Lakers Prevail Over Kings in Two OTs

It took uncharacteristically longer than expected, but the Los Angeles Lakers finally prevailed over the Sacramento Kings in double overtime at Arco Arena, 112-103. Not quite living up to their championship standards the day before in their nationally televised showdown against Lebron James and the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lakers found themselves in a dogfight with their “rivals” to the north. The Lakers were without the services of Ron Artest, who tripped down a flight of stairs while carrying a box in his home the previous night. Artest suffered injuries to the back of his head and elbow which required several sutures to close the wound. Artest did not travel with the team to Sacramento and his injury was labeled as a mild concussion. He is expected to rejoin the team in Phoenix on Monday. Arco Arena was unusually loud and raucous with their second sellout of the season, reminiscent of earlier times when the Kings featured stars such as Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac, Hedo Turkoglu, Doug Christie and Peja Stojakovich.

But today it was Tyreke Evans (18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists), Beno Udrih (23 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and Donte Green (16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) that led the young and inexperienced Kings against the veteran and tested Lakers. Kobe Bryant (38 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals) capped the night with a pair of three-pointers in the second overtime to seal the victory. But it took some luck for the Lakers to even be there in the end. Pau Gasol’s (24 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 3 assists) two missed free throws late in regulation could have given the Lakers the win, but instead it allowed the Kings to complete an 8-2 run in the final four minutes of play to force overtime. The Kings quickly jumped in front 101-94 in the first overtime behind the 3-point play of Omri Casspi (15 points, 10 rebounds). But the Kings went scoreless the rest of the overtime session and the Lakers responded with 7 unanswered points of their own to knot the score at 101-101 to force the second overtime. Gasol’s tip-in basket to tie the score with 0.04 seconds left made up for his missed free throws in regulation.

A Lamar Odom (13 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots) bucket in the paint followed by the first of Kobe’s three-pointers gave the Lakers a 106-101 lead in the second overtime period. Evans scored on a driving layup but Kobe got loose for his second trey for 109-103 advantage with 2:40 left on the clock. Miscues by the Kings and the absence of leading scorer, Kevin Martin, found the Kings squandering away possessions as the Lakers were able to hang on for the road victory and improve their record to 24-5. Derek Fisher (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and Shannon Brown (15 points, 7 rebounds) offset another poor shooting performance from Andrew Bynum (3 points on 1-9, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocked shots). The Lakers swatted away 11 shots, shot 43.9% from the field and 8-19 for 42% from behind the arc, and out-rebounded the Kings, 55-48.