Two Games, Two Wins, Two Tacos

This was such a strong performance even Barkley gave Kobe props. There's a disturbance in the force, the Lake show is waking up. Great team game. D George, LO, KB, and I liked Kwame's contribution a lot. His D made a big difference. We dominated the paint. We've got an 8 man rotation goin', and it looks good...

are We gonna play like THIS. caaaause, we'll be giving hell to SOMEBODY in the FIRST round of the PLAYOFFs. specially, UTAH or DENVER(if we get the 6th SPOT)

P.S. If anybody THOUGHT RonArtest was gonna stop or no...no even SLOW DOWN KB8. well, there is this MYTH going on that you EITHER 3PL team MAMBA or he'll STRIKE. every time MJ won a CHAMPIONSHIP, I'd predected, he WOULDN'T before hand. SO I know where they're COMIN from. they CAN'T believe it.

nice games.. lots of points coming from driving and dunks.. kob8 only need to play bout 36 min ( 1pt/min).
hope it will continue tomorow..
go lakers

Look at LO/playing like the big show/Kwame a little to slow/gotta show mo/Kobe playing lights out/enjoy and peace out...Gyeah...

i'd just like to point out that we're 2-0 in the 'second half' now that i've started cooking on game days. scoff at me all you want, people but the tradition never fails.

devean was my POG (player of the game) GREAT GREAT GREAT on-ball defense, especially when we needed that spurt to begin the fourth

lamar started an epidemic. he looked like an entirely different guy out there the last two games. loving it, lamar.

kobe showed unbelievable control with that transition, spin, layup and one. nice double double tonight.

mihm still looks cautious. did he even try his low-post drop shot in the first half? it's like he didn't want to bang inside (understandly, but chill on the Js)

luke is mad slow. he probably played all of five minutes and i'm still criticizing him.

didn't it look like kwame felt fancy free once the blowout was complete and it was garbage time? i'm glad the crowd cheered him.

and finally... brian cook playing like he's back in college, diving for loose balls! and that's a pretty darn big body jumping on the floor and he hit his open shots. love that stuff, cookie!

Hell Yes!!!

Another Laker Win!!!!

Bryant proves once again he's MVP!!!

Odom is beginning to look like the forward we need: less distributing, more attacking.

Devean George: This guy is really playing. Hope we resign him. Oh give him a break though when he was guarding Artest. He did OK guarding Artest, even though it was like him guarding Tim Duncan

Kwame Brown: He gave us "D". More points needed, but nice DUNK!

Stop trying to hit those threes Smush. You are good, but not good as Kobe. But nice assists. That's the way to be the real distributor.

And welcome back to the lineup Chris. We did miss you.

Sleep well Laker Fans. Another game tomorrow against the Clipps. Get more of us than them in Staples Tomorrow!

Lakers rock!!!
And we wanted a trade......

LAKERS WIN!

Sleep tight Los Angeles.

*KOBE FOR MVP!

*GO LAKERS!

This was definitely one of the best games all season, in regards to playing with team cohesion. Kobe scored 36 points with 10 season high rebounds and the long awaiting point forward complimented the all star with 19 points and 9 assist, while our six man added 15 points and 9 rebounds. It seems to me with the extra passes and effort on pressure defense, this team is potentially a dangerous team to just about to any team in the league. I can not wait until tomorrow and Sunday, since most of us Laker's fans are anticipating consistency. Let's all hope for a better second half and make our way up to at least the number 6 spot. But don't underestimate that for settling - afterall, Kobe had mentioned he doesn't play to be in locked in the 8 seed, he plays to win championships!

Wow what happened to lamar odom after the all star game he's playing like an all star wow amazing

could this be lamar's true potential?

hmmm very interesting if he continues to play this way and kobe continues to pass it to him and make plays for everyone wow

we are a winning team.

