The Los Angeles Lakers will need to lean on center Dwight Howard in the wake of Kobe Bryant's devastating ruptured Achilles injury that will keep him off the court for six to nine months. Sunday at the Staples Center, Howard put the Lakers on his back and carried them to a crucial win over the San Antonio Spurs, and pushing their lead in the standings over the Utah Jazz to one and a half games.
Howard scored 26 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, blocked three shots and outplayed Tim Duncan in Los Angeles' 91-86 victory. "We can't look to anybody else for help," said Howard. "We got to go out there and get this [Houston] game. And we need everybody behind us, and we're going to go out there and play as hard as we can. We believe that we can win."
A bedridden Bryant was very proud of his team's effort without him Sunday saying, "Gritty performance. At the doorstep. Gotta kick the door in now and finish the damn thing," to Yahoo! Sports in an e-mail. He also tweeted, "Whew!! Well done my dudes. Well done. Uno mas. Playoffs."
Pau Gasol only managed seven points in the win, but was just as active as Howard defensively and on the glass. He matched Howard's three blocked shots and grabbed 16 rebounds, including five offensive boards. Gasol and Howard combined for 33 rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds.
With Bryant and Steve Nash (hamstring) out, Steve Blake stepped up to the plate for the Lakers in the backcourt. Blake scored 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Tim Duncan scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds but did not get enough help to hold off the hungry Lakers. Tony Parker continued to struggle, scoring just four points in an ugly shooting effort. Parker made just one of ten shots, and was a negative impact on the floor despite recording eight assists.
The Spurs fell a full game back of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top spot in the Western Conference.
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