The Los Angeles Lakers broke out of their road funk by showing the distracted Wizards what hustling, focused, never-let-up basketball is all about, shooting 59 percent and forcing six turnovers during a crucial second-quarter run in a 115-103 win last night in Washington.
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant scored 26 points apiece for the Lakers, who had lost six of their previous eight road games and pulled to a 2-2 record midway through their current eight-game swing. Lamar Odom said before the game that the reigning NBA champs had become “a little too overconfident,” but it didn’t show as he and teammates chased down loose balls and kept their hands all over the passing lanes.
“Offensive rebounds, getting loose balls, turning teams over,” Bryant said. “Especially when you play on the road, that’s some of the things you need to have happen.”
Antawn Jamison scored 27 points to lead the Wizards, who lost the last four games of a six-game homestand. The game came one day after guard Javaris Crittenton received probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge, the latest fallout from last month’s locker room confrontation between Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas.
Crittenton’s probation means that 40 percent of the Wizards roster has now received some sort of punishment in connection with the guns investigation. Arenas, who has pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge and will be sentenced in March, is expected this week to learn the length of his punishment after receiving an indefinite suspension Jan. 6.
“I think we’re all pretty much numb to the whole thing right now,” coach Flip Saunders said.
Bobcats 114, Suns 109 - Stephen Jackson scored 30 points and Charlotte scored nine of the first 11 points in overtime to lift the Bobcats to their first victory in Phoenix in their six seasons in the NBA.
Jackson, who tied the game at 98 on a 3-pointer with 19.9 seconds remaining, hit a 20-foot jump shot on the Bobcats’ first possession of overtime to give Charlotte only its second lead of the game.
Phoenix guard Leandro Barbosa underwent surgery to remove a ganglion cyst in his right wrist. He’s expected to miss up to six weeks.
Knicks 132, Timberwolves 105 - David Lee had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and host New York rebounded from a lopsided beating by administering one, routing Minnesota.
Al Harrington scored 26 and Wilson Chandler had 20 despite a strained left groin for the Knicks, who were dealt the worst home loss in franchise history Sunday when the Dallas Mavericks beat them, 128-78. The Knicks become the third team in NBA history to win by 20 or more the game after losing by 50.
Mavericks 108, Bucks 107 - Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, Jason Terry added 21 and host Dallas held off Milwaukee, which saw Carlos Delfino’s potential game-winning, running 10-footer in the lane miss before the buzzer.
Kings 99, Warriors 96 - Beno Udrih scored 24 points off the bench and host Sacramento beat Golden State.
Elsewhere in the NBA - Injured Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden is apologizing for nude photos of himself that surfaced on the Internet. . . .
Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin fined $35,000 for being ejected from Denver’s game Monday night against Charlotte.
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