Kobe Bryant Surprised Himself to Be Leading NBA All-Star Voting

On Saturday night, they figured out a solid formula for compensating for the injured all-star forward. He ended the night with 19 points, having a quiet second half after sitting out the entire second and fourth quarters.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Kobe Bryant scored 14 points in the first quarter, but got little help from his Los Angeles Lakers teammates.

“Their defense was really good in the first half in terms of limiting our 3s”, Redick said. “So at times we get stubborn trying to do it ourselves instead of just moving the ball”.

In voting for three spots in the West front-court starting lineup, Bryant sets the pace followed by Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant on 349,473 and the Clippers’ Blake Griffin on 182,107 with Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs in fourth on 164,521.

The Grizzlies put up 62 points in the first half alone, ending the night with seven players notching double-digit scoring.

Randolph had his most productive game since joining the reserves with 18 points and 12 rebounds in 33 minutes at Charlotte on Saturday and has scored in double figures in three straight games.

The Clippers announced earlier in the day that Griffin, the team’s leading scorer, is expected miss at least two weeks with a partially torn left quadriceps tendon. Just as things appeared to turn the corner, the player the Clippers could arguably least afford to lose would be grounded for at least two weeks. Though Kobe is only averaging 17.2 points per game on 34.5 percent shooting this season (25.7 percent from three-point range on an unruly 7.2 attempts per game), he’s been much better lately. Outside of Josh Smith, there isn’t a true power forward on the roster, and Doc Rivers said prior to Friday’s game that Smith had played his way out of the rotation.

The Los Angeles Clippers have largely fallen short of preseason expectations heading into the 2015-16 National Basketball Association season.

“Nothing different”, Lakers coach Byron Scott said of Bryant. “It was the communication”. While the game hardly seemed in doubt at any stage past the first quarter, the second quarter featured the Grizzlies jumping out to a double-digit margin and never looking back.

Obviously, the Clippers can’t replace someone of Griffin’s caliber, so it’ll fall to their other stars – most notably, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan – to pick up the slack. Larry Nance Jr. had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points and D’Angelo Russell finished with 10. “There’s always players that deserve to make it that don’t”, Bryant said.

But Scott argued Bryant would “probably be pretty stiff and sore” had Scott given Bryant shorter periods between play and rest. I was able to do that.