<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Kevin Garnett scored a season-high 30 points, Wally Szczerbiak added 25 and the Minnesota Timberwolves won their fifth straight game Saturday night, 95-82 over Los Angeles to stop the Lakers' winning streak at four. Marko Jaric had 12 points and a season-best nine assists for the Timberwolves, who never trailed and have already beaten the Lakers three times this season. Trenton Hassell scored 13 points and played tight defense on Kobe Bryant, who surpassed his average with 35 points and shot 11-for-20 from the floor but never sustained any dominance -- save for an eye-popping, up-and-under reverse layup that brought the Lakers to 84-77 with 3 1/2 minutes left. Lamar Odom added 16 points and Chris Mihm had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, which made the fourth stop on a six-game road trip and fell back to the .500 mark at 10-10. Garnett made sure of that down the stretch. He sandwiched jumpers around a missed 3-pointer by Bryant to lift Minnesota to a 91-77 lead with 1:29 remaining. Then Garnett fed Hassell and Szczerbiak, who had 14 points in the second half, for consecutive dunks in the final minute. Down by as many as 17 points, the Lakers climbed back with an 11-2 run to close the first half and came within four, 58-54, on a 3-pointer by Bryant. Mihm had 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, mostly against Michael Olowokandi. little later Szczerbiak, who scored 34 points in the last meeting against Los Angeles, sparked his squad and the crowd with an off-balance layup that drew a foul on Mihm and a subsequent free throw to make it 66-56. Szczerbiak landed on his back and pumped both fists after hearing the cheers. The Timberwolves have already won four times this season when they've trailed by 10 points or more, twice against the Lakers in games on Nov. 9 and Dec. 2. Last week in Los Angeles, Minnesota launched the winning streak by rallying from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to win 113-108 after scoring 39 points in the fourth. </div> Source Lakers were never really in this game. The team came out flat and the defense was horrendous tonight. The TWolves scored on so many second chance opportunities, most created by Eddie Griffin. The Lakers ball movement was slowed down again by the TWolves zone defense and Lamar Odom got schooled by Wally Szczerbiak for the second time this year. Smush Parker got skunked again by the TWolves, going 0-7 from the field and letting some tough calls frustrate him and get him off his game. It doesn't get any easier for the Lakers on the last two games of the road trip. The next game is against the Mavericks, and they end their trip in Memphis. I'm hoping for a split in the next two games.
I was hoping Kwame would come out strong after Phil Jax's comments, but he's just proving to be a disappointment
Kobe actually had a good shooting game but 7 TO's. And Smush had no points. Didn't even notice Kwame was in the box score. But it's practically like he wasn't either. They win by 13 last night and lose by that same margin tonight. Nooo
Don't be too down on our team. For all the stars and talent on the Miami Heat, they're still on the same level as our Lakers at this point in the season. Playing 0.500 ball, 10-10. My Christmas wish is for the Lakers were to finish better than Shaq's team. IF that happens, I'll swear that there is a Santa Claus.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Don't be too down on our team. For all the stars and talent on the Miami Heat, they're still on the same level as our Lakers at this point in the season. Playing 0.500 ball, 10-10. My Christmas wish is for the Lakers were to finish better than Shaq's team. IF that happens, I'll swear that there is a Santa Claus</div> VERY good point- While the heat are without shaq they have a comparable player to Kobe in Dwayne Wade, an all-star caliber point gaurd entering his prime, a perrenial All star Center Mourning,, and a former all star PF in Walker...yet they have the same record---in the east. What bothers me is why is Dwane Wade getting more love than the ice cream man, when his team is the same as Kobes- and Kobe is still getting s.h.i.t.- someone please tell me that
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ilive4ball:</div><div class="quote_post">VERY good point- While the heat are without shaq they have a comparable player to Kobe in Dwayne Wade, an all-star caliber point gaurd entering his prime, a perrenial All star Center Mourning,, and a former all star PF in Walker...yet they have the same record---in the east. What bothers me is why is Dwane Wade getting more love than the ice cream man, when his team is the same as Kobes- and Kobe is still getting s.h.i.t.- someone please tell me that</div> Kobe + Lakers = haterade This is common sense man
