By Mike Bresnahan
Los Angeles Times
January 16, 2011
The Lakers looked at their next seven games, a telling point in their schedule, and flinched as the red, white and blue of Clipper Nation went ballistic with joy around them.
The textbook way to start a tough stretch of the season wasn't exactly demonstrated by the two-time defending champions Sunday.
They lost to the Clippers, 99-92, and that wasn't all. They lost their composure. And a 12-point lead in the third quarter. And their seven-game winning streak. And Lamar Odom with 5.7 seconds to play. And Ron Artest too.
Blake Griffin was so strong in the second half that Kobe Bryant said the Clippers rookie "punked us."
"He just ran through us," he said. "We didn't put up much of a fight."
No argument here.
Good thing for the Lakers, they have plenty of time to rest and reassess. Or not.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, the bundle of speed that almost ran them out of the first round last season, comes to Staples Center on Monday. Then the Lakers head to Dallas and Denver, followed by a home game against Utah, a presumed laugher against Sacramento and a home game against Boston to finish out the month.
They weren't exactly ecstatic with the way they began their end-of-the-month run.
"We have a tendency all the time, and I don't understand it, but we get up and we get kind of comfortable out there," said Andrew Bynum, one of the few Lakers who showed something Sunday (18 points, 13 rebounds). "We've got to change that."
Bynum also didn't like how his team was pummeled in points in the paint, 44-34. The Lakers should win that category "100%" of the time, he said.
The Lakers (30-12) were also outrebounded and outmuscled, part of the reason Odom grabbed Griffin's jersey after Griffin bulled into him while getting position after a free throw in the final seconds.
Griffin wasn't pleased with the jersey grab and neither was Baron Davis, who started jawing at Odom, which led to some seriously harsh words between Davis and Odom as four players got ejected (Griffin, Davis, Odom and, curiously, Artest, whose apparent crime was trying to pull Odom away from the fray).
"Maybe I overreacted, but I just felt like if you're up nine with the free throw going through, the ram in the back at that point
