Last night was just another typical Lakers game. The game gets under way, they instantly fall behind by about 6 points and can’t seemingly run any offense while the Warriors run fastbreaks to perfection.

The game slows down a bit, the Lakers find their rhythm, and so long to the Warriors. Golden State fans took their seats and stayed very quiet for the next 10 minutes until the Lakers were done with their moves.

After a very strong first half of the second quarter, the Lakers were ahead by 17 points and looked to be totally in control of the game. Then, they became the Lakers.

for no apparent reason, they decided that running the offense was no longer worth it and allowed the Warriors to, not slowly, but quite quickly, chip away at the lead and eventually take the lead. In the 3rd quarter, they managed to find themselves in a hole once again down by 6 points.

The 4th came around, Kobe sat down for a short break after getting the game back to even, and the bench folded once again. Down by 4 points, Kobe returned to action and pushed the Lakers over the top. Sasha had an extremely dry night and couldn’t hit anything until he finally buried a few three pointers in the 4th to help make the final push.

The Lakers ended up walking out of Oracle Arena with a 114-106 victory.

After the game, I made sure to take a look at the box score which turned out to be pretty interesting. There were certain parts that were great and others that were just pathetic.

First with the good:

• Pau Gasol: 33 Points, 18 Rebounds, 2 Blocks
• Andrew Bynum: 18 Points, 11 Rebounds, 2 Blocks
• Kobe Bryant: 21 Points, 5 Rebounds, 5 Assists
• Derek Fisher: 8 Assists, 3 Steals
• Trevor Ariza: 17 Points, 9 Rebounds
• Sasha Vujacic: 6 Assists
• TEAM: 27-29 Free Throws

Now with the bad:

• Derek Fisher: 3-10 FG
• Sasha Vujacic: 3-12 FG
• Kobe Bryant: 9-20 FG
• Vladimir Radmanovic: 0-3 FG
• Pau Gasol: 1 Assists
• Andrew Bynum: 0 Assists

Gasol had a great game alongside Andrew Bynum. The dominated the painted area and scored a combined 51 points, with 29 rebounds and 4 blocks. Thats an incredible interior presence. Gasol played 39 minutes while Bynum played 30. The Warriors big men Andris Biedriens and Ronny Turiaf just weren’t enough to handle the Lakers bigs.

With Lamar Odom out for this game, and possibly a few more, Josh Powell was asked to step up. Powell played 14 minutes and finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds. He played solid defense throughout his time on the court and was responsible for creating a few Lakers second chance baskets.

The only truly impressive stat line for the Warriors was Biedrins 17 rebounds. Of course, that only looks good untiil you realize that none of them were offensive.

In regards to the Lakers again though, Sasha struggled throughout the game and finally made a few shots at the end. It was nice to see that no matter how many times he misses, he doesn’t give up and continues to launch it up. Pure shooters always believe in themselves.

Trevor Ariza had a nice game that turned out to be very completely. His ability to create plays on the fly, slash to the basket, read the defense, and even shoot the jump shoot have really become of enormous asset to the team. In order for the Lakers to continue to win while Jordan, Luke, and Odom are in the injured list, Ariza, Gasol, and Bynum are going to have to contribute big time. Securing every rebound, limiting second chance points, and being absolutely dominant in the paint is very important.

Phil Jackson has been trying to put together the abilities of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum for quite some time now and last nights game seemed like a game in which things finally started to flow. It was great to see the guys working together to find the open man. There were a lot of different guys cutting to the basket at different times. But it is also important to realize that the Warriors lack big men and lack much defense in general.

I think that we have all realized the Lakers lack in man to man coverage. They play solid defense as a team, but don’t do very well in covering up for another guy when he gets burned off the dribble. The guards and forwards play like they want their man to drive in just to run into Pau and Bynum, but the big fellas keep forgetting they are suppose to intimidate people when they drive in. I’d like to see a game when the two seven footers collect 4 blocks each.

There was one final point to touch on the Lakers offense. Bynum and Pau combined for 1 assist. The triangle offense runs very smoothly with inside out passes as the big man posts up his man and finds the open shooter on the perimeter when the defense collapses. Maybe this isn’t working simply because neither Bynum nor Gasol or demanding double teams, but when they get more aggresive, they will be able to find the open men as well.