourth quarter. Stephen Curry added 19 points. The come-from-behind victory ended a five-game winning streak by the league-leading Spurs, who have not played a home game since February 2.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and 13 rebounds for San Antonio with Danny Green finishing with 20 and Tony Parker 18.
It took a layup by San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili on a pass from Duncan with four seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Then, after Tiago Splitter’s inside shot had given San Antonio its last lead with two minutes remaining in the extra session, Golden State scored in streaks.
The Warriors ran off six consecutive points, four by Jack, and never trailed again, scoring the game’s final five points on free throws after San Antonio had pulled with one.