Lakers Edge Out Warriors

LOS ANGELES, CA– In a close contest, Caron Butler’s season-high 27 points boosted the Lakers over the Warriors at home.

Butler’s explosive performance proved to be the help the Lakers needed on the offensive end. He continually slashed to the basket and provided an extra threat to draw the attention of the Warrior defense. Caron also shot efficiently from the field, going 11/20, including a baseline dunk to finish off the game. The Laker coaching staff would by overjoyed to see performances like this from Caron on a consistent basis. Mihm recorded his 4th double-double this season, all coming in home games.

In a pre-game ceremonies, the Lakers payed homage to point guard Derek Fisher, who spent 8 years with the Lakers and played a crucial part in the recent three-peat championship run. Fisher also reached clutch fame when he made the game-winning shot agiainst the San Antonio Spurs in last year’s Western Conference finals with just 0.4 seconds on the clock, the lowest possible amount of time on the clock for a player to legally shoot by rule. When introduced, Fisher received a huge standing ovation from a crowd that was encouraged to arrive early for the tribute.

Kobe Bryant would only score 10 points, but made up for it with his all-around play. Bryant added a season-high 12 rebounds and a game-high 10 assists to go along with that, giving him his 11th career triple double and his 2nd of the season. Bryant simply was the go-to guy for the Laker playmaking tonight. The Laker swingman found open teammates very easily and although it doesn’t show up in the stats, he created plays that sent the Lakers to the foul line. Bryant was also effective on the defensive end, recording 2 steals while moving very well when away from the ball. The negative aspect to his game was a season-high 8 turnovers. Coming into the game, Bryant averaged 4.25 TOs per game, thus it is a concern of the Lakers’ coaches.

Caron Butler Continuing his home-game excellence, center Chris Mihm recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards. Mihm worked the pick and roll very well and added an inside presence with his post moves on offense. Recently plagued by early foul trouble, Mihm was glad to get more meaningful minute in this contest. This is his 4th double-double of this season, all coming in home games.

Lamar Odom also would add 13 points and 8 rebounds. After getting off to a slow start, where he missed consecutive layups, Odom re-gained focus and used his versatility to score and beat his man off the dribble. Odom would hand out 4 assists as well, but had to watch himself at times due to foul trouble.

The Lakers also got good production off of their bench in this game. Once again, Brian Cook stepped up and contributed a solid shooting night. Cook scored 15 points on 5/11 shooting, which included going 3/6 from beyond the arc. Although he fouled out late in the game, Brian Cook has proven to be a consistent shooter for the Lakers, knocking down the majority of his open looks. The 2nd year man out of Illinois is shooting a stellar 43% from the three-point line, following Chucky Atkins, who is shooting just a hundreth of a percent better than Cook on the year.

Also off the bench delivering a nice showing was Laker playmaker Tierre Brown. The point guard put up 10 points and 3 assists in 19 minutes on the floor. Brown continues to display his skills by penetrating and finding the open man.

“We got a real good game out of Caron Butler. [He was] fantastic taking the ball to the basket on the break,” Tomjanovich said after the game, “Kobe didn’t shoot the ball well but I think [he] generated a lot of offense.”

“This is a good win, especially for our mental health. With four days without a game, [it’s great] to be positive and we got a big Phoenix game coming up now.”

The Lakers (10-7) will get an extended break until Wednesday when they take on the hot Phoenix Suns (13-3) at Staples Center. The game will tip-off at 7:45 PM PST and we will have live Gameday coverage on CL.com as always.

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