Los Angeles Lakers

With the top 4 teams in the league last year making ALL the big moves so far this off-season(Boston excluded so far because they haven't signed sheed yet, but they will be getting a healthy Garnett ba

Continue reading "NBA Champions"

It's odd, I have my site at bostoncelticsnews.com, and I have only posted one thing NBA related. Well, how about I make it two? 

On MLK night, the Lakers took it the Cavs. If this game didn't showcase why the Lakers are the best team in the league right now, I don't know what does. For the average person who just looks at the NBA as a whole, the Lakers are the team right now. But, as Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. Breaking it down, here are my rankings for teams that I think have the best shot at winning the championship. 

Continue reading "NBA Wrap-Up"

do much of anything, especially play defense.

Which made them the perfect dance partners for the Los Angeles Lakers last night since they don't like to play defense either.

More than that though, was just how utterly painful to watch this game was. It wasn't a matter of who wanted to win. It was more a matter of who stunk up the joint least.

Continue reading "A Long December"

The Los Angeles Lakers play the best three periods of any team in the league.

Too bad there's four in an NBA game.

I don't know how necessary it is to really explain myself again regarding how the fourth quarter defense- or, rather, lack thereof- is tell-tale sign that any ordering of purple and gold confetti for the Staples Center in June might be premature.

Continue reading "Lakers Are The Best Hockey Team In The NBA"

It's true that a win is a win and in the end it probably doesn't matter how a team gets one.

However, lately I've been writing about whether or not this Lakers team is for real and looking for evidence that come June, I won't be facing another heartbreaking situation like last year.

Continue reading "Lakers Rebound In Philly, But...."

The Lakers were not the only team in the NBA last night to give up 30+ points in the fourth quarter. Every team that did lost, including the Toronto Raptors who gave up 30+ in EVERY quarter.

 I have said that for the Lakers to show the world that they are serious title contenders they should win this game (among others). I still stand by that statement.

Continue reading "Lakers 4th Quarter Proves Jury Still Out"

Anyone happen to catch that Laker-Mavs game last night?

Anyone else notice another game the Lakers were trailing in and somehow come out with a win?

Yeah, I know they were at home and Dallas is a team that no one really knows what to expect from, but they were on a five game winning streak coming in.

Continue reading "Lakers Roundup"

The Los Angeles Lakers have everything they need to win a championship.

Right now.

They are leading the league in scoring per game, and while they're 'only' sixth in points allowed per game, they're also leading the league in point differential.

Continue reading "Lakers Showing They're The Real Deal"

Ruben Patterson once claimed he was the Kobe stopper, then routinely got lit up for 30 points whenever he faced him. Many have tried to contain Number 8 turned 24 and few have had success. James Posey and Paul Pierce and the zone defense of the Celtics shut Mr. Bryant down during last season’s finals.

Continue reading "Tayshaun Prince the Official Kobe Stopper"

Every expert on television, news columnist, sports reporter to your chat room and forum users all say the Houston Rockets can go deep into the playoffs if A: They can keep Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming healthy and B: If Ron Artest can keep his composure on and off the court. Earlier tonight, if a single game was any indication; Rockets fans will have something to cheer about in late April and May and fellow NBA teams can expect Houston to be a legit threat all season.

Continue reading "Unity leads Rockets past Mavs"

nches tall, weighing in at a lean, yet finally maturing and toned 285…playing center for the Los Angeles Lakers, #21…Andrew Bynum!

Recently recovered from knee surgery, the 21-year-old with the baby face uses his soft touch around the basket, and his Mr. Fantastic-like abilities to reach up into the sky and seemingly grab and flush down every single pass, no matter how wild or how off target, while also using a limited, but effective array of hooks, bank shots and dunks to completely dominate the middle on offense. With his 7-3 wingspan, he is able to alter plenty of shots and send many of them back like letters with wrong addresses. 

Continue reading "Man-Beast Vs Man-Beast: Oden vs. Bynum (Round 1)"

So Kobe has decided to forego surgery on the torn ligament in his pinkie on his shooting hand because doctors told him he could miss up to 12 weeks. That would put his return in late November, with th

Continue reading "No Surgery..."

