With the news that Kobe Bryant would sit out another game, the Los Angeles Lakers will turn to their big men looking for another stellar performance. If Andrew Bynum can have a repeat of his 16 points and league-high 30 rebounds as he did against San Antonio, the Lakers may be equipped for success, even if he continues his quest to shoot threes or act rebellious in various ways. The Lakers (37-22) look to build upon a two-game winning streak without their leading scorer
As the truncated season winds down, teams are jockeying for playoff positioning and home-court advantage. One of those teams should be the San Antonio Spurs. But coach Gregg Popovich is playing a different game. Popovich, the silver-haired, long-tenured guru who is among the frontrunners for Coach of the Year Award, decided to sit out three of his top three players – Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili – for the second time this season. The result was the same as the last time
Around The League WAS @ CHA: Jordan Crawford scored 20 and the Wizards’ bench had fun, especially James Singleton (18 PTS, 12 REB) and Cartier Martin (19) as the Bobcats made very little effort to defend their home court. Corey Maggette played just 19 minutes off the bench, but did score 23 points. TOR @ IND: Without Andrea Bargnani (calf) the Raptors started Amir Johnson, who had 16 points. James Johnson (4) is still coming off the bench behind Alan Anderson (17)
When the shortened season started and the Philadelphia 76ers came out blazing with a 20-9 record to lead the Atlantic Division, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind about the new direction Doug Collins and the team was headed. They had experienced a tough playoff run against the Miami Heat the previous season, and had looked to grow from the experience. It was, however, noted that they also had one of the easiest schedules to start the season. Looking back, they played the
LOS ANGELES — If we’ve yet to see if the road to the Finals still leads through Los Angeles, the road to Los Angeles still leads through the Lakers. The once-and-perhaps-future local kingpins beat their new local rivals, the Clippers, 113-108, moving 2 1/2 games ahead of them in the Pacific Division, locking up the season series, 2-1. Even if it was a Clipper home game, one-third of the crowd was rooting for the Lakers, greeting Andrew Bynum’s put-back for a 2-0
The Clippers have long been the laughingstocks of the NBA, save for one season when Sam Cassell was running the show back in 2006 – the last time the team sniffed a winning record in the past 19 years and only the second time they made the playoffs in that stretch. Through its first 42 years as a franchise, the team has yet to even win a division title. The Los Angeles Clippers (32-21) look to finally change these fortunes behind MVP
