Kobe Bryant after playing 36 minutes: ‘I’m barely standing up’

“I’m really, really hoping the East becomes a powerful force and the West becomes like the East has been”. “We still didn’t get a chance to go through it like we wanted to, where he was going to play both”. “It would be great to play in that environment”.

“He (Seraphin) gets the game ball”, said Anthony. Dallas guard Deron Williams responded with a jumper to extend the lead to 76-72. The guy has had a heavy workload on this trip – the two wins we got were largely him taking over late in the game. “We had miscommunications and didn’t execute down the stretch”.

He played 36 minutes against the Pistons, throwing in almost all of the fourth quarter.

The Lakers and Bryant got off to a fast start, building a 19-9 lead midway through the first quarter. Bryant doesn’t want a farewell tour, he’s already talked up playing for Team US in the Olympics this summer, and he’s yet to confirm retirement plans even though just about everyone around him (including the team that signed him to a two-year, $48.5 million extension) seems to be urging him to wrap it up in a tidy package. But again L.A. failed to close a quarter.

The Lakers were buoyed early by Metta World Peace and Roy Hibbert (6-6 between them, 3 of them on long range jumpers).

“Today was poor shooting?” Let me have it. Tonight they didn’t. Jordan Clarkson was the game’s high scorer, finishing with 21 points. Besides Bryant, only Lou Williams finished in double digits with 10 points. Julius Randle tops in rebounds while Marcelo Huertas averages 3.2 assists per game. “So coming up with those is big”.

The Lakers’ five-game road trip ends with one win and four losses, as they have now dropped four straight games and have fallen to 1-8 on the season.

The Suns have won eight in a row at home over the Lakers and swept the four-game series last season while averaging 115.5 points and shooting 50.0 percent. According to reports, the veteran Lakers’ star didn’t travel to Phoenix with the team. He played his high school basketball in the Dallas suburb of Plano….

Heading into this season, there was a bit of uncertainty of how he would play alongside in the backcourt with rookie guard D’Angelo Russell. Defensively, the Mavericks yield 103.5 points per game against the opposing teams. However, despite a near triple-double Bryant has been playing too many minutes and if he expects to finish the season on the court and not on the bench in crutches and/or in pain then him and Coach Byron Scott must make a decision soon. Well, much of that is because of his inconsistencies and the fact that he hasn’t been given extensive minutes, particularly in the fourth quarter when winning time comes.

“I don’t think we’re getting enough quality shots but we’re also not making the ones that we get”, Van Gundy said.