You can feast on both parts and still have puh-lenty of room for tomorrow's turkey!  Doesn't get any better than that!

Part I: As Thanksgiving looms, BK and I count our Laker-centric blessings:  That Pau Gasol is back, looking good, and creating a positive ripple effect throughout the roster.   That Kobe Bryant is still getting it done to the point where he's a legit "G.O.A.T. Laker" candidate with 5-7 years' worth of chapters theoretically left to write.  And that our employment means watching considerably more purple and gold than red, white and blue.  From a totally neutral standpoint, as guest Geoff LaTullipe recently shared in a very funny article, the Laker experience is way better, unless you're just a glutton for underdog punishment. 

Part II: An extended sit down with director Spike Lee, in L.A. to promote Tuesday's DVD release of "Kobe: Doin' Work."  The first Oscar nominated guest in our poddy's history, so that's pretty exciting.  Lee gave us a boatload of time (nearly forty minutes), allowing us to cover a wide range of subjects:

Kobe, whose game is clearly admired by Lee, but his game intelligence perhaps even more.  The New York Knicks, past and, gulp, present.  Hip hop's presence in the NBA.  "He Got Game," and why Lee decided to cast Ray Allen as the lead.  "Do The Right Thing," now twenty years old and still relevant.  Discussing that film was a particular treat for me, as it allowed the opportunity to ask a continually burning question I've had about the riot scene.  Whether you're a fan of Lee's filmography or not, we're confident you'll find it an interesting conversation.

Oddly enough, we also discussed Allen Iverson, who Lee was disappointed went unsigned by the Knicks.  BK and I disagreed, but we all concurred that if a brief stay in Memphis was indeed Iverson's last stop, it's an awful way for a storied career to end.  Lee remained confident AI will play again, but that was before his retirement announcement.

(Also, for those who didn't hear/see either on the first go round, here's yesterday's Lunch with a Legend interview with Lee.  GREAT story about the origin of the Reggie Miller-Spike feud.)

AK

Photo: Spike Lee.  Credit: Fred Prouser / Reuters

Tuesday night at Staples, the Lakers beat the Knicks 100-90 in a game that generally speaking, wasn't that close. Kobe Bryant, as has become his custom, torched the visitors for 34 points on 14-20 from the floor. The box score will show a steady 17/7/4 from Ron Artest, 17/8 from Andrew Bynum, and 16 rebounds for Pau Gasol. Derek Fisher continued a run of strong games, scoring 12 points to go with six boards and four assists. As a team, the Lakers outboarded New York 60-36, and held them under 40% from the floor.

All well and good. The Knickerbockers are, a wretched team. Truly awful. After last night's loss, they're 3-11, and to paraphrase Bull Durham, how the hell did they win three? Take away the storied jersey, the rich history, and the constant presence of Spike Lee (who sat down with us for an extended interview Tuesday afternoon) and they're just another bottom-feeder, one the Lakers should dispatch without incident. That, more or less, is what happened. It's all relative, but relatively speaking Tuesday's game was pretty boring, and on many nights boring is ideal for LA. It means nobody got hurt, that game wasn't in danger. Boring is just fine.

That doesn't mean it was particularly well played. The same box score will show 25 Lakers turnovers (six for Artest) and a fourth quarter won 28-17 by the Knicks, requiring what should have been unnecessary minutes late in the game from Kobe and Ron Ron. Overall, the bench was outscored 41-9 and shot 4-22. Judging garbage time is always difficult, but while Phil Jackson classified the mid-game performance of the reserves as decent-ish enough, the last eight minutes of the game left a bad taste in his mouth, and the team knows they have to close out big leads with more efficiency. 

In the end, though, it makes more sense to focus on what the Lakers have done of late. Four straight wins by double digits. Since Gasol's return, their point differential is nearly 14 points a night. There is, on this Thanksgiving Eve, much to be grateful for.

More Lakers/NBA news below...

UPDATE- 10:48: WE'RE LIVE!!!

It's Spike Lee and Kobe Bryant as part of a panel discussion on Kobe Doin' Work. It should start around 11 pm PT, and run for an hour.

For those interested in listening live and following along, click here. Send along some questions and comments. I'm not sure if they'll be accepting web-based inquiries, but we'll keep a log just in case. Should be an interesting event.

As always, the chat box is below. Hope you can join in.

BK

Learned two interesting tidbits regarding former Knicks player Phil Jackson:

1) During our 710 ESPN Lakers PodKast interview recorded today with Spike Lee (PLUG!!!), I asked the director what he remembers most about PJ during his NYC career.  I wasn't surprised when he mentioned the shoulders.  I didn't expect, however, memories of Jackson riding a ten speed to the arena.  I can't vouch for the accuracy of Lee's memories formed as a kid, but it does sound like a "Phil" thing to do.

