Warriors-Lakers Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Nov 09 2012 2:54PM

Apparently, the Los Angeles Lakers weren't prepared to wait more than five games for things to turn around.

Having fired coach Mike Brown following a 1-4 start, Los Angeles takes on the visiting Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

The stunning dismissal of Brown came just hours before this game and very early in his second season as Lakers coach. Assistant Bernie Bickerstaff will take over on an interim basis, though a search for a new coach will begin immediately.

"This was a difficult and painful decision to make," general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time. We appreciate Mike's efforts and contributions and wish him and his family the best of luck."

Los Angeles began the season with championship expectations after trading for center Dwight Howard and point guard Steve Nash, adding two superstars alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. However, signs of trouble surfaced quickly with the club going 0-8 in the preseason for the first time in franchise history.

The Lakers went on to lose their first three regular-season games, and after finally winning last Sunday, looked listless again in a 95-86 loss at Utah on Wednesday.

"We're all frustrated," Brown said after that game.

Los Angeles hasn't had Nash for the last three contests due to a bruised shin, and the club had been trying to adjust to Brown's new Princeton-style offense. The new-look roster also appeared to be in the process of trying to mesh, as the Lakers rank near the top of the league with 93 turnovers and went 4 of 23 from 3-point range Wednesday.

Brown guided Los Angeles to a 41-25 mark and into the second round of the playoffs in 2011-12.

Bryant, who finished with 29 points but missed all four of his 3-point attempts versus the Jazz, is averaging 27.2 points and shooting 56.0 percent despite a nagging foot injury.

Howard is putting up 22.4 points per game but has failed to record double-digit rebounds in three straight. He's averaging 9.6 boards - 3.4 below his career mark.

He has averaged 27.0 points and 18.3 rebounds in his last four versus Golden State, while Bryant is averaging 34.6 points and 50.4 percent shooting in his last five against the Warriors. Bryant scored a combined 79 points in two home wins over Golden State last season.

Howard might have an easier time in the paint Friday with Warriors center Andrew Bogut out. Bogut missed all four meetings with the Lakers last season after fracturing his ankle, and though he's played in four games this season, he'll sit out the next week to 10 days to get some added rest.

Looking for a fifth straight victory over the Warriors (3-2) and 17th in 18 meetings, Los Angeles has won 33 of 36 meetings at Staples Center. The Lakers have averaged 114.1 points and won their last eight at home in the series by 13.5 points per game.

Golden State is 2-1 on the road and looks to build on a 106-96 home victory over Cleveland on Wednesday. David Lee played through flu-like symptoms to record 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists while Stephen Curry scored 21 as the Warriors prevailed despite blowing a 17-point lead.

"These are those games that you have to have when you look back on the season," guard Jarrett Jack said. "You can't be like, `Ah, this is one of those games that we kind of gave away.' No matter who's in uniform, you have to go out with that mindset that we have to get this `W' no matter the situation is."

Lee has scored 42 points in the last two games after totaling 30 in the first three. He's averaged 21.8 and 10.8 boards in his last four versus Los Angeles.

Curry is averaging a team-high 17.4 points but shooting 36.7 percent. He missed all four meetings with the Lakers last season.

Lakers rout Warriors 101-77 after Brown's firing

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Nov 10 2012 2:40AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) A few hours after the Los Angeles Lakers' top brass abruptly fired coach Mike Brown and threw their season into turmoil before mid-November, Brown's former players demonstrated why there's still ample reason to think this team can be saved.

The Lakers should find out soon whether Phil Jackson gets the chance to do the saving - again.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, Pau Gasol added 14 points and 16 rebounds, and the Lakers doubled their win total with a 101-77 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

Jordan Hill scored 14 points for the Lakers, who were uniformly stunned by Brown's dismissal after just 18 months on the job. Following a bumpy first half against Golden State under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff, they pulled away in the third quarter with a 25-9 run led by Bryant, who also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

"I think everybody didn't know how to react to it emotionally," Bryant said. "Everybody had to just go about their business and play basketball. ... A lot of the emotion that was picked up was kind of unleashed when we played."

The comfortable victory capped one of the most tumultuous days in recent history for a franchise that's never short on drama. With the high-priced veteran club off to a Western Conference-worst 1-4 start following a winless preseason, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Jim Buss abruptly dismissed Brown, informing players during their morning shootaround.

Bickerstaff ran the Lakers as the interim coach, but the veteran NBA bench boss isn't likely to be a candidate for the full-time job. Kupchak is searching for a replacement, possibly making a selection before the Lakers' next game on Sunday against Sacramento.

The Lakers' crowd quickly made its choice known: A chant of "We want Phil!" rose out of the stands while Bryant shot a free throw in the third quarter, and echoed a few more times later in the half.

"I can understand why," Bickerstaff said. "The guy's got the rings."

Jackson, the 11-time NBA champion coach who won five rings in two previous stints running the Lakers, is near the top of Kupchak's list again, the GM acknowledged. Mike D'Antoni, the former Knicks and Suns coach, also is thought to be a prime candidate.

Bryant said he would be thoroughly happy with Jackson, D'Antoni or former Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw in charge. Bryant's injury struggles during Jackson's final season would give him particular motivation for a third stint together.

