Extra! Extra! (1.10)
The positive news for the Lakers is they won't meet the likes of Charlotte and Memphis in the playoffs. Good thing, too, because while L.A. has played some serious hoops against the Boardwalks and Park Places of the W.C., the Baltic Avenues of the NBA world have beaten them up. The trend continued in Tuesday night's 128-118 loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis. After taking a five point lead into the half, the Grizzlies came out firing- and running (and running and running), scoring 46 points in the third, part of a statistically noteworthy second half outburst. Having apparently missed the repeal of Congressional order mandating teams attack a zone with endless jumpshots, the Lakers went dry in Q3 while the Grizzlies went nuts. P.J. tried benching his starters, but there was no Superman act for the second unit. Memphis was up by 19, and Kobe had some unwanted R&R on the Lakers bench. The box score shows a lousy shooting night for L.A. starters not named Bryant, and if there were a stat for "really easy shots missed," it would pop off the page.
One positive, at least offensively, was a second consecutive good game from Sasha Vujacic, who is showing signs of breaking out of his early season mega-slump, scoring 18 points against Memphis after dropping 16 on Dallas Sunday night. It wouldn't hurt to have a similar effort tonight in Houston- does "The Sasha Factor," (Joel Meyers, what were you thinking?) counteract the T-Mac Factor?
Having already garnered yet another colorful, decorated basketball to honor his 900th win, Jackson isn't thinking about 1,000. But he'll get there faster if Lamar Odom comes back quickly. Right now, the hope is he'll return by the end of the month.
At $20 million plus, Chris Webber is an albatross. But what about at post-buyout prices? Things just keep getting worse for the Hornets.
Korey,
I didn't say that 33% was great, I just said that it was decent. Especially, when he has limited shot attempts, and it is hard to get into a rhythym. I compared him to Kobe and others to show that he is not that bad when compared with others on the team. The fact still stands that his 3 pt percentage is still the 3rd best on the team, and I'd rather have him shooting a 3 than some of the others. Right now, he is shooting 3's at a 37.7% clip. Does this all mean that he is a shoo-in to be a great player? I have no idea. I'm just pulling for him, like I do all of the Laker players.
Roger
Posted by: Roger B. | January 10, 2007 at 05:41 PM