| 07 November 2009
A really undermanned Lakers squad (sans Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum) had a good run against the Memphis Grizzlies, running out with a 114-98 win. The bench was actually surprisingly good - with good performances by Josh Powell (13 pts); Jordan Farmar (9 points)... and a slue of other efforts that contributed to the win. Of the starters - DJ Mbenga was impressive in his first start with LA (13 rebounds and 4 blocks) - handy with Lamar Odom's 30th birthday being an off-night. Ron-ron was pretty damn good as well: 19 points with 6 boards and 7 assists. Throw in a block and steal as well. But the night belonged to Kobe Bean Bryant. 41 points off 19-30 shooting is pretty damn good.
Just more Kobe-being-Kobe. #24 became the youngest ever to 24,000 pts - and also passed Iverson (whose off-nights continued) to become #16 on the scorer's list. Bryant paid homage to his latest mentor, Hakeem Olujawon. His work ethic, and his preparedness to learn is something that many players could emulate.
Additionally, in a very classy act - the Lakers paid honor to John Radcliffe (the official LA scorer) who died during the Summer - renaming the scorer's table in his honor, and giving a championship ring to his widow Carolyn.
