D’Angelo Russell thankful Kobe Bryant let him take last shot

Rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. Guard Marcus Thornton paced the reserves with 18 points as Houston (12-12) totaled 55 bench points and won for the seventh time in nine games to lift its record back to.500. Since joining the league right out of high school in 1996, Bryant has surpassed countless milestones in his path and has carved out a legacy as one of the best guards to ever play the game of basketball. “Can we go on to the next question?” “We’ve got to do a better job of trusting each other on defense”. He had nine assists but wiped most of that out with seven turnovers.

Long before Kevin Garnett took the Boston Celtics to two NBA Finals and a championship versus Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers, he was a young, ferocious power forward doing battle in the Western Conference. They are welcoming the final year of Kobe Bryant and he may still save his best performances for his biggest rivals in the league.

D’Angelo Russell scored a career-high 23 points and Julius Randle had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers (3-19) in what was likely Bryant’s last game in Minnesota. Somehow maintaining that style of play would make the remaining three quarters of this Lakers’ season far more enjoyable.

Bryant soon rose to the top of LaVine’s list of favorite players, which was why the first time the two met on a basketball court, it was kind of surreal – and memorable.

Play Through Russell: Head coach Byron Scott has seemingly given D’Angelo Russell free reign on offense and he has been more assertive and more productive overall.

In 2014, the Rockets never separated fully from the Lakers and Jordan Hill couldn’t miss late.

Bryant played in just 25 minutes scoring 11 points and tied the lowest playing time he had this season when he played the same number of minutes in a blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors on November 24.

Bryant hit each of his first three shots on his way to seven first-quarter points, much to the delight of the crowd, but ultimately finished with a pedestrian 11 points while shooting 5-for-12 from the field. (7) in the first half at Target Center. But Bryant stole the show, and Harden was glad to defer the spotlight even in victory. They did not have any interactions during the actual game other than Howard setting a pair of moving screens on Bryant. “I was cheering his name too”. It’s a once in a lifetime chance that you’re going to see this guy play again.

“People always going to pass judgment on a situation”, Howard said after the Rockets beat the Lakers 126-97.

Minneapolis has always had a special affection for Bryant and the Lakers.

“I didn’t realize [Russell] had that many points until I looked up”, Towns said. “I think it’s a testament to both.”…