4:53 - Arenas feeds a cutting Antawn Jamison right next to the rack for a layup.  In the category of "things that came too easily," I offer that sequence.

3:47 - Smush misses a three, the rebound goes to Arenas, tosses it to Jamsion, who finds a streaking Deshawn Stevenson for a dunk.  20-12 Wiz.  Time out Lakers.  I can't read Phil's lips from here, but I imagine the speech has something to do with the fact that Washington is supposedly the porous defensive team, not the Lakers.  And oh yeah.  Maybe a few less threes.

3:32 - Kwame throws down a thunder dunk.  That's not a three.  It goes down.  Go figure.  But the memo seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as Luke Walton and Smush follow with more misses from downtown.

1:14 - Deshawn Stevenson goes to the rack for the (eventually unconverted) and one.  Jordan Farmar and Andrew Bynum check in.  At least the latter is unlikely to bomb treys all night.

.23 - Bynum ends up with Jarvis Hayes guarding him on the mismatch.  Somehow, he can't move on the block without walking.  Missed opportunity.

Arenas drains a three in Farmar's face, then pressures the rook into a bad shot to end the quarter.  26-10 Washington.  If the Lakers wanna make this thing work, they need to clamp down considerably when Washington has the ball and not chuck so much when they do.  We shall see.  BK's now in control.

SECOND QUARTER--

They're playing the clip where the Lakers sing Jingle Bells on the Jumbotron.  Now that is painful.  Although Brian Cook's performance is pretty energetic, if nothing else.  He's flush with holiday spirit.

10:28- After Kobe cuts the WAS lead to five, he hits a turnaround over Hayes to cut it back to three.  Hayes, by the way, is wearing black socks pulled up to his knees, which only makes those hideous outfits they're wearing look worse.  Kobe hits a third in bwetween a Washington three pointer. 

9:00- Caron takes it strong to the hole.  Wiz by six. 

8:27- Kobe puts a mean crossover on someone named Roger Mason Jr., on the way to the hoop he got fouled, but damn, that was pretty sick.  I can't even do that on Sega.

7:00- That whole sequence with Kobe was wieid. He got bumped up top, looked for the foul, didn't get it, glared at the ref, then drove into traffic and turned the ball over.  Not the best thing he'll do tonight. 

Walton hits a shot from the the wing on what looked like a totally broken possession.

6:09- Turiaf, Radmanovic enter for Walton and Bynum. 

5:45- Radmanovic hits another three.  PJ said before the game that one of his major objections to how he's been playing is that Vlad Rad has taken too many shots outside the flow of the offense.  Not tonight.  Three consecutive threes that have all come off good ball movement and have been shot in the flow of everything.  13 points in 13 minutes.  That'll likely keep him on the court for a whole lot longer than the 15 he played against Houston.  Assuming the defense is good.  Or at least tolerable. 

5:05- No Kobe on the floor, and you can see nearly every set of fingers in this place cross. These are the moments without LO that are that much more nerve-racking.  There's a lot of passing on the perimeter, but not necessarily much flow to the whole thing.  Nobody draws away the defense's attention, which makes it harder for the supporting cast. 

Mo Evans with a jumper. 

3:53- Turiaf fouls Antonio Daniels hard on one trip, then Brian cook gives Gilbert Arenas a little shove under the hoop.  Maybe someone was watching too much SportsCenter last night?  Or the beard has him feeling a little macho.  That's  a T.  Lakers down by 10 after that, 12 after the next freebies.  I'm not a fan of this "fall behind every night" thing they're rolling with these days. 

Third quarter run?  Anyone? 

2:55- Britney walks by again.  Guess she wants to get in the front of the concessions line before halftime. 

2:40- Like the drive by Walton.  Haywood got a ton of ball, but it looked like he got some body, too.  The Lakers need people other than Kobe to attack the rack. 

Kwame with a brick on the other end, after a Haywood layup gives the Wiz a 12 point lead; 15 after a Jamieson three. I can't type fast enough to keep up.  Not a good sign.   

:34- Kobe hits a three, then Smush almost gives it back after he gets picked off on a high screen, leaving Arenas wide open for a three.  Luckily, he missed.  Kwame gets fouled, misses them, then gets the rebound.  Good thing, too, because Kobe hit a three.

Cuts the lead to 10....

