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LOS ANGELES: Kobe Bryant scored 45 points as the Los
Angeles Lakers rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Phoenix 95-89
in Game 3 of their first round National Basketball Association
playoff series.
Still reeling from a 28-point
loss in game two, Bryant scored 15 of his points in the final period
as the Lakers held on to beat the Suns, who now hold a 2-1 series
lead.
“It felt great,” Bryant said.
“We were more aggressive. This was a great game to get some
confidence going.”
Bryant’s teammates did not
leave him out there by himself.
Lamar Odom collected 18 points
and 16 rebounds and Kwame Brown had 19 and six for the Lakers, who
held a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass and shot 16 more free
throws— punishing the Suns in the paint.
“We had each other’s back
tonight,” Bryant said.
Bryant was the difference during
crunch time. The top fourth-quarter scorer in the NBA, Bryant had
only scored two points on one-of-10 shooting combined in the final
periods of the first two games of the series. On Friday, the
all-star guard turned that all around.
“I was attacking the ball on
the dribble and backing them up and spacing them out,” he said.
Bryant was 15-of-26 from the
floor and 13-of-13 from the free-throw line, while Odom and Brown
combined to shoot 16-of-31 from the field for Los Angeles, which
shot 42 percent (34-of-81) from the floor and 22-of-28 on foul
shots.
Game 4 will be in Los Angeles on
Sunday and there might be some animosity between the teams leading
up to tip-off.
“When the Suns are running it
is a tough machine to stop,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “In
the second quarter we evened things up and the guys started playing
some defense.”
On the game’s final play, with
the outcome already decided, Lakers guard Smush Parker went in for a
meaningless dunk. But Raja Bell fouled him from behind, sparking
angry words from Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni as the teams walked
off the floor.
Amare Stoudemire collected 24
points and 10 rebounds and Leandro Barbosa added 20 points for
Phoenix, which shot 48 percent (36-of-75).
In the other Western Conference
game, Carlos Boozer scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the
Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 81-67 holding them to a playoff
franchise-record low in points.
At Orlando, Florida, the Detroit
Pistons struggled with their game but manage to score a 93-77 win in
Game 3 for a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-7 series.
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