Hoot Of The Gods

Amanda Toy

Zoot Hoot

Joshua Carlton

Putting The Hoot In

Owltacular, Joe Capobianco!

Bryant lead stunning win over the Hawks

Kobe Bryant was the main atraction of the game. The crowd made it clear. And the applause for him continued after the game - in the Hawks' locker room. Bryant, mostly quiet through three quarters, scored nine straight fourth-quarter points to lead Los Angeles to a 90-83 win over Atlanta on Monday night. "You've got to give it to him," said Atlanta's Joe Johnson, who matched Bryant's 27 points but couldn't equal his fourth-quarter impact.

"I have to say that he made some great shots down the stretch, and I was draped all over him for some of them," Johnson honestly admitted.

Indeed, eleven of Bryant's 27 points came in the final period.

"He's a very good player; he's one of the best players who has played our game," said Atlanta coach Mike Woodson. "When he makes a 27-footer, falling away in the corner, you've got to come back on the other end and execute your offence."

As we know, the Hawks were only 4-of-9 from the free throw line in the final part.

And Kobe Bryant said he didn't look at the game as a scoring contest with Joe Johnson.

"To me individually it doesn't mean much at this stage of my career; I've played in so many of those individual battles," Bryant stated. "It's more just, 'What can I do to help us win the match?'

"Maybe some years ago I would have tried to end up with 25 points in the fourth quarter. Now it's not what's important. Once I got on a roll, saw they were double and triple-teaming, I was able to use myself as a decoy."

Furthermore, we must mention that Smush Parker hit a three-pointer after Bryant's nine straight points, and Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom combined for 28 rebounds.

"I think it's a big difference in our team, and that's the understanding of when enough is enough," Lakers coach Phil Jackson admitted. "And when they started throwing extra bodies at people, there was open opportunities for other players."

Kobe wagged his index finger at Atlanta fans after his fourth straight jumper in his hot streak, which left the Lakers with a 77-71 lead. In fact, Bryant didn't need to tease; it seemed most of the 19,600 fans in Atlanta's sixth sellout of the season were cheering for him, anyway.

We must remember that the Lakers, who beat Atlanta 106-95 at home on Dec. 8, completed their first season sweep of the Hawks since the 1999-00 season. Even in recent seasons, when the Hawks bottomed out with 13-and 26-triumph totals, the Lakers managed no better than a split of the two encounters.

ACtually Jackson announced before the game: "This game is a little space in time. I'm always concerned about Atlanta. We don't play well here."

The Lakers didn't play their best early but still led almost from the start. Smith opened the game with a reverse jam - his first of four flashy slam dunks in the match - but the Lakers quickly pulled even on a tip by Bynum and never again trailed.

Kobe Bryant was held to nine points on 3-for-8 shooting in the first part, but the Lakers led 40-31 as Johnson was only 4-for-13 from the field for 10 points.

Los Angeles Lakers, who held a big lead of 11 points late in the first half, led 55-45 in the third quarter before the Hawks responded to that with eight straight points, including a three-pointer by Josh Childress.

And Kobe Bryant hit a three late in the quarter as the Lakers led 62-57 entering the final period. A really good move that decided the match.

Grizzlies were 10 points better

In an unexpected result, Mike Miller scored 14 of his 25 points during a 46-point third quarter Tuesday as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 128-118.

This loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Lakers team, which was coming off a 101-98 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, who have the league's best record. And the Grizzlies came into Tuesday's game with the NBA's worst percentage.

In fact, those 46 points were the most the Grizzlies have ever scored in a quarter. Memphis outscored the Lakers by 24 points over the 12 minutes.

Spanish star Pau Gasol also tallied 25 points, leading seven Grizzlies in double figures. Gasol also had 13 rebounds.

As for our star, Kobe Bryant had 25 points for the Lakers, who had a four-game winning streak end.

Lakers boss Phil Jackson had warned his squad not to let down against the lowly Grizzlies, who have a rejuvenated offense and are 3-3 under interim coach Tony Barone.

"I think that we outplay the better teams right now, but we're getting outplayed by the teams that aren't as good," Lakers forward Luke Walton said. "Sometimes, we end up winning at the end, but this is too good of a league and too long of a season to get a high playoff seed if we keep playing like that."

Parker leads Lakers victory

It was an interesting thing to see on the court. Parker, a former Piston, helped the Lakers clearly defeat the Orlando Magic 106-93 Wednesday night. The player scored a season-high 20 -- 18 in the third quarter -- and Bryant had 27 points and seven assists to complete the perfect game .

We must mention that the Lakers picked up their third victory on a tough six-game road swing that ends at Charlotte on Friday. Furthermore, Andrew Bynum also had 13 points in 13 minutes against Orlando Magic.

"It's just that my team can't be giving the Smush Parkers of the league quarters like that," Magic coach Brian Hill admitted. "If it's Kobe it's different."

We can apreciate that former Piston Grant Hill had 20 points for Orlando, which has lost three straight. Also Jameer Nelson added 15 points and seven assists, and Dwight Howard had 12 points and eight rebounds.

It's not so strange to see that after scoring 15 in the first half, Bryant virtually disappeared in the third quarter. In fact, he hit three free throws but missed all three field-goal attempts and didn't make a second-half shot from the field until a 3-pointer 1:17 into the last quarter.

And fans must admit that Los Angeles didn't need him. Parker scored nine during a 14-3 run in the third quarter, and Brian Cook made a 3-pointer just before the period ended to give Los Angeles a 79-73 lead.

"I think that we just ran our offense," Parker expressed. "We executed our offense and I got open looks."

Bulls tamed Bryant to beat Lakers

Lakers fall to Chicago Bulls, and there are many conclusions after the match. The latest triumph by the Bulls was different from their recent victories.

as we saw, Chicago spent the previous three weeks picking on teams with losing records, most from the Eastern Conference, but they took out one of the best in the West on Tuesday, staring the talented Kobe Bryant and his team in a 94-89 win.

“It’s a great feeling to get a win against a team like that,” Chicago’s Ben Gordon said after the Bulls’ 12th win in 13 clashes.

We must consider that Luol Deng scored 23 points and tied a season-high with 12 rebounds for the Chicago Bulls.

It's fair to mention that Gordon hit two free throws to close out the win with 10.9 seconds left, after Smush Parker cut the Bulls’ lead to three with a foul shot and a dunk in the final 40 seconds. In fact, Deng hit 9 of 16 shots, and Gordon finished with 22 points as Chicago won its fifth straight.

Now, Kobe Bryant was a non-factor after scoring a combined 98 in the previous two games. He was content to defer and finished with 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting before fouling out for the first time since Dec. 1, 2005, in the final minute.

“I think that their defense had a lot to do with it,” Bryant said. “They made me work for positions. They fronted me in the post, and they just did an amazing job.”