The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a tough win and still trying to put all the pieces together to compete in the tough Western Conference.
Check out the latest buzz below.
Bryant Talks Chemistry With Lin, Young Wants Ball More
Kobe Bryant discussed his chemistry with starting point guard Jeremy Lin after the overtime loss on Sunday, saying everything is goign pretty well.
“He and I are playing two-man action a lot and trying to take advantage of the defense that way,” Kobe told Lakers Nation.
“Although Kobe and Lin are still figuring out each other’s style, the two are starting to develop nice chemistry on the court. Earlier this season that bond did not seem to be there, but as the season progresses the two are beginning to get on the same page. In order for the Lakers to advance as team and possibly make a push for the postseason, the team will need to have their starting backcourt in sync,” the blog noted.
Nick Young’s return helped the Lakers get two wins but Young wants to be more involved, particularly at the end of games.
Young said that he’s “got to demand getting the ball more himself toward the end,” Serena Winters of Lakers Nation said.
Lin discussed Kobe’s role at the end of the game, calling it a “tough” issue.
“He’s a tough shot taker and a tough shot maker and he’s a superstar and sometimes you’ve got to give him that freedom to go and be who he is and do what he does and sometimes you’ve got to find a way to keep the flow,” Lin said.
“It’s a balance and I think we’re a lot closer towards that balance than we were maybe in the beginning.”
Henry Injures Achilles in Practice
Lakers guard Xavier Henry has injured his left Achilles tendon in practice.
The Lakers announced Henry’s injury Monday, and the team believes the tendon is torn.
Henry underwent an MRI exam to confirm the tear and sources later told Yahoo that he'll be out for the rest of the year.
Henry has played in nine games for the Lakers this season, his second with the club. He struggled with an injury to his surgically repaired knee throughout the preseason, undergoing treatment in Germany to speed his recovery.
Henry was limited to 43 games with Los Angeles last year after injuring his knee in December. He also had surgery on his left wrist during the offseason.
The Lakers already had lost two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash and first-round pick Julius Randle to season-ending injuries. Carlos Boozer missed Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury.
Ed Davis (ankle) is listed as probably for Wednesday’s game while Carlos Boozer (shoulder) is listed as questionable.
Smith May Get Called Up
Roscoe Smith, who is playing for the D-League’s Fenders, may be called up to the Lakers.
Shams Charania of RealGM reported recently that the Lakers were set to bring Smith in for a workout.
Smith is a lengthy and athletic swingman who stands 6'8". He played at the University of Connecticut for two seasons but his one year at UNLV was his best. He averaged 11.1 points and 10.9 rebounds.
The Lakers are thin at the forward position with the injuries to Randle and Henry, and Ryan Kelly.
Smith impressed the Lakers during the preseason, earning praise from general manager Mitch Kupchak.
“He like Roscoe. He’s lively. He’s a good rebounder and he runs the floor well. He’s picked it up in the last two weeks,” Kupchak told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Then again, David Pick of Eurobasket says that despite the slew of workouts the Lakers have been holding--they’ve brought in about half-a-dozen players recently--the team isn’t planning any immediate moves.
Loyalty to Nash May Pay Off
The Nash situation in Los Angeles has irked fans, but could make them happy later.
The Lakers have been loyal to Nash, sticking by him despite his injuries, and that could pay off down the line.
“Lakers president Jeanie Buss believes in positive energy and karmic turns, and maybe, just maybe, the franchise will reap some reward down the line for the respect being accorded Nash, one of the game’s all-time greats,” reported Bleacher Report.
“As disliked as Nash might be by so many Lakers fans, he is revered by a lot of players around the league, some of whom grew up watching him. This is the kind of guy who could be awfully useful one day in the future making a phone call on the Lakers’ behalf to a much-coveted free agent.
“Maybe it will first be Goran Dragic next summer. Dragic is a dear Nash friend and was his pupil during a most fruitful apprenticeship with the Phoenix Suns from 2008-11.”