I THINK LAMAR ODOM IS ON DRUGS! HE'S ON STEROIDS HE'S PLAYING UNBELIEVABLE BASKETBALL

I TOLD YOU GUYS

LAKERS WILL KICK THOSE PU$$y A$$ KINGS

THOSE ASSES!
HAHAHA

Tonights game against the "Queens" is probably the best team cohesion game all season! 36 points and a season high 10 assists from the Greatest Player in the Game along with the long, anticpated point forward scoring 19 points and 9 assists, while our 6th man coming off the bench to add an additional 15 points and 9 rebounds -- it can't get any better than that people. Tonights game was very exciting. It seems the offense is flowing a lot more freely while effort is strongly applied to defense. Yeah, the end of the 3rd quarter started to get away, but we managed to get it back in the 4th. Part of that is Sasha and Luke being on the floor. I like the two reserves, but Sasha runs around like a fragile chicken with its head cut-off, while Luke shows no emotion or love for the game. I am dissapointed that we didn't at least trade Sasha and Luke for another veteran guard, perhaps Derek Andersen.
Anyhow, let's hope this second half of the season unvails a long, awaiting and exciting team surprising the league with "W's." We shouldn't look to settle for the 8th seed, in Kobe's words, we play for championships!!

Lakers played hard tonight and looked like a good team doing it. Kobe played one of his best games all season, got everyone involved, and still scored 36. I'm glad we did not trade Lamar. The Only way I would of if we could of got Garnett. Well I'm not convinced to how good this team is going to be, only time will tell and the next six games are big. I would like for this team to go 5-1 or better yet 6-0. We can not have a let down and loose all of this good momentum.

omg Kobe you are the best GIVE US MORE YEA! LOL!

Kobe Bryant is unbelievable did you see him take on ROn Artest? Supposedly one of the premier defensive players in the league. He took him like a joke lol!

I love kobe

OMG GUYS FOR THE FIRST TIME OF THE SEASON THE LAKERS ARE 5 GAMES ABOVE 500. ON THEIR HOME COURT LOL!

WOW THAT IS INCREDIBLE

BUT THOSE CLIPPERS ARE COMING TOMORROW

THE LAKERS BEFORE THE ALL STAR GAME WOULD CHOKE

BUT THESE LAKERS AFTER THE ALL STAR GAME

I DON'T KNOW GUYS, IF THEY BEAT THE CLIPPERS TOMORROW

ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!

BEAT THOSE PU$$Y A$$ CLIPPERS!

ELTON BRAND CAN KISS MY A$$!

Kev...

lamar's being lamar. what you're seeing from Lamar is what he was doing in Miami when the lakers decided to trade shaq for him and butler. he just didnt have enough freedom in the triangle to operate the way he likes. now he's receiving the ball in the post moreinstead of above the 3 point line.. he's able to go to work.

welcome to the Lamar Show

Hey check this out. The fans have spoken on the fisrt half MVP. I can not belieave i hear these announcers say that Nash, or Billups, should get MVP. That is Bull.

Who is the Most Valuable Player of the season's first half? NBA.com
Kobe Bryant, Lakers

40%

Chauncey Billups, Pistons

12%

LeBron James, Cavaliers

12%

Steve Nash, Suns

10%

Dwyane Wade, Heat

8%

Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks

7%

Other

5%

Elton Brand, Clippers

4%

Tim Duncan, Spurs

2%




Total Responses: 467361

I think this is the best Laker game I've seen since the post-Championship years. And that's not hyperbole, this was a great game. The ball movement was crisp and everyone looked confident taking their shots.

What's the difference? As I saw it, it was Kobe trusting his teammates. He made some really good passes and looked to get his guys involved. There were by my count about 3 shots where Kobe was forcing shots instead of running offense. That's never going to stop with Kobe, that's who he is and what makes him great, his confidence is undying.

Equally as important is Lamar Odom's newfound aggression. It's frustrating that it's taken him a year and a half to play like this but it's finally happened. I was still in Miami (i'm in college at the University of Florida now) when Odom was down there and watched virtually every game, he was great. I knew how good Odom could be and I was starting to lose hope that he could play that way in LA.

This Laker team is dangerous if Odom continues to play this way. He's finally Pippen to Kobe's Jordan. But he's doing it by not trying to be Pippen, he's being Lamar and that's what the Lakers need. He's as versatile a guy as there is in the NBA. And as a lot of us on the blog have said Odom needed to be freed from the shackles of being a facilitator that works purely from the perimeter. He's as dangerous as anyone there is going to the hole. He's smooth, fast and versatile and working exclusively from the perimeter is a misuse of his skills.

