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Third-quarter eruption sparks Lakers past Clippers

Mar 8, 2008 - 7:13 AM By Jonathan Raber PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- They may share an arena, but the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Derek Fisher scored 17 points and Kobe Bryant added 16 to lead the Lakers to their sixth straight home win with a 119-82 victory over the Clippers on Friday night at Staples Center.

Pau Gasol chipped in 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists as seven players scored in double figures for the Lakers, who led from start to finish and have won 13 of their last 14 games.

"Some nights we win easily, some nights it's a little tougher, it just depends on the circumstances," Gasol said. "We're playing well, we're happy how things are going and we are going to continue."

The Lakers (44-18) now are one-half game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs (43-18) for the top spot in the Western Conference.

"We just want to be No. 1, I mean it's that simple," Bryant said. "You got to win games on the road so home court is not that big a deal. I think for us it's about being No. 1, it's about winning everything, and that's the kind of mentality we have to have."

This was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Lakers winning each game thus far.

"Every game becomes critical at this point of the year," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "And wins, it doesn't matter who you beat, it's just you have to get wins."

Meanwhile, the Clippers (20-40) are buried in the cellar of the division, 23 games behind their Los Angeles counterparts.

Nursing an eight-point halftime advantage, Vladimir Radmanovic converted a layup and followed it up with a pair of 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half as part of a 10-2 run to push the Lakers' advantage to 59-43.

"We just talked about picking up our energy on the defensive end and trying to make it difficult for them as possible to try and run their sets," Bryant said. "And I felt (Radmanovic) came out the first minute or so of the second half and gave us a boost."

Later in the quarter, Bryant and Fisher connected on back-to-back threes as the lead swelled to 27 points.

The Lakers outscored their opponents, 35-16, in the third with all five starters having reached double figures in scoring by the end of the quarter. They also spent much of the rest of the game on the bench with the outcome well in hand.

"We just got our (butts) kicked," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said of the second half. "I'm just disappointed in the fact that we didn't do a better job than we did."

The Clippers, who have dropped seven of their previous eight contests, were paced by Corey Maggette, who poured in 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Chris Kaman contributed 14 and 11.

They shot just 38 percent from the floor and trailed by as many as 40 with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.