Now that the NBA offseason is nearing a close, and, thankfully, training camp will begin in a matter of weeks, I’m going to take the next few posts to begin to delve into the Pacific Division, the moves that each team made, how I think they’ll fair, etc.

Continue reading "Pacific Division Preview Part 1: Phoenix Suns"

Okay, so a little quick Lakers update. The team has now signed 16 players to contracts and is looking to go into training camp with 18 players on their rosters. That means there are still two open roster spots. Who those other two guys are going to be remains to be seen. Also, only 15 players will make the official roster, so the rest will either be sent down to the NBDL or they’ll be released.

Continue reading "Lakers Update"

Man, what an offseason. Who would’ve thought that after the whirlwind season and trade deadline we just experienced, we would have an equally crazy summer?

In one year, we’ve seen moved: The Kid and Jesus, Pau, Shaq, Bibby, J Kidd, Big Ben, Wally World, Baron Davis, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Jermaine O’Neal, Marcus Camby, Richard Jefferson, and T.J. Ford.

Continue reading "Bad Dude = Bad News"

In that time, he won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He went from being the man at his college and in that league, to being a 10-minutes-if-he’s-lucky type in the NBA getting paid a bump over $300,000 and averaging a paltry 5 points per contest. When he moved his game to Europe, he became a literal stud playing for Eldo Napoli, an Italian team. In three seasons with that team, he averaged 13, 21 and 19 points in three consecutive years while helping his team compile a record of 55-41. The next season he bounded over to Germany averaged 16 points in 29 minutes of play, and helped that team to a 25-3 record. He’s back in the Italian league and incidentally replaced Larry O’Bannon on Snaidero Cucine Udine.  

Continue reading "When Europe Calls"

I’m scrapping the grades for now. It’s a used up idea and too many other blogs do the same thing. Plus, it’s really too subjective for my tastes. So, moving forward, there is talk of perhaps trading Odom for Ron Artest and the deadweight contract of Kenny Thomas. While one cannot rule out a bounce-back effort from Thomas, at 6-7 he’s undersized at the 4 and would seal the fate of Turiaf going elsewhere.

Continue reading "No Thanks Artest"

Today marks the first official day of the offseason. Free agency is wide open. Last night, Baron Davis and Etlon Brand both opted out of their contracs creating league-wide speculation (mostly westcoast interest, with a little bit of South Beach and brotherly love). 

Continue reading "Sasha"

Well, despite how it began and how it ended, it was a great season for the Los Angeles Lakers. It was long too, just not quite long enough. The next few weeks will be pretty hard to swallow. 39 points will haunt this squad, Kobe especially, for perhaps their entire careers. Nothing is guaranteed and despite the enormous potential and talent the Lakers possess, this very well could have been their last shot at a championship.

Continue reading "Don't hit the Panic Button"

I hate Boston. Never been there. Never want to. They got funny accents and they ride their own egos all the time. Sure, coming from an L.A. guy, this must sound pretty ludicrous. Sue me.

Continue reading "Congrats to the Truth, da Kid and tha Alien"

Okay, here’s the deal. The Lakers have looked pretty bad in these finals. Sure, a great deal can be attributed to the “help.”  Odom was nonexistent in the first few games. The guards have had a couple great moments, but never all at the same time and for the most part they’ve been playing poorly. The SF position has been a complete disadvantage, Walton and Vlad Rad have been horrible and Paul Pierce has been brilliant. 

Continue reading "It’s “Show” Time"

Lakers fans will tell you that the Lakers haven’t hit their stride. That Kobe isn’t playing the same way that he was in the first three series. That he isn’t moving the ball. That he’s taking too many bad shots. They say that Lamar Odom is struggling through nerves and that Pau Gasol is playing soft.

Continue reading "Good or Not?"

I hate blaming the refs. So I won’t do it. It’s true, the Lakers lost that game, and that’s that. But I would like to provide a little bit of information for all the Celtics fans who say that their team was the more aggressive in the paint.

Continue reading "No Complaining…Just the FACTS."

-Sam Cassell gave me a scare. He came out and swished his first shot and I remember thinking that Sammy had this look on his face, “I’m here. This is my time, this is what I’ve been waiting for. Forget the rest of the playoffs, this is all I care about.” Gave me chills. Got me real, real scared.