If the Lakers can continue to play like this and grab the 6th seed in the playoffs they'll definitely be a serious player. Be ready for a good series between the Lakers and the Nuggets. You should also be ready for the Lakers to pull that series out in 6 or 7 games.

I'm trying not to get overly excited about this 2 game stretch. But they've played great ball the last 2 games. It looks like Odom may have turned the corner. And as great as Kobe is Lamar is the catalyst. He's the X-factor that determines whether the Lakers are an 8th seed that gets crushed by SA or Dallas. Or a 6 seed with a shot at the second round. Can he do it? It looks like it but we'll have to wait and see.

Kev,

This is Odom's true potential. Playing this way was what landed him a spot on the 2004 Olympic team. I didnt think he'd be able to find that aggression in LA. When he's playing to his true potential, he's an all-star caliber guy and a top 20-30 guy in the league.

I still salivate at the thought of what these Lakers could have been in Artest had been able to come to the Lakers w/o giving up Odom. But what's in the past is in the past. Time to move on.

I can't believe the TNT Boadcasters!

They said that Ron Artest was keeping Kobe to 30+ points tonight instead of him scoring 40+ or 50+. This is completely ridiculous. Kobe was trying to get his teamates involved instead of scoring. That is why he had 10 assists. If he wanted to score 50 pts he would have. Kobe also scored over 50% of his shots.

And to my surprise, Charles Barkley actually defended him. Chuck said something like "Ron Artest may be good, but against Kobe, he aint better than anybody else."

Ease up on all this Lamar worship...it's expected from him. We'll see tomorrow.

mike

Devean George was the biggest difference tonight. He played crazy defense and rebounded like a madman. Great energy. Kobe does what he does. If Lamar can get more consistent with his scoring and Devean brings that type of intensity, the Lakers can be a contender.

Go Lakes!

Nice to see us realizing some of the potential that our players have and that our team has.

It seems like PJ may have figured out a little bit how to use Odom effectively. Properly weighting his unique skillset that isn't that of a conventional PF and isnt' that of a point forward (so he does a bit of both) seems like a good ticket. It looks like Phil may have made a mistake when he suggested that Odom not get more offensively involved. It also looks like maybe he figured that out.

I also like the mixing of Kobe playing some at facilitator. He's got a nice set of point guard skills with great passing and tremendous ball-handling. Mixing up the primary facilitator role with Lamar seems to be confusing other teams and opening up lots of possibilities for other players.

It seems like the team has figured some things out. I like it. I think we're going to go on a bit of a home win streak here as the players enjoy winning and see both how you win and how you lose.

I think getting Mihm back helped. His performance hasn't been great offensively, but I think he's a bit of an intangible with other teams respecting his ability to score on that nice little jump hump so he can distract a bit and playing smarter on defense (you don't have to contest every shot to the point of fouling--you get it!!).

This win against the Kings post all-star break with a run at 8th place and improved with Ron Artest just made the 2nd half of the season a lot more interesting. I was very worried about the Kings overtaking us. Now, it seems the Lakers could so something interesting.

Oh yeah, and Ronny Turiaf on the bench? That's some wacky, wild stuff. It's also the team chemistry helper that we've needed all season long. Welcome to the team Ronny!

I like what I'm seeing!

I love!!!!!! the following two lines from Ross Silers article in the daily news :

Artest, the former NBA defensive player of the year, vowed to hold Bryant below his league-leading, 34.9-point scoring average.

And the KICKER :

But Bryant still managed to account for 56 points - his 36 plus the 20 from his assists led to - against Artest.

Heeharharharhar!!!! Senor Ochenta Uno RULES!!!!!!!!!!!

oh how i love ron turiaf's energy!!!!!!!!!

Great game, great performance by Kobe.

