Gasol's start sparks Lakers to victory over Wolves

The Los Angeles Lakers built a huge lead on the Minnesota Timberwolves and had just enough in the tank to hold off Minnesota at the end, winning by a 111-100 margin on Friday night. Starting in place of the injured Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 22 points and 12 rebounds and Kobe Bryant had another well-rounded game with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists.

In the opening quarter and a half, the Lakers (21-26) could do not wrong. They scored 37 in the first quarter and built a 29 point lead with 6:22 to play in the second quarter. But the Wolves (17-26) went on a 17-3 run to finish the first half and slowly whittled away at the Lakers' lead, closing the gap to as few as four points. But turnovers by Minnesota and key shots by Los Angeles down the stretch cut Minnesota's rally short. Alexey Shved led the Timberwolves with 18 points. His five 3-pointers are a career best. Derrick Williams (15 points and nine rebounds) and Ricky Rubio (nine points, seven assists) also contributed some of their most effective minutes of the year for Minnesota.