<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers had no problem scoring. Defense was another question. Mike Bibby scored 10 of his 33 points in the final 4:04 Friday night and Kevin Martin added 20, leading the Sacramento Kings to a 116-108 victory over Los Angeles, which shot 52.5 percent from the field, but committed 19 turnovers. It was the first time the Lakers shot at least 50 percent and lost (13-1). "It was just a bad defensive performance in the first half, giving up that many points," said Kobe Bryant, who had 30 points and 10 assists for the Lakers. "We allowed them to set the tone by coming out and getting off to a 10-0 start. It's tough to get off to that kind of start. And when you combine that with the fact that we had only four free throws in the first half, that's not a good combination." Ron Artest, playing with the word "Kings" shaved into the back of his head, added 19 points and six assists in his return to Sacramento's lineup after sitting out Wednesday's 135-120 victory against Charlotte with a sore left knee. "We played hard all the way through, and you can't ask for any more," Bibby said. The wire-to-wire victory, coupled with Golden State's loss at New York, pulled Sacramento out of last place in the Pacific Division and ended the Lakers' three-game winning streak. It was the fourth time this season that the Lakers lost without ever leading. The other times came in games against Dallas, Miami and Detroit. "They took it to us from the start," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. The loss was the Lakers' 10th at home and seventh in 10 games overall. "I am frustrated that we can't play defense as a team," said Lamar Odom, who had 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. "We have the athletic ability and the height. We should be a much better team." Kwame Brown returned to the Los Angeles lineup, playing 20 minutes off the bench with no points and three rebounds after missing 27 games because of a severely sprained right ankle. But Luke Walton's sprained right ankle prevented him from joining Brown on the active roster, and reserve swingman Maurice Evans remained on the bench because of a sore right knee. Sacramento outscored Los Angeles 14-4 during a 3:34 stretch of the third quarter with 3-pointers from Martin and Bibby, increasing an 11-point lead to 83-62 with 5:27 left in the period. Bryant spent the first 4:33 of the fourth quarter on the bench, while his teammates narrowed the gap to 94-83 on Sasha Vujacic's fast-break layup with 9:43 to play. But the Kings extended their margin to 101-85 by the time Bryant returned to the floor with 7:27 remaining, and the Lakers got no closer than the final margin. "I thought the pace of the game was the pace we wanted, and we were really unselfish at moving the basketball," Sacramento coach Eric Musselman said. "Defensively, it was one of our most unselfish games, as far as giving help from the weak side. We weren't concerned with who we were guarding. We were just concerned with trying to get as many stops as we could." Sacramento led 65-48 at halftime, thanks to a disparity at the free throw line. The Kings were 19-for-24, while the Lakers were 4-for-4. Odom and Brian Cook got into foul trouble in the second quarter, each picking up their third and forcing Jackson to give Aaron McKie and Shammond Williams more minutes. McKie, playing in only his fifth game of an injury-plagued season, capped a 6-for-6 first half by hitting a 19-footer with 6.5 seconds left in the second quarter. But Bibby responded with a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds on the clock.</div> Source Box score Oh crap.
Kings were just on fire last night from the start. They hit their first 4 shots, including two three pointers and jumped out to a 10-0 lead. The defense did have breakdowns, but what hurt the Lakers the most last night were turnovers (19), and missing easy shots around the rim. Odom missed several shots close in, including the play when he tweaked his left shoulder. I don't understand why he goes with finesse around the basket, instead of elevating and throwing it down on the defenders. He's 6'10 with the wingspan of a 7 footer, but tries to bank or scoop it in. The Lakers need their big men to finish with power dunks and hopefully pick up the and1 opportunity. Odom needs to be aggressive on his finished in the mold of a Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire.
If the Lakers didn't go in expecting a win, the game would have been much closer. Although, I was pleased with Odom's leadership in the 4th when Kobe was resting, although he couldn't complete the 3-pt plays it was still aggressive.