2) Phil was asked before the game about his days as a Knick, and if he liked the city.  Yes, in part because the warmer months offered some nice bird watching opportunities.  I can honestly say I didn't see that coming.

The jabber box is below.
 
AK

Fun stuff coming tonight...

From 11-12 am after tonight's game, Kobe Bryant (plays for the Lakers) and Spike Lee (makes movies) will be participating in a live panel discussion in conjunction with the DVD release of "Kobe Doin' Work." We'll be there, hosting a live chat. I'm not exactly sure what the format will be or if they'll be taking questions from the blogosphere, but it should be a very cool event and we'll do our best to capture the atmosphere. You can listen online to the webcast and follow along on the chat board, which will be posted both at 710ESPN.com and the LAT Lakers Blog.

Hope you can stick around. More information to come tonight in the chat.

BK

I've always said that once Ron Artest hits the weights enough to get a body as good as mine, he'll find an opportunity to appear on the Jimmy Kimmel Show without a shirt. Or what would be traditionally defined as "pants." 

Basically, show a little skin as celebration of his "AK-esque" physique.

Well, I know what I'm talking about, because Artest did just that. Pretty funny stuff and a few great lines from Ron Ron. BK was especially fond of, "I can even put your pen right in my pocket!" I'm partial to, "(Phil) might be giving me a book tomorrow." (Thanks to Ball Don't Lie for the heads up.)

No real "theme" emerged during today's practice. Which makes sense, as there isn't really much worth a hardcore examination. The Lakers are fresh off back-to-back blow out W's. Pau Gasol is looking very good upon his return from injury. Kobe Bryant is making the kind of shots that typically don't stroke cord without CGI assistance.  It is, as the kids often say, "all good" these days.

But that won't stop me from presenting some talkies from the afternoon's session in El Segundo. Why? Because we care over at Lakers Blog. And you people would hunt us down if we didn't provide the scoop. So there's that, too.

After last night's win over OKC and point guard Russell Westbrook getting held to 2-8 shooting, Scotty Brooks lavished some serious praise on Derek Fisher:

"Derek Fisher never gets enough credit. The guy is a star. He battles and competes. I admire his play every year since he's been in this league. If you want your son to be a point guard, they should look at his tape and be committed to what he does. He plays for the team, and that's what you expect from a point guard at that level. He's an amazing player."

To say the least, flattering words, reflective of a dude who's made a difference as a grinder, not a stat machine. As Fish later noted, the way he plays as a pro is the way he's played his entire life.

Last Thursday, Kobe Bryant passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and moved into second place on the all-time franchise scoring list (video here). Assuming a) good health, and b) Adidas doesn't issue a kryptonite weave- all at once breathable, moisture-wicking, and debilitating- for their authentic NBA jerseys, at some point this year he'll pass Jerry West for the top spot. Given the way players move from team to team in the modern era, once Kobe gets there then adds another near-decade of tallies, it's hard for me to picture anyone passing him.

His accomplishment led to some energetic debate around town regarding Kobe's present-and-future place in LA's substantial basketball pantheon. Where is he now? Where will he stand when it's all over? The greatest ever? Spectacular, but still be behind Magic? Or Kareem? West? Elgin Baylor? Some combination of those iconic figures? Which leads to today's poll:

Come to think of it, the whole freakin' night was really about the repeated stealing of thunder, in one form or another. 

In their own right, OKC entered Staples Center on quite the little roll.  7-6 (at the time).  Above .500 on the road. One hellvua young nucleus being hyped as one of the new teams worth watching.  But there's potential and there's reality.  The Thunder may be on their way, but the Lakers have clearly arrived.  A fact clearly, quickly, and- eventually- flashily established during a 101-85 hometown victory.

As BK and I noted during the postgame breakdown, there were fundamentals a-plenty on display to complement the "big top" moments.   The Lakers played excellent defense, took hawkish care of the ball while forcing it out of the Thunderians' mitts, took advantage of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol's increasingly fluid teamwork and whipped the ball around with ease.  Similar tasks to those on the Thunder's "to do" list, but the difference in achievement was very pronounced.

Also pronounced was the entertainment factor throughout.

Sunday funday, indeed.

Breakdown below.

Okay, Kobe Bryant, I'll see your behind the backboard shot and raise you one of these:

After the game, Kobe said nobody he's seen- whether teammates, opponents, or himself- gets up like Shannon Brown. He never saw AK pre-ACL injury, but that aside, who am I to argue?  I was fortunate enough to be on the side of the floor where the oop went down, and fair to say it led to a momentary suspension of the standard media-row prohibition on "Holy **@&#!" reactions to on-court events. That play could have raised the dead.

More on the game to come.

BK

From Sunday's game against the Thunder. The next guy to shoot is almost guaranteed to get an "H..."

For his next trick, I want to see Kobe do this...

BK

Q: Who are the Lakers playing tonight?

Answer?

The jabber box is below.

AK

The headline sums things up pretty well...

