Los Angeles Lakers Fall Short In Overtime To Minnesota Timberwolves

They exchanged a quick hug before the game, and chatted amiably throughout.

After Saturday’s defeat, the Lakers fell to 3-21 on the season, as the Lakers continue to blaze the trail for the worst record in the Western Conference. “But that situation for me is over and done with”.

Wolves coach Sam Mitchell played against him for six years, a stretch in which Bryant’s Lakers went 17-5 against not-too-shabby Wolves teams. Russell yelled out the requisite “Kobe!” that you can hear on any playground in America, and proceeded to do a pretty solid imitation of the Lakers legend. It’s all in the path now as Howard is with the Rockets and Bryant is ending his career this season. Injuries have limited him to play only 41 out of a possible 164 games that took place in the past two seasons.

“Most of these guys want to know the basketball part of it. We’ll change that part as far as most of the meeting, 75 percent of it of more, will be about the basketball part and then the other part will be a little bit about the business part”, Scott said.

“I’ve always liked him as a player, even when he was in college”, Bryant said.

At both the AT&T Center in San Antonio and Toyota Center in Houston, fans in purple-and-gold shirts packed the stands and chanted the future Hall of Famer’s name while cheering him on at the top of their lungs.

“I hope to see him there”, Silver said in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio. “We’ve got to do a better job of trusting each other on defense. A lot of times, it’s not very pleasing for my teammates to go through”. “You know it don’t last forever, but you want it to”. He suffered a mild ankle sprain after stepping on Andrew Wiggins’ foot and eventually returned to the floor, but was on the sideline throughout the fourth and overtime. Bryant was sharp in his first tour on the court, tallying 3 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the first quarter.

Terrence Jones made a layup at the end of the third after Corey Brewer blocked a shot by Bryant, giving the Rockets a 91-76 advantage. But enough throat clearing. “But on the basketball court, it’s my responsibility to get us to a championship level come hell or high water”. After a 30-4 Houston run, the Rockets led 51-29. Bryant took full responsibility for this.

A few days later, Aldridge chose to move from Portland to the Spurs and on Friday night gave the Lakers plenty to talk about.

He made five three-pointers and 11-of-12 free throws while contributing nine rebounds and seven assists as Houston won for the fourth time in five games. Both for fans and, presumably, the outgoing Bryant.

“Every game is different”, Popovich said when asked about starting Simmons in the second half. Last year’s No. 7 overall pick Julius Randle scored 20 points, which was his second-best mark of the season. While he was close to a double-double, he shot just 3-of-11 from the field and drew harsh criticism from Scott.

He said he’s also at peace sitting out of the fourth quarter, even when he has been playing well, as was the case Saturday.