One or two more games like that from Odom and I'm going to have to officially declare myself an idiot for calling for his trade. This is what I hoped to see when they got him. What really impressed me last night was the completeness of the game. Mihm and Brown played good defense inside, George and Cook hustled for loose balls, Sasha made good decisions - they didn't go crazy with 3s. Someone posted about Kobe finally trusting his teammates - I can remember many games where he could have had 10 or more assists but the other guys couldn't (or wouldn't) shoot. That confidence in your teammates has to come from their ability to perform. Hopefully last night was a good building block in that regard.

ATTABOY LAKERS!!!! Now we're proving that we are on our way to the playoffs. I see triangle in every offense, I see player movements, notonly focused on Kobe but to Odom, to Mihm, to George, to Parker that's is, it creates confusion on the opponent where to concentrate so easy basket. This is a resemblance of the Showtime Lakers. If we can generate more shots from our Centers then that will be a louder threat. So far we have beaten teams who are below .500 so the test of mettle will be tonite against our other Laker team. Hopefully, we can continue the surge to new dynamism but we want the Clippers to wake too but not tonight, perhaps on some other nights with other teams. Your LA fans would like these two teams to suceed, hopefully one of them will compete all the way to the Eastern conference. Here is a situation worth considering: Supposing Odom, George, Parker, Mihm and Kwame improved dramatically and lead the Lakers to playoffs, shall we go with the trade with any Superstar this coming summer? Well, it's hard to decide to solve a problem when the problem is gone. How do we know the problems is gone with two games or half season? Most of the Laker fans are now counting the chicks before they are hatched, planning for the playoffs tickets, planning the match ups, well we have to prove first that we can beat all the remaining threats in the next 28 games. Our dream will come true if we pass Suns, Spurs and Mavericks. Hey Kwame, Odom is now doing great, we need you too.

A good well rotated ball game. Kobe 10assists! If he do that all games in the 2nd half..well we all know he can still score 30+ points. But getting his teammates involved and Lamar as the Lamar in Miami. KEEP IT UP!!! A REALLY GOOD DEFENSE GUYS!! I think Adelman was kinda shock on the Lakers' defense, cos for me it was better and 2000 Laker team..just kidding. =)

I like that their is no trade guys....I think Mitch really wants KG..and I think he will work it out this summer.=) HOPE WE'LL GET KG!!

ITS SHOWTIME!

Has anyone looked at the standings? If Dallas manages to hold up as the 1-seed, the Lakers might be better off as the 8-seed.

The Lakers match up better with Dallas than Phoenix or San Antonio. You know that the Mavs still remember the 62, and going back a couple of years the 27-point 4th quarter that brought the Lakers back from a 30-point deficit.

Only 18 more wins until the playoffs!

Cook has a great shot, definitely, but you're not going to go very far with a power forward who rebounds the way he does.

Let's be realistic, though. This was the 2006 Kings. With Artest having a hip pointer, Miller just recently back, and Wells out.

YEAH BOY!!! Great game by our LAKERS!!! HELL YEAH!!! WaY to PROVE them HATERS wronG!!! CRUSH TheM CLiPS tONITE!!!

First time reading the blog! You guys are great. I love being among Laker fans! Lamar was fanastic. Kobe MVP. Kwame is getting there,,,

GREAT WIN LAST NIGHT OVER THE QUEENS!!!!

On a side note..... did anyone else see Artest pick his nose and eat it!?!?!? That was ridiculous. I couldnt stop laughing and replaying it on TIVO. Best Queens hilight in the last 10 years!

KOBE 4 MVP!
GO LAKERS!!!!!!!

Watching Kobe just take it to Artest last night was nice. Kobe completeley schooled him in every facet of the game. Artest had nothing for Kobe on defense. And the Queens thought they had thier Kobe-stopper...they don't have nothing but a big fat bully who is way too slow to compete with Kobe.

Lamar is looking good with his lefty drives. If he develops a right hand, he's almost unstoppable. George is playing well, I hope he keeps it up. Smush actually played a solid game, filling it up all around.

Once the league catches up to Kobe's new team oriented style of play, I look for Kobe to drop a couple 60-70 pt games on somebody. Kobe is the greatest player I've ever seen. To just absolutely kill the best defensive player in the game like that...man, Kobe is just the man. When he gave Jack Nicholson a five after dropping a fadeaway was great. Kerr said he didn't know whether Kobe or Jack was more excited. Then the camera showed Jack and he was beaming like a little kid. Kobe is that great.

