And I'm not talking about the Lakers and their 102-97 win Tuesday night over Orlando.  Nope.  I'm here to congratulate Don Ford, who was the first to correctly post the answer to today's Lakers Trivia Question! 

(Since the 1973-74 season, only six Lakers have led the team in blocked shots for a season.  Name them.)

Don's winning answer:

Elmore Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Mihm. 

Honorable mention to Scott, who had to slog through what was apparently a poorly worded, hella confusing question.  Once he knew what it was, Scott posted the correct answer.  Thanks to all who played!  Extra thanks to those of you who reminded us that the San Diego Conquistadors existed.  Fantastic team name.  I miss the ABA, or would if I had been more than a year old when it folded/merged with the NBA. 

Anyway, for his trouble Don Ford wins nothing but Lakers Blog pride.  Until we get a bigger budget, I'm afraid that's all we have to give away.  Sorry.  Send any complaints to the Times.

BK

First Quarter

4-4 with 9:09 left in the first: Mihm goes off glass for his first basket. I like that he's switched to a white bullet proof vest under his jersey. He hadn't played very well donning the black one, and I imagine that color only accentuated his gloom. This look is a little more optimistic.

That behind the back bounce pass from Odom to Cook for the easy lay up? Um, that would qualify as "nice." It just goes to show, the closer LO is to the basket, the better off everyone is. Dude needs to live in the paint.

I love seeing Cook taking it to the glass (especially when he draws the foul). It just ain't pretty to watch. Very "clomping." (Is that even a word?) But I'll take "ugly but aggressive" over "pretty and camping out by the arc" any day.

And..... We're off! A quick note about posts.  The technology we're afforded doesn't make it easy for us to put info on the same post at the same time.  We tried it last time, and it didn't work.  So this is what you get.  Sorry.  If you're worried, just read mine.  AK doesn't have that much to say anyway.

Thirty seconds in, and Kobe has 2 points.  That puts him on a pace for four a minute, 48 a quarter, and 192 for the game.  If it were anyone else, you'd say that's rediculous. 

Not surprisingly, much of the pregame talk from PJ was about the third quarter.  You may have heard that the Lakers have struggled a little bit in that frame. Nothing new to report there, just that they have to play better. 

One interesting thing Jackson said was that it's when Kobe is in half-takeover/score mode, half laying back that the team gets stuck- mostly because they aren't sure if they should give him space to do his thing or stay within the offense.  Anyway, that's something to keep an eye on as the game goes on. 

By the way, tonight we have the pleasure of sitting directly behind Jim Hill's fantastic hair.  I swear, it's the most consistent, geometrically perfect afro I've ever seen.  As reliable as death and taxes.

Watching Mihm move around the lane emphasises the problem that having him and Kwame in the same frontcourt presents.  No doubt, Kwame is a better individual defender, but to say the guy is lost in the offense is a teeny understatement (PJ said before the game that Kwame is still struggling with the nuances of "an offense with options.").  So Jackson has to choose- offense or defense.  Put Cook at PF and the lack of interior D becomes even more magnified.   

We're gonna try another round of "Live from the Game" postings. We debuted this concept during the recent victory over the Blazers, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Plus, the team is 1-0 in games where the K Brothers blog from Staples. What do we have to lose?

If you don't see anything up between 7:30 and 7:45, technical difficulties prevailed. Otherwise, try to stop by and say hello.

Since defense is on everyone's mind heading into tonight's game against Orlando, here's a defensive oriented question for the the day:

Since the 1973-74 season, only six Lakers have led the team in blocked shots for a season.  Name them. 

Fans don't want to talk about missing the playoffs, but at least it comes with the silver lining of a nice high pick in the '06 draft, right?  Maybe not.  It's very possible that should they end up in the lottery, this could be the year that the pick the Lakers gave Boston in the Mihm-Payton deal could belong to the Celtics (who have already traded it away to Atlanta, who have traded it to Phoenix).  In a draft that is without a clear cut #1 but is long on depth, losing the pick could be a bummer.  Either way, the Lakers still have Miami's first choice.  Will they reach the postseason?   ESPN's Greg Anthony says yes, but not necessarily because they'll pile up wins over their last 27 games.  No mention of what happens after they get there... 

Even with the new age minimum of 19, Phil Jackson believes any player they take in the draft will need some seasoning before establishing himself as a quality NBA player. 

Defense and execution have been the problem in consecutive losses to the Clippers and Boston.  Jackson has emphasized to the team that what might work one game may not in the next.  For example, in their last meeting, the Lakers had five starters in double figures and whupped the Magic in Orlando.  But that was the pre-deadline Magic, before the sun set on the Steve-O Era.  Now it's Dwight Howard's team, with Darko, Trevor Ariza and Carlos Arroyo having joined the roster. The Magic still aren't very good, but as tonight's game will show, they are different.  Luckily for the Lakers, Jameer Nelson, whose solid play helped make Francis expendable, is still injured. 

photo by Danny Moloshok/AP

Back in the 19th century, Queen Victoria established firm guidelines and standards for periods of mourning.  Two to three years for a husband.  Three months for a wife (this was the 1860s, after all).  One year for a parent or child, six months for a sibling and grandparent.  Three months for aunts and uncles, two for nephews and nieces, six weeks for great uncles and aunts, and if a first cousin kicked it, that was worth four to six weeks of Johnny Cash, man in black fashion statements and social exile. 

