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LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Kobe Bryant wasnt anywhere in sight when the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off one of the most stunning upsets of the NBA season so far.Carlos Boozer scored 18 points in his new role off the bench, and the Lakers built a 24-point cushion against the league-leading Golden State Warriors and hung on for a 115-105 victory Tuesday night.Bryant, the NBAs No. 3 career scorer, sat out for the first time this season to rest his tired legs. The decision made by coach Byron Scott, who had been hinting at it for days.Looking at our schedule coming up, I just thought it was a good time to give him a day of rest and let him prepare for the next game, Scott said. Kobe told me last night, anyway, Coach, whatever you want me do. Just let me know. So hes on board with it.The 36-year-old Bryant is averaging 35.5 minutes through the first 27 games and shooting just 37.2 per cent.I think this is something that has to happen periodically, Scott said. Youve got to remember — this is 19 years in this league. Thats an unbelievable career. I dont care how much his mind is willing. Youre not going to be able to play 82 games at the level that he is accustomed to playing. So sometimes, you have to give him days off as well as games off.Bryant, who passed Michael Jordan on the career points list Dec. 14 at Minnesota, missed 76 games last season because of a torn Achilles and a fractured left knee. Scott said Bryant would be evaluated before Thursdays nationally televised Christmas Day game at Chicago.Wayne Ellington made his first start for the Lakers in Bryants place and scored 12 points in 25 minutes, one of seven Lakers in double figures.It was a good team win. We just had a lot of energy and it was a lot of fun from the start, said Nick Young. From the lockerroom to the court, we felt good. Some guys just played free tonight and did their thing. They had no handcuffs on them.Stephen Curry had 22 points and six assists for the Warriors, who lost for only the fourth time in 27 games. Klay Thompson had 18 points on 6 for 15 shooting.Curry was 10 for 14 from the field after averaging 30.3 points and 12.3 assists in his previous three games against the Lakers. Draymond Green made one of six shots in 24 minutes and finished with two points.The Lakers made only one field goal over the final 5:56, a clutch 3-pointer by Jeremy Lin with 35 seconds to play. The Warriors cut it to 113-105 on Justin Holidays 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go, before Ronnie Price helped put it away with a pair of free throws.They kicked our (butts). They were much better than we were, said Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. We werent ready to play. We started turning the ball over immediately. We never had any energy, which is going to happen occasionally in the NBA with 82 games.The Lakers were moving the ball just fine in the first half without Bryant orchestrating the offence. They had 19 assists and got 12 points each from Wesley Johnson and Ed Davis to take a 63-48 lead.We just decided to take it upon ourselves and play for one another without our leader, centre Jordan Hill said. We knew it was going to be a tough fight, but we came out and played hard, played together and moved the ball around.___TIP-INS:Warriors: For the first time this season, the Warriors trailed by double digits after the opening quarter. They fell behind 34-24, giving up nine second-chance points and getting outrebounded 14-5. ... Paul Walther, a six-year NBA veteran who played for both the Lakers and Warriors during the 1950s, died Sunday at age 87 in Atlanta.Lakers: Former Laker Vlade Divac sank a midcourt shot to win $90,000 for charity, with the proceeds going to the Divac Childrens Foundation and the Lakers Youth Foundation. Divac shot 23.5 per cent behind the 3-point line in his career (100 for 426). ... Tuesday marked exactly seven years since Bryant became the youngest player to reach the 20,000-point mark during a game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden (29 years, 122 days). ... Hill and Johnson are now the only Lakers who have started all 28 games.UP NEXT:Warriors: At Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.Lakers: At Chicago on Thursday. Rod Gilbert Jersey . After missing 20 games as a rookie a year ago, Valanciunas - like the Raptors as a whole - has been fortunate to be in good health this season. As he spoke about it, the Raptors sophomore centre scanned the room for wood to knock on. "It is disappointing because we lost today so thats the worst part of the day," said Valanciunas, who left Tuesdays game with a lower-back sprain in the third quarter, missing the rest of Torontos 118-113 overtime defeat at the hands of the Hawks. Jeff Beukeboom Jersey . A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. http://www.rangershockeyonlineshop.com/w...-hockey-jersey/. The 20-year-old overager has appeared in 35 games for the Ontario Hockey Leagues Erie Otters this season, scoring 41 goals and adding 27 assists with a plus-28 rating. Sergei Nemchinov Jersey . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Mike Gartner Jersey . His recovery time is expected to be six to eight months. Seidenberg was injured in the third period of Fridays 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators, when he got his leg tangled with forward Cory Conacher.Des Moines, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - The weakest team in the Missouri Valley Conference plays host to one of the strongest, as the Drake Bulldogs welcome 16th-ranked Wichita State to town on New Years Eve. Among the programs in the MVC, Drake has the fewest victories with just three, with one of those coming against an opponent outside of the Division I ranks in Simpson College (84-62) the last time out. The victory was the second in the last three outings for a Bulldogs squad that is playing the last of four straight games in the city of Des Moines and is set to take on league foes Missouri State and Illinois State on the road over the next week. Wichita State, which went undefeated all of last season before bowing to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, was considered one of the top squads outside of the power conferences heading into the 2014-15 campaign, but already the team has suffered a couple of defeats. The loss at nationally-ranked Utah by a single point in overtime (69-68) is certainly understandable, but then the Shockers had a six-game win streak snapped by George Washington, 60-54, in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic last week. As far as the all-time series is concerned, the Shockers have won five straight over Drake and now own a 97-47 advantage as they enter the 145th meeting. Wichita State is set to host the Bulldogs a little more than three weeks from now. A long, long way from home, the Shockers were taken out by the George Washington Colonials on Christmas by six points in a hotly-contested meeting at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. Wichita State didnt have a single player make more than just four field goals and only Fred VanVleet scored in double figures for the squad as he tallied 11 on 4-of-15 from the floor. The team as a whole was just 34.4 percent accurate from the field and visited the free-throw line just twicce as Zach Brown converted one of his two chances.dddddddddddd The effort by the Shockers from the floor versus George Washington was the weakest of the season and marked the second straight outing in which the program was held below 40 percent accuracy. Conversely, the Colonials made good on 51.1 percent from the floor which was the best effort by any WSU opponent through 12 games. VanVleet is one of three players scoring in double figures with his 11.7 ppg, supplemented by his team-best 64 assists and 26 steals, not to mention 4,3 rpg which is also one of the top efforts for the program. Ahead of him in the scoring department are Ron Baker and Darius Carter with 16.6 and 11.9 ppg, respectively, the former shooting 32-of-80 out on the perimeter and the latter pulling down a team-best 6.3 rpg. Knotted at 17-17 with 11 minutes to play in the first half, the Bulldogs rolled out a 29-9 scoring burst in order to take control against Simpson and eventually cruise to the home victory. Drake made good on an impressive 63.8 percent from the field, while limiting the visitors to only 39.6 percent accuracy and also topped Simpson on the glass, 32-18. Jordan Daniels led the attack with 24 points, Reed Timmer produced 19, Jacob Enevold 14 points and Gary Ricks 10 to go along with six rebounds and five assists. The Bulldogs are a team that is scoring only 63.0 ppg, while giving up 70.9 ppg, so it is clear why wins are still hard to come by. Ricks, who has been in the lineup for nine of 12 games, is listed as the top scoring threat with his 11.2 ppg, although Timmer is right there with him at 11.2 ppg, although the former is far more accomplished behind the 3-point line (.405) and is pulling down close to four rebounds per contest as well. Enevold, who has five times as many turnovers (30) as assists (six), is responsible for a team-best 6.0 rpg. ' ' '