The key issue on who will be playing the minutes at the center position for the Lakers. Andrew Bynum may miss his second consecutive game after missing the first 24 games of the season following surgery. His left knee has a bone bruise in it now, and it is unclear on whether he will be able to play, and if so, how effective can he be? Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol are ready to step up and take his place if any issues arise.
The Lakers are looking to avenge a loss handed to them by the Spurs Dec. 28 by a score of 97-82.
UPDATE:
The Lakers have fallen to the Spurs by a final score of 89-88. Antonio McDyess put in Tim Duncan's missed shot as time expired. This absolutely put a halt to the Lakers who couldn't pull out the second half rally. This was after the Spurs had 4 shots in the last 22 seconds because the Lakers couldn't get the defensive rebounds. Pau Gasol fumbled a rebound (what else is new?) and Ron Artest fumbled one out of bounds as well. Tony Parker had 21 points while Richard Jefferson had 18.
Lamar Odom was a great surprise with 16 points in the game while the injury prone Andrew Bynum played roughly 30 minutes and had 10 points and 10 rebounds while adding 6 assists.
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| (McDyess' tip in as time expires to win the game) |
Despite the Spurs' steady success and the Lakers' recent struggles, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich claimed before the game that Los Angeles is the best team in the West. Popovich credits the Spurs' superior record to the fewest injuries for any contending team.
The Lakers struggled, going only 2 of 14 from 3-point range. The team shot horribly overall though. Kobe Bryant shot 5-18, Derek Fisher was 1-5 in FG, Steve Blake was 2-8, and Shannon Brown was 3-10. Hopefully the team will rally behind this tough loss and start hitting their open shots. Just think that even though they shot so poorly, they still only lost by 1 point.
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