How did you guys like the report that said Jerry Buss called the owner of the Timberwolves to ask about the availability of Kevin Garnett? Unfortunately the owner said he would NOT trade KG unless KG walked into his office and asked for a trade. Needless to say, I can see KG walking into that office in the offseason when they're in the lottery again.

That was a fantastic game all-around for the Lakers. Since our big post about Kwame and booing I went back after the game and watched just him every time he was on the court. What I noticed about Kwame is he doesn't play with enough energy. He doesn't box out and crash the boards. HOWEVER, after Devean got that offensive rebound and monster dunk (and subsequent technical) Kwame woke up. i know the game was over by that point, but you could see his energy rise at that moment and he was awesome. I think Kwame has the potential, both physically and mentally to be an All-Star (yes I said all-star) but someone needs to find a way to flip that switch at the opening tip, not in garbage time.

How about that stuff and then dunk by Kwame!

Revgen - Yeah, that was hilarious when Kenny Smith said Artest's defense brought this down from a 45 point game to a 30 plus game. And Toronto's defense brought Kobe's down from 100 to 81! No offense to Artest at all, I love the guy's play, but those analysts crack me up sometimes when they have prepared something before the game, and even when it turns out to be not that relevant they keep pushing it, so they have a point of view, and something to say!

Wow!! I hope we can keep this play up and I think we will. You have to love the way LO is playing. Everybody seems to be playing more passionate like they have a big chip on their shoulder. I don't know what the team did over the all-star but they need to keep it up. If Kobe and LO keep playing like this and the other guys knock down shots WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!The Lakers will put some fear in some teams around the league.

GO LAKER!!!!!!

I agree.....we need to keep D. George next year. He's our new Rob Horry (nothing spectacular, good team guy, knows the system). George can step in and start, or be our bench inginitor. It's hard for me to be excited after the the game last night 'cause the Hawks debacle is still fresh in my mind. But LO's turn-around gives optimism. I feel that whoever we bring in must be added to Kobe and LO. Mayybe J.O'Neal would be a better fit.

Amazing. If the Lakes play like this everynight, they have a chance any given night against any team.

That is not to say they have a chance against most teams in a playoff series. But I like it so far.

Difference between this game and the last against Sac. The Lakers are a TEAM! Every team has decided it's double/triple Kobe night when they play the Lakers. Lakers FINALLY took advantage of that and the Kings were dumbfounded. They just couldn't keep up defensively. Individually, Kobe STILL burned them. Do this for another 2 weeks and Kobe's name will be on the tip of everyone's MVP breath, again!

Gerry B. One or two more games from Lamar like this, and I will call you an idiot, for calling yourself an idiot. 4 games out of 60 doesn't disprove anything, yet. Remember the first 50? Right. The season's not over. But Odom's done well..for 2 games. Yay Odom. Now we can get a better trade in the off-season! hahaha!

I think it was as much a compliment to Kobe as it was to ARtest when they said that if Kobe would have been playing against anyone else he would of had 50. Basically, Kobe is unstoppable and Artest did a GREAT defensive job holding him to JUST 36.

Great game.

Honestly, watching LO play more aggressive on offense (and did anyone notice how good his defense was?) makes me extremely happy. I would love for the staff to convince him to hit the gym with Kobe in the offseason, work on nothing but his right hand and a mid-range jumper (which is always open in the triangle-look at Devean, Cook, and Kobe making a living there)and we might have the guy we traded for in the Shaq deal.

Of course, he could end up in a package with Bynum and a No. 1 for KG.

Anyone else catch that little bit in the middle of the game when Cheryl Miller talked about trade rumors and how Jerry Buss had contacted Glen Taylor about Garnett's availability? Even though the lakers didn't make a big splash before the deadline, seems like they're in the hunt for the big ticket come summertime. As much as i like Odom when he's on, he's still an inconsistent player who goes one direction (i still can't figure out how people aren't stopping him!) and can't make a jump shot 60% of the time. The way things are going with the wolves right now, I can't see how Garnett would want to stay with them and not ask for a trade. The wolves basically have no tradeable assets besides Garnett and who better to trade with than the lakers? Odom would provide similar qualities to Garnett at a cheaper price and we could give up Bynum to give them a potential piece to build around. Garnett and Kobe on the same team would be out of this world. Bring in a shooter and a defensive specialist and you got a championship team for the next 4-5 years.

