AK/BK,

Will David West be in the lineup tomorrow night for the Hornets?

We need to come out very aggressive tomorrow night because Byron Scott has mainly stuck with his starters lately because his bench has been ineffective. I think we should stay home on the shooters and take them away and let Paul try to beat us with his scoring. Peja and West always seem to have really good games against us. This time we have LO in the lineup as well. We'll see, go Lakers!!!

Wow just checked out the standings. The Lakers are still in the 6th spot but are only a game and a half out of the top seed. I cant remember it ever being this close this late. Its really going to be a wild season. This make tomarrows game even more important. Luke was o.k on Gay tonight but I think we should start Trevor tomarrow. With Paul on the floor we will need someone quick enough to both help and recover on Peja so he doesnt burn us like the last time.

MH

DAT

Curry? Curry? and Jerome James? You must be a Knick fan. Talk about two players in this league that have less heart and passion for the game than Kwame. If you think
Kwame's rebounding is anemic...maybe you should look at Curry's. He doesn't even play defense.

Oh and the cherry on top: The Eddy Curry Line

The Eddy Curry Line was originally established to put a spotlight on how truly anemic Curry's overall fantasy line is. The standard: a player must average more turnovers than assists, steals, and blocks combined – in order to qualify, a player must have appeared in at least half of his team's games and averaged at least 25 minutes of playing time.

Great win tonight. Here are some of my observations:

--I'd like to see more defensive rebounds from the Lakers
--The Crit has the same mustache Darryl Strawberry used to have
(Both may be related to Dino from The Flintstones)
--Gasol is better than I thought

We need to mentally prepare to stop Chris Paul CP3 and win against NOH.

Colorado amo a los Lakers!

Again the West is stacked - so any win is crucial when seating in the playoffs could be determined by a few games difference or even season series match up. So the Lakers need to beat up people now, and during the super long road trip at the beginning of February. Thrashings like tonight against inferior competition is helpful. It appears that the Lakers picked the Grizzlies apart tonight. They wanted to stop the inside game, so Fisher and Kobe killed them. Points wise, they were the difference in the game. The rest of the team in terms of production wash pretty much a wash.

Yes that jackie johnson is physically fit to say the least!

Aloha

Any win in the NBA is a great win. and we did it while resting a lot of guys for tomarrow, very important.

One thing though that we need to work on. When Andrew is sandwitched by 2 seven footers Lamar really needs to become more agressive offensively then he was tonight. Not too many teams have a big front line but the ones that do are going to cheat on Andrew. Its up to Lamar or whoever else is playing the 4 to make them pay.

Mh

Posted by: michael h | January 08, 2008 at 08:09 PM

Mike H,

Really good post and observation. LO definitely could've been more aggressive tonight because Gasol was sagging to help Milicic with Andrew. Memphis does have a big frontline and I imagine that's how it would be for us if we ever play Kwame at the 4 alongside Andrew and LO, now that would be a big lineup. Fortunately our shooters hit outside shots, because they were trying to crowd and clog the lane. Hopefully we'll be ready tomorrow against the Hornets. Go Lakers!!!

Someone posted this at a miami blog.

http://tinyurl.com/2pkusq

Great win Lakers!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike T

Maybe I am misunerstanding you but there is no such thing as garbage points. The pick and roll is the most basic of basketball plays. Parker and Duncan are great at it. Stockton and Malone made a living with it. Any offense should work to get as close to the basket for the easiest shot possible. Fact is we dont run the pick and roll enough. Lamar with his length should have more run for him. trevor with his leaping ability should have more run for him. I would love for Andrew to get ten dunks a night, it opens up the rest of the offense. Why do you think Fish at 33 is having a carreer year? Much more space because of those garbage dunks!!

Mh

Aloha from the big island Nemaia

Thanks for the props. Ya Andrew, Kwame, and Lamar would truely be a jumbo line up. But unless Kwame can develope a mid range jumper, it probably wouldnt work on offense. Kwames man would just sag to the middle. This would also take away Andrew and some of Kobe and Lamars penetration as well. But if Kwame could make that jumper to keep defenses honest, my goodness, it would mean a ring for sure. Hey Mike T, get your boy out on the court, for at least 500 mid range jumpers a day. If he can learn to hit that shot we would really be hard to beat.

MH

Aloha from the big island Nemaia

Thanks for the props. Ya Andrew, Kwame, and Lamar would truely be a jumbo line up. But unless Kwame can develope a mid range jumper, it probably wouldnt work on offense. Kwames man would just sag to the middle. This would also take away Andrew and some of Kobe and Lamars penetration as well. But if Kwame could make that jumper to keep defenses honest, my goodness, it would mean a ring for sure. Hey Mike T, get your boy out on the court, for at least 500 mid range jumpers a day. If he can learn to hit that shot we would really be hard to beat.

MH

Posted by: michael h | January 08, 2008 at 10:10 PM

Aloha MH,

Man, I miss living in Oahu. I love the islands and I hope someday to make it back there.

