Basketball Daily

The Golden State Warriors met up with the Los Angeles Lakers in the second game of TNT’s double header on Thursday night.  What seemed to be a blowout for the Lakers on several occasions didn’t stop the Warriors from continuing to fight and dispel the many double digit leads LA had.  At one time in the fourth quarter Golden State was only trailing by 3 points, but the Lakers would increase their lead and eventually they got the win with the final score ending at 114-106.

The top three scorers for the Lakers were Kobe Bryant with 21 points, Pau Gasol with 21 points and Lamar Odom with 16 points.  All of the Lakers starters ended up getting double figures in points.  The high man off the bench was Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic with 12 points.  The Lakers have the second best record in the NBA, only behind by one game.

The Phoenix Suns, who are in ninth place in the Western Conference, went into Oracle Arena, the home of the Golden State Warriors and put up strong numbers in an offensive clinic.  In a game where no defense was played, the Warriors got beat down bad.  During the second half, Stephen Jackson and Coach Don Nelson both got ejected while arguing with the refs.  The victory was needed for the Suns who have been struggling as of late.  The final score ended at 154-130.

The top three scorers for Phoenix were Jason Richardson with 31 points, Shaquille O’Neal with 26 points and Leandro Barbosa with 21 points off the bench.  The team as a whole shot an outstanding 62% from the field.  The Suns record now improves to 36 wins and 31 losses on the season.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who have the best record in the NBA faced off against the Golden State Warriors which proved to be an offensive battle down to the end.  The Warriors were ahead 95% of the game up until the last several minutes into the fourth quarter, where the Lakers ended up getting the stops they needed and glided past them winning at a frantic pace with the final score at 129-121.

The top 3 scorers for the Lakers were Kobe Bryant with 30 points, Pau Gasol with 24 points and Lamar Odom with 22 points.  The bench proved to be key also with Trevor Ariza having 17 points and Josh Powell with 16 points.  The Lakers shot an even 50% as a team and were never worried about taking this win.  They improve their record to 44 wins and 10 losses on the season.