Last night's triple-overtime thriller at Staples Center was quite a game. That the Lakers won helped ease the sting of blowing a 21-point lead with under 17 minutes to play, but even had they lost to the Suns it was a wild ride. The Lakers prevailed 139-137, in what was the third three-OT game in the NBA this season, and the first triple-OT Lakers home game since February 1969.
Just how did the Lakers build that 21-point lead in the first place? C.A. Clark of Silver Screen Roll explained:
In short, every big name player the Lakers are blessed with did their part in driving an extremely potent offensive attack. Kobe Bryant had 26 points on 9-14 shots through three quarters. Lamar Odom had 21 points on 9-11. Pau Gasol had 20 points on 8-18 shooting (what a chucker, amirite?). By and large, these were not dunks or layups caused by poor Suns defense. These were jumpers, open jumpers mind you, but jumpers none the less. And nearly every single one of them went down. There are shoot arounds that don't go this well. The Lakers (and Suns for that matter) were ripping the nets so often with drained jump shots that they may have caused a nylon shortage the likes of which we haven't seen since World War II.
The Suns are three games out of a playoff spot with 13 games remaining. The folks at Bright Side of the Sun had a rather bleak recap of last night's game:
This loss pretty much sums up the story of the season for these Phoenix Suns; getting off to a decent start, falling away, making a comeback, taking a brief lead, giving it up again, fighting to get it back and never giving up, but falling short in the end.
The Lakers have two days of rest before hosting the Clippers on Friday night. This is where the benefit of being home for nearly three straight weeks is realized.
For more news on the Lakers or tonight's game, be sure to read Silver Screen and Roll.