Kevin Durant schools Julius Randle with spectacular layup

“The Lakers’ record is irrelevant at this point”, said Bob Corb, president of Realize Excellence Consulting and former sports psychology program director at the University of California, Los Angeles.

NOTES: Los Angeles F Kobe Bryant sat out with a sore shoulder.

“It’s just some soreness”, Scott said. We didn’t come to compete. It’s that thing of, ‘Kobe’s been around for a long time, I’ve hated him all these years and now I want to say goodbye to him. “No matter who it is – I try not to worry about it and just play my game”. Meanwhile, Russell, Clarkson and Julius Randle are expected to represent the Lakers’ long-term future.

Kobe Bryant dunked for the first time this season, with a driving dunk on youngster Clint Capela, and Kobe keeps looking more and more comfortable each game that goes on.

Bryant said that his legs feel great and that he feels as though he can maintain this higher level of play. Trevor Ariza got Bryant to sign a pair of Bryant’s shoes from their championship season together with the Lakers in 2009. OKC came out of the gates on a mission, and tore through the Lakers’ defense with reckless abandon-building up a 35-15 lead after just one quarter.

“I like took off and ran across the baseline, tried to get back before the ref saw me and, uh, I caught Denzel’s (Washington) attention and the ref caught me and I don’t know what we did”, Russell said, according to ESPN.

French big man Joakim Noah got his first start of the season for the Bulls and scored 21 points, while Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose both started for Chicago after playing more than 50 minutes each against Detroit. The Lakers as a team were 5-24 from beyond the arc, shooting a miserable 20 percent, as the Rockets were 38 percent from the 3-point line.

Durant led all scorers with 22 points despite not playing in the fourth quarter. Durant appreciated Bryant’s support after the Thunder’s star broke his right foot last season. He said he thought the injury happened before that but added “I’m sure that didn’t help”.

Bryant warmed up for Sunday’s game amidst even more than the usual swarm of camera phones and flashes surrounding the court.

He seemed pleased overall with the way Randle and Russell played since the demotion. For the first time all season, the Rockets held the lead from start to finish.

The problem with Kidd’s youth excuse is that the four players photographed at the strip club have a combined experience of 22 years, with the least experienced one being four years. “For a 37 year old to get up like that in 20 years in this league, that was pretty impressive”.