The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Los Angeles Lakers became the first team in the Western Conference to win fifty games as they won against the Sacramento Kings to end their Northern California roadtrip on a high note. The Lakers bested the Kings 106-99. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers in scoring by putting up 30 markers while Pau Gasol added 28 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers were in the doldrums just a couple of weeks ago when they dropped three straight games but it seems like Phil Jackson has righted the ship and the team is finally in form to defend the NBA Championship.

The Lakers had a scare against the Golden State Warriors when they played at Oakland Monday night. In the 124-121 victory, Los Angeles ended up giving up 24 turnovers. Against the Kings, the Lakers took good care of the ball. They only turned the ball over 9 times throughout the entire game.

The Lakers started strong by piling up 28 points against Sacramento’s 17 in the first quarter. The Kings then surprised the Lakers by scoring 31 points in the second quarter while holding the Lakers to just 21 points. This made the score 49-48 at halftime with the visiting Lakers just barely ahead.

Andrew Bynum also came up big by scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He also had 2 blocks to show as the Lakers’ starting center. Bynum only played 30 minutes for the game. Lamar Odom was a key contributor from the bench. He scored 10 points and hauled down 7 rebounds as well as dished out 3 assists.

The Lakers then took control in the third quarter as they zoomed to a 28-20 advantage to boost the lead to 9 entering the fourth quarter. The Sacramento Kings couldn’t do much in the last quarter and a shoot out ensued. The Kings scored a lot of points but they just couldn’t force stops to catch up with Los Angeles. Rookie of the Year Award favorite Tyreke Evans flirted with a triple double for the third game in a row as he amassed 25 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. Evans struggled from the field as he just shot 7 of 19 from the field. Carl Landry had a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes of play. Omri Casspi played off the bench with 10 points in 18 minutes. Jason Thompson had 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 25 minutes off the bench.

Los Angeles strengthened its grip on the best record in the Western Conference with a record of 50-13. The Lakers also improved their road record to 20-13. The team still has 14 games to play with nine of them on the road. Los Angeles are trying stave off the challenge being posed by the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks who are four games behind the Lakers for the best record in the West.

Sacramento is currently at 23-45. They are at 13^th place in the Western Conference team standings and have already been eliminated from playoff contention for more than a couple of weeks.