LOS ANGELES – Something strange happened on the Los Angeles Lakers’ race to the NBA’s draft-lottery heaven: The formerly mighty franchise that celebrated its gloried past earlier on Friday ended a six-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 16 games by beating the Timberwolves’ 130-119 in overtime at Staples Center.
They did so by scoring nine unanswered points late in the fourth quarter that helped force overtime after they had trailed 108-100 with just 2:44 left.
Then they scored overtime’s first eight points on their way to win for just the 21st time this season and only the second time since Feb.