Pau Gasol doesn't expect to make his season debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. That's definitely good news for his former team as it tries to slow down Kobe Bryant.

It's unlikely Gasol will play against the Memphis Grizzlies, who have lost three straight as they get ready to visit Bryant and the Lakers.

Gasol has yet to see action due to a right hamstring injury, although it seems he is close to coming back. He averaged 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in last season's four-game sweep of Memphis (1-4), where he played his first six-plus seasons.

Coach Phil Jackson expects the 7-footer to practice this weekend and possibly play even though Gasol believes he is not ready yet.

"We'll have a limited practice as it is, with back-to-back games," Jackson said. "There won't be a whole lot of activity, but he should be out there."

Los Angeles (4-1) has been forced to rely even more on Bryant in Gasol's absence and the NBA's leading scorer has delivered. Bryant has sandwiched 41-point games around a 31-point effort, and has helped deliver back-to-back overtime wins on the road.

Bryant scored the Lakers' final four points, including the go-ahead jumper, in a 101-98 win at Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Los Angeles was forced to go past regulation again Wednesday as Bryant scored six points in overtime of a 103-102 win over Houston.

"Experience was the key," forward Lamar Odom said. "We toughed it out at the end. Kobe took over the game and really helped us spread the court."

The Lakers may have suffered a blow when center Andrew Bynum sprained his elbow late in Wednesday's game. His status is uncertain for Friday.

"The elbow (stinks)," Bynum said. "I can hardly lift it up. We'll take pictures and we will see what they say. They took a whack at me and that was that."

Pau Gasol's brother, Marc, has played well in his second season for Memphis, averaging 17.6 points on 60.4 percent shooting and 12.6 rebounds. But he and the rest of the Grizzlies have been overshadowed by Allen Iverson's complaints about his reserve role.

Iverson was not happy about seeing 18 minutes off the bench in his Memphis debut Monday in an overtime loss at Sacramento. He scored 18 points in 27 minutes Wednesday in a 113-105 loss at Golden State.

Memphis, 0-3 on a five-game road trip, is allowing a league-high 115.2 points per game.

"Not a lot of players like to play defense (but) winning teams play defense," Iverson said. "Some nights you're not going to be able to throw a rock in the ocean but if you still play defense you give yourself a chance to win."

Iverson is likely not seeing major minutes at shooting guard because Memphis is building around leading scorer O.J. Mayo, who is averaging 20.6 points after leading all rookies with an 18.5 average in 2008-09.

The Grizzlies lost their first 13 road games against the Lakers before winning five of the last nine.

http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=291106013

well... count on Kobe taking 30 shots tomorrow night lol.. atleast the scoring average is up.. leading the league in steals and points.

^ Uh.... I think its a little too late for that.

no Bynum and no Pau... lets hope we can win this game with help from the bench

Kobe vs. A.I. - All-Time Scoring Battle

In 1996, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Allen Iverson, a sophomore at Georgetown, with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Twelve picks later, the Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe Bryant on behalf of Jerry West and the Lakers.

As NBA Commissioner David Stern read those two names, two of the league's greatest scorers - ever - were about to begin splashing nets.

Thirteen years later, both Iverson and Bryant continue their assault up the NBA's all-time scoring list, with only 14 players in the history of the league having racked up more buckets.

Bryant will lead his defending champion Lakers against Iverson and his new team, the Memphis Grizzlies, on Friday night at STAPLES Center, but not before we take a closer look at these two pantheon scorers:

Iverson Opens Assault Early
As a rookie, A.I. began his onslaught immediately, averaging 23.5 points per game while channeling a lightning bolt on the hardwood. He tapered off just a bit in year two at 22.0 per evening, but then scored at least 26 points a game until the 2006-07 season, going for 31.2 per game in Philly before being traded to Denver (where he averaged 24.8 points). He rebounded to average 26.4 points for Denver in 2007-08, but dipped all the way to 17.4 points a game in Detroit in 2008-09 as his minutes and effectiveness declined. Still, A.I. had put up five seasons of 30-plus points, led by his 33.0 output in 2005-06. Not too shabby.

Bryant Builds Steadily
Just 17 when he signed with a team that would revolve around Shaquille O'Neal in the post, Bryant's bucket-making career opened with much less scoring gusto than Iverson, as he posted 7.6 points per game as a rookie playing 15.5 minutes per night before doubling his output to 15.4 points in 26 minutes the next season. Then in 1998-99, Bryant began playing big minutes (37), hitting the 22.5 per game mark that season and never dipping below 24 over his next 11 seasons, including three seasons of at least 30 points a night highlighted by his 35.4 per night burst in 2005-06.

