pick-and-roll defense

Devin Kharpertian

In a game the Brooklyn Nets were favored to win, against a team four games below .500, a team missing Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, a team that lost Pau Gasol midway through the fourth quarter, the Nets could not find a way to close out, getting stymied & stuffed by some combination of their own ineffectiveness and Kobe Bryant's narrative.

Bryant, who shot a pedestrian 9-24 from the field, threw down an emphatic slam on Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries in the fourth quarter, and later scored on a twisting layup that helped catapult the Los Angeles Lakers to their 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn at Barclays Center AKA The Black House. After an and-one bucket by All-Star Center Brook Lopez gave him his second 30-point game of the season and the team a slim 83-82 margin with 2:33 left, the Nets did not score again as Los Angeles rattled off 10 points to seal the victory.

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