Westbrook, Durant lead Thunder past Lakers

I understand, you’re a fan and you bought your ticket which in my opinion gives you the right to boo or cheer as loud as you want.

Chris Paul scored 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 94-84 on Friday night to end a three-game skid and win their eighth straight against their Staples Center co-tenants.

Based on Bryant’s retirement declaration, this will be his final Christmas Day game – he won’t go quietly.

The Thunder have won eight of their last nine battles that include beating Los Angeles teams twice in a row. In his sophomore season, Clarkson started out playing more off-the-ball but still remained the Lakers’ most consistent player to start the season. In an example of effort not always directly translating to effectiveness, Barton responded with a crossover dribble that lead to him easily leaving Bryant in the dust and forced to (probably) foul Barton in an infraction that went uncalled. I can get to the spots I want to get to – not as quickly as I want to get to them, but I can get there. “The damn cat’s not going to bark. So there’s no sense in yelling at it”.

The Lakers trailed by only 11 at halftime Wednesday. After the Thunder dismantled the Lakers on Wednesday night, Kevin Durant stated that “great players elevate your game, elevate the team, and [Kobe’s] one of those guys” during his post-game chat with reporters.

It appeared early on that the Thunder wouldn’t even let the game get close even for a second, as they built up a 25-to-10 lead in the first quarter, but OKC struggled to maintain a large lead once the second unit checked in for the starters. So every little thing gets blown out of proportion because he rubbed people the wrong way. “That’s just the honest-to-goodness truth”, he added.

Bryant is the leading scorer in NBA All-Star Game history with 280 points and he ranks second in All-Star appearances behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 19.

Bryant said they told him, “It looked like you’re going to shoot”. On one play in the 3rd quarter Kobe ran down the court looking my grandpa. To Bryant’s detriment, he faded from there and finished with 19 points on seven-for-22 shooting (31.8 percent).

The Turkish centre had 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, with Russell Westbrook top-scoring for the Thunder with 23 points ahead of Kevin Durant (21 points).

The 65th NBA All-Star game will be played in Toronto on Feb 14. He played for the first time in five games after missing Saturday’s 40-point loss at Oklahoma City with a sore right shoulder.

There were a few highlights in the rematch, mostly from Bryant.