LAKERS CAN'T GET A BREAK L.A. FALTERS LATE IN LOSS TO CAVALIERS CLEVE. 114, LAKERS 108.Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer Maybe it's not a surprise for the coach who reached 900 wins faster than anyone in NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= history, but Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. arrived at Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. for Thursday's game against Cleveland having been a part of only two five-game losing streaks in all his years of coaching. The last thing Jackson wanted to do was spend the four-day All-Star break thinking about ways to correct the bearings of a Lakers team that had lost its course. Neither did his players, who were headed to Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. , Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (popularly known as just Cabo) is a small city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula at , in the municipality of Los Cabos in the state of Baja California Sur, Mexico. and points in between. Such was the back story to the second Kobe Bryant-LeBron James showdown of the season. The Lakers had to end their four-game losing streak in order to reach the unofficial halfway point of the season on any sort of a positive note. But Cleveland led 105-103 with just over two minutes left.The Lakers went into Thursday's game with a 30-23 record after taking a .500 record into the All-Star break last season. There are still 28 games left in the regular season, but the Lakers are settling into the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference standings. They went into Thursday's game trailing fifth-place Houston by four games and leading seventh-place Denver by three games. That likely would bring a first-round playoff series against Utah or 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. , and the Lakers would not have home-court advantage. They were the No. 7 seed last season and exited in the first round but not until pushing Phoenix to a seventh game. Jackson conceded that the Lakers have not played well in about three weeks, but he said the primary concern was how they closed the regular season. The Lakers went 19-11 after the All-Star break last season and won their final five games before the playoffs. "The thing that's important is about gaining momentum and going into the playoffs with momentum," Jackson said. "Yes, you want the best record. You want matchups that work for you, whatever. "We don't want to tank games to get better position, like perhaps the Clippers did last year. We don't want to aim for anybody specifically. But we do think that if you get momentum - we had it last year, we went in, we played a great playoff series - and that's what we want to have when we finish up this season. Whatever the record is, that's what it's going to be." The Lakers started the season with Bryant recovering from knee surgery and Jackson from a hip replacement. They took advantage a front-loaded schedule with 15 of their first 20 games at home and beat each of the Western Conference's top five teams. But the Lakers lost Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6 1979, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays power forward (also plays both forward spots and is a "point-forward") for the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers. for 21 games with a knee injury, then watched center Kwame Brown suffer a severe ankle sprain ankle sprain Orthopedics A stretching of the ankle ligaments and/or muscles with swelling on New Year's Eve. Then in the same game in which Odom returned last month, Luke Walton Luke Theodore Walton (born March 28 1980 in San Diego, California) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His position is small forward. went down with a sprained ankle A sprained ankle, also known as a ankle sprain, ankle injury or ankle ligament injury, is a common medical condition where one or more of the ligaments of the ankle is torn or partially torn. . The injuries and schedule caught up to the Lakers as they went 3-5 on an Eastern Conference road trip. They went into Thursday's game having lost 10 of their previous 14 games and four in a row. Odom had his strongest game since coming back from the sprained knee ligament. He attacked on the first play of the second half and drilled a key 3-pointer with the Lakers down by six in the third quarter. The Lakers started the third quarter on a 14-5 run to take a 68-61 lead but lost momentum when Smush Parker William Henry "Smush" Parker (born June 1 1981, in New York, New York) is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association.[1] Parker played shooting guard in college, but moved to point guard in the NBA. compounded a foul on Eric Snow Eric Snow (born April 24, 1973 in Canton, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player currently with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. High School Years by slamming the ball in frustration and drawing a technical foul. Three free throws later, Cleveland trailed by just three points, 68-64. LeBron James ran out and dunked as part of a three-point play. He was pushed in the back by Vladimir Radmanovic and had to hurdle the first row of seats. Bryant then was stripped by Snow, leading to another basket, and was hit with a technical of his own. Jackson had suffered only two previous five-game losing streaks in his 16 seasons as an NBA coach. ross.siler@dailynews.com (818) 713-3610 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant stays tight on Cleveland's LeBron James in Thursday's game at Staples Center. David Sprague/Staff Photographer (2) The Cavaliers' LeBron James has no where to go against the Lakers' Kobe Bryant on Thursday. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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