Laker News

"He's just an incredible shooter. He's probably the best big shooter in the NBA," Kobe Bryant said of the 6-foot-9 Cook, who is starting in place of the injured Lamar Odom.

Cook shot 10-of-16 including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. As a team, the Lakers shot 14-of-25 from beyond the arc. Cook also had 10 rebounds, a season-high four assists and three blocked shots in 35 minutes, matching his season-high.

"I just go out there and try to play the same every night," said Cook, the Lakers' first-round draft choice in 2003. "I had a lot of open shots and put them in.

"The first two shots made me feel real good, kind of put me on a roll. I was able to stay out of foul trouble, get a little rhythm in there. I've been getting in early foul trouble and that makes it hard to get into a rhythm."

"This game required a lot of people to contribute," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "You've got to make 3-pointers against Miami. If you don't, you're going to be in a vacuum. You've got to be able to pull up and hit some shots."

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Bryant said after the game the injury was "tight," but said he would be ready to play on Friday against Orlando.

"I will let it chill and I should be fine," he said.

The Lakers shot 34 percent (26 of 76) and mustered a season-low 31 points in the second half.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Mutombo was only part of his team's offensive struggles.

"The Rockets played good defense and Mutombo had some big blocks and we couldn't shoot the ball in the second half," Jackson said. "Our passing failed us and we didn't shoot the ball well."

The Lakers lost for only the third time in their last 12 games with the Rockets in Houston.

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Vujacic missed all five shots he attempted Friday night against Denver, dropping his shooting percentage to 37.4 percent, including 31 percent from 3-point range. He shot 6-of-7 against the Mavericks, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.

"Always, always," the 22-year-old Slovenian guard said regarding his confidence level. "My teammates found me for open shots. I just wanted to take the responsibility.

"It feels great. The beginning of the season, I didn't start well. I just want to be more consistent, show the coach he can trust me."

"I'm really happy for Sasha, how well he played tonight," said Kobe Bryant, who scored 14 of his 26 points in the final period and also had eight rebounds and six assists.

"He comes in off the bench and always plays extremely well defensively, even when he's not shooting well," Bryant said. "I'm proud of him. He's taken his lumps here, the fans have been pretty hard on him. He's a tough kid, he doesn't back down, he's not lacking in confidence."

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Yet that's just what Bryant did, feeding Smush Parker for a game-tying layup with 0.1 seconds left and helping the Los Angeles Lakers go on to a 132-128 overtime victory Thursday night.

"We should be able to get layups every time if they double Kobe at halfcourt," Luke Walton said. "Kobe did a great job trusting Smush and Smush made a pretty tough layup."

Bryant overcame a scoreless opening 16 minutes to finish with 42 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to help the Lakers survive after blowing a 21-point lead.

"It's Arco, man. Weird things happen here," Bryant said. "Inevitably, every time we play here we wind up having a great game."

The comeback wouldn't have been possible without the missed free throws by Bibby and Martin. Sacramento set a team record with 58 foul shots, but missed 15 of them.

"It hurts, especially when free-throw shooters like me and Kevin don't come through," Bibby said. "We make those free throws and it's over."

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"I don't want to have to do that," Bryant said of his big scoring night. "It's too tiring."

Bryant spoiled the third-highest point total of his career by committing a foul on Derek Anderson's 3-point attempt with 1:14 left. Anderson hit all three free throws to give Charlotte a 129-124 lead.

Bryant then missed a long jumper and fouled out when Anderson drew a charge on the next possession. Bryant shot 22-of-45 and his performance trailed only his 81-point game last January in Toronto and a 62-point effort last December in Dallas.

"I've been guarding him for 10 years," Anderson said. "I knew he was going to drive and do that."

Bryant disagreed with both foul calls.

"Silly calls," Bryant said. "I saw what (New Jersey Nets guard Jason) Kidd said and I don't want to be $20,000 lighter."

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Jason Kapono had 11 points and Wright added 10 for the Heat, who won for the fourth time in five games.

Ronny Turiaf had 13 points and Luke Walton added 10 for the Lakers.

"I told my coaches at halftime that I thought I would stay in the locker room and watch 'A Christmas Carol' and they could go out and do the rest of this game the way we were playing out there," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I did not feel we were right from the opening tap in this game."

