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Bryant, Odom lead Lakers to rout of Timberwolves

Feb 14, 2008 - 5:29 AM Tom Coyer PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - The Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up an impressive road trip by putting on an offensive clinic.

Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom led the way for the Lakers in an easy 117-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

The Lakers were led by Bryant, who scored 29 points in three quarters of play. Odom recorded his first triple-double of the season and the 12th of his career with 10 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

"It takes a lot of pressure off of my game and saves me a lot of energy." said newest Laker Pau Gasol when asked about his Laker teammates. "I'm real happy the way things are right now. I don't have the urge and need to go at it every single time because we have other guys that are doing that too."

Odom put his big night into perspective saying, preferring to focus on Los Angeles' recent hot streak. The Lakers have won four straight and finished up a nine-game road trip with a 7-2 record.

"Winning is what it's all about," Odom said. "I think as we continue to win people will start to realize what I bring to the team. It's not about me, it's about winning."

"A 5-4 road trip would have been good, 7-2 was better than expected," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We were able to keep pace in the West."

The Lakers had six players in double figures and never trailed.

"We are a deep team," Bryant said. "It's not only our first five, the thing that is really our strength is everybody is a play-maker and everybody can make decisions."

Los Angeles used a 39-point third quarter, including a 16-4 run, to open up the game and cruise to the road win. Lakers coach Phil Jackson referred to the third as the "put them to sleep quarter" as the Timberwolves never got closer than 23 in the fourth.

Bryant started the spurt with a 3-pointer and Vladimir Radmanovic capped it with a pair of free throws to give Los Angeles an 87-58 lead with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

The Timberwolves were led by the usual strong play of Al Jefferson who had 19 points and nine rebounds and Randy Foye had 18 points.

For Minnesota the game seemed out of reach in a hurry. Marco Jarik said, "They jumped on us early and we didn't have enough power to come back and we didn't have enough mental toughness to come back and the game was over."

Following the game it was learned that Bryant injured the pinky on his shooting hand in the second quarter and it required an x-ray. His status for this weekend's All Star game is in question but he said he will be in New Orleans regardless.

Bryant will travel back to Los Angeles to meet with doctors before a decision about the All Star game is made.

"We'll see what the doctor has to say," Bryant said. "Every time it gets hit, it swells up again."