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Bryant Steals Thunder From Arenas In Lakers Win Over Wizards

Washington, DC (AHN) - Basketball is a team sport, right? Yeah, usually. Some nights, however, a one-on-one duel takes on so much importance it overshadows the rest of the game. Saturday was one of those nights as the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the Wizards' Gilbert Arenas went head to head in the nation's capital. The Lakers guard got the better of his counterpart as Bryant made 14-of-26 field goals to finish with 39 points while Arenas missed 20-of-29 shots but he did end up with 37 points because of solid free throw shooting. By the way, the Lakers won the game 118-102.

The game between the two All-Stars and their teams grew in stature after the first time the two hooked up back in December. In one of the most entertaining NBA games this year, Arenas scored 60 points in the Wizards' 147-141 overtime win. Bryant added a little drama to the whole affair after the game by criticizing the Washington guard's shot selection.

Maybe that night Bryant was just trying to get in Arenas' head.

The thing is the laid-back Arenas does not fall victim to something like that, which makes his troubles shooting on Saturday rather surprising.

Arenas best stretch of the game came in a three minute period early on in the game when he scored five points. His layup at 5:16 put the Wizards up 18-10 early on. Bryant went to work immediately afterwards and scored seven points in the final five minutes of the quarter to tie the game at 29.

It was all Lakers thereafter. Smush Parker's 3-pointer gave Los Angeles a 54-50 lead at halftime and Bryant's 12 points in the third quarter put his team up by 10 and in complete control of the game.

To Arenas' credit, he would not give up. He kept on penetrating in the lane and that sent him to the free throw line continuously. He made 16-of-17 from the line.

His efforts could not erase the Lakers lead though. The team lost for the second straight game since Antwan Jamison was injured.

The second the final buzzer rang, Bryant let it be known the Los Angeles win was important for him. He pounded his chest twice and raised the "No. 1" sign to the Washington crowd.

After the game, Bryant said the duel between Arenas and him was not the reason for his actions.

Instead, he said: "What's exciting (to me) is coming into this building after we dropped a game last night and coming here and playing well."

You can bet his solid night against Arenas energized him also.

See more at www.allheadlinenews.com