Nice hands by Cook on Arenas, who was setting up for a final shot in the first half.  Big play, too, since it kept the lead to ten. Smush launched a three from beyond half court with three seconds left on the clock. Clearly he had no idea how much time was left after the scramble on the steal.

Halftime- The Lakers are down by 10, and fairly fortunate to be there, since they're not putting up much resistence defensively.  59 points?  Not what they're looking for. If the trend holds, they'll make a big Q3 run, but that's not something you want to rely on game to game.  Going on the road, this isn't a game they want to lose. 

Second half coming up, with AK at the helm.

Third Quarter

10:59 - Deshawn Stevenson hits a jumper with Kobe's hand in his face.  And when I say "in his face," I mean, touching his face.  Stevenson actually stopped while trying to break Kobe down, yelled "hey," and looked at the ref.

9:32 - Why Stevenson is beefing with Smush is beyond me.  Smush fouled him to prevent the breakaway layup, but held him the whole time so Deshawn wouoldn't lose his balance.  Must be remnents of last night's nonsense in the Garden.

9:07 - Kobe's open for a trey.  He hits it.  Word to the Washington wise.  You might wanna rush him a little more.

John McEnroe just walks past.  He's the rare athlete that not only didn't get fat after retiring, he's actually like, Nicole Richie-thin.  I guess he lost his appetite after watching his now cancelled talk show. 

6:52 - Stevenson hits a jumper, then blows on his hand to signify how "hot" it is. Were I Deshawn, I'd be using that hand to repeatedly slap my own forehead, since he's now making less than a mil a year after turning down a 3 year/10 mil offer to stay in Orlando.

5:58 - I know that behind the back pass from Kobe was a hot potato, but Kwame needed to be more ready.

5:36 - Mark this moment on your calender, because you likely won't see it happen again this season:  Kobe blows a dunk.

4:13 - Kobe drains another trey, cutting the Wizard lead to six. He follows it up with a steal on the ensuing possession, then watches his trey attempt rattle in and out.  But the New Jack Bauer continues making it happen, drawing a charge on Caron Butler. 
 
2:48 - Tired of being the only Laker scoring baskets, Kobe feeds Bynum with a sweet bounce pass in the paint for a huge dunk.  On the other end, Bynum puts a huge block on Arenas, but fouls him as well.

"Hollywood Nights" part of the evening:  They flash Britney Spears on the jumbotron.  She gets a mix of cheers and boos.  Apparently, flashing your crotch for the paparazzi isn't the guaranteed career boost one would assume. For what it's worth, she looks pretty good.

1:31 - After draining a trey, Farmar follows up on the next possession by whipping a bounce pass to Bynum for an "and one" drawing (and converting) play.  Very sweet.

It's a block party here at Staples.  After Mo Evans blocks a streaking Antawn Jamison's reverse layup, Bynum and Vlad use the next possession to follow suit on James Lang.

I apologize for missing the quarter's last 30-ish seconds.  Britney just walked past. Her shirt was wiiiiiiiiide open.  Like, three buttons wide open.  Black bra.  Racktastic.  I wouldn't mind it if she hit me one more time.

Anyhoo, here's BK for the final 12 minutes.

FOURTH (and final) QUARTER-

My advice?  Cover Arenas. 

10:08- He hits a huge shot in the lane over Evans.  Can't do much about that.  Mo d'ed him up about as good as anyone could have in that situation.  He just made the shot. 

9:49-  You just get the feeling something weird is going to have to happen for the Lakres to win this one.  They're just not playing good enough defense.  Butler does a nice job creating space on Walton in the lane then making the jumper. 

Walton helps out my fantasy team with a steal nad an assist.  That's what we want. 

8:29- Arenas to the line, likely to make it a 14 point game.  Kobe comes back in (about a minute or two later than they may need, but on the other hand, he can't play 48 a night).

8:04- Just out of curiosity, why is Sasha in the game right now?  Just throwing that out there.  He misses two shots on the offensive end, then lets Butler blow by him on the other. Not a good sequence.  Then he was on Jarvis Hayes, who shook him but Sasha was bailed out by Bynum underneath. 

7:07- Walton with a three, and it's back to 11. Timeout Lakers.  If the run is going to happen, it needs to happen quickly.  The clock is starting to work against them. Mind you, this isn't a call to have them start launching threes for the next seven minutes.   Attack the rim! 

Shocker!  The Carls Jr. Star of the Game?  Kobe.  Ah, it's all one big popularity contest.

