The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night, coasting to a 103-87 win over the Don't-Call-Me-Pelicans behind a record-setting performance from Kobe Bryant, strong second-half pressure defense and a combined 11-of-21 mark from beyond the 3-point line turned in by the foursome of Metta World Peace, Antawn Jamison, Jodie Meeks and Darius Morris. For Lakers fans wearied these last few weeks by their expected juggernaut's fits-and-starts opening to the season — and, more recently, talk of needed ***-kicking , possible exit-prepping , dismal foul-shooting and metaphorical pants-pooping — it was a good, calming night. Lakers big man Pau Gasol took in the feel-good extravaganza from the L.A. bench, sitting out for the second consecutive game as he rests in the interest of recovering from tendinitis in both of his knees . News of Gasol's length-as-yet-undetermined siesta — which comes with his scoring averages (per-game and per-minute) and field-goal percentage at career lows, his rebounding and assist rates down from last year, and Bryant having openly questioned his conditioning — immediately stoked speculation that the Lakers were shelving him ahead of shipping him out to shake up the struggling L.A. roster. That speculation reached new heights following reports that Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had told Gasol's representatives the team could look to move the 32-year-old four-time All-Star if he proved unable to adapt to new coach Mike D'Antoni's more uptempo spread pick-and-roll system. Perhaps emboldened by those reports, word's now trickling out about multiple teams reaching out to the Lakers to gauge Gasol's availability, though — thus far — unsuccessfully. From Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com : The Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves have both recently tried to engage the Lakers in trade discussions for Gasol, sources told ESPN.com, but the Lakers continue to tell teams that call that they will not consider dealing the Spaniard until L.A. can fully assess its roster after the return of injured point guard Steve Nash. [...]
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