Phil Passes Riles, Lakers Eke Out Win

Amassing his 534th win as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson passed up Showtime’s matinee idol, Pat Riley in most career wins with a 99-97 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats at Staples Center. “It’s been a really good run,” Jackson said. “Having this opportunity to coach this team is always special. The fact that we’ve had some great teams, great players, is always a credit to them. It’s not really an individual record in my mind.” Having just completed an 8-game road trip where the Lakers fared an average 5-3 record, it took all four quarters of this game before Jackson could exhale and enjoy the win. Kobe Bryant (5 points on 2-12, 2 rebounds, 6 assists) had a mere mortal performance failing to score in double figures in what seems like forever. But he got ample offensive assistance from his teammates as Lamar Odom (19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Andrew Bynum (17 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot), Ron Artest (14 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal) and Pau Gasol (14 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots) made up for his subpar scoring.
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Charlotte, as always, gave the Lakers fits throughout the game, never falling more than a handful of points behind. Larry Brown’s Bobcats were playing without All-Star Gerald Wallace (strained left hamstring), but that didn’t seem to matter as they got 30 points from Stephen Jackson (7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals). Nazr Mohammed (23 points, 17 rebounds) commanded the middle and posted a season high in points. But it was not enough as the Lakers managed to squeak out this win by playing defense at the end. With Charlotte trailing 97-94, Jordan Farmar (9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal) deflected an inbounds pass and poked the ball away from Jackson. Pau flipped the ball down court where Farmar scored on a breakaway dunk for a 99-94 lead with 4.5 seconds to play. Flip Murray’s (15 points, 1 assist) three-pointer at the other end from over 30-feet out was impressive but too late as the Lakers simply held onto the ball as the clock expired. Shannon Brown (10 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds) and Derek Fisher (9 points, 2 steals, 1 rebound) rounded out the box scores as the Lakers lost the rebounding battle, 45-38 but made up for that with a 24-15 assist advantage and only committed 7 turnovers.
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Kobe reinjured his left foot seconds before halftime when replays show that LO inadvertently stepped on his foot. Already hobbled by his broken finger, banged-up knee and now a re-injury to his already sore left foot, Kobe left the court and headed to the locker room with the assistance of Trainer Gary Vitti. He was never quite the same in the second half and looked to take his foot off the gas pedal a bit. With his current string of injuries, perhaps it may be best if Kobe took a few games off heading into the All-Star break to simply give his body a chance to heal. Ever the warrior, we all know that that will never happen.