No Kobe? No problem

Posted on | February 19, 2010 | No Comments

The Los Angeles Lakers have barely missed a beat despite the absence of All-Star guard Kobe Bryant, stretching their winning streak to four games on Tuesday with a 104-94 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Bryant has missed all of those four victories with a sprained ankle, but the Lakers continue apace at the top of the Western Conference, now six games clear of the Denver Nuggets thanks to some brilliant performances from career reserve Shannon Brown.

Brown is already with his fourth team in four seasons in the NBA and, before the start of this season, had never scored more than 150 points in a whole campaign, but he has more then trebled his production with the Lakers and had the best game of his career against the Warriors.

The former first round pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers will never have anything like the career Bryant has enjoyed ever since he came into the league, but proved his value to the consensus title favourites with 27 points and 10 rebounds, throwing in a couple of steals for good measure.

He has scored in double figures in five of the Lakers’ last six games and Basketball Betting suggests he will most likely remain in the starting lineup until Bryant returns, with the team now knowing they are really in no need of rushing him back before he is truly ready, as they lead the Pacific Division by 10 games already.

Brown has most likely done enough to make himself the Lakers sixth man at the very least as well as showing the kind of defense they will need when the playoffs begin later in the season.

When you add him back in to a bench that also includes scoring threats in Lamar Odom and Jordan Farmar, who had been expected to play a far bigger part than Brown this season, most of the rest of the West will be wondering just how the Lakers can be stopped. The Betting Odds are certainly backing them to record a third straight title and go on to defend their championship as well.

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5. Lakers continue Knicks domination

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