NBA – Spain’s Gasol hits season-high 34 as Lakers beat Bulls
LOS ANGELES (NBA) - Pau Gasol erupted for a game-high 34 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls 116-109 on Tuesday. The Spain international was 14 of 21 from the floor and six of eight at the line as LA claimed their eighth win in nine games. The points haul was a season high for Gasol. Kobe Bryant contributed 21 and ...
LOS ANGELES (NBA) - Pau Gasol erupted for a game-high 34 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls 116-109 on Tuesday.
The Spain international was 14 of 21 from the floor and six of eight at the line as LA claimed their eighth win in nine games.
The points haul was a season high for Gasol. Kobe Bryant contributed 21 and Andrew Bynum 18 for the Lakers, who dropped the Bulls to 5-6.
The Gasol and Bynum combination is making life very difficult for the Lakers’ opponents.
“Me and Andrew, we’re hard to match up against,” Gasol said. “We’ve got to take advantage of our length, our power and our skills.”
Los Angeles had lost their only game of the season on Friday at home to Detroit, 106-95.
When asked to compare Tuesday’s victory to the loss to Detroit, Gasol said: “We shared the ball better.
“I think Detroit played a better game than Chicago did. I think defensively, we can’t be satisfied because (we gave up) 110 points (actually 109) and that’s a lot of points no matter who you go up against.”
Gasol's brother Marc, meanwhile, had 16 points for Memphis (4-7) as they defeated visiting Sacramento 109-94.
The Kings fell to 4-8 with the loss.
Latvia national team center Andris Biedrins scored 17 and pulled down nine rebounds as Golden State (5-6) prevailed over Portland 111-106.
Sergio Rodriguez played 22 minutes off the bench for Portland and had 12 points while fellow Spain international Rudy Fernandez contributed 13 for the Blazers (6-5).
In other games, the Dallas Mavericks won at Charlotte 100-83, Atlanta crashed to a 113-96 defeat at Indiana and Toronto fell at Orlando, 103-90.
The Magic (8-3) have now won four games on the bounce.
Toronto wasted 40 points and 18 rebounds from Team USA center Chris Bosh, while Spain’s Jose Manuel Calderon missed another game with a strained right hamstring.
The Miami Heat held off the Washington Wizards 94-87, Boston won at home over the New York Knicks 110-101 and Cleveland thumped the Nets in New Jersey 106-82.
Denver also tasted victory with a 114-105 home triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks.
FIBA