6:47-  Cook fouls Jamison, but that didn't look like much of a bump. 

5:58- Bynum with a good move inside and draws a foul on Haywood.  He's playing a nice game (although he was late on the help, there).  In a game where the opposition doesn't have an inside presence, he's probably a better option at times than Kwame.  There's nobody to shut down in the post one on one, and Bynum gives them a little offense, and plenty of shot blocking presence. 

Farmar layup off a Bynum block, and it's a six point game....

Kwame back in the game. They have to keep getting the ball to the hoop in one one way or the other- turnover

Hell of a block by Kobe to prevent the easy layup.  Clean, too. 

4:15- Wow.  Kobe played that tight on Arenas, who hit the fallaway anyway.  It looked like Kobe got him on the hand, despite the fact 24 didn't like the call. Which is not all that surprising, really.

3:30- Sasha in for Farmar. I admit, I don't get that. 

2:24- Sasha drills a three, then gives two back with a foul up top.  From the crowd... "Sasha, you suck!"  Gilbert Arenas just flashed the "Get out of my way, I'm being guarded by Sasha Vujacic" signal to his teammates, leading to a Radmanovic foul after he was beaten off the dribble. 

Again, I don't get that move.

1:40- Okay, this one's basically over for everyone except the gamblers, and fantasy players.  Lots of threes, but they're actually shooting from a high percentage there.  So I'm gonna go with NO DEFENSE as one of your larger issues.

Okay, maybe not over, as Walton hits a layup with about :45 seconds left. Though a Cook foul sends Arenas to the line, for Washington's 44th and 45th foul shots... he misses the first (huge break) then makes the second.  45 free throws?  I'm thinking the Lakers are struggling to play D without fouling.

:24.1- Unbelievable. Kobe gets an and one, drawing a foul on the drive from Jamison.  The FT makes it a two point game.  I can't believe they're in this game. 

Stevenson misses the second freebie....

Cook hits what was, quite frankly, a miracle three.  Unbelievable.  Tie game. I guess this is what I get for calling it too early. 

126-126.  Apparently when the Wiz wear ABA style jerseys, you get an ABA style game.

Arenas misses the shot at the buzzer, and we're going to overtime.  Another late night at the office. Cook has made one shot tonight. I'd say it was a big one. Now I can't even ask PJ why he put Sasha in, becuase it clearly didn't hurt.  They tied the game. 

OVERTIME-

Here we go. They're blasting The Final Countdown.  Love that rif, for guilty pleasure purposes.

4:46-  Sasha got hosed there.  He fouled Butler long before the act of shooting but they gave him the FTs anyway.  Considering how many times the Wiz have been to the line tonight, it was probably force of habit.

Fifth foul on Kobe.  That's five on 24, five on Walton, and five on Rad.  They may want to wrap this one up before double overtime. 

Six on Haywood.  Calvin Booth enters, confirming Calvin Booth is still in the league.  Good for him.  Walton makes two freethrows, and its a tie game with three minutes left. 

Arenas drives- they're taking a chance by putting Kobe on him- and picks up the third foul on Bynum.  This is his 21st and 22nd time at the line.  Misses the second, and he's stuck on 49 points. 

2:30- Walton fouls out. 15/8/11.  Pretty nice game.  Arenas gets his 50th point.

Sasha hits a huge three, giving the Lakers a one point lead.  Arenas gives them a one pont lead, driving by Kobe who can't foul because he's got five.  Arenas get an and-one, driving the lane and getting the pass from Butler.  Bynum with a foul.  Arenas makes it a four point game with the FT.  Timeout Lakers.

:26- Kobe hits a layup, but it's likely all for naught.  Down by five, Washington with the ball. They can't give it away twice, can they?  They are Washington. Although in what can only be described as a sign that morale is flagging, Andy Garcia has left the building.

:23.2- Radmanovic fouls out.  He goes out with 27. Honestly, that thing the Laker Girls do when the other team fouls out, I kind of wish they'd do it all the time. It's that good a move.

Butler can ice it here, more or less. But he leaves the door open a crack by missing the first.... hits the second.  Wiz by six.  Need a three.

And that's the end of the ballgame. Arenas finishes with 60.  Kobe scored 45, and wasn't the leading scorer. That doesn't happen often.  Wizards win 147-141.  Missed opportunity for sure, especially after they pushed it to OT. 

More on the game to come.  Thanks for following along.

BK