Now, i know, i know...everyone loves Bynum, myself included. But from what i've seen, he's got lots of POTENTIAL...which is a very dangerous thing to bank your future on. I'm sure Bynum's shown just enough to make the other GMs around the league think he's a valuable commodity. And this summer would be the PERFECT time to trade him. Really, who knows how this kid is gonna pan out. It's gonna be at least 3 years before he's making solid contributions. And, from what i've seen, he's got some really iffy qualities already. I've hardly ever seen him play with much energy out there. He's got Rick Fox-like quickness and he just lacks any sort of aggression. Now, i could be wrong, and he could end up being a dominating player. But who cares! By the time he develops into that type of player, kobe's gonna be at least 32 already. Phil will likely be gone and the window for a championship will be closing faster than a Kwame Brown bank shot.

COME ON MITCH, MAKE YOUR BIG SPLASH AND PULL OFF THE COUP FOR US!

Overall great game! Played like a cohesive team!

GO LAKERS!!

AAahhhh....just like old times!!!! The only thing we were missing was Webber on the floor crying!
GEORGE!! KEEP IT UP!! Be the player we all KNOW you can be!!
Kobe = MVP!!!
Go LAKERS!!!!!!!

Great game by lakers. A perfect Triangle offense. very good ball movement.

I think Phil did an excellent job training Lamar odom. Phil's strategy in first half of the season is to make odom play ONLY facilitator role with rebounding and playing defense. He wanted odom to completely focus on these aspects and not on scoring. Odom did just that and he learned triangle offense to very good extent.

In second half of season Phil made Odom to jump into next level ie facilitating plus creating offense. Odom did a very good job in last 2 games. Odom looks very confident as a facilitator and 2nd scoring option now.

The only question remaining is Can Odom perfom at this level consistently for next few games? Only time will tell. Tomorrow is a very good test for this laker team.

Why do phil put sasha,luke together when kobe is on bench?
This is part of the Phils game. We need a second unit when our starters are on bench. So far we lost some games due to the second unit mistakes. Phil gave more playing time for 2nd unit so that they learn the system. Others teams took advantage of this and cut down the lead or took the lead. Our second unit did not improved at all. We need someone in place of luke.

tomorrow is a MUST WIN Game for Lakers. We have to win this to prove the Laker dominance in LA.
We have to prove that Clippers SUCK!!!!
We have to make Clippers kiss our Laker A$$E$

LAKERS MUST WIN TOMORROW

I REPEAT LAKERS MUST WIN TOMORROW

I REPEAT LAKERS MUST WIN TOMORROW

YA BABY

The Kings played poorly, but this is the best game I've seen this year, maybe, as someone said, the best since we were a finals team. Kobe's +/- number was like +20. The team looked like it finally heard every complaint we've had (too many threes, poor defense, not running the offense or being aggressive) and turned it on. Kobe and Odom displayed actual chemistry. Lamar seemed to understand his place and looked comfortable. George looked like Scotty Pippen. Kwame only lost one entry pass out of bounds.

Where did this come from? Even against Portland, they missed a ton of layups and FTs and we took too many 3s.

I just hope it

Now can we count on this continuing? We look like we could compete with anybody when we play like that (despite Sacto's poor play). And it's not like in January, where we had to have Kobe score 50 to win, we had some margin for error last night. I hope this is the new us, that the passing of the trading deadline brought us together, but they haven't earned my trust completely yet. I can see them laying another egg against Boston or Orlando next week.

But whatever. If these guys regularly play like last night, and we keep the core together like Detroit did to build its franchise, we'll be back on top a lot sooner than scheduled...

