But Minnesota, which lost for the 26th time in its last 28 games, showed a spark in the second half, battling back to pull within four points with five minutes to play.
“Our starters didn’t come out with the right attitude in the second half. They tried to do it individually instead of working together,” said Jackson, whose team has posted the West’s best record for three straight seasons. “It got us in dutch.”
-Basically, the Lakers are the Harlem Globetrotters and the Wolves are the Washington Generals.
Center Pau Gasol took over for Bryant and his 27.1 scoring average with a game-high 29 points and 15 rebounds. Gasol got help inside from forward Lamar Odom, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Gasol and Odom accounted for 11 of the Lakers’ 17 offensive rebounds, which proved to be a critical factor for the Lakers in Bryant’s absence. One of Odom’s four offensive boards came with 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter, when the Wolves (15-64) were down by only six.
Odom rebounded Gasol’s missed jumper. Sixteen seconds later, Jordan Farmar fed Odom for a three-pointer that pushed the Lakers’ lead to nine and sent a lot of disappointed Kobe followers to the exits. Most fans, many dressed in Lakers purple and gold, stayed around to the end.
Phil Jackson is the most awesomest coach ever. From Jerry Zgoda:
When asked why he told fans in the hotel that Bryant was out but wouldn’t initially tell reporters, Jackson said: “Those people are important. Those people matter.”
The Wolves announced a crowd of 20,200, which goes down as the season’s largest, but there were numerous empty seats. And many of the fans came wearing Lakers gear, including No. 24 jerseys.
Jackson was refreshingly honest when asked if he thought the Wolves can expect to sign a significant free agent with all that salary-cap money they have cleared.
“No, I don’t,” he said. “You have to have a team that competes, first of all. I should leave New Jersey out of it because I think New Jersey will have a bit of a bump [because of new ownership and a proposed new arena in Brooklyn, N.Y.]. Minnesota is a team that’s going to struggle to find a free agent. They’ve got to find one that fits in with what they do.”
-Lol! The stuff that Phil Jackson says is just hilarious. I love how he’s always ripping on the reporters. When asked if the Wolves have any chance of signing a free agent, every other coach in the league besides Phil would have made up some crap about how we’re young and improving and free agents would want to be on this team yada yada yada. Phil’s keeping it real. We can only hope that someday Rambis becomes the next Zen Master.
Wolves making a D-League call up?
The Skyforce have fared better at sending players up to the NBA – such as Reggie Williams, an emerging force for Golden State Warriors, and Alexander Johnson.
Stiemsma could join that list after huddling up after Friday’s game with Jerry Sichting, the Timberwolves’ director of pro personnel.
The Wolves are expected to fly Stiemsma up to Minneapolis for a tryout but still have him back for Sunday’s do-or-die Game 3 at the Arena.