April 8th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Just two nights ago, the Los Angeles Lakers played and defeated the Los Angeles Clippers. Not very news-worthy, for the most part – except that they had to rally to hang on for the win. Fortunately for the Lakers on Tuesday, they had an opponent who would wind up giving them absolutely no problems – the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers would shoot 51% from the floor while the Kings shot only 44.2%; the end result in all of this? Predictably, Los Angeles easily disposed of Sacramento 122-104 at Arco Arena.
To illustrate how dominant the Lakers were this night, they used a 10-0 run with Kobe Bryant on the bench and then a 12-0 run when Bryant returned to open up a double-digit lead; a steal and layup by Shannon Brown in the closing seconds of the first half would cap the 40-point second quarter and gave Los Angeles a 71-55 lead at halftime. From that point until the final horn, Sacramento would get no closer than 10 points.
Los Angeles had 6 players in double-digits, with the high scorer being Pau Gasol with 26 points and 12 rebounds while Bryant added 22 with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals; Lamar Odom notched a double-double as he scored 15 with 11 rebounds and a block.
Sacramento was led by Spencer Hawes with 21 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks while Francisco Garcia added 19 (including three 3-pointers) with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks; Jason Thompson chipped in 18 with 11 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 2 blocks. Los Angeles (62-16) plays again on Thursday when they return home to host the Denver Nuggets while Sacramento (16-61) hosts the Houston Rockets – also on Thursday night.
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