Wow. That's all I can say. Going on the road to face the best team in the Western Conference, coming in 0-9 against the Pacific Divison, their division. The Lakers already beat them at Sacramento 5 days before, and now they come to the toughest arena the team will face. It wasn't the veterans who stepped up for the team, it was the young players Beno Udrih, rookie Spencer Hawes, and Francisco Garcia in the clutch and putting up a highlight reel in the 4th. A 4th quarter thriller is an understatement.
By the way, there are some new faces in the rivalry.
Kings: Beno Udrih, rookie Spencer Hawes, Mikki Moore, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright DNP, Anthony Johnson DNP
Lakers: Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza DNP, rookie Coby Karl DNP, D.J. Mbenga DNP
RECAP OF FIRST 3 QUARTERS
It was a seesaw for the first quarter until the Kings had the lead until the 4th quarter. Ron Artest was taking pull up jumpers, and making them. Kobe didn't take long to warm-up like the last game. He made 15-29 of the Laker's first quarter points. In the second quarter, lamar Odom and Pau Gasol stole the show with some dunks, but it was the Kevin Martin show when he scored 10-40 points in the quarter, leading the Kings to a season high 71 first half points, while the Lakers trailed with 60 points.
In the third quarter things started to get rough as Pau Gasol and Brad Miller got into it and were thrown a double technical. Bryant, after all of his complaining, finally got thrown with a technical and leads the league with 13 technical fouls this season. This season he makes Rasheed Wallace seem calmer. Meanwhile, after doing so well, Artest left 16 minutes before the game ended because his sore foot flared up again. Going into the 4th quarter the Kings led 92-89 and the Lakers would get a look at what might be the future of Hawes as the Kings highlight reel began in what could be one of the best 4th quarters in Kings history vs. the Lakers.
4TH QUARTER
Garcia and Hawes started up on fire as Hawes had a slam dunk and dished out 2 impressive assists for Garcia's contested lay-ups for 6 unasnwered points. The Lakers went on a 7-0 run on the faultering to tie the game at 100, including a flop by Sasha Vujacic to get Mikki Moore a technical foul. Hawes and Moore combined for 3 straight slam dunks. After this Phil Jackson called a timeout after letting a rookie drive in and dunk it. King Killer Derek Fisher hit a corner 3 pointer during the dunkfest. After his dunk, Moore hit a jumper and had another dunk, finishing with 14 points. The Kings had 5 clutch dunks in the quarter (Hawes 3, Moore 2), putting up nothing less than a spectacular play.
The game wasn't over yet though. The Lakers would complete their comeback with a Gasol lay-up to put them up 112-113 with 15 seconds left. Usually, this would doom the Kings, being that they're playing the Lakers at the Staples Center. Not this time. Udrih would drive-up to the side of the basket, only to be fouled by a fallen Vujacic. He made both shots with 4.6 seconds left. Coming out of the time out, clutch player and MVP canidate Kobe Bryant would have the ball in his hands.
Guarded by John Salmons, he shook his way to what would be an open shot, until Moore put a hand in his face. Bryant let go with 0.1 (maybe 0.0) left on the clock as the ball looked like it would go in. To see the ball hang in the air after the buzzer sounded, it was a Lakers' dream and a Kings'nightmare. It's what every Laker fan at the arena, watching on TV and listening on the radio wanted to see. A game winner from their supertar against a rivaled team. It hit the rim short.
Suddenly, it was a Lakers' nightmare and a Kings' dream come true. The clock ran out, no more time to play. The Kings won 114-113. Every Kings fan at the arena, the few who were brave enough to come, every fan who watched on the TV or listening on the radio, every guy who bet $20 that the Kings would win, had a big sigh of relief that their team had survived the best team in the Western Conference. Artest was popping his collar with his Kings warm-up jersey, showing the "Kings" logo on it, just how Kobe did it 5 days ago after exploding in ARCO Arena. He actually wanted it to say Sacramento, but I guess he forgot his road jersey was under it. Kobe didn't like Artest's notion, basically call him a copycat, but that was Artest's idea. Revenge. Overall, it was an excellent game.
HIGHLIGHTS
*= Team High
**= Game High
KINGS
Udrih: 25 pts*, 2 reb, 10 ast** (ties career high), stl, game winning free throws
Hawes: 14 pts, 8 reb (4 off.**), 4 blk** (career high), 3ast, stl (bench)
Artest: 17 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl**, blk (did not play 4th qtr, sore foot)
Martin: 21 pts, 4 reb, ast
Moore: 14 pts, 9 reb*, ast, stl, technical foul
Garcia: 15 pts (3-4 3pt FG), ast (bench)
Salmons: 4 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl (bench)
Miller: 2 pts, 6 reb, blk, technical foul
LAKERS
Bryant: 26 pts**, 3 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl, technical foul, (missed last second shot)
Gasol: 25 pts, 7 reb (3 off.), 9 ast*, 2 blk*, stl, technical foul
Odom: 16 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk*
Vuajacic: 15 pts, 2 reb, ast, stl (bench)
Radmonovic: 9 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast
Fisher: 13 pts, 3 ast, reb
Famar: 5 pts, 2 ast, reb
Walton: 4 pts, 4 reb (2 off.), ast
Turiaf: 0 pts, 5 reb (4 off.**) 2 blk*, ast
It was a great game, and in Sacramento, the rivalry lives on. Kobe thinks that it's not there yet, but after the loss, he says that the Kings will be playoff contenders in years to come. If Kobe said that, any Kings fan would take it. After seeing a breakout game from Hawes in a clutch situation, not many would find that hard to believe. Hawes made the game difficult for Gasol. The guy had 4 blocks in the game, including on Gasol. Gacia, Moore, Udrih and Hawes all stepped up in the clutch when Artest wasn't coming back. This team might rebound faster than expected, because if the young players can hold their ground against a veteran, championship contender, the Kings definitely have a bright future ahead of them.
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