Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers trail the Sacramento Kings at halftime, 49-40, as the absence of Andrew Bynum continues to affect the Laker offense. Bryant leads all Laker scorers with 12 points, but is only 4-11. LA's most consistent scorer has been Meta World Peace, who singlehandedly kept the Lakers in the game at the start of the second quarter, and is shooting 5-7 from the field.
The Kings are shooting better than 50% from the field, and Tyreke Evens leads the team with 12 points. Despite having a nine point lead, the Kings only have the one player in double digit scoring. It's been good team basketball as eleven players have made it onto the court and ten of them appear on the scoresheet.
In contrast, the Lakers have had only seven players score, and three of those players have just two points. The team is shooting just 36% from the floor, and with Kobe Bryant, Meta World Peace, and Troy Murphy essentially carrying the team on their own, a comeback is going to be difficult. It's important to keep in mind that four of Bryant's points are from the free throw line.
The Lakers need something to click in the second half, and they need it to click right away. The Lakers are 1-10 from behind the three point line, but are out rebounding the Kings. If the Lakers can find their shooting stroke, there's a chance the game could be turned around. However, there was little evidence of that happening in the first half.