9:43- Hawes gets down low, posting on Kobe in the mismatch, and dumps the ball into the basket.  PJ quickly calls timeout.  he didn't like that. 

9:31- Kings are zoning up early, but you can see the difference in how the Lakers can attack it with Gasol in the lineup.  They're able to get the ball inside, Gasol to LO, and Odom draws the foul on Moore, then goes to the line and makes both.  5-4 Sacramento.

8:20- Gasol gets a great feed by the hoop from Kobe, but doesn't go up strong enough and Hawes blocks him from behind.  It ends up a run out for sacto, and Martin gets the foul call on the other end. 

Kobe goes inside for a spinning layup.  Thus far, the Lakers have attacked the basket, just as they did on Friday.  I'm not sure they've taken anything more than a mid-range jumper at this point.

5:34- Timout on the floor, 16-12 Sacramento. The Lakers are doing what they want to do offensively, getting the ball inside and not relying on shots from outside.  Unfortunately, they're also a little sloppy (as evidenced by the Fisher turnover on the last play, looking for Pau and missing.  By a lot.  Three TOs already, and other loose plays that have let the Kings get out and run.  A few stops, and they'll be able to take some control of this one.   

Vlad triple makes it 17-16 LAL.

4:20- Lo picks up his second, and PJ chooses to leave him in. A calculated risk, certainly.

2:56- Lakers down 20-17 coming out of the TO, and the seconds will get some burn.  Sasha, Ronny, and Farmar in for Fish, LO, and Vlad.  And they kick things off with a TO leading to a Kings bucket.  Faboo.

1:56- Great block by Ronny on Artest, coming over from the weak side to swat the attempt away.  That's when Ronny is best defensively, when he can roam and come across to help on other shooters.

END OF THE FIRST: The Kings turn the ball over with 2.1 left in the half, and PJ (about 15 feet away from me) barks "Vladdy!" to put him back in the game.  Good call.  He gets the inbound and drills the three at the buzzer.  Before that, Kobe had made a great play to Gasol, drawing the double then lobbing the ball over the top to Gasol, who out reached the Kings defenders for a layup.  That's a five point swing at the end of the quarter, turning what might have been a ten point lead (or so) for the Kings into a 27-23 ballgame. 

Overall, the Lakers didn't play particularly well in the first.  On offense, they actually were overpassing a little, making things more complicated than they needed to be.  That's where a lot of the six TOs came from.  Six TOs means easy points for any team, let alone one that runs like the Kings. 

They'll need to shore things up on both ends.

SECOND QUARTER:

Vlad makes another three, and the Lakers are tied at 28.  When he's knocking down shots, Vladdy can really change games.

9:35- Brief scare for the Lakers, as the officials whistled Lamar for his third foul, on Hawes under the basket, loose ball style.  Except he wasn't within contact distance of him.  It was Ronny.  Fortunately for the Lakers, the officials conferred and got it right.

8:47- Pau in the post to Sasha at midrange- he buries it, and the Lakers are up 32-28. 

8:32- Damn!  I was planning on writing something about the game, but during the timeout they played this tick tac toe game on the court for cash.  Not just $50 bucks or something, but the winner was handed 10 $100 bills.  A grand!  For making some layups.  They don't eff around in this building when it comes to giveaways, I guess.

Out of the break, Kobe gets a breather.  Vlad, LO, Farmar, Gasol, and Sasha in for the Lakers.

6:21- Kobe back in, LA up by three. Great play by Farmar in the last sequence.  He had a chance to put up a triple with Hawes relatively close, adn you could see he thought about it... but then backed off, set the offense back up, and the Lakers were able to get the ball inside to LO. Last week, he'd have shot that ball. 

Newble in, and guards Artest.

Apropos to nothing in particular, if you get a chance to watch a Kings broadcast, their sideline reporter is hot.  Just thought I'd put that out there.

4:47- Newble called for a foul away from the ball, and Artest goes to the line.  Phantom call, it seemed, and I can tell you Ronny didn't like the call. I can't tell you what he said, but trust me, he ddin't like the call. 

3:05- LO picks up his third, as Martin comes down on him after taking the jumper.  Not sure where the foul was, and it was certainly long after the shot came.  That's thre on LO, and he'll have to sit the reast of th ehalf.  45-39, LAL.  Important minutes for the Lakers.

First trip, Kobe drives and lobs to Gasol as the double comes.  Pau again can't explode up to the hoop, but still has enough on it to draw the foul.  I don't think he's got the lift yet to make those powerful moves to the basket.  Either way, he'll go to the line with a chance to put the Lakers up by seven.

2:15- Another three from Radmanovic.  That makes him 3-5 on the night, and he's tossed in eight boards to boot.  This box score is being sent home to momma, I would think.

1:27- Kobe sinks two FTs, and the Lakers are up by ten, 51-41.  They're geting it done on both ends in the second quarter, erasing a four point deficit and taking control of the game. 

:50- Ticky tack call on Newble, who might have nudged Martin on a moving screen, but it didn't seem like a lot of harm. 