Danny,

I agree with you. As much as I like Bynum and his future, with Kobe and Phil on this current squad we are definitely not in complete rebuilding mode, we're here to bank on their prime years as player and coach and it would be smart to use Bynum to get KG (if indeed we could). If we did in fact get KG this summer for Bynum and LO, I think we go into next season as a favorite and Buss wants championships, not eight seeds.

Good game, very pleasurable to watch. Kobe always does his "heat check" by launch extra three's... just drive to the hole buddy. But overall no complaints. Let's keep it up.

On a side note, Lakers really should get some of Clippers' "home" game revenue.

Disgruntled Laker fan:
That is just crazy! Lamar Odom is finally showing aggression but he has no other choice. Phil didn't train him from the 1st half of the season to do one thing and then another in the 2nd half. Lamar just came to the realization that his ass is gone if doesn't do something. It's not like he couldn't do it all the time, the question is why didn't he? Because despite his athletic ability, which is great! He still has a low basketball IQ...and that's just a fact. How else can you explain why a guy with Lamar's talents waits for over 50 games to get assertive? Does he need the coach to tell him be assertive Lamar when were losing, when were playing 500 ball? Give me a break...the guy better perform or he's out of here come summer time.

mike

I've always been a D-George fan, but the fact of the matter is that D-George is playing the way he's playing is because it's a contract year. This is D-George's last chance to get a big contract. Heck, if guys like jerome james, Brian Cardnial and others can get descent contracts why not D-George? He'll continue to play the way he is because there's money at the end of this trail and it won't be coming from the Lakers. Do you think that if D-George continues to play the way he's been playing that the Lakers are going to take care of him? I don't think so, the Lakers have other concerns and if some other team throws money at him do you think he's going to be loyal to the Lakers? NO! D-George is playing for a contract to take care of his family...he's gone after this season.

mike

Michael Teniente,
your posts suck anyway.You should read my article carefully.I generally do not respond to 10 year olds like you

Yes it too odom to understand triangle offense and play facilitator role. he made dumbass mistakes in the process of learning. Phil's first goal for odom is to only facilitate , get boards and play D. This is what phil was telling from the start of the season. once Odom acheived this goal then phil wanted him to expand his duties to create offense. So in 2nd half of the season odom will facilitate,play D and also score.

Odom is playing aggresively because he is understanding the triangle offense better than before.

Ben C.

I love Kobe's heat checks personally. Can you imagine the morale damage to the other team if he pulls off three straight threes? How much the crowd would get into the game? That's more valuable than tacking on some well played points to a lead - crushing the other team's morale should be a priority at all times, because we have all seen how the lakers let teams come from behind if they see an opening.

yeah right, keep on believing that. Odom better perform for the rest of the season or he's gone and nothing you say can change that fact! He was almost gone at the trading deadline, the only reason he's still around is because other teams tried to get Bynum as part of any Odom trade with the Lakers, which isn't going to happen or else Lamar would be gone already.

mike

Becareful there DFLF,

Your sounding pretty positive. I wouldn't want to to get your playoff hopes up and have to eat your words.

Lakers will be the 7th seed like I have been saying all season. IT WILL HAPPEN!

anyone who uses the term 'you suck' is like a 10 year old, sorry...I responded to your post, disgruntled. LOL

mike

I have another prediction.

DFLF will be blogging with us under a different name come playoff time!

Go Lake Show!

Disgruntled,
You honestly think that Phil sat down with Lamar over the all-star break and told him to change what he was doing? That is one of the silliest things I've ever heard. I frequently disagree with Teniente, but this time he is right on target.

To everyone,
This was two games, against two bad teams, right after a miserable road trip. You need to be thankful for the wins, sure, but please keep them in perspective!!

exhelodrvr,

Keep in mind what the Lakers usually do when playing games against bad teams, or games that they "should" win.

That's why we are fired up. We play well against the good teams, and now we are doing it against the bad teams as well.

Keep it up Lakers.

I'll speak only for myself here, but it isn't just the wins that have me excited. It's the use of the triangle consistently for 48 minutes, the rotation on defense, the agression of Lamar, the defense of Mihm and Kwame inside, the passing of Kobe, the bench play. Yes, they could take a step backwards at any time, but it appears for now that they are playing with a sense of urgency. That is something we haven't seen much of this season.