This Christmas meeting lacked the hype of the previous two, where the reunions of teammates-turned-rivals Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal created no shortage of interesting storylines.

But the feud between the two thawed last year, and O'Neal wasn't in this game. The Heat center -- who's appeared in only four games this season -- missed his 21st consecutive contest as he continues to recover from knee surgery.

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A jumper by Carter got the Nets within five, but Evans hit a jumper, Bynum scored a layup and Bryant, who only took 13 shots in a game in which he was content to pass, added four more free throws.

"It's just the way they play," Bryant said of the Nets' defense. "It's one of those teams that is absolutely bent on me not scoring. They throw everything but the kitchen sink. The challenge I have is to make teams see that I can just be as big a threat passing the ball."

The Nets made their comeback on a three-point play by Mikki Moore, two baskets by Jefferson and a 3-pointer by Kidd with 31.6 seconds to go.

Bryant missed a shot on the Lakers' next possession, giving the Nets their last shot.

Los Angeles had a foul to give with 6.3 seconds to go. Carter took the inbounds pass and missed his chance to tie it.

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"It was a challenge for us," Bryant said. "We missed him big-time tonight."

Odom sprained his right knee Tuesday night in a win over Houston. He was ruled out for at least a month after visiting with the team orthopedist in California on Wednesday. Odom had been the team's top rebounder and the next-best scorer after Bryant, and a big reason why Los Angeles had won three straight and six of seven.

"We played a good second half and battled back, but they made a big run at us at the right time," Bryant said. "Without (Odom), we weren't able to match up on Nowitzki."

Bryant led the Lakers in points (33) and assists (four) and tied for the rebound lead (seven). There was a big drop-off after that.

Luke Walton had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers, while Smush Parker and Jordan Farmar each scored 12. Vladimir Radmanovic, who started in Odom's place, had 11.

The Lakers' defense suffered, too. They gave up their most points in 10 games, while watching Dallas shoot a season-high 60 percent (39-of-65). The loss also dropped Los Angeles a half-game behind Phoenix for the lead in the Pacific Division.

"Last night we played most of the game without him and played pretty well. But tonight was different," Walton said. "They made big plays and we made boneheaded plays. You can't do that against a good team like Dallas. Tonight our defense got away from us. We've got to learn from this and let it go."

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"I think that's the best defensive quarter I've played in as a Laker," said Odom, in his third season with the team. "It was just effort, energy, rotating, talking. We got our hands on so many passes. That was the difference tonight."

Odom had 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and Luke Walton added 17 points for the Lakers (14-6), who snapped San Antonio's four-game winning streak and handed the Spurs just their third loss in 11 road games this season.

The Lakers trailed by five points before outscoring the Spurs 24-6 in the last five minutes of the third period for an 83-70 lead, and they were on top the rest of the way. Odom scored nine points and Bryant and Walton added five each during the spurt.

"We had an inspirational third quarter that carried us," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "There are some things we learned tonight that I think as a team helped us grow up a little bit."

Jackson wouldn't identify what those things were.

"I thought the Lakers' pressure was great in the second half and we folded under that pressure -- absolutely folded. End of story," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

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"It's just a credit to our team and how deep we are," said Maurice Evans, who started at shooting guard in Bryant's place and scored a career-high 22 points in 40 minutes. "We have a lot of experienced players on our bench."

The Lakers decided about 20 minutes before tipoff that Bryant wouldn't play because of a sprained right ankle, but did not make a formal announcement. Evans made his 14th start in three-plus NBA seasons and second with the Lakers -- his fourth team in four years.

"Luke and I talked about how important it was for us to win this game in any way possible," said Evans, who also played one season each with Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit.

"It'll be day-to-day," Bryant said after the game. "The key is just making sure the pain is gone. The last game I tried to compensate for it, but it just got worse to the point where I couldn't run without limping.

"It felt a little better today. But the fear was that if I played and it got worse again, that's something we didn't want to risk -- especially since we've got San Antonio Sunday and then go on the road. So we just decided to err on the side of caution."

"It's a huge step for us when guys step up and contribute," Bryant said. "Luke's been playing consistently all season long, and Mo (Evans) had a big game tonight. He's kind of been figuring his way through the offense. So for him to step up and have a game like that was really big."

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