It was two very young teams battling in the Staples Center last night, but the Lakers had Kobe Bryant on their side, while the SuperSonics just had a 12-loss monkey on their back, the Los Angeles Times reports. A 54-54 halftime tie evolved into a 106-99 Lakers victory, keeping Seattle definitively at the bottom of the NBA barrel.
Kevin Durant had 25 points for the Sonics, and Chris Wilcox followed with 18, but Bryant's 35 and Lamar Odom's 20 kept the Lakers ahead even with Seattle's bench outscoring LA's 33-23. Victory-hungry California fans expressed their displeasure with the Lakers' dismal start (to the season and game), but the end result and the free tacos eventually satisfied. (More NBA stories.)