There's nothing in there about losing Von Wafer. 

No he's not dead.  But he has been sent to Fort Worth- which depending on your view of Texas might actually be worse- to join the NBDL's Fort Worth Flyers.  Wafer's new teammates are guys like former Kansas stars Aaron Miles and Keith Langford, Georgia Tech's shaggy haired Aussie '04 NCAA wonderkind Luke Schenscher, and Ndudi Ebi, who holds the distinction of being the high school player who made the worst decision to enter the draft early not named Leon Smith.   All that, plus Ime Udoka, who I'm sure most of you remember from his magical four game stint with the Lakers back in '03-'04.  I'm not exactly sure which one of those dudes leads the Flyers in shots, but I know one thing for sure.  Whoever it is, by this time next week Von will likely have lapped him. 

My head knows it's good news for Von.  He needs to play.  But my selfish heart wishes he could stay.  There was no such thing as garbage time as long as Von was on the court.  He was instant excitement, straight out of the old west (shoot first, ask questions later).  That's why there's a good chance I'll be wearing black around Staples for a little while.  A quick review of some of Von's greatest hits:

-a clutch 3 at the end of regulation to ice a 111-92 win over Milwaukee on December 6.

-his soaring dunk off a Laron Profit missed free throw the next night in Toronto.  Oh Canada, indeed!

-his expletive and foul laced rejection attempt on Indiana's Eddie Gill, capped by a feverish dash down the court for a desperation three which would have cut the Laker deficit to a much more manageable 23 points as time expired (Von was always ready in case they played a fifth quarter...)

So much for capitalizing on the "easy games." It doesn't come much more "silver platter" than hosting the Boston Celtics, and the Lakers managed to turn it into a 112-111 loss. In what's been become a recurring theme, the third quarter was a crusher, where the Lakers saw a slim lead plummet into a large deficit. The D wasn't tons better in the first, second, or fourth, which helps explain Ryan Gomes' career high 19 points, a few of which probably came via Delonte West's career topping 10 assists. Another bit of deja vu? Missed free throws, with Smush and LO the prime culprits. For Odom, his shortcomings at the stripe overshadowed huge play down the stretch. Some will blame Violet Palmer whistling Kobe during the Celt's final possession, a call that was technically correct, but on it's best day, a rarity during the closing seconds. But if the Lakers are gonna let a team that had only 6 roads wins stay in a game at Staples, they deserve whatever debatable fouls come back to crush them. Hats off to Ronny Turiaf, though. Desperate to make anything happen, PJ gave the rook a shot and Turiaf delivered 3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and endless energy. There were some mistakes, but considering Kobe thinks Turiaf knows the O better than many who've been around since October, they shouldn't hurt his shot at more PT.

111 points and they still lose? Read the box score and weep.

And if Lakers fans want to take something positive away from that mess against Boston, that's a start. Not to say there weren't any purple and gold highlights. Kobe's game, obviously. LO and Smush coming alive down the stretch was great, if you don't count the missed free throws. Unfortunately, you must, and their combined 8 for 17 represents opportunity lost. In the end, though, the defense (or lack of anything remotely resembling it) was the the Lakers' Achilles heel.

Speaking of the ol' Achilles, AK ran into Laron Profit in the locker room after the game. He said the surgery went well, he's rehabbing hard, and looking forward to a playing next season. When told about the support and concern coming from the blog's readers after he went down, Profit emphatically said to relay his thanks.

Regis Philbin in the house! Not quite sure what the occasion was behind the visit, but Regis & Kelly's decidedly less sexy half (sorry Reeg, just being real) took a little time to chat up Kobe and LO before the game. He described 2005-2006 as "the biggest season in the history of Kobe" (hard to argue that one), then asked #8 to dedicate his first trey to him. Kobe agreed, but only if Regis would stand up and emphatically pound his chest on Kobe's behalf. When Philbin conceded, Kobe said he would start cracking up right there on the court.

As for the interview with Odom, Reeg may have needed a bit more of a refresher on LO's career. Otherwise, I'm not quite sure why would ask Lamar what it was like to play with Shaq. When reminded that the two not only never played together, but were actually swapped for each other, Philbin laughed, slapped LO on the chest and exclaimed "That's right!" He proceeded to jokingly chastise himself over the lack of preparation.

Speaking of chastising, folks were giving Sasha the business over Slovenia's lack of gold medals. And by lack, we mean "zero." Turiaf reminded Sasha that the French got the gold in the Men's downhill. When Sasha responded by asking him about Martinique's medals, Turiaf just laughed and shrugged. When you're tangentially from about five different places like Turiaf, it's probably pretty easy to take pride in your homeland's Olympic success on some level.

Enjoy the game!

AK