The Los Angeles Lakers won their sixth straight home game on Sunday night, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 90-82 at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant led the team with 26 points and nine assists, but this recap will focus on the double-double trio of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Matt Barnes.
Since Gasol became a Laker in February 2008, there have been seven games in which three Lakers have had double-doubles, including Sunday night, and Gasol has been involved in all but one:
| Lakers Games With 3 Double-Doubles In The Gasol Era | |||||
| Date | Opp | Result | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 |
| 1/8/12 | Mem | Win | Gasol, 13/15 | Bynum, 15/15 | Barnes, 15/10 |
| 3/22/11 | Pho | Win (3 OT) | Gasol, 24/13 | Kobe, 42/12 | Artest, 29/16 |
| 1/9/11 | NY | Win | Gasol, 20/14 | Kobe, 27/10 | Odom, 13/18 |
| 1/27/10 | at Ind | Win | Gasol, 21/13 | Bynum, 27/12 | Odom, 12/14 |
| 1/13/10 | at Dal | Win | Bynum, 22/11 | Odom, 18/14 | Artest, 16/11 |
| 12/19/09 | at NJ | Win | Gasol, 14/14 | Kobe, 29/10 | Odom, 14/13 |
| 3/4/08 | at Sac | Win | Gasol, 31/10 | Kobe, 34/10 | Odom, 19/12 |
| Source: Basketball-Reference.com | |||||
For Barnes, it was his second straight very productive performance. He played a season-high 35 minutes, two days after playing a season-high 30 minutes against Golden State. Barnes hit a couple of three-pointers, had a steal, and even blocked three shots. Much like he helped frustrate Monta Ellis on Friday night, Barnes played a hand in make Rudy Gay work for his points on Sunday. Gay did score 19, but he also took 19 shots in doing so.
Bynum has just continued his excellent start to his season. He has played six games, and has grabbed at least 12 rebounds in each one. He has five double-doubles, and was a single point away from making it six for six. Through six games, Bynum is averaging 18.8 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks, while shooting 53.6% from the field and a true shooting percentage of 55.1%.
Bynum did make just five of 14 from the field on Sunday, his second straight game struggling to find his shot, as he is at 34.8% (eight for 23) in the last two contests. Still, on the whole Bynum has been very effective in the early going.
Gasol, in beating his brother Marc Gasol for the eighth time in 11 meetings, took only eight shots from the field en route to his 13-point, 15-rebound performance. Gasol on the season has been very efficient this season, making over half of his field goal attempts in every game but one (the opener against Chicago), and on the year is shooting 57.6% with a true shooting percentage of 61.4%, his highest mark since putting up a 61.7% true shooting percentage in the 2008-2009 season.
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