2 February 1997. Los Angeles Lakers 129, Washington Bullets 99 (record: 22-23)
Game leaders: Strickland (23 points), Webber, Grant (7 rebounds), Strickland (8 assists)
Plain and simple, the Bullets never came to play in this game. They were down 46-22 at the end of the first quarter, and never got closer than 20 points the rest of the game. They were down 78-52 at halftime. The 46 points in the first quarter and 78 points at halftime were the most the Bullets have given up this season.
|
Mel Proctor's Replacements Named
|
|
The second part of this column, titled "FURTHERMORE," talks about the triumvirate that will temporarily replace departing HTS' Bullets play-by-play announcer Mel Proctor during the regular season. A permanent replacement will be named in the off-season.
|
Talk about flat play - the Lakers were virtually scoring at will. The Bullets were crushed on the boards 55-38. They commited 14 turnovers, but the Lakers turned them into 25 points. Generally, any points-off-turnovers to turnovers ratio over 1.0 is a bad sign toward winning a game; a nearly 2-to-1 ratio is extremely hard to overcome.
Some bad news for the Lakers, however. Shaq's left knee collided with Big Gheorghe's knee late in the third quarter. Shaq had to leave the game with a sprained knee. He's essentially day-to-day (he was forced to miss the All Star game because of the injury).
February
