Fresh off their second home loss of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers look to start a new winning streak on Wednesday night in Oakland against a Golden State Warriors team that's lost four of five.
Los Angeles (27-6), which had won six straight overall and 15 in a row at home, saw both streaks snapped Tuesday night in a 116-105 loss to New Orleans - the first defeat at Staples Center for the Lakers since they lost 106-95 to Detroit on Nov. 14.Kobe Bryant scored a team-high 39 points and made 6 of 7 3-point attempts Tuesday, but managed only two points in the fourth quarter after tallying 20 in the third. The Hornets outscored the Lakers 27-13 in the decisive final 12 minutes.
"After the third quarter, they pretty much weren't going to let me get a shot off," said Bryant, who is averaging 35.0 points in his last three games. "Shots didn't go for us."
Bryant, who had 31 points in the Lakers' 130-113 home win over Golden State on Dec. 28, is averaging 31.4 points, 6.8 boards and 6.0 assists in his last five games in Oakland.
Former Warrior Derek Fisher had 19 points Tuesday, all but one of them coming on his season-high six 3-pointers. He is scoring 17.9 points per game and hitting 58.6 percent from 3-point range in his last seven contests versus Golden State, where he spent the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
Lamar Odom will miss this contest and is scheduled to undergo an MRI Wednesday after hyperextending his right knee against the Hornets.
While the Lakers look for their eighth win in 10 games at Golden State, the Warriors (10-26) are seeking their third straight home victory overall.
Returning home may help Golden State recover from a winless three-game road trip which concluded Monday with a 119-114 loss at Utah. It will be a tough task, though, without leading scorer Stephen Jackson. He strained his right hamstring against the Jazz and is expected to miss at least two weeks.
The Warriors did get a key player back. Corey Maggette returned from a hamstring injury and had 23 points and five boards in his first game since Dec. 6. Golden State went 5-10 while Maggette was sidelined.
"I'm looking at the bigger picture, and it's just weird for us because when somebody comes back, somebody else goes out. We got Corey back, and then Stephen went down. It's tough," said Warriors guard Jamal Crawford, averaging 25.0 points in his last three games against the Lakers.
Maggette has also played well versus the Lakers, averaging 27.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists in his last four games against them.
Andris Biedrins posted his fourth consecutive double-double on Monday with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Biedrins, third in the NBA with 12.1 rebounds per game, had eight points and 17 boards against Los Angeles in the Dec. 28 matchup.