Continue reading "Notes on Game 1"

I’m tired of all the flashbacks and reminiscing going on in the NBA due to the Celtics/Lakers matchup set for tomorrow evening. All the montages and interviews and whatnot are making me noxious (thanks NBA for giving us a whole week before game 1).

Continue reading "85-86 Celtics? 08 Lakers Win IMO..."

As Kobe and the gang put the finishing touches on their astounding 4-1 series victory over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, I began to wonder "Could Detroit or Boston really beat L.A.?"

Continue reading "Kobe and the Lakers; are the finals over already?"

Utah fans, please sit down and be quiet concerning the supposed discrepancy in foul calls. You, above all other fans, have no right to complain. Since the beginning of this decade, your team has finished in the top 3 teams of free throws attempted six times. That’s 1st in 01-02, second in 02-03, 06-07 and this year, and third 00-01 and 05-06. You can also throw in the year you finished fourth in 03-04.

Continue reading "Jazz Fans Shut Up!"

The Lakers put another impressive, yet still somehow shaky victory over the Utah Jazz into the books and now sit on a cool 6-0 record in the 2007-08 playoffs. Not much to write about in their victory, because, well, they’re cruising but with rabid intensity. 

Continue reading "Some Random Lakers Thoughts"

It was a pretty masterful performance, despite the 4 horribly missed shots in the fourth quarter, but MVP-to-be Kobe Bryant made the Utah Jazz pay for their roughshod defense.

He missed those four shots by a wide margin, almost as if reliving that fateful game 11 years ago against the same team at the Lakers then home—the Forum. 

Continue reading "What a Difference a Decade Makes"

Well, until last night’s beat down of the Spurs, in which Boris Diaw nearly dropped a triple double and Amare Stoudemire was held to single digit points, Phoenix championship hopes looked about as bright as Flava Flav.

Continue reading "Take that Shaq!"

49 and 10 with 2 turnovers. Toldja. 

Yeah, soak that up J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin. You too Kobe haters... 

K. Had to get that out of the way, now on to the rest of the blog.  

Continue reading "What’s Next? The Lakers "Others""

I don’t know if anyone has noticed besides 3-point starved fantasy basketball owners, but Vladimir Radmanovic is starting to become a very solid basketball player. And I’m not just talking about his outside shooting. There was never really a question, okay, he kind of made us question last year, but outside of that, his outside game was never in doubt. He could always stroke the long ball. That’s why Mitch signed him two summers ago to the tune of 31 million over five years. This deal was done in spite of having newly inked Brian Cook and soon-to-be long-contract Luke Walton.

Continue reading "The Space Cadet Blasting Off"

Andrew Bynum has reportedly been working out with Chris Mihm and could run through full practice as early as this week. This is great news. Also great news is the recent play of Lamar Odom. As discussed last week in this blog, Odom has finally started to play with a fire and confidence that has been sorely lacking from his all-around game. He’s shooting 86 percent in his last two games. He’s found a great rhythm playing with both Kobe and especially Gasol and has become deadly efficient.

Continue reading "Bringing Bynum Off the Bench"

He finally did it. He finally put all those massive talents together and played up to his potential. Imagine if he plays like this the rest of the way. The Lakers won’t need Andrew Bynum back. Lamar Odom put together a doozy of a game, against a Mavericks club that was shooting the lights out despite pretty solid defense by the Purple and Gold. Odom made 12-14 shots, totaling 31 points. Pulled down ten boards, dished 5 assists, blocked 2 shots and threw in a steal to cap off his night. Plus he made two of the best plays of the game with a fake pass, layup that made Dirk look foolish, followed by a quick scoop pass to Pau for an and-one. Not only was his offense up to snuff, despite giving up 27 points to Dirk, Lamar made the key stop on the Big German with a about 30 seconds left. He played perfect defense. I mean, Diggler still shot a scorching 13-19, but Odom was in his grill on most of them. Dirk was just hot. I knew Lamar was feeling it. In the past, he would always look to Kobe to set the tone, or to make sure he was running the right plays. Tonight, he took the ball himself, juked, spun, shimmied, dropped dimes, battled for loose balls, dove to the basket for putbacks (he dunked Kobe’s missed layup at the end of the game when Kobe got fouled) and ice-manned the ball in the hoop all night. It was beautiful and extremely exciting to watch. Odom, for the first time I’ve ever seen him play, looked like he wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

Continue reading "What We’ve Been Waiting For…"

I’m getting a bit worried of late. Teams are getting physical on the Lakers. This is the second game in a row that the opposing team has used 80s Pistons-like thuggery. Kobe said a couple weeks back that this wasn’t the 80s. Well, sorry Kobe. From here on out, teams will be gunning for that injured hand of yours. It’s the only realistic way of stopping you.  

