Lakers Review Game 6

This was the best game of the year so far for the Lakers. It was their first game against Dwight Howard, and they came through, winning 99-98 on a Steve Blake three with 1.3 seconds left. The best part was that Blake made the shot over Howard, who was the only player in position to contend it. The Lakers again blew a large first half lead, much like they did in the win over Atlanta on Sunday, but they once again were able to pull through, using something that Mike D'antoni is very familiar with, the Hack-a-Howard strategy. The Lakers experienced it a lot last year, when they would come down to the end of close games, opposing teams would intentionally foul Howard to send him to the line since he is such a bad free throw shooter. It worked to perfection for the Lakers, as Howard shot just 5-16 from the line. The Lakers shot 45% for three, making 16. Jodie Meeks came off the bench to lead the team with 18 points. They also had 16 from Wesley Johnson and 11 from Jordan Farmar off the bench. Steve Blake, Steve Nash, and Nick Young were the starters in double figures, scoring 14, 12, and 11 points respectively. Pau only had 2 points in 32 minuets, but he was huge on the glass against Howard, grabbing 12 boards. They made two changes to the starting lineup, placing Nick Young back in and having Xavier Henry coming off the bench, while also starting Chris Kaman along with Pau instead of Shawne Williams, who didn't even play last night. Overall, I was very happy with last nights outcome, and they are now 3-3. Tonight, they conclude a double header in New Orleans against the Pelicans. I'm not sure if Steve Nash will play or not, but I would assume that he won't because D'antioni doesn't want to play him very much in back to back situations.