Kings blow big lead, beat Lakers in Kobe’s Sacramento finale

However, Russell won’t show his true capabilities until Scott is gone from the team. Kobe Bryant made 10 of 18 shots and was 6-for-8 on free throws finishing the game with 28 points.

After Kings center DeMarcus Cousins knocked down two free throws, Lakers guard Louis Williams missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, preventing Los Angeles forward Kobe Bryant from walking away victorious in his final visit to the state capital. The Kings next play the Warriors on Saturday and then get a four day break before taking on the Pelicans.

Even though Russell didn’t make an impact Friday, there was plenty of pre-game chatter about his career-high 27 points Thursday.

“I was hoping that our young players, in conjunction with the veterans that we added, and Kobe at full health, would lead to a better record than what we have today”, he said.

The Chicago Bulls consolidated their second spot in the Eastern Conference with a sixth straight victory, downing the Boston Celtics 101-92.

It was surprisingly close, a much better effort than their other two games against the Thunder. That’s a feat the Bulls hadn’t accomplished since the 1995-96 season when Michael Jordan led the team.

He said the defense from the guards has to continue to progress. “Playing soccer growing up, you really see the game in combinations of threes, sometimes fours and how you play within triangles and how you [move] on the opposite side of the field and working on the backside”. Even after he made his announcement, courtesy of a poetic letter to basketball on The Players’ Tribune, it didn’t seem real to us. The in-tune Bulls had an appreciative audience in Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, a friend of Gasol’s who attended the game. Houston, who defeated the Jazz 93-91 in Salt Lake City on Monday, scored 64 points in the second half, connecting on 65.7 percent of their shots from the floor. The Lakers trailed, 102-86 at the end of the third quarter. “I’m just sticking with the lineup that I think has been pretty competitive the last 15 or so games”. “… In the second half we got outworked, outfought, and we were fortunate enough to have such a big lead and we saved it at the end against a team that’s probably having similar problems”. Kosta Koufos dropped in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, but again, it could have been more. Kevin Durant added 24 points and seven rebounds in the win.

Dinwiddie has played in nine games for the Pistons this season and is averaging 4.4 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists. The Kings opened January with a 142-119 win over Phoenix before coming from behind to earn the franchise’s first ever win at Oklahoma City on Monday and fighting Dallas to the final buzzer on Tuesday. The Rockets’ Dwight Howard sat out with lower back tightness. He replaced Nick Young as the last Lakers player not named Bryant with 40-plus points (41 points, April 2014 vs. Utah). Center Rudy Gobert played for the first time since spraining a left knee ligament on Nov 30.