Just 26 To Tie
Iverson's early-career advantage over Bryant eroded steadily last season, as "The Answer" struggled to score 995 points just as Bryant played all 82 games and posted 2,201 points. Furthermore, a red-hot scoring start to the 2009-10 season for Kobe - he has hit the 40-point plateau twice in five games, the 97th and 98th time he's done that - has allowed him to almost catch Iverson.

In fact, with 31 points on November 3rd against the Thunder and 41 on the 4th in Houston, Bryant (23,986) moved within 26 points of A.I. (24,012) for 16th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Bryant had climbed to 17th on the list with his first two free throws on April 10th at Portland last season, passing Charles Barkley (23,757). Last season, Bryant also passed Robert Parish (23,334), Adrian Dantley, Elgin Baylor (23,149), Clyde Drexler (22,195), Gary Payton (21,813) and Larry Bird (21,791). Next on the NBA’s all-time list ahead of Bryant and Iverson are Patrick Ewing (24,815) and West (25,192).

Traditionally, this would be the sort of thing Bryant cares little to nothing about. After all, he seems to measure his worth in championships, not scoring titles.

Yet for fans of basketball, watching two of the world's greatest all-time scorers match up once again on Friday night at STAPLES Center will be a treat, whether Bryant passes his draft class mate on the charts or not.

Link: http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/091106ko ... attle.html

LO, Lakers Take on Memphis

Lamar Odom and the Los Angeles Lakers will be gunning for their fourth straight victory tonight when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center.

Last season the Lakers had ten separate streaks of four wins in a row. They also won all four games against Memphis in 08-09.

LO will be starting again, his sixth straight nod to kick off the season.

Lamar has started off this season on a roll (Getty Images).

According to the Los Angeles Times, though, it’s still unclear where exactly Lamar will be lining up:

“DJ Mbenga might start at center. Or if the Lakers go with a small lineup, Lamar Odom might get the call in the middle, with Josh Powell moving into the starting lineup at forward.

“Whatever it takes,’ Odom said. “We’ll probably play our small lineup, but we got guys who can come out there and help. Josh is prepared, and D.J. as well. We just go out and play our same game … everybody will step up. We’re used to it.”

No. 7 had success against the Grizzlies last season, averaging 8.8 points in the Lakers’ four wins. He added 4.3 assists and 7.5 rebounds in the series, including a monster game in which he grabbed 13 rebounds, 11 coming on the defensive glass.

TOUGH TASK
With Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol both expected to miss tonight’s game, the task of guarding the Grizzlies’ duo of Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother) and Zach Randolph will fall to LO. The pair has been off to a great start, Gasol is averging 17.6 points and 12.6 rebounds while Randolph is averaging 20.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Lakers’ head coach Phil Jackson told NBA.com that he isn’t worried about his team being stretched thin due to injury.

“We just have to patch it up and play as well as we can,” said Jackson. “We’ve been shorthanded really since Pau got injured a couple of weeks ago and it’s stretched our team a little bit, but we have guys that can play.”

BENCH MOB SUFFERING
One of the Lakers’ strongest assets last season, their self-dubbed “Bench Mob” has been struggling to start out this year.

The Los Angeles Times points to Lamar’s place in the starting lineup as part of the problem. With the Package starting, the bench has a lot less depth.

“Define deep as having a reliable and lengthy bench and it’s tougher for the Lakers to compete, at least as it stands this morning. No question, once Lamar Odom, as impactful a sixth man as any in the league, resumes that role it’ll solve a lot of problems. We saw last year how much his presence helps elevate the rest of the reserves, and behind him among the forward/centers, the red-hot Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga are more than adequate given their spots in the rotation.”

COMEDY CHOPS
Lamar Odom and wife Khloe Kardashian will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight on ABC at 12:06 PST

WEEK IN REVIEW
LO had a spectacular week as the Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday and the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Lamar averaged 12.7 points during the three game stretch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOThe Package turns 30 today, so send some birthday wishes to No. 7 at twitter.com/RealLamarOdom.

NEXT UP
No. 7 and the Lakers take on the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at 7:30 PST at the Staples Center. All the action can be seen live on FS West.

Link: http://www.athletenewswire.com/news/www ... 2009/11/06

Artest is such a good passer...i never knew he could pass like that.

sense when Mike Conley know to shot like that??? and where is Shannon today?

Same thing im wondering, he would be thrive in this uptempo way the game is going