Its starting to appear that every game the Lakers play on National TV is going to be unusual. Tonight was certainly no exception. The 127-99 win was a bizare tale of two halves.
In the first half, the Lakers played about as badly as they have played so far this season. The Nuggets built a 17 point lead in the second quarter causing turnovers, hitting threes, running the fast break, and basically dominating play. It appeared that they might to one-up the Celtic's 45 point victory over the Knicks, from earlier in the evening.
Even the fans got on the Lakers, and the boos started raining down midway through the second. However, stellar play by Kobe, bolstered by contributions from Bynum and Walton, was able to keep the Lakers in the game, and ultimately make it a two point game at the half.
The Lakers came out looking like a completely different team in the second half. They built up a big cushion during the third quarter, which happily reduced Bryant and the rest of the starters to spectators for the entire fourth quarter. That extra rest will prove crucial as the Lakers head to Utah for the second leg of a back-to-back tomorrow night.
The reason the starters got the rest, was due to the performance of the second (and third) unit. The bench came up huge again, a consistent theme in all Laker victories this year, scoring a huge 63 points. Every active Laker that got into the game (all except Mihm who DNP) scored, even Trevor Ariza, who notched his first bucket for the Purple and Gold. Especially effective off the bench were Luke Walton, who earned a start in the second half with the first unit; Jordan Farmar who again provided hustle plays and three point shooting; and our Man of the Match: Sasha Vujacic.
Man of the Match-
Sasha Vujacic. No that is not a typo. Sasha went off for a career high 22 points, nearly eclipsing Kobe's 24 to become the team high scorer. Sasha also had three assists, which is almost more surprising for a player known to have a "Kobe complex", who has to be constantly reminded that he is not, in fact, a superstar. Sasha was also involved in some bizarre plays including being choked by Carmelo Anthony leading to 'Melo's ejection, and had a pricelss quote in his post game interview with Cheryl Miller. Clearly excited in what was possibly his first ever national TV interview, Sasha reminded the viewers at home how important it was that the Lakers held Denver under 100. "The biggest thing for us tonight is that the fans got tacos" he said, apparently completely serious. Personally Sasha, I think the biggest thing is the "W", but to each his own.
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