NBA LIVE - Lakers Snap Boston’s 12 Game Winning Streak

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The leading basketball *teams of the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference meet for the second time with both teams aiming to have the best win-loss record in the NBA and a psychological advantage of knowing that one team has dominated the other in their head to head duel as the two teams are favored to meet in* the playoffs.
The Los Angeles Lakers Basketball team beat the Boston Celtics in overtime with a score of 110-109 to snap Boston’s 12 game winning streak and reclaim the best NBA team win-loss scores record at 40-9.* The Lakers previously beat the Celtics last Christmas Day that also snapped a record setting 19 game winning streak. With the win, Los Angeles holds home court advantage with its 2-0 record over Boston*if the two teams meet in the playoffs.
Lamar Odom went to work in the fourth quarter as he produced the points during the stretch when Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar Kobe Bryant sat on the bench as Lakers coach Phil Jackson gave him a rest. Odom was given the playing time after center Andrew Bynum suffered an injury in his knee when Bryant*drove to the basket, missed his shot and landed on Bynum’s knee*in a game against Memphis. The 6-10 power forward then made the two crucial free throws that gave the lead to the Lakers until the final buzzer.
The Celtics started the game red hot as they raced to a live basketball score of 9-2 in the first quarter as Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, who missed two games previously due to a bout with flu, provided the points during that period. But the Lakers quickly regrouped with Bryant scoring numerous times by driving through the lane to take the lead for the first time at 15-14.
The Lakers maintained the lead from the start of the second quarter and enjoyed its highest lead of nine points but lost it at the end of the half as Boston’s shooting guard, Eddie House caught fire and made most of his 16 points in the quarter to put the Celtics in the lead 52-51 at the end of the first half. Boston then started the third period the way they started the game, enjoying their largest lead of eight points and had the lead until the fourth quarter. However, the team suffered a total of 16 turnovers in the game that translated into Lakers points and kept the game close even if Bryant had a miserable shooting night going 10-29 from the field and only made two out of four free throws. But he made two important three point shots that gave the Lakers their first lead in the second half 101-100. Pierce then was fouled and made only one*free throw for a 1o1-1o1 score for the overtime.
Compounding the woes of the Celtics was the fouling out of Garnett with still four minutes remaining in the game. He was called for an offensive foul when Lakers’ guard Derek Fisher tried to steal the basketball away from Garnett while he attempted to dribble. His absence during the overtime period showed as the Celtics struggled to score during the three possessions as they relinquished the upperhand*to the Lakers. Both Pierce and Allen were guarded closely most of the time and Allen missed an off-balanced top of the key shot that could have won the Celtics the game.
Bryant led the Lakers in scoring with 26 points with Pal Gasol adding 24 and Odom had 20. Boston had Allen producing 22 points and Pierce had 21. Garnett finished with 16 points.
Los Angeles shall travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers as its next game on Sunday, February 8 while Boston head to New York for its next game on February 6.
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