Kobe Paces Victory With Near Triple Double

Typical NBA, one day a team looks lazy and lost,then the next day they like contenders. Of course the Rockets were undermanned and still put up a fight, kind of takes the joy of a win away when you know they'll be seeing better competition in the playoffs. The Lakers are still down a big piece with 'Drew still out, and the several others ailing one way or another, and you know if he doesn't get enough credit, Luke is an important piece, and they've missed him too, he's a fine role player when he's not toooo unselfish. Well here are the awards:

Player of the game: Kobe Bryant. Pau may have led the team in scoring but Mamba's near triple double get him back on track after one of the worst performances I've witnessed from him.

X-Factor: Derek Fisher. Old 0.4 has not been consistent as of late, but he shows the reason he still playing in crunch time. Yes Aaron Brooks made him look like a statue at time, but c'mon he does that to most guards, in this case Fish came through perfect from downtown 3/3, 6/8 total and just 3 dimes in 22 minutes, nice bounce back game.

Should Have Been Benched: Josh Powell again looked lost and contributed very little, fortunately he only played 8 mins, but c'mon bench, to do your part.

Laker Hater: I would love to see how many career highs have been set against the Lakers. Players just bring their A game versus Lakers regardless of their record. In this case it was rookie Jermaine Taylor who had his career high by half-time, hater indeed.

Overtime: Back in 2004-05 season when the big Whatever He's Calling Himself Now, was "ran off" by Kobe, several teams pounded on the Lakers. People seem to forget that before the injury bug hit the Lakers hard, they're were on track to make the playoffs, but it was only due to Shaq not being there right? Yet, Phoenix missed the post season last year, oh yeah, he's back in the west, it's a tougher conference. The same conference Kobe has been in since '96-97 and is on track to go to his 3rd straight Finals appearance. Yet teams treated a victory against the Lakers like if they were still conteders, LA's other team fans actually gave them a standing ovation, that was laughable, but goes to tell you the Lakers are still a big draw even on their off seasons.