| Down by 17 points with 10 1/2 minutes remaining in an emotionally charged game Sunday afternoon against the visiting Thunder, it appeared the Lakers' hold on the Pacific Division lead was about to slip away! But behind a burst from Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and a supporting cast of unlikely reserves, the Lakers stormed back to win in double overtime, 114-106, at Staples Center! Lakers small forward Metta World Peace didn't live up to his new name and could be missing some time after elbowing James Harden in the head late in the second quarter while celebrating a fast-break dunk! World Peace claimed the elbow was inadvertent, but replays indicated otherwise! World Peace received a flagrant-2 foul and was ejected! Harden, who leads NBA reserves in scoring at 16.9 points, went to the locker room and didn't return! Jordan Hill came to the LA in the trade that sent popular point guard Derek Fisher to Houston, and then to Oklahoma City! Hill played just 18 minutes in the previous 21 games with the Lakers, but was surprisingly sent out to start the second quarter! He was solid in his first run, producing six points and four rebounds in a little under nine minutes, and even better down the stretch, playing all of the fourth quarter and the overtimes in place of Andrew Bynum! Hill finished with 14 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and three blocked shots, all while matching his career-high of 35 minutes! Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook probably wouldn't mind avoiding ... |
