Bobcats shock Lakers at Staples Center

For whatever reason, the Charlotte Bobcats give the Los Angeles Lakers fits.  The Bobcats improved to 5-4 against L.A. during their short existence with a hard fought 117-110 double OT win over the Lakers at the Staples Center on Tuesday night.  Charlotte is now one of only two teams in the league with an all-time winning record over the Lakers—the Boston Celtics are the other with a 151-117 all time advantage in the head to head series.

Boris Diaw flirted with a triple double, finishing with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists and Raymond Felton added 21 points as Charlotte topped Los Angeles for the fifth time in their past six meetings.  Reserve guard Shannon Brown chipped in with 14 points, including five in the second OT.  He was forced into significant minutes after an injury to Gerald Wallace and received a lot of the credit for the Bobcats’ upset win from head coach Larry Brown:

"That was a heck of a win, it was a heck of a performance. Shannon had to play Gerald Wallace got hurt, and he played great."

Wallace was fouled hard late in regulation by the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, and Brown said that his injury could be serious:

"I don't want to speculate, but at first they told me he might have broken ribs and then they talked about a collapsed lung. But they're taking him to the hospital, so we'll see. Hopefully, it's not serious."

Despite the injury to one of his stars, Brown was happy:

"I just think it was a terrific performance against a great team. I really don't know how to explain it because they are playing at such a high level."

Phil Jackson was at a loss to explain the Bobcats’ success against the Lakers:

"You know, it's the way the roll of the dice goes, and this was one of those games. We were fortunate to get back in the game, they had to miss foul shots for us to get back in.

Sometimes justice prevails, and I think that happened tonight.

The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 38 points before fouling out for the first time this season near the end of the first overtime session.  Andrew Bynum continued his recent inspired play with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Derek Fisher had 14 points and six assists.  The Lakers had come into the game with the NBA’s best record at 35-8 and having won 14 of their last seventeen games.

Charlotte’s tough west coast trip continues with games in Portland on Wednesday, Denver on Friday and in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz on Monday.  The Lakers now hit the road for an extended East Coast swing beginning in Minnesota on Friday and continuing in Memphis on Saturday and in New York against the Knicks on Monday.