Lakers Team Report

GETTING INSIDE

For all the attention that Mike D’Antoni’s “Seven Seconds or Less” up-tempo offense has gotten in recent years, the Lakers might well be bringing back the idea that big is beautiful.

The Lakers’ 60-36 rebounding advantage over D’Antoni’s New York Knicks on Tuesday was a stark reflection of how size can matter in basketball. The Lakers did commit 25 turnovers, but they won easily by shooting far more accurately from close range while the Knicks fired away from afar.

“Probably the biggest thing is that they are good,” D’Antoni said of the Lakers. “They had a lot of length on us, and the only way we are going to be able to beat them is if we made some jumpshots—and we just did not make them.

“When you are shooting 38 percent, they are going to get a lot more rebounds. And when you play with three 7-footers (Andrew Bynum(notes), Pau Gasol(notes) and 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom(notes)), you are going to get a lot more rebounds, too.”

Bynum had eight rebounds, Gasol 16 and Odom 12 against New York. Ron Artest(notes) had seven, too.

The Lakers’ size made it nearly impossible for New York to work out any offense near the rim. Said Knicks forward Wilson Chandler(notes): “They pushed our offense back a little farther than we usually do.”

Lakers 100, Knicks 90:   Kobe Bryant(notes) was plus-25—meaning the Lakers outscored the Knicks by 25 points when he was on the court but got outscored by 15 points when he wasn’t. Bryant had 34 points on 14-of-20 shooting.

NOTES, QUOTES

• G Kobe Bryant was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the first time this season (Nov. 16-22), but it was the 25th such honor of his career. That ties Michael Jordan’s total, although most of Jordan’s nods were leaguewide and not conference specific.

• C Andrew Bynum, G Jordan Farmar(notes) and F Pau Gasol played host to military families and veterans, and helped serve a Thanksgiving dinner. Earlier this season, Shannon Brown(notes) and Josh Powell(notes) volunteered to help assemble holiday care packages for U.S. troops.

Quote To Note:   “You don’t see that anywhere else but L.A.”—Kobe Bryant on a fourth-quarter mini-concert by the Black Eyed Peas breaking out during a timeout Sunday at Staples Center, which is next door to Nokia Theatre (where the American Music Awards took place the same night).

ROSTER REPORT

Rotation:   Starters—Point guard Derek Fisher(notes), Shooting guard Kobe Bryant, Small forward Ron Artest, Power forward Pau Gasol, Center Andrew Bynum. Bench—Forward Lamar Odom, Guard Jordan Farmar, Guard Sasha Vujacic(notes), Guard Shannon Brown, Forward Josh Powell, Forward Adam Morrison(notes), Center DJ Mbenga(notes).

Player Notes:  

• G Shannon Brown is going to be promoted by the Lakers with a Web site to campaign for his invitation to the NBA All-Star dunk contest.

• F Ron Artest appeared with “Jimmy Kimmel Live” cut into his hair when he did a guest spot on the show Monday night.

• F Pau Gasol said he wasn’t completely satisfied with his second game back from his hamstring injury after being pleasantly surprised by his effectiveness in his debut. But Gasol looked smoother in Game 3 with 11 points and 16 rebounds against New York.

Medical Watch:  

• F Luke Walton(notes) (pinched nerve in back) is out at least until the end of December.