92
107
In the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the 13th pick, but Bryant decided not to play with Charlotte, and demanded a trade to the Lakers, and in last night's match-up at the Staples Center, Bryant decided to unleash his anger at his once-former employer that drafted him in the 1996 Draft, as he and the Lakers came all the way back to defeat Charlotte for its first win of the year 107-92, as the Hornets fall to 3-4 on the season and 0-1 on their West Coast trip.
It was a tale of two halves for Charlotte, in the first, they came out firing, but in the second half, their defense fell to the wayside, as the Lakers mounted a comeback to get the win, and the defensive struggle in the second half was something Steve Clifford addressed in his post-game comments. "We stopped playing defense in the second half, and you could see our language starting to fade when we started missing shots and not playing defense." Clifford said.
Bryant, and new addition Jeremy Lin both scored 21 points each to lead Los Angeles, giving the fans something to cheer about after 5 straight losses to begin the season. "We got to start somewhere." quoted Bryant. They were also joined by Carlos Boozer, who had 16 points, with Jordan Hill adding in 11 and Ed Davis came off the bench with 10 points to round out the group of double-figure scorers for the Lakers in the win. Los Angeles finished the night shooting 51.2% from the field, better than the 44.3% field goal percentage put up by the Hornets. Charlotte was led by Al Jefferson and his game-high 23 points in the loss, with Kemba Walker adding in 17. Lance Stephenson was the leading rebounder for the Hornets with 10 rebounds on the night.
The Hornets look to bounce back from last night's loss as they pay a visit to Portland on Tuesday to face Damian Lillard and the always tough Portland Trail Blazers for a 10:00 start at the Moda Center.
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