Kobe clears another milestone, begins 20th Lakers season

As the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers ended their moment of silence for Flip Saunders prior to Wednesday’s season opener, heralded rookie Karl-Anthony Towns pointed toward the heavens to the coach he never got to play for.

The Lakers lost to a Minnesota Timberwolves squad with Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio leading the way with a career-high 28 points and 14 assists. That they did it against the storied Lakers, which are built a lot like the Timberwolves as they have Randle and Russell as the future of the franchise surrounded by veterans including Kobe Bryant.

“How much rope I give him is really going to depend on him”, Scott said.

He continued to aggressive offensively in the second quarter as he went 4-of-6 shooting in the period, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

Bryant wasn’t gun shy in the third quarter launching from beyond the arc taking 5-of-6 attempt from 3-point range, including four misses from downtown. Bryant had 24 points on 8-for-24 shooting in the loss, missing his final eight shots down the stretch as Minnesota rallied. “My timing will come back but I felt good”. “When I let it go, I thought it was a bucket”, Williams said after the contest.

It was an encouraging performance from Bryant, especially with the fact that he didn’t show any limitations in his right leg. This will continue to be something to watch as the season rolls on. They also have a cast of quality players like Williams, Roy Hibbert, and Nick Young, who are more than capable of shouldering the burden of scoring points. After a free throw by guard Andrew Wiggins, Clarkson’s bucket pulled Los Angeles within one. I don’t know what it was on the court but we just seemed to have Coach Saunders on our side.

His rookie teammate D’Angelo Russell was a mere infant when Bryant debuted in the league.

Aside from knocking down his first field goal in his National Basketball Association career on a 22-foot jumper from the left wing with 2:01 left in the quarter, Russell remained a non-factor outside of an assist on a layup by Brandon Bass. “It’s just going to take a few time”.

It’s the same two things that would screw over any basketball team no matter what level of play they found themselves in.

Lakers assistant coach Mark Madsen spent more time with Saunders, who coached him from 2003-05 with the Timberwolves. “I was trying to run the offense and be aggressive”.

As I got her dressed last Sunday morning I grabbed a bib off the top of the pile that no longer fit. Sacramento had 18 turnovers with 12 coming in the first half.

Cousins led the Kings with 32 points and 13 rebounds and even displayed his outside touch by knocking down four three-pointers, a new aspect to his game.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points in his first regular-season game since February.

“It different, difficult”, Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell said before the game. “I’ve always dreamed about being with one organization, and being with this organization as a kid”. Unfortunately, they came up just short, falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 112-111.