Continue reading "Getting Rough and Rising to the Challenge"

I’ll show you another, far less amicable form of caring. Look no further than the Los Angeles Lakers starting shooting guard. Last night, against one of the worst teams in the league, up by a measly 31 points in the waning minutes of the third quarter, Number 24 amassed back-to-back technical fouls and had an early trip to the showers.

Continue reading "Kobe Cares"

We have been waiting for this moment for months.  No, I’m not talking about the Jason Kidd trade to go through (which it did today).  I am talking to about the second half of the NBA season to begin.  The first three and a half months can be such a drag, and usually are but in the second half, everything picks up.  It is a two-month stretch run to the playoffs.  This is the time when teams like San Antonio and Detroit flip their switch on and look to be playing their best when the playoffs begin.  The flurry of trades that have gone on in the last two or three weeks has just made the second half that much more interesting.  The NBA season is about 20 games too long and it kills ratings but now is the time to jump on the bandwagon.  These next couple months of the regular season and the playoffs are going to be some of the best basketball since the ‘80’s.  The NBA, where exciting happens.

Continue reading "The NBA, Where Only the Second Half ..."

Los Angeles Dodgers Season Tickets

2. An NFL franchise in Los Angeles

3. The Los Angeles Lakers to get it together and bring home another title

4. An all-expense paid trip to Canton, Ohio and Cooperstown, NY

Continue reading "5 Things I Want for Valentine’s Day"

I remember when Shaq came on the scene as the big guy on the Orlando Magic. He had the silly rap and the even sillier movies but was quite an admirable player. When he came to Los Angeles to play for my hometown Lakers – I was so pumped! The Big Aristotle was awesome to watch and added to the mystique and legend of the team.

Continue reading "Shed a Tear for Shaq"

wing up in Los Angeles, the only team that anyone ever talked about when it came to the NBA was the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember the whole city being completely obsessed when it came to Lakers basketball. Billboards, commercials, and fast-food promotions further shoved the team into the forefront of everyone’s mind. Popular bands wrote songs about them and select celebrities lined the courtside seats.

Continue reading "Lakers? Clippers?"

atched him in college and admired his performance then and even sat the next row over from him at a Los Angeles Lakers game once.) I mean seriously, David Garrard is a class act so how can you not root for him!?

Continue reading "Bandwagon Season!"

p>What has happened to the NBA that I grew up with? I must admit, I have paid less attention to my Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA in general in the last season or two. Even so, I really feel like there is something missing.

Continue reading "Hope for the NBA?"

Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trailblazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Seattle Sonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, and I apologize if I left anyone out, who cow towe to team owners, peer groups, and making money, glitz, glamor, being effeminate, etc.  There are also professional basketball players who cow towe to their concept of self.  They always go to their strength.  Their strength resides in their hearts and minds. They believe in who they are because they know who they are.  Money, team owners, peer groups, glitz, glamor, being effeminate, etc. are particles of dust when juxtaposing them to their desire to perform to their greatest abilities as a professional basketball player.

Continue reading "Wildebeasts or Lions?"

17 and 16 with 2 assists, 0 turnovers. That’s the kind of game we drool over when it comes to Lamar. He’s shown so much promise in so many different stretches (2006 playoffs and the 2003-04 season), and yet, at 28, he has yet to live up to that potential.

Continue reading "The Lowdown on LO"

Derek Fisher, regarded as a man in decline last year, has come out gunning shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc and a scalding 50 percent overall. He’s having the best season of his career in terms of percentages, efficiency and overall per minute production. But numbers don’t tell the whole tale.

Continue reading "The Importance of Fish"