A CLOSER LOOK: GAME 4.FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE: Lakers See Lake poets 50.0, Sacramento 45.7 3-POINT FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE: Lakers 79.5, Sacramento 93.8 TOTAL TURNOVERS: Lakers 15, Sacramento 17 FREE-THROW PERCENTAGE: Lakers 50.0, Sacramento 50.0 HERO OF THE GAME Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. was spectacular, dazzling the Kings with 48 points on 15-of-29 shooting and dominating the boards with 16 rebounds, including nine offensive boards. He kept the Lakers close in the third, when the Kings were rolling and O'Neal was struggling. Then he took over in the fourth after O'Neal fouled out. GOAT goat, ruminant mammal with hollow horns and coarse hair belonging to the genus Capra of the cattle family and closely related to the sheep. True wild goats, all of Old World origin, include the Persian bezoar goat, or pasan, possibly the ancestor of the OF THE GAME Chris Webber For the Canadian-born former BBL basketball player, see . Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III, better known as Chris Webber or C-Webb (born March 1, 1973, in Detroit, Michigan), is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA.. was nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter when the Kings needed him most, vanishing for long stretches and throwing the ball away with 40 seconds left and the game within reach. He finished with 21 points but was 8 of 25 from the field. KEY MATCHUP Bryant toyed with Christie, easily getting around him on drives to the basket or shaking loose on jumpers. Christie had his best offensive game of the series with 15 points, yet he was outscored by 33. CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL GLANCE Lakers win series 4-0 Game 1: Lakers 108, Sacramento 105 Game 2: Lakers 96, Sacramento 90 Game 3: Lakers 103, Sacramento 81 Game 4: Lakers 119, Sacramento 113 NUMBERS GAME With the Lakers trailing 84-80 after three quarters, Kobe Bryant rallied L.A., and Sacramento's Chris Webber disappeared. Bryant scored 28 points in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter. After making a basket and subsequent free throw in the third quarter, he scored only one more time. Webber had eight second-half points. KEY TO THE GAME Robert Horry Robert Horry (born August 25, 1970 in Harford County, Maryland) is an American National Basketball Association basketball player. Currently playing for the San Antonio Spurs, Horry is is known for his ability to make clutch shots in big games. and Brian Shaw Brian K. Shaw (born March 22, 1966 in Oakland, California) is a former professional basketball player. The 6' 6" Shaw could play both guard spots, but was used primarily at point guard over the course of his 14 seasons in the league. combined for 16 points, but every one of them came at a time when the Lakers desperately needed a big basket. Timely production off the bench, when it's not how many points you score but when you score them, helps teams win championships. LOOK AHEAD The Lakers get to rest up as they await the Spurs-Mavericks winner. The most likely start date for the Western Conference finals is Saturday in San Antonio San Antonio (săn ăntō`nēō, əntōn`), city (1990 pop. 935,933), seat of Bexar co., S central Tex., at the source of the San Antonio River; inc. 1837. unless Dallas pushes the series to a seventh game. CAPTION(S): 16 photos Photo: (1 -- color) SHAQUILLE O'NEAL Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Compared to what he's been doing, the 25 points and 10 rebounds almost seem ordinary. Got into foul trouble in the third and never recovered. Wasn't much of a factor in the second half. Grade: B (2 -- color) KOBE BRYANT Put on a show, starting off fast and never relenting. The Kings thought they'd have a chance by throwing Shaq off. They were wrong. Grade: A+ (3 -- color) HORACE GRANT Horace Junior Grant (born July 4 1965 in Augusta, Georgia) is a retired American basketball player. He attended and played college basketball at Clemson University, before playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he became a 4-time NBA champion. Had the thankless task of guarding Chris Webber. Did a decent job, pushing Webber off the blocks and never letting him go off inside. Wasn't much of a factor offensively with four points. Grade: C (4 -- color) DEREK FISHER Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was with the Utah Jazz but asked to be released from his contract to care for his 10-month-old daughter, who has cancer. His 20 points almost went unnoticed because of Bryant's explosion, but Fish was a huge factor with 20 points and just one turnover. Grade: B+ (5 -- color) RICK FOX Did what he could against Stojakovic, but even that wasn't enough when Stojakovic got rolling. Fox surrendered 26 points to Peja on 8-of-14 shooting, then fouled out. Grade: B- (6 -- color) ROBERT HORRY Came off the bench to score 11 points, including a handful of key free throws in the closing minutes. Grade: B (7 -- color) PREDRAG STOJAKOVIC Part of the reason the Kings were in the game, scoring 26 points, including a couple of fadeaways with Fox in his back pocket. Unfortunately the Kings needed him to do more of this in the series, but he didn't. Grade: B+ (8 -- color) CHRIS WEBBER Numbers looked fine - 21 points and 11 rebounds - but he shot 8 of 25 from the field and vanished in the fourth quarter. Grade: D (9 -- color) VLADE DIVAC Vlade Divac (Serbian Cyrillic: Владе Дивац, pronounced [ˈvlaːdɛ ˈdiːvaʦ] Finally came to play, scoring 18 points and taking 10 rebounds. Too little, too late for this series. Grade: B (10 -- color) DOUG CHRISTIE Doug Christie may refer to:
Found the basket for 15 points but was in over his head guarding Kobe. Grade: C (11 -- color) JASON WILLIAMS Jason Williams can refer to any of the following people:
He is a starter in name only, playing just 19 minutes and sitting out almost the entire second half. He deserves to be on the bench the way he gets out of control. Grade: D- (12 -- color) HIDAYET TURKOGLU The Kings lost, but this young gun opened eyes around the league, playing a fearless, smooth game while hitting 8 of 10 shots for 22 points. Kept them close in the fourth. Grade: A (13 -- color) TOP GUNS BRYANT: 48 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists (14 -- color) STOJAKOVIC: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists (15 -- color) no caption (Kobe Bryant) (16 -- color) no caption (Chris Webber) |
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