Slam Dunk Central

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The Seattle SuperSonics had the perfect opportunity to exploit the Los Angeles Lakers lack of an inside presence, thanks to a knee injury to Lakers starting center Andrew Bynum.? But what the Sonics didn’t count on was the shooting of Kobe Bryant. Bryant’s basket with 4.3 seconds left in overtime boosted the Lakers past the Sonics 123-121 Monday at Seattle.

Both teams shot very well in the first half as there were many ties and lead changes with Los Angeles taking a 64-62 edge into halftime.  Fast forward to late in the fourth quarter; Seattle had chances to win the game in regulation after Kevin Durant drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 115 with 45 seconds left.  Bryant missed a trey for the Lakers, but Durant missed a jumper with 6 ticks remaining.  Bryant was stripped of the ball by Seattle’s Earl Watson, forcing the game into overtime.

The Sonics had chances to win in overtime after jumping to a 121-117 lead. But Seattle’s Kurt Thomas missed a pair of free throws and Bryant hit a pair of jumpers with 2:23 left in OT to tie things up again. After a Durant miss, the Lakers’ Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom missed open treys, but Durant missed yet again; Odom grabbed the rebound, setting up Bryant for the game-winning shot for Los Angeles.

As you’ve probably figured out already, the Lakers’ high scorer was Bryant with 48 points (21-of-44); Ronnie Turiaf scored 14 from off the bench, while Fisher and Jordan Farmar added 12 points each.? Seattle had 7 players in double-digits, led by Nick Collison with 24 points and 18rebounds; Durant added 19 on 6-of-26 shooting, while Wally Szczerbiak chipped in with 18, including 3treys.  Luke Ridenour recorded a double-double, scoring 10 while dishing out 11 assists.Los Angeles (26-11) returns home to host the Phoenix Suns Thursday night, while Seattle (9-28) travels to the Big Easy to take on the New Orleans Hornets Wednesday.