Happy New year to everyone. For the faithful few who check out my blog, thanks and sorry there hasn't been an update for a week.  Fashion statements. That's what we're going to focus on today. Over the holiday week, the Lakers made some serious statements. They told the Phoenix Suns that they are for real this year, that their beginning of the season win wasn't a fluke. They also upended a Utah Jazz team finally getting it together, finally looking like the squad that made it to the Western semis last year. Those were beautiful statements.  Of course, there was Phil's tie (which I personally liked). And then, curiously, there were the short shorts.  

So I wonder...Why in the world would the Lakers collectively decide to wear throwback shorts on the one night that the best Eastern conference team (the one who put a hurting on them the last time with a 107-94 spanking in Boston) came to town? And with a four game win streak on the line where they had just dispatched the Jazz and Suns (for the second time). It makes little to absolutely no sense. About as much sense as all black attire with a little red and white bowtie. 

Continue reading "Balls out..."

All right, all right. I admit. I've disliked the former number one overall draft pick for quite some time. He's been a negative for most of the time he's been in the league, and even when he seems like he's ready to turn the corner and be a major contributor (last year and this year), he gets riddled with little injuries that seem to take months to recover from.

He's given Phil Jackson headaches. Given MJ head trauma. He's being way overpaid at 9 million, and as tempting as it would be for the Lakers to dump that salary, I'm saying DO NOT. Not under any circumstance. Not for J Kidd. Not for anybody not named Lebron, Dwight, or Chris Paul. Obviously those guys won't be offered, so bottom line...DON'T TRADE HIM.

Have I gone mad? Have my marbles gone spilling out onto the floor? Nope. The Lakers are 23-11 right now. Everyone is hyping Bynum as beast 1A to Dwight Howard. The whispers that the Lakeshow is a legit contender have gone from sweet nothings to banshee-like shrieks. Just ask Suns, Jazz and Hornets fans. Kobe is sharing. D-Fish is leading. Odom is balling. So why, oh why am I saying to keep the $9 million, bust-of-a-draft-pick, injury-prone, stone-handed, noose named Kwame Brown?

Continue reading "KEEP KWAME! It's Yang time."

Once again, the injury bug strikes at the height of success.

Andrew Bynum is out for eight weeks. Eight weeks. That’s two months. The kid’s been stellar in his third season, averaging 13 and 10 with 2 blocks. He’s been shooting a scalding 63 percent, and has been a key component in the Lakers’ rise to the top of the West. Over his past five games, all Lakers’ victories, he’s been phenomenal. 17.5 points, 11.5 boards, with 2.4 assists and 2.2 blocks, while shooting an insane 69 percent from the field.

And now he’s gone—for eight weeks. The news is devastating. Although, not as bad as it potentially could have been. At least he’s scheduled to be back this season. Before the injury, the Lakers had won 16 of their last 19 games and, prior to today’s news, looked set to challenge the league’s elite this year, with a very, very real possibility of winning it all. Obviously, this injury derails such ambition, though it doesn’t squash them. After all, the Lakers are one of the deepest teams in the league. They’ve done all this winning while missing Chris Mihm (a perennial visitor to the disabled list), Sasha Vujacic, and Vladimir Radmanovic (no, not a snowboarding accident).

Continue reading "The Good with the Bad"

Thanks Sammy my boy, you've put the Lakers in sole possession of first place in not only the Pacific division, but in the entire Western conference. And for those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, first of all, shame on you, and second, that would be Sam Cassell of the Los Angeles Clippers who dropped a cool 32 points, 6 boards and 7 assists on the Phoenix Suns last night. And thanks to my Aunt and Uncle, I was able to have excellent seats at the game. 

Of course, the news of the Lakers ascension to the top would have been scary awesome if not for the reality check of Bynum's 8-week-long knee injury. But thanks anyway Sam. You've been one of my favorite players over the years, and I had the pleasure of getting to watch you put on a show, no, a clinic last night. Yes, yes, I know this is a Lakers blog, and I probably should be talking about how Kobe had to take 44 shots two nights ago to score 48 points, and how Nick Collison tore through the Lakers bigs like they were tissue paper, and how one of the worst teams in the L pushed the now first place in the West Lakers into overtime and probably should have won save the rookie (and I mean ROOKIE) mistake made by Durant who took a long two pointer with the score tied and 8 seconds left on the clock.

Continue reading "Play It Again Sam"

Hey Lakers fans!

Don't stop believing. It's a Journey! 

Yeah. Ouch.

Brown had more turnovers than boards last night, but you know what? Booing the kid is not going to do a damn thing but make matters worse.

What kind of Lakers fan boos his/her own player after one bad night? Kwame’s playing on a sore knee and swollen ankle for god’s sake. He’s trying to fill a role that he is not designed to fill. God designed him differently. Just like Yao could never play point guard and Nate Robinson could never play center (okay, well maybe in a Japanese league).

I pointed out in my blog several days ago that Kwame is the Yang to Bynum’s Yin. The two are opposites. Polar. And by that I don’t mean one’s awesome and the other one sucks (for all the smart asses out there).

Continue reading "Don't Stop Believin'"

The Lakers looked awesome last night. Well, for a half at least. A night after coming off an 11-assist performance which included several wrap-around-the-back passes (the most impressive, by the way, was not the one to Turiaf, but rather the left handed around the back pass to Odom in the post—what an impossible pass…Try that Steve Nash!) Kobe had the Lakeshow rolling early. They took a 54-45 lead into halftime against the, albeit struggling, defending champs.

They looked quicker, faster, and younger than the Spurs. They played with fire, they played together, and they played well in spite of not having Bynum or Ariza or, to a lesser extent Mihm and Vlad Rad.

But when the Lakers came back out after half, they played like they were having flashbacks of that Boston game with the skimpy shorts. 22 turnovers is horrible for a junior high girls basketball game. And Mr. Passion Bucket Pass happy Kobe had 9 of them. Sure, not all of them were his fault, and sure, the Spurs have mastered the art of the foul that doesn’t get called, but come on, that’s no way for an MVP to be playing. 

Continue reading "One Step Forward...Two Steps Back"

    Okay. So Odom airballed that last shot. Sure, Turiaf missed what turned out to be critical free throw. Yeah, Kobe turned the ball over a career high 11 times. But the Lakers went into The Palace, a place they haven’t won in over five years, and nearly beat the second (arguably) best team in the East without Bynum, Mihm, Ariza, or Walton. In fact, they had the game won needing only a rebound to secure the victory. Unfortunately, Tayshaun Prince got his shot off and hit the winning bucket. 
    The Lakers shot horribly, connecting on only 42 percent of their shots and only 68 percent of their free throws. They had 22 turnovers and only 16 assists. They gave up 25 fast break points and gave up 17 steals and 7 blocks. Those are some atrocious numbers, and yet, still, they lost by one point to the Detroit Pistons.

Continue reading "Think Positive"