...but we've been told our posts need to be...

...at least three lines long so they can be picked up by Google searches.

BK

In conjunction with their annual Chick Hearn Night, the Lakers are conducting a drive for new children's books. Donations can be made from 4:30-6:30 pm at the Star Plaza entrance at Staples. All books will be donated in memory of Chick to Everybody Wins! Los Angeles (learn more about them here), and fans who kick in will receive a 2009-2010 Lakers pin.

It's a great cause, and a fantastic way to help honor the memory of an LA icon.

BK

 You've watched your Sunday news programs. You're settling into a day of football. That doesn't mean you can't take in a little Lakers news in anticipation of tonight's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples. This is the age of wireless internet and endless gadgetry. Multitask. The Lakers have a few things on their to-do list, if you ask Phil Jackson. He'd love to see fewer turnovers (14.7 per game, 13th in the league). And there's no such thing as too much defense, either. That could be tightened up (at nearly 102, the Lakers are 8th in the NBA in points per 100 possessions).

Of course, Jackson is also quick to note that it takes more than 12 games to really understand where a team stands on big picture issues. Call it a tribute to sample size. 

A well run pick and roll is a great thing to watch, impossible to defend completely given the right personnel. That doesn't mean I want to see it all the time. But as Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times confirms and quantifies here, increasingly in today's NBA, it's a P and R world, the rest of us are just passengers.

The Lakers, who originated only 11% of their offensive plays last year through the set writes Abrams, are an exception. Fans and the game are better for it.

LA's offense demands players think and interpret, share the ball, display a varied skill set, and move in space. It thrives on players with basketball intellect who understand the relationship between their play and the four other guys on the floor. I appreciate the balance the triangle creates between a strong coaching hand necessary to implement, teach, and perfect the system with the trust given to players to do it properly once games start, and how it defines roles without mandating exactly how they be filled on every trip down the floor. (No question some of this is a byproduct of Phil Jackson's coaching style, but the style is also a reflection of the system.) Done right, the Lakers' offense is elevated stuff in a lowest common denominator world, a throwback to days when the sports world (the whole world, really) wasn't wasn't continuously dissected in a way too often requiring players and coaches to take the path of least resistance.

Given the number of Lakers I (and most of you) watch, that their games don't look the same as every other team in the league is particularly appealing. Expect the Lakers to do it well, but celebrate that they do it differently. Appreciate that the Lakers can run great pick and rolls with most of their roster (particularly Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol), but don't need it to generate looks. Get excited by the understanding that even on days when the Lakers don't look good, they'll almost always still produce a handful of exceptional plays on the offensive end.

(I now step off the soap box... click below for more Lakers and NBA news.)

(Self Promotional Notes: Don't forget to download this week's 710 ESPN.com Lakers PodKast, and to follow us on the Twitter at latimesKbros. Finally, AK and I are the, ahem, "personalities" representing 710 ESPN at this poker tourney at Hollywood Park Casino. Apparently, there's a bounty on our heads. Not for capturing us Boba Fett style for delivery to Jabba the Hutt, but rather knocking us out of the event. Come down/up/over and play if you can. That is all... for now. Moving on...)

Sorry for what will be a brief report from Friday afternoon's practice in El Segundo, but it's nearly Mom K's birthday, and that gift won't buy itself. I need to do a little shopping this afternoon. But I digress... There are two bits of genuine news to report. First, Andrew Bynum didn't practice, but instead received treatment on the ankle he turned in Thursday's win over Chicago. It included lasers, and while they were mounted on the heads of neither sharks nor sea bass, they ought to help reduce swelling in the area. He expects to play Sunday against Oklahoma City.

Pau Gasol, who made his season debut last night, did practice, working through the natural soreness that comes with the first game after a long layoff. He was quick to note, as you'll see in the videos below, that none of said aches were located in the bum right hamstring that kept him out of the season's first 11 games. 

Click below for today's moving pictures...

Or A.B.A.U., for the acronymically* inclined...

No surprise, after turning his right ankle in the third quarter of Thursday's 108-93 win over the Bulls, Andrew Bynum didn't practice Friday afternoon in El Segundo, instead receiving treatment ranging from medicine to ice to something he called a "laser level," which I always thought was used to hang picture frames properly. (Note: If my Google skills are worth their salt, I'm pretty sure he meant a low-level laser, which is used to help reduce swelling.)

"It was sorer than last night, he said. "I left last (the arena) last night without doing (any heavy treatment) because I was, you know, trying to walk it off, but it stiffened up this morning." Still, just as he did Thursday, Bynum said he doesn't expect to miss any games. "The ankle is alright. It's not too serious. I should be back by Sunday,"

Generally speaking, the best way to judge the severity of a Bynum injury is to measure the reactions of those around him, since Drew is notoriously bad at self-diagnosis. In that regard, nobody seemed too concerned. More to come from Friday's run.

BK

*new word