Ariza

And, not surprisingly, Kwame is playing worse without Kobe.

Trevor Ariza (16 PER), Andrew Bynum (22.7 PER) and Pau Gasol (25 PER) are all having career years. Kobe is the only constant with all three. 

Continue reading "By the Numbers: Why Kobe is the MVP Over Lebron"

d about how young this team is and how bright their future looks with Bynum, Farmar and potentially Ariza all young budding stars. The Lakers look set to compete for championships for years to come, even beyond Kobe’s prime. Besides, with his fire and winner’s mentality, Farmar is the poor man’s point guard, big-eared version of Kobe.  

Continue reading "Poor Man’s Version"

n 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. 

Continue reading "Think Positive"

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"

All the injuries have given more time for Luke and Ariza and even Javaris Crittenton (dude’s got game). There’s even been a few, albeit brief, Coby Karl sightings.   

Continue reading "The Good with the Bad"