Farmar leads fourth-quarter surge



Be it the NBA Finals or an early-season game with two starters sitting out, the Detroit Pistons have been the stickiest of sticking points for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers stuck it to them.

The Los Angeles Lakers scored 41 four-quarter points against one of the league's top defenses and took a 103-91 victory Friday at Staples Center.

Jordan Farmar was an absolute catalyst, Kobe Bryant recovered just in time from a miserable shooting night and Vladimir Radmanovic stole a page from Vlade Divac's playbook by applying unexpected kisses on the court.

They had fun, they had gumption and they had themselves a rare victory over Detroit.

Coach Phil Jackson kept using the word "energetic," and it would be tough to argue.

"There was a lot of energy," Kobe Bryant said. "In this type of ballgame you have to dig deep. I think we grew a lot tonight."

The Pistons were without injured starters Chauncey Billups (sore knee) and Antonio McDyess (strained shoulder), but showed the Los Angeles Lakers a thing or two about defense, trudging and elbowing their way to a 68-62 lead after three quarters and apparently on the way to their 12th victory in the last 15 games against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Then came the fourth quarter, in which the Los Angeles Lakers scored more points than the 32 they had in the entire second half in their victory Wednesday in Houston.

The Los Angeles Lakers trailed, 74-73, when Jordan Farmar scored with 7:39 to play on a layup off a Luke Walton steal. Then Jordan Farmar had two steals near halfcourt, one that led to a Maurice Evans dunk and the other an Andrew Bynum dunk.

The Los Angeles Lakers never trailed again.

"He's been doing that all year," said Lamar Odom, who had 25 points and 15 rebounds. "He worked really hard during the summer. He's getting better and better."

With a 5-3 record, the Los Angeles Lakers' ledger now shows victories over Phoenix, Utah, Houston and Detroit, teams expected to be near the top of their respective conferences when the playoffs roll around.

Some of the scores against the Pistons in recent seasons weren't too pretty for the Los Angeles Lakers: 103-81, 111-90, 93-78, 97-83, 111-88, 88-68, all in Detroit's favor.

The Los Angeles Lakers haven't only struggled as a team against the Pistons.

Kobe Bryant averaged 18.5 points and shot 41.7% in two losses to Detroit last season, games in which Jackson conceded, "They smoked us."

The main problem for Kobe Bryant had been lanky Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince, whose height (6 feet 9) and wingspan are longer than most shooting guards.

"Kobe's got to do something different in this game," Jackson said beforehand.

Actually, the Pistons did something different, putting Richard Hamilton on Kobe Bryant most of the game.

Kobe Bryant shot terribly, making two of 14 going into the fourth quarter. He had eight points at the time.

He finished with strength, however, scoring 11 points in the final 5:37. On the night, he had 19 points on six-for-18 shooting.

Radmanovic's 11 points were more lucky than good, not that he was complaining.

He kissed the ball after picking up a lucky bounce off Kwame Brown's leg and scoring an easy layup.

"It was lucky," Radmanovic said, "and it happened again."

Odom zipped a pass cross-court that bounced off a referee and bounced to Radmanovic for another easy basket.

Brian Cook had 10 points on two-for-10 shooting and was chosen instead of Radmanovic to start in place of Ronny Turiaf, who sat out because of a sprained left ankle.

"Radmanovic last year, [Rasheed] Wallace toasted him and made fun of him and made 'Borat' jokes about him when he was out there," Jackson said beforehand.

The Los Angeles Lakers had a fine time in the first quarter-and-a-half.

Odom had a Magic Johnson moment on a fastbreak, erasing Detroit center Cheikh Samb by faking a pass and continuing for a dunk to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 39-29 lead with 6:40 left in the second quarter.

The Los Angeles Lakers pushed the lead to 11, but the Pistons almost caught them by halftime, 48-46.

The fourth quarter eventually rolled around, as did a rare Los Angeles Lakers victory against the Pistons.

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