Celtics Barely Escape Kobe-less Lakers

Lakers lose by one, 87-86. They had several chances to take the lead in the last two minutes of the game but came up empty. Pau Gasol had 22 points for the Lakers in the loss.

The Lakers are off until next Tuesday when they begin a short two game trip in Memphis, followed by a stop in Dallas. Hopefully the extra off days between games will be plenty for Kobe to get back into a game. Lakers are 4-1 now without him, 42-14 overall.

No Kobe, No Problem!

The Lakers are 4-0 with Kobe sitting out the past four games due to a bad ankle. One had to wonder if the Lakers would go into a panic mode not knowing how long Kobe would be out and make a trade before today's deadline, but it came and went and the Lakers stood pat.

The Lakers were tied to several trade rumors, including one that would have netted them Chicago's Kirk Hinrich. The sticking point to that potential deal, and frankly, any deal, was their inability to find a taker for Sasha Vujacic. The Lakers have grown more and more weary of Sasha's inconsistencies in recent weeks and started shopping him several weeks ago. But the Lakers were not looking to add any more payroll, so in order to take on the remaining two years, $17MM of Hinrich's contract, it had to be offset with a similar contract going the other way, and that contract was Vujacic. So the beat goes on. Hinrich is still in Chicago, and Vujacic in L.A.

The Lakers have beaten Portland, Utah and Golden State on the road, three teams that give the Lakers trouble in their buildings, and San Antonio at home without Kobe. Andrew Bynum missed the first three of those games, but Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol have stepped up nicely in all four games, and Bynum had a solid game on Tuesday in Golden State while playing in pain. Shannon Brown has played well in Kobe's absence, as well.

So the Lakers forward with the same team they've had all season as they host the Celtics tonight at Staples. And once again, Kobe will not play. There's no telling when he'll play, but if the rest of the team continues to step and play with the sense of urgency they've had over the past four games, they have a legit chance tonight. And it will give Kobe even more time for his ankle to heal.

Bynum's Injury

It's a hip contusion he suffered in the first half. No word on how serious the injury is or whether he'll play Monday.

Kobe Sits, but Lakers Win Anyway

The Lakers looked dreadful last night in the second half, losing big at home to Denver, 126-113, Kobe scored 33 points on a bum ankle after re-aggravating it in their win Wednesday night against Charlotte.

But after last night's game, the Laker's finally decided today that Kobe needed a rest, so he was given a night off tonight in Portland. Well, benching Kobe against a team they usually don't play well against in their building didn't seem like the right thing to do, and the odds were certainly stacked against the Lakers for a win, but lo and behold, they buckled down, and others stepped up in Kobe's absence, and the Lakers took care of business at the Rose Garden tonight, winning 99-82.

Lamar Odom, starting in Kobe's place, scored just 10 points but grabbed a whopping 22 boards. Ron Artest led the Lakers with 21 points and Shannon Brown added 19 off the bench.

I didn't get to see any of the game here, and there is no recap posted on the ol' www yet, so I am curious as to why Andrew Bynum only played 9½ minutes tonight.

Regardless, this was a much needed "team" victory. Hopefully they can use this win without Kobe as motivation because they'll need all the help they can get if Kobe doesn't play Monday when they host the Spurs.

More Laker History

This time, with the 99-97 win tonight against Charlotte, Phil Jackson became the winningest coach in Laker history, passing Pat Riley with his 534th career win as a Laker.

The Passing

Here's the video of Kobe passing Jerry West as the Lakers all-time leading scorer...

And Then They Lose...

95-93 in Memphis. Clearly they were exhausted from playing the day before in Boston, but the Lakers notoriously don't play well in Memphis anyway. Kobe finished his record-setting night tying a season-high with 44 points.

They finish the road trip 5-3, and head back to L.A. with a 37-12 mark, and host Charlotte for a rare Wednesday night game at Staples.

Kobe is King Laker

He needed 29 points to pass Jerry West as the team's all-time leading scorer and he's got 34 with about six and a half minutes left in the game in Memphis.

Congrats, Kobe!

533 and 2

So you might be wondering what the two numbers mean. Well, the first one is pretty simple. Phil Jackson tied Pat Riley yesterday with 533 wins on the all-time Lakers win list for coaches in the Lakers 90-89 win at Boston. And Kobe was it again with yet another game-winner.

The number two might be a bit more difficult to decipher without a Laker "Number Translator."

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Pau Gasol trade to the Lakers. In the process, they unloaded some dead weight on the team, most notably Kwame Brown, Marc Gasol, his little brother, and Javaris Crittenton, who was recently suspended for the remainder of the season by the NBA for taking part in the Dirty Harry weapon-draw incident with teammate Gilbert Arenas last month.

But it's become pretty obvious how valuable Gasol has become to the Lakers over the last two years. The Lakers have been in the last two Finals since the trade. And here's some irony for you:

On the two-year anniversary of the trade, the Lakers continue their eight-game road trip tonight in of all places, Memphis, where Gasol came to the Lakers from. So you can imagine that even as Gasol has become a mainstay and fan-favorite in L.A., and he has grown to love it there, he will have some mixed emotions as he takes the floor tonight to take on his old team.