The piece also says that Nash could play a role in ultimately luring Kevin Durant to Los Angeles, noting that the pair worked out this offseason and are both great shooters and have both won the MVP award.
Lakers Lose in Overtime to Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are not only winning now, they’re even doing it with defense.
Wilson Chandler scored 19 points, Ty Lawson had 18 points and 16 assists, and the Nuggets limited the Los Angeles Lakers to two field goals in the final 8:15 for a 101-94 overtime victory on Sunday night.
Arron Afflalo added 15 points for the Nuggets, who have won five of six following a 1-6 start that was capped by consecutive double-digit losses to Portland.
“Although we didn’t start out the way we wanted to, we’re starting to get it now — especially on the defensive end, coach Brian Shaw said. ”The guys are buying in, we’re getting the results that we’re looking for, and it’s starting to be fun again.”
The Lakers, coming off a 140-106 drubbing at Dallas, began a four-game homestand with their seventh straight loss to the Nuggets, despite 27 points from Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, a two-time scoring champion and the NBA’s No. 4 career scorer, made only four of 14 shots after the third quarter and finished 10 for 24.
“Kobe’s going to get his shots, he’s going to get his attempts, and we know that,” Shaw said. “We just wanted to make him work hard for everything that he gets, and work hard on the defensive end so that he doesn’t just have a night off at that end and can spend all of his energy just on the offensive side.”
The losing streak against Denver matches the Lakers’ longest against any club since an eight-game drought against Portland from Feb. 18, 1993, through Jan. 9, 1995. The franchise record for consecutive losses against one team is 19, against Boston from Nov. 6, 1957, through March 3, 1959.
Nuggets reserve Danilo Gallinari had 10 points, including a 3-pointer that gave Denver a 94-90 lead with 1:28 left in OT. Bryant responded with a short jumper 9 seconds later, but that was theLakers’ last basket in a game in which they finished at 37.1 percent from the field and Denver 37.8.
“To me, we kind of felt a little flat, but we had some spurts where we had high energy and got into transition and stuff like that,” Bryant said. “We’ve been playing better as of late, outside of the Dallas game.”
Carlos Boozer sat out because of a left shoulder strain and Ed Davis made his first start as a Lakerat power forward. He had four points and five rebounds in 22 minutes before fouling out with 10:37 left in the game and the Los Angeles ahead 75-73.
“We shot 37 percent from the field and had only 11 points in the fourth quarter, and it’s tough to win like that,” Davis said. “We had our chances down the stretch and we didn’t finish it off.”
Wesley Johnson posterized Gallinari with a soaring slam dunk after a fast-break feed from Jeremy Lin and completed the three-point play to give the Lakers an 85-82 lead with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. But they didn’t make another field goal until overtime, when Lin hit a short jumper to give them an 88-86 lead with 4 minutes to play.
The Nuggets, who made 10 or more 3-pointers in each of their previous four games, missed their first 11 attempts from behind the arc against a defense that surrendered 18 against the Mavericks on Friday night
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TIP-INS
Nuggets: Shaw, who spent the final four seasons of his playing career with the Lakers and helped them win three consecutive NBA titles, is 42-53 since taking the Nuggets job. Last season, Denver finished out of the playoff picture after qualifying for the postseason in 10 consecutive years. ... Reserve G Randy Foye played 11 scoreless minutes after missing two games with a bruised right knee.
Lakers: Bryant, who turned 36 on Aug. 23, came in averaging a league-best 26.7 points. The oldest scoring champion in NBA history was Michael Jordan, who was 35 years and 61 days old when he finished the 1997-98 campaign with a league-best 28.7 average in his final season with the Chicago Bulls.
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The inductions of Shaquille O'Neal and Zelmo Beaty into the College Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday at Kansas City made them the 14th and 15th members to have played for the Lakers. The others are: Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Bob McAdoo, George Mikan, Clyde Lovellette, Vern Mikkelsen, Slater Martin and Jim Pollard.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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