END OF THE HALF:

Well, that wasn't very smart.  Fish tries to body up Anthony Johnson with 1.7 left, for reasons I don't quite understand.  They call the foul, and instead of a desperation three, Anthony Johnson goes to the line for two FTs, which he makes.  That takes the Lakers lead down to six, and puts a little damper on what was otherwise a good Q2 for LAL.  They outscored the Kings 28-18, and continue to be aggressive and go to the hole.  17 FTs in the first half, a great number on the other team's floor. 

They didn't start th egame wel (what else is new?) but made some progress over the second 12.  13 points for Vladdy in the first half.  How about that?

More to come.

THIRD QUARTER:

10:40- The Lakers score the first seven points of the quarter, and Reggie Theus has to use a quick TO before this one gets totally out of hand.  As is, the Lakers have taken what theoretically could have been a close game adn blown it up a little. 

9:47- Kobe to the line, after the Lakers force a TO from the Kings.  He makes one of two, and now the Lakers have outscored the Kings 11-2 coming out of the locker room.  They've really dropped the hammer on them.  15 point lead.  All they need to do now is sustain the pressure for a few more minutes, and they'll have a handle on it.

Kobe drills a three, and the lead is up to 16.  Great ball movement in the half from the Lakers, excellent defense as well. 

8:30- Artest hits a three, and the Kings get a little momentum, but the Lakers come right back as Vlad gets inside, then feeds LO for an easy layup.  On the next trip, Kobe hits Gasol cutting along the left baseline for a bucket. 

6:31- LO hits Gasol on the break, and the Lakers are up by 20. They're 9-9 in the quarter with nine dimes.  Hard to do much better than that.  Nobody stopped LO down the floor, and it was a simple feed to Gasol by the basket. 

5:50- 10 of 10, as Kobe hits the jumper coming off the screen.  The Lakers did a great job cutting Artest off, and blocking him as Kobe came around.  Great play off the ball.

Vlad misses, ending the perfect streak.  Bench him! (haha).

76-60 LAL.

3:07- Lakers up 17, off a Vladdy triple.  (I guess he redeemed himself).  They've done everything they needed to do and more in this quarter, basically coming out and ending any hope of a comeback for Sacramento.  Kobe with 14 in the quarter. 

Out of the TO, Sasha and Farmar in, Vlad and Fish out.

2:34- Farmar drilled by Garcia, who had turned his ankle on the previous trip up and needed a whistle.  I doubt he was trying to hit him in the face, but he needed to get off the court. 

:53- Great pas from Sasha to LO as the shot clock was running down.  I thought he was going to take the off balance leaner, but instead Sasha made an aggressive bounce pass to a cutting LO for a layup right as the clock expired.  Great awareness.

END OF THE THIRD:

Vlad caps off a great quarter with one more jumper off the inbound.  That puts a final stamp on what was a totally dominating Q3 for the Lakers.  They hit their first 10 shots, each with an assist, kept the pressure on when the Kings tried to fight their way back, and more or less put the game away, giving themselves an 18 point lead going into the fourth.

FOURTH QUARTER:

Newble, Farmar, LO, Ronny, and JF on the floor.

Ronny picks the foul, and you hear PJ say immediately, "No fouls, Ronny."  They don't want the Lakers giving anything back easily for the Kings.  Make them make shots.

Farmar then forces a steal, and goes the other way for the and-one.  Lakers up by 22. 

The Kings, killed early by penetration and inside play are now trying to pack in (the Lakers are still getting inside) but now the Lakers are killing them with open looks from midrange, too.  This one is firmly in hand, so hopefully Kobe and Pau, already on the bench, can stay there for the rest of the night.  Another five minutes and LO can sit down, too.

Less, if the Lakers continue to hit shots, as Sasha just did from the corner.

9:15- Lakers up 96-73.

7:25- Lakers give up 10 unanswered, and Kobe has to come back in.  Not what the Lakers wanted.

6:35- Turiaf picks up the foul, chopping down on Sheldon Williams, who makes the three point play, and suddenly the Lakers are up only by 12.  Pau back in.

6:03- Timeout on the floor.  Lakers up 98-86.  Still in control, but it looks like they'll need to play this one to its conclusion, and that means minutes for the starters it would have been nice to save.  Hopefully they can push it back up to 15 or more in the next couple minutes, and sit people down again.

3:15- Fish drills a three in the corner, and that's probably the game. Lakers up by 19, 107-88.

2:40- If that wasn't the dagger, Kobe's triple on the next trip down certainly was. Lakers by 22.  That'll likely get the starters out of the game for the night.  The Lakers got away with shoddy player movement in pushing the lead back up, but hey, why argue?  When the shots go down, I guess it's okay. 

Kobe's putting the sweats on.

1:15- Some crazy ass woman wearing- literally wearing- a "Kobe for MVP" sign just got shooed out of the aisle by the ushers as she was screaming "Kobe, we love you!" and trying to take a picture.

Wow.

1:00- Lakers up 114-90, but that's okay by the kid behind me, who is a huge Kings fan (he chastised me for being a Lakers writer: "This is ARCO Arena where the Kings play.  You should cheer for them.") but is too little to be into the nuances of scoreboard watching.

He's chanting "Lakers out, Lakers out." totally oblivious to the scoreboard.

FINAL SCORE: Lakers 114-92.  Not a great start, but the Lakers managed to kick it into gear from Q2 on.

More to come!

BK