Lakers guard scores 24 points in 24 minutes
Kobe Bryant and his five NBA rings had a resounding answer for the 30 points that unfairly burdened Wizards reserve Nick Young had dropped on the Los Angeles Lakers a week ago. And then another answer. And then another answer after that.
By the time Bryant had finished scoring 12 straight points for the visiting Lakers in the third quarter on Tuesday, including a trio of 3-pointers, he had reduced Young to dazed looks and airballs and sent the injury-ravaged Wizards (6-17) on the way to a 103-89 defeat.
“He gave me the wink and was calling me young fella, teaching me the ropes,” Young said of Bryant after the third three, a pull-up dagger from the corner. “He’s a tough player. Players like that, that’s why he’s one of the greatest.”
Bryant ironically got his lift from three missed free throws midway through the third period. They were his last misses of the night.
With a game-high 24 points in 24 minutes, Bryant spent the fourth quarter on the bench, leaving Lamar Odom (18 points, 10 rebounds), Pau Gasol (16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists) and Shannon Brown (16 points) to complete a ninth-straight win for the Lakers (18-7) over Washington.
Young had a team-best 21 points but 17 came during the first half for Washington, which started the night without its second- and third-leading scorers — John Wall (right knee tendonitis) and Andray Blatche (swollen left knee).
While the Verizon Center crowd looked evenly divided, with plenty of purple and gold clad Lakers supporters among the 16,513 in attendance, the applause was genuine for the Wizards after they fought for rebounds and a 24-22 lead after one quarter.
To get the advantage, Washington had to sacrifice Yi Jianlian, who had started for Blatche but left the game five minutes into the first quarter with a sprained right knee after landing awkwardly while fouling Ron Artest.
“We’ve been hit by the injury bug the last couple of years now,” said Gilbert Arenas (11 points, 10 assists). “But we just gotta keep fighting and keep pulling for each other.”
Young, coming off a season-high scoring performance and a career-high six 3-pointers against the Lakers seven days before in Los Angeles, looked early like he still had it going against his hometown team — making an incredible leaning jumper for his first bucket.
But Los Angeles took control with a 10-0 run to open the second quarter with Bryant on the bench. Brown opened the run with a three-pointer and had 12 points in the quarter.
