Kobe Bryant Leads Lakers To Victory In Pre-Season Opener

After the Lakers fell behind 24-8 in the first quarter, Kobe Bryant stepped up and rallied the team into winning their pre-season opener.

Bryant scored 16 of his 28 points in the 2nd quarter as the Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors 101-93 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Hawaii. Late in the 2nd quarter, Bryant sent the Hawaii crowd into a frenzy with a thunderous baseline reverse dunk and drew applause from his teammates.

It was the first game that featured the re-united forces of Bryant and head coach Phil Jackson since Jackson’s departure from the team in June of 2004.

Lakers’ Summer Pro League standout Smush Parker started the game at point guard in the opener, as Jackson toys with his options at the one spot.

While Parker was featured at the point, Lamar Odom was used to bring the ball up the floor, slotted in at a “point-forward” position similar to the manner in which Jackson used Scottie Pippen in his earlier days coaching the Chicago Bulls. Pippen was brought in as a consultant to Lamar Odom by the Lakers in hopes to make his transition into this role easier. Odom ran the break and distributed the ball well, in addition to scoring 16 points for the Lakers.

The Lakers occasionally used Odom’s size and versatility as a mismatch against his opponents and provided him with opportunities in the low post. They will look to do so more often throughout the season while Odom shifts to his new role as part of the triangle offense.

Coming off the bench, Brian Cook added 10 points including a jumper at the final buzzer to stretch the margin of victory to 8 points.

In his Laker debut, Kwame Brown looked slightly out of place as he adjusts to the triangle. The newly-acquired power forward only recorded 6 points and 4 rebounds in limited action. Brown has been working consistently with consultant and former Laker great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has taken the role of a “big man coach” on this Laker team. While Kareem has been impressed with Brown thus far, Kwame was not much of a factor in the game, seemingly still attempting to get acclimated in his new setting.

Unfortunately, Brown took an inadvertent blow to the face from Cook and required seven stitches to close a gash under his left eye. He would head to the locker room and spend the rest of the game sidelined.

For the Warriors, former UCLA point guard Baron Davis added 17 points, followed by teammate Jason Richardson who put up 14.

Luke Walton left the game in the fourth quarter with what looks to be a severely strained hamstring and most likely will miss some action as a result.

The Lakers (1-0) will play again against the Warriors tomorrow night at 10 PM PST in Hawaii. Although there currently are no plans to televise this game, we will have live Gameday coverage as always in our CL.com Forums!

What did you think of the Lakers in their first game back from a long off-season? How did the players perform individually? Sound off in our CL.com Gameday Discussion!

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