Lakers snap Celtics’ 19-game win streak
- Basketball, Kobe Bryant, National Basketball Association -
By Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers snapped the Boston Celtics’ franchise-record, 19-game winning streak as Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 27 points in a 92-83 victory on Thursday at Staples Center arena.
Pau Gasol added 20 for the Lakers, who finished the game on a 13-2 run to give coach Phil Jackson his 1,000th career win.
“They had just won 19 straight games so they were due for one,” Bryant said. “It was a challenge to stop the streak because they were playing so well.”
Entering the game, Boston (27-3) had engineered the best 29-game start to a season in history and matched the league’s fourth-longest winning streak.
The Celtics also are trying to defend their record 17th title, which they won in six games over the Lakers last June — capping it all with a convincing 131-92 romp in game six.
In this one, Los Angeles exacted a small measure of revenge thanks to Gasol who scored seven points during the decisive fourth-quarter run.