I think tomorrow night's game is a test for both the Hornets and the Lakers. Both the Hornets and Lakers have beaten the other western powers and the Hornets beat us early in the year with LO and Kwame out with injuries. We match well with them and hopefully our bench gives us better production. I'd rather make Paul beat us with his scoring and keep his mates in check because his mates, Peja in particular killed us in our first matchup. We also didn't have Ariza back then and he can guard Peja at times. Should be interesting and fun. Go Lakers!!!

Part of an article in the Miami Herald after the Heat lost to the TWolves tonight and fell to 8-27 on the season.

Despite the struggles, the Heat has not conceded anything yet.

''It's still a lot of basketball left,'' Haslem said. ``I know we keep saying it, but it is. We still have an opportunity if we make the right moves to get to the playoffs."

Is the East that weak or is Haslem smoking something? Probably both.

is Mike T kidding? Memphis is one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA by every statistic and the lakers got any shot they wanted, Fisher doesnt make 10-11 FGs every night.

Xodus,

If Kobe played the whole/most of the 4th I would say that's because with Sasha out there really isn't healthy and Crittenton has been shaky of late. If the lead was in the 14-17 range, a quick 7/9-0 run could make it a game again and with Kobe and Four Guys out there you know that is was never going to dip below 12.

Plus, with all the blowouts lately, maybe Kobe asked for more minutes :)

He's sat out a couple 4th quarters this year...for good reasons.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Kobe-staying-put-but-Lakers-shopping-Brown;_ylt=Aq70EuJPcyDP6s3ixQjoZdikvLYF?urn=nba,60552

Interesting. I wonder what we can get for Kwam.

Brown for Okur? Are you kidding? Okur is going to come in for Bynum and do what? Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Kwame is starting to hustle. A lot. He's still clumsy, but the hustle is a big change. He's looking to score like I've never seen him do, and he's really running the floor (great dunk on a breakaway yesterday).

Deal or No Deal? NO DEAL! Kwame stays. We're going to need him in the playoffs when Andrew gets in foul trouble. And he's definitely showing signs of coming to life.

If I was Phil Jackson.....(obviously I'm not) I would start Kwame over Bynum against the Hornets. Obviously Bynum is a starter but the bench mob needs Andrew as an anchor.
I think our bench is WAY more productive with Bynum while our starters still have Kobe.

Jonjay,

Kobe inspired Bynum and Bynum saved Kobe from deciding hastily of leaving the 2nd biggest market for bad teams and both of them saving the job of Cupcake and the image of the dysfunctional family.

Now the FO cheerleaders on this blog are saying Cupcake should be Executive of the Year!!! what for doing nothing! Since when, did someone got a promotion for doing nothing?

I saw Vlade Divac in the Sixers game, may I know what has he accomplished so far with the foreign recruits? aside from contacting Vladrad before he was recruited in Serbia.

Agree AK, he made the right move for doing nothing because he is one of the insiders who know what's going on with Bynum. He has the inputs while we just have the outburst based on their historical performance. The point of Jonjay, if not with Kobe's rants, Bynum will not be motivated. Everyone in the roster got forewarned of what is coming if they don't do their best.

The same way, I hope other will not blame the bloggers here for being animated or excited in their posts, they just want to save the enterprise. Their motivation is to uphold the superior standards of the purple and gold and dispel mediocrity. If the Lakers continued with Smush and the scrubby plays of the past, Kobe and PJ will say goodbye then how long do you expect us to be again in the thick of the fight. Right now, we're not that excellent, just good and continue to be very good.

Edwin,

It's not a question of "buying into the lochness." I'm not claiming Kupchak is making people say "R.C Buford who?" But fairness means acknowledging when somebody has done well for themselves. And right now, it's hard to argue that Kupchak's decisions over the last 365 days or so haven't been pretty good.

He could have folded to pressure to trade Bynum in the proposed deals for Kidd or JO, but didn't. And Laker fans should be thrilled he didn't, because the team would be significantly worse if he had. In the meantime, the Lakers were willing to part with Bynum to get KG, meaning he did have the proper perspective.

The trade for Ariza has been fantastic. The Lakers have undoubtedly come ahead in that one.

And even if you wanna argue that Fisher "fell into Kupchak's lap," he still brought him into the fold and wouldn't be the first GM to benefit from a lucky break.

And that's not even getting into drafting Bynum or Farmar in the first round (with Critter also looking like a keeper) or Walton and Turiaf, who are absolute successes for second round picks.

Obviously, there have been mistakes on Kupchak's part, but they're also increasingly becoming a matter of issues past, not present. If you wanna keep clinging to the past when judging Kupchak, that's your perogative. But you should at least acknowledge that you're not willing to move beyond the past. Again, I'm not saying Kupchak is the perfect GM or poster child for perfection. But to dish against him without even recognizing what's gone well isn't really fair. I'm not even sure there's a point in doing so.

Also, letting Fish go to Golden State (because the Warrior's contract offer was ridiculously high) had absolutely nothing to do with Payton getting traded to Boston. GP was traded to Boston in part because the Lakers wanted size (Mihm) and in part because GP played poorly with the Lakers. And hasn't really played well since. Retaining Payton would have been pretty stupid.

AK

AK,

To add some more, mentioning Lