Diaw, Brown lead Bobcats past Lakers 117-110

LOS ANGELES(AP) The Lakers have recorded
impressive homecourt victories against the likes of Boston, Cleveland
and San Antonio in the past month.But they couldn't beat the Charlotte Bobcats.Boris
Diaw had 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, reserve Shannon
Brown scored five of his 14 points in the second overtime, and the
Bobcats continued their surprising recent domination of the Lakers by
beating them 117-110 on Tuesday night.The win was the Bobcats'
fifth in their last six games against the Lakers, who got 38 points
from Kobe Bryant before the Los Angeles star fouled out for the first
time this season in the final minute of the first overtime."That
was a heck of a win, it was a heck of a performance,'' Bobcats coach
Larry Brown said. "Shannon had to play when Gerald (Wallace) got hurt,
and he played great.''Wallace scored 15 points before leaving
with 2:08 left in the fourth quarter after a flagrant foul by Andrew
Bynum knocked him to the floor."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,'' Brown said. "But they're taking him to the
hospital, so we'll see. Hopefully, it's not serious.''The Lakers entered having won four straight and 14 of their last 17 games. In addition, their 35-8 record was the NBA's best.But it didn't matter against the Bobcats."I
just think it was a terrific performance against a great team,'' Brown
said. "I really don't know how to explain it because they are playing
at such a high level.''Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he couldn't explain why the Bobcats have had the Lakers' number."You
know, it's the way the roll of the dice goes, and this was one of those
games,'' he said. "We were fortunate to get back in the game, they had
to miss foul shots for us to get back in.''The Bobcats missed five free throws in the final 2:08 of the fourth quarter."Sometimes justice prevails, and I think that happened tonight,'' Jackson said.Raymond
Felton had 22 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and nine assists, Emeka
Okafor had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Raja Bell added 17 points for
the Bobcats.Bryant had eight rebounds and five assists to go
with his 38 points. Bynum added 24 points and 14 rebounds and Derek
Fisher scored 14 for the Lakers (35-9), who lost for just the fourth
time in 27 home games."It's always stops,'' Bryant said
regarding the late-game difference. "We've just got to learn from our
mistakes and not let it happen again.''Brown's 3-pointer with
2:14 remaining put the Bobcats on top 110-107, and they led the rest of
the way. Okafor scored four points around a three-point play by Bynum
and Felton added two foul shots with 25.2 seconds left, giving
Charlotte (19-26) a 116-110 lead and clinching the victory.The
Lakers rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final 2 1/2 minutes to
force the first overtime, and got two baskets from Bryant and another
from Bynum to begin the first extra period to take a 99-93 lead with
2:55 left.But the Bobcats came back, and a 3-pointer by Diaw
with 32.2 seconds to play tied the game at 103. Bryant was out of the
game at that stage, having fouled out with 39.8 seconds left after
scoring eight points in the first overtime.Neither team got a good shot off after that, forcing the second overtime.Pau Gasol had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers, but shot just 4-of-16."Pau probably had the worst night he's had as a Laker,'' Jackson said.The Bobcats won for just the sixth time on the road against 13 losses."It
was one of those games where Kobe had kind of taken over for them,''
Bell said. "So when you lose that engine, I think it was more of the
fact that they just didn't have that go-to guy down the stretch. It
definitely didn't hurt that Kobe wasn't around. But more than anything,
we continued to do what we did.''"We didn't get too high with
the highs or too low with the lows. We just kept plugging away. We gave
it away for a while and them we were really resilient at times. So we
just stayed the course.''Diaw scored seven points during a 9-0
run that gave the Bobcats a 90-83 lead before seven points by Bryant
and a 3-pointer by Fisher with 14 seconds left in the fourth quarter
tied the game at 93. Felton missed a 22-footer as time expired to force
the first overtime.Neither team led by more than four points in
the third quarter until Charlotte scored six straight for a 70-63 lead
with 3 1/2 minutes left in the period. The Bobcats led 76-70 entering
the fourth quarter.Lakers forward Trevor Ariza left with 4:52
left in the second quarter after sustaining a concussion and didn't
return. He's not expected to miss any playing time.Notes: The
game was the Lakers' first overtime contest of the season, leaving New
Orleans as the only team that hasn't gone into overtime. ... The
Lakers' 16 first-quarter points tied a season-low. ... The Lakers,
who've played an NBA-high 27 home games and a league-low 17 road games,
open a six-game trip Friday night at Minnesota. They're 23-4 at home
and 12-5 away. They'll play 22 of their next 31 games on the road. ...
The Lakers are 4-5 overall against the Bobcats, who joined the NBA as
an expansion team in 2004. ... The Bobcats are 12-10 since acquiring
Diaw and Bell from Phoenix last month. ... The Lakers have a 12-6
record against Eastern Conference teams this season and the Bobcats are
9-6 against the West.

I would say exactly what Larry Brown said, "That was a heck of a win, it was a heck of a performance"

The Bobcats are 1 of the 3 developing, young teams. The others would have to be the Hornets and Thunder.