Kobe’s 17 Fourth Quarter Points Spark Lakers Rally, Hold Back Kings 117-105

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main

Just imagine, if you will, how good Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is when he’s healthy.? Currently, he has a torn tendon on his small finger on his right hand.? Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings, despite his injury, he led the Lakers on a late rally by scoring 17 fourth-quarter points, enabling Los Angeles to escape Arco Arena with a 117-105 victory.

Interestingly enough, Sacramento led for the first 43 minutes of the game – that’s when Bryant took over and led the Lakers’ late charge; he would score 11 straight points in the fourth quarter – in the final 5:56 of the game – as Los Angeles took their first lead of the game, a lead that they would hang on to for the remainder of the game.? Also, the game was physical as well, as you’d expect between these two rivals.? The Kings’ Brad Miller and Mikki Moore trading hard fouls early with Pau Gasol and Bryant; Gasol would later in the game get assessed a technical foul for taking a swipe at Miller after Miller used a stiff arm to block out underneath the basket.?

Los Angeles’ high scorer was Bryant with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals; Gasol scored 31 points with 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots.? Lamar Odom had a solid effort, scoring 19 with 12 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a blocked shot, while Derek Fisher pitched in with 17 along with 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot.?

Sacramento was led by Kevin Martin and Ron Artest with 23 points each – Martin also added 3 rebounds while Artest grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, had a steal and blocked a pair of shots.? John Salmons from off the bench scored 17 with 4 rebounds, an assist and 3 steals, while Miller had a solid effort, contributing 14 along with 12 rebounds, 4 assists and a blocked shot.? Los Angeles (43-18) returns home to take on their cross-town rival Los Angeles Clippers Friday night, while Sacramento (27-33) also travels to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on Wednesday night.

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