The Lakers have now played 4 games without Kobe Bryant, and last night’s game was the first close one out of those 4.  The Warriors tied the game at 89 with 4:37 left.  The Lakers then went out on a 7 point run, effectively putting the Warriors out of reach.  After Ron Artest made a foul shot, the Lakers went inside to Pau Gasol.  In fact, he went on to score the next 6 points.  The Warriors really had no answer (they tried using Ronny Turiaf) to defend Gasol, so the Lakers went to him time and time again:

Lamar Odom pulls down a rebound and brings it up court.  This is a pretty common sight if you are a Lakers’ fan.  Odom is a terrific rebounder, but he also has the ball handling ability to bring the ball up the court as well.

Read more…