LAst Night's Action: Lakers Stung By Hornets Point Guards

New Orleans Hornets defeat LA Lakers 108-100. Well the Lakers interrupted one hell of a high speed chase for this nonsense. It was too much Chris Paul and Darren Collison that once again exposed the Lakers inability to defend quick point guards. Meanwhile on the offensive end instead of trying to dictate play by attacking the paint, they settled for shooting threes ineffectively at a 24% clip. Pau Gasol in no way can be blamed for the loss tying a career high in rebounds with 22 while scoring 26 points. Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 31 points. But like I said it was too much Paul (15 points, 13 assists) and Collison (17 points). This should be an infuriating loss, but the more the Lakers play indifferently the more I feel indifferent about them. If they feel content about being 2-2 on this road trip, so be it.

Minnesota Wild defeat LA Kings 3-2. There was an ad for the Kings telling viewers to watch the team “surge” towards the playoffs. No wonder they haven’t had a sniff of postseason hockey since 2002. Now the Kings can’t kill a penalty or take advantage of a power play. They absolutely stink. They actually had two opportunities with a 5-on-3 advantage and got nothing. Meanwhile the Wild took a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Owen Nolan 1:19 in the second period and a 4-on-4 goal by Brent Burns eight minutes later. Scott Parse did tie the game up with a goal 12:47 in the second and 1:25 in the third. But after Frederic Modin was called for holding 7:03 in the third, Martin Havlat shot the winning goal 35 seconds later. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick saved 17 shots while Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom saved 29. The Kings have now lost their last four games, and playing in Nashville tonight let’s just make that five in a row. Since head coach Terry Murray said, “Everything is fine,” after Saturday night’s loss to the Dallas Stars, he must be on cloud nine tonight.

Anaheim Ducks defeat Dallas Kings 3-1. Perhaps the Kings should be taking cues from the Ducks who have now won their last five home games and seven of their last nine overall. The Ducks started the scoring in the second period on a power play goal by Nick Bonino, his very first goal in the NHL after two games, on an assist by Teemu Selanne who was feted before the game for his 600th goal on March 21. Corey Perry and Kyle Chipchura added goals within a minute of each other while Loui Eriksson got the Stars on the scoreboard 14:48 in the second. But the Ducks absolutely dominated the game outshooting the Stars 46-31.

Tonight’s Action

LA Clippers at Milwaukee Bucks. 5:00 pm FS Prime Ticket, AM 980 KFWB.

LA Kings at Nashville Predators. 5:00 pm FSWest, AM 1150 KTLK.