When the tale of the Los Angeles Lakers 2012-13 season is finally told, it may be the game on Jan 30 at the Phoenix Suns that is the one that tells the story. The Lakers trying to get back in to playoff contention and riding a three-game win streak started a crucial seven game road trip in Phoenix tonight. They needed to get a good road win under their belts. For most of the night it looked like they would get it. But they wilted down the stretch and allowed the Suns, the team with the Western Conference‘s worst record, come back to beat them 92-86.
Phoenix out-scored the Lakers 29-13 in the fourth quarter with Michael Beasley leading them with 27 points. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 17 points. The loss sent the Lakers to a 20-26 mark and is their eighth consecutive road loss. The Lakers have six more on the road before they get back home, so they had better bounce back or their season could be over.
Their arena-mates, the Los Angles Clippers, got their eight game road trip off to a good start with a 96-90 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The game got chippy as Matt Barnes was ejected and may be looking at a game or two suspension for throwing a punch that landed on the Timberwolves’ Greg Steimsma. Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 26 points and 13 rebounds as they improved to 34-13 on the season. The Wolves fell to 17-25 on the year.
The Miami Heat hammered the Brooklyn Nets 105-85 on Wednesday. The game was tied at the half but the Heat exploded in the third quarter when they out-scored the Nets 36-14 to turn it into a laugher. Lebron James led the Heat with 24 points and Dwayne Wade added 21 as Miami ran their record to 29-13. Brooklyn fell to 27-19 and were led by Brook Lopez with 21 points. The Heat came in to Brooklyn hearing comments from Nets players about their championship last season being in a shortened season and therefore needs an asterisk. James responded by letting his game do his talking as did the rest of the Heat.
Florida’s other team was also in New York tonight as the Orlando Magic lost yet another game, dropping one to the New York Knicks 113-97. Orlando has now lost 18 of 20. Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points for the Knicks for his 30th straight 20-point game, a Knicks record. They are now 28-15 on the season ans the Magic dropped to 14-31.
The Atlanta Hawks beat the Toronto Raptors 93-92 as the Raptors said goodbye to a few players. Al Horford dunked the game winner home with 21 seconds left to give the Hawks the win as they improved to 26-19. Jose Calderon and Ed Davis were dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies before the game, so the Raptors were short-handed as they fell to 16-30. Horford led the hawks with 22 points and Josh Smith chipped in 20.
