Lakers road woes continue
By Homer D. Sayson
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Like most elite teams in the NBA, the LA Lakers are nearly invincible at home with a 17-2 won-lost slate at the Staples Center.
Away from home, however, the Lakers are so vulnerable, you'd think Kobe Bryant doesn't play outside Los Angeles.
Well, he does. But for some peculiar reason, Kobe and his teammates just don't have the same spunk at Staples than they do on the road, where their record stands at a dismal 6-13.
The road struggles continued Tuesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan where the Lakers fell to the woeful 13-26 Detroit Pistons in overtime, 88-85.
After three consecutive games of 30-plus points performances, Kobe fell flat with a 22-point effort. The Masked Mamba shot just 8-of-26 field goals and 2-of-9 threes. He also had 3 turnovers to go with his 7 assists and 5 rebounds.
The Lakers as a whole were equally miserable. They missed 47 of 81 total field goals and bricked 19 of 22 from 3-point range. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol acquitted themselves well, combining for 50 points and 24 rebounds, but everything else left a lot to be desired.
"Nothing went well, and we paid for it with a loss," a dejected Lakers coach Mike Brown told ESPN.com. "I was very disappointed with our team defense. All they did was drive the ball everytime and they got layup after layup after layup."
And that explained why Rodney Stuckey had 34 points on 13 of 20 shooting. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard kept charging to the hole to create high percentage shots and head to the free throw line where he went 7-fot-7.
The Pistons shot just 37-of-93 from the field (39.8 percent) but they had a more balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures. Ex-Bull Ben Gordon finished with 15 while Tayshaun Prince, Jason Maxiell and Jonas Jerebko had 10 apiece.
The Lakers road trip continues with a stop in Washington on Wednesday and Friday in Minnesota.
SHOCKER OF THE NIGHT. The Charlotte Bobcats, the worst team in the NBA with a 5-31 record pulled a huge upset Tuesday night when they tripped the Orlando Magic, 100-84, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The surprising defeat, which saw the Bobcats erase a 20-point deficit, did not sit well with Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.
"Our guys are satisfied that we came in with the third-best record in the East and fifth-best record in the league. They're satisfied with that. I don't think there's any push to be better or any push to be great. If there us, it doesn't show up in games," Van Gundy told reporters after the game.
Corey Magette led Charlotte with 29 points and 7 rebounds in just under 30 minutes of play. The former Clipper sank 9-of-17 field goals and made 10 of 11 free throws. Gerald Henderson chipped in 16 while Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker had 10 each for the Bobcats.
Dwight Howard led Orlado with 15 points and 17 rebounds, but that didn't do much for a Magic team that made only 31 of 80 filed goals and 13 of 35 treys.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Homer D. Sayson.
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