LA Lakers defeat the Golden State Warriors

Kobe Bryant took the ball in the last minute of the game and with two complicated fade away jumpers from the corner, first tied the game and finally put a two-point lead with 30 seconds left to seal the deal for the Lakers to take a difficult win on the road against the Golden State Warriors. The two shots in the final minute of the game gave Kobe a final 30-points and 5 rebounds for the game. The Lakers also got some good help Paul Gasol, who has certainly lifted up his performance once the trade rumors ended up in nothing. The Spaniard finished the night with 19 points and 17 rebounds and 3 assists, a great performance to help his team improve to 31-19 for the season and secure the third seed in the western conference.

On the other hand, we have to give some extra kudos to the Golden State Warriors , who gave on heck of a battle despite the team playing without three of its regular starters, who are recovering from injuries. Despite that, the Warriors showed some good skills and finished the game tying a franchise low 5 turnovers during the game. David Lee had 23 points and nine rebounds, and rookie Klay Thompson scored 20 points for the Warriors. The whole thing could had been convincely heroir had they actually managed to seal the deal in the final minute of the match. Because let's face it, the Warriors overcame a 16-point first-half deficit. Still, the whole effort went south and Golden State lost for the seventh time in nine games.

It really seems as if head coach Mike Brown is still trying to figure out a way to get the Lakers all in the same page. Perhaps he is really tying to go out there and prove these guys that he is the boss and that if the team is going to work well, they need to respect his decisions and his role in the team. Perhaps that's exactly why he hasn't hesitated to make bold decisions like benching Kobe Bryant on their previous game (and loss) to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a unique and rare sighting. The Lakers were trying really hard to get back in contention in what eventually turned out to be a 102-96 loss to the Grizzlies. It was a bold move, to put Kobe Bryant, one of the sports most effective closers, down in the bench for at least 4 minutes during the fourth quarter. So having done that, it shouldn't come that much as a surprise that he sat Andrew Bynum for the better part of the last quarter. Bynum took a 3-pointer with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock in the third quarter and that really got on Mike Brown's nerves.

"I don't know what was bench-worthy about the shot, to be honest with you," said Andrew Bynum, about Mike Brown's decision. He finished the game with 11 points and five rebounds. "I made one [in Sunday's game]. I wanted to make another one. That's it. He took offense to it, so he put me on the bench." Some commentators have said that he is lacking maturity and that is keeping him from achieving his full potential.