Kobe Bryant wasn’t about to let the Los Angeles Lakers lose a third straight game.
Bryant scored 36 points and keyed a late rally to help the Los Angeles Lakers snap a two-game skid with a 105-96 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
The Lakers trailed by five with 3:08 left, but closed the game on a 17-3 run, including 10 points from Bryant.
“We know what we want to do,” Bryant said of the Lakers’ late play against the young Grizzlies. “For a young team, they are still kind of searching for what that identity is going to be.
“For us, we’ve been there, done that. So, it’s just a matter of how well we executed.”
In other NBA games on Monday it was: Houston 114, New Jersey 91; Orlando 113, Golden State 81; San Antonio 101, Sacramento 85; Toronto 97, Los Angeles Clippers 75; and Denver 97, Portland 89.
Pau Gasol had 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in his return to Memphis. Gasol played six-plus seasons with the Grizzlies before being traded to Los Angeles in February. Part of the trade included his brother, Marc, going to the Grizzlies.
m happy we came out victorious because we needed this win extremely bad to continue to pursue our goals. But I’m sorry that on the losing end were the Grizzlies and my brother.”
Gasol is the Grizzlies franchise leader in 12 categories, including points, rebounds and blocks, and the only All-Star in Grizzlies history (2006).
He was met with a mixture of cheers and boos in the pregame introductions. Later, when the Grizzlies presented a video tribute during a timeout, the boos were louder.
Rockets 114, Nets 91
At East Rutherford, N.J., Yao Ming won the showdown with fellow Chinese Olympian Yi Jianlian, but the smallest player on the court stole the show from the 7-footers.
Yao had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Aaron Brooks tied his career-high with 22 points as the Houston Rockets won their season-high fourth straight with a 114-91 victory in a game that was televised live to China.
With Yao clogging the lane, the Rockets limited the Nets to a season-low 13 points in the first quarter. Houston shot 58 percent for the game, including 9-of-19 from 3-point range.
Keyon Dooling had 17 points to lead New Jersey.
Magic 113, Warriors 81
At Orlando, Fla., Jameer Nelson scored 22 points, going 9-for-9 from the field, to help the Magic rout the Warriors.
their way to their fifth straight win.
Rashard Lewis scored 21 points and Dwight Howard added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who held Golden State to just 31.9 percent shooting.
Jamal Crawford led the Warriors with 18 points but was 7-for-21 from the field.
Spurs 101, Kings 85
At San Antonio, Tony Parker overcame five turnovers in the first 10 minutes with 18 points to lead the Spurs past the reeling Kings.
Parker was 8-of-17 from the floor and added six assists in 28 minutes as San Antonio won its eighth in 10 games. The Spurs shot 52 percent and were 7-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line.
Sacramento was held to 40 percent shooting in its fourth straight loss and dropped to 2-13 on the road.
Raptors 97, Clippers 75
At Los Angeles, Chris Bosh scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and the Raptors snapped a five-game losing streak.
Jermaine O’Neal added 23 points and nine rebounds for Toronto.
Zach Randolph had 19 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles during a foul-plagued 28 minutes and left the game with 10:44 to play after bruising his left knee in a collision with Jake Voskuhl.
Rookie Eric Gordon also scored 19 points for the Clippers, coming off a 119-85 drubbing at Milwaukee that ended their 2-2 road trip.
Nuggets 97, Trail Blazers 89
d 19 points and 10 assists, and the Nuggets overcame the absence of Carmelo Anthony.
Five players scored in double figures for Denver, which ended a three-game losing streak.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and Travis Outlaw had 15 for the Trail Blazers. Brandon Roy, who scored 52 points against Phoenix on Thursday, was held to eight.
Anthony sat out with what the Nuggets called a right elbow contusion, which has bothered him since training camp. He will also miss Tuesday’s game in Portland and Friday’s home game against Philadelphia.
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