"I wasn't able to give him my real self because I was playing on one leg," Bryant said. "It's always kind of eaten away at me that in the last year of his career ... I couldn't give him everything I had because I was playing on one knee."

Dwight Howard had six points and eight rebounds while playing just 24 minutes for the Lakers in his ongoing return from offseason back surgery. Steve Nash, the other major addition to the club, watched from behind the bench, missing his fourth straight game with a small fracture in his leg. Nash will be out for at least another week, the Lakers announced after the game.

After the protracted drama between Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy and the six-time All-Star center, Howard met questions about the Lakers' coaching staff with a smile and silence.

"I'm going to keep that to myself," Howard said. "I learned my lesson last year."

Brown never got the chance to integrate the two stars into his new offense while they were dogged by health issues. Kupchak and Buss still needed to see more progress than the Lakers managed in the past six weeks, particularly on defense - and they saw it against the Warriors, who managed just 33.7 percent shooting and made 19 turnovers.

"We were just out of sync, no excuse," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. "If you're going to beat a good team on the road, you've got to take care of the basketball. We came in with the mindset to run, and they outscored us even in fast-break points. Just disappointed overall."

Stephen Curry scored 18 points and Klay Thompson had 15 for the Warriors, who have lost five straight to the Lakers overall, and nine in a row at Staples Center since March 2008.

"I think we played well, but the score doesn't say that," Curry said. "Defensively, we did a pretty good job. We're just undersized down there, trying to battle the boards and the paint."

The Lakers' offensive struggles evaporated in the third quarter while they leaped to an 18-point lead over the undermanned Warriors, who struggled to contend inside without injured center Andrew Bogut.

Darius Morris had career highs of 10 points and five rebounds while playing the majority of the Lakers' minutes at point guard. Los Angeles' reserves have been largely ineffective during Brown's tenure, but Morris and Hill led a spirited effort against the Warriors, outscoring their counterparts with Golden State 37-17.

NOTES: Lakers F Devin Ebanks was inactive after getting arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs early Friday morning. Rookie Darius Johnson-Odom made his NBA debut in the final minutes. ... Warriors C Andris Biedrins came up roughly 2 feet short on an airballed free throw in the first half. The Latvian veteran has a career free throw shooting percentage just over 50 percent. ... Brown went 42-29 with the Lakers, coaching them to the second round of the playoffs during the strike-shortened season before his abbreviated start to this fall.

Notebook: Lakers 101, Warriors 77

Dan Arritt, For NBA.com
Posted Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:02 AM - Updated Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:02 AM

THE FACTS: With a different coach on the bench just hours after Mike Brown was fired, and a more intense effort delivered by the players, the Lakers got back to the business of beating up on teams. Kobe Bryant led the onslaught, finishing with 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the 101-77 victory Friday night against the Warriors at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "Tonight, we recognized mismatches and we went through them and there were some results."

--Lakers interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

THE STAT: One. Bickerstaff, anointed as the interim coach earlier in the day following Brown's dismissal just five games into this season and 83 games into his Lakers' tenure, already has matched Brown's one-win total from this season.

TURNING POINT: The Warriors, who posted a victory over the Clippers at Staples Center last weekend, hung around for about 2 ½ quarters before the Lakers closed the third quarter on an 18-5 run to take a 72-55 lead into the fourth. It was during the third quarter that the crowd started the first of several "We want Phil" chants, in reference to reports that Phil Jackson could be interested in returning to coach the Lakers for a third time.

HOT: Lakers backup point guard Darius Morris, who didn't play the first two games this season, continues to develop a role among the reserves. The second-year guard scored a career-high 10 points, part of a 37-point bench effort for L.A.

NOT: Lakers forward Metta World Peace appeared to find his shot earlier in the week when he scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in a win against the visiting Pistons. He came back with a 3-for-12 effort in Wednesday's loss in Utah, then missed his first 10 shots against the Warriors before finishing 3-for-14 with 10 points.

GOOD MOVE: Bickerstaff already has made one subtle adjustment to the rotation, keeping 7-foot forward Pau Gasol with the second unit instead of 7-foot center Dwight Howard. Gasol is the better passer of the two big men, allowing him to create better scoring opportunities for the reserves. Gasol finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds.

BAD MOVE: Golden State sharpshooter Klay Thompson was one of two Warriors who scored in double figures in the first half. He picked up two fouls in the first 3 ½ minutes of the third quarter while trying to guard Bryant, however, and went to the bench for the rest of the quarter. By the time he returned, the Lakers had stretched their seven-point lead to 18.

QUOTABLE II: "Give them credit, they came out and played with really good emotion tonight at home under the circumstances."

--Golden State forward David Lee.

NOTABLE: Lakers reserve Devin Ebanks did not play after getting arrested for driving under the influence earlier Friday in L.A.

UP NEXT: For the Lakers, Sunday vs. Sacramento, Tuesday vs. San Antonio, Friday vs. Phoenix. For the Warriors, Saturday vs. Denver, Wednesday vs. Atlanta, Friday @ Minnesota.

• Warriors: Bogut, Rush
• Lakers: Ebanks, Nash

• Warriors: Green
• Lakers: Gasol

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #15 Bennett Salvatore, #54 Nick Buchert, #36 David Jones
• Attendance: 18997
• Duration: 2:06