The Los Angeles Lakers will continue the healing process with a matchup
against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday in front of a Lakers home crowd that
is seeking closure more than a week after the death of Kobe Bryant.
The Lakers have played just twice since Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter
Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash Jan. 26. A game
against the Los Angeles Clippers last week was postponed.
After an emotional pregame ceremony at home on Friday, the Lakers were
defeated 127-119 by the Portland Trail Blazers, but they rebounded with a
129-113 road victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
LeBron James, who has vowed to be the rock the Lakers can lean on in the wake
of the Bryant tragedy, had a triple-double against the Kings with 15 points,
10 rebounds and 11 assists. He shot just 6 of 15 from the field but still was
a difference-maker with his 11th triple-double of the season and the 92nd of
his career.
Anthony Davis had 21 points for the Lakers on the second night of a
back-to-back set.
A tribute to Bryant and his daughter played on the video board during the game
at Sacramento. Fans chanted Bryant's name periodically. The arena was filled
with fans wearing Bryant jerseys. It is a scene the Lakers figure to see often
for the remainder of the season and one they say they can handle emotionally.
"We're prepared for it," James said afterward. "We understand it, and we hope
it happens every night, just because of the legacy that he's left behind. But
we're prepared for it as a team, as an organization, and we're gonna continue
to get through it."
Home games figure to be even more powerful, if not for how the fans react,
then simply because Bryant's Nos. 8 and 24 retired jerseys will be illuminated
high above the Staples Center court.
Every game the Lakers play, the normalcy of basketball will return. But
Bryant's legacy is permanently attached to this year's squad.
The team scored 44 points in the first quarter against the Kings and 37 in the
second quarter before cruising to the victory in the second half. The 81-point
first half was another reminder of Bryant, whose career-best scoring game was
81 points in 2006.
"I guess he's with us," Davis said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Spurs will enter the Lakers' game on the heels of another game in Los
Angeles on Monday. The Spurs fell 108-105 to the Clippers and will participate
in their second set of back-to-back games in barely over a week. They lost to
the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls on consecutive days last week.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and DeMar DeRozan 26 on Monday, but San
Antonio could not protect a 15-point, second-quarter lead and a five-point
advantage late in the game.
The Spurs already could sense the impact of Bryant's death upon arrival in Los
Angeles, and that experience will only intensify when they meet the Lakers.
"You feel it all over the city," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, according to
the San Antonio Express-News. "You can tell walking the streets and when you
come into the building. You can't help but reminiscence, and all the thoughts
go through your head -- what a tragedy it was, and what the family is going
through."
Tuesday is the third and final regular-season meeting between the teams, with
the Lakers winning each of the previous two. Los Angeles earned a 103-96 road
victory on Nov. 3 and a 114-104 road win Nov. 25.