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| Knicks |
Despite winning last Tuesday with clarity to the Utah Jazz, a team in full rebuilding and without any figure, the Lakers needed a win against a team with players like Carmelo Anthony and aspirations to the title such as the Knicks, and that was what was accomplished by Bryant and Gasol.
Bryant was again the team leader to provide 28 points, including 13 in the third quarter after scoring 10 of 17 shots, including 1 in 3 triples, and 7-10 from the line staff, six assists and grabbed four rebounds.
Under the leadership scorer Bryant, Gasol was again the key player in the team effort to impose their power under the basket and make his second consecutive double-double.
Gasol, who played 36 minutes, the most the team responded with a contribution of 16 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and made two blocks to get frustrated all night duo of the Knicks' big men, formed by the pivot Tyson Chandler and power forward Amare Stoudemire.
Sant Boi player confirmed that he is once again focused on basketball and showed it by scoring December 7 field goals and was perfect 2-2 from the line staff.
The Bryant and Gasol hits were to allow easy distance Lakers in the fourth quarter (19-10) and get their ninth straight win in duels with the Knicks.
The Lakers have dominated the rivalry between two teams of the two largest cities in the country and know no defeat since the 2007 season, with Bryant executioner has averaged 34 points in the fighting against the Knicks.
The victory was doubly valuable addition to the Lakers who watched from the next party and may take into the starting lineup at power forward star Andrew Bynum, who met the four-game suspension put him in the past the Western Conference semifinals.
Point guard Steve Blake had 11 points as a reserve, including two triples in the fourth quarter they were going to open the 17-3 spurt that put the Lakers had a lead of 22 points after forcing the Knicks to fail nine the first 10 shots he made a field goal and lost seven turnovers.
The Lakers defense is also beginning to be strong, just as the game under the basket where the power forward Josh McRoberts Troy Murphy and start showing that they will be very useful to the team.
McRoberts holder in the place of Gasol, who left by Bynum at center, had 10 points, 6 rebounds, three steals ball and put two plugs.
While Murphy, as a backup, did a great job under the basket by capturing seven rebounds, which helped the Lakers to finish the game with 40 of 32 of the Knicks.
Another new addition to the Lakers this season, guard-forward Jason Kapono was perfect on field goal by scoring the three who did, including two triples and 1-1 from the line staff to get nine points.
The Lakers got 23 baskets of 32 shots before leaving the rest to have the highest percentage of success in 13 years.
The last time we achieved a 77.1% success rate on field goals for a single half came in the second of the match played on March 21, 1999 against Orlando Magic.
Anthony scored 27 points in his first duel with Bryant since joining the Knicks, and Stoudemire had 15 points, but missed 13 of 17 field goals.
While Chandler contributed a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, but could not avoid a second successive defeat the Knicks in three-game tour of California land, and the ninth against the Lakers, the worst they have against any opponent .
The Knicks (1-2) opened the season with a win "miracle" to the Celtics (0-3), but their arrival in California land has not been the most positive after losing to the Warriors and Lakers.
The Knicks' frustration was reflected in the claims of the "Big Three" to the referees to see how the Lakers made 41 shots for 22 staff for them, including three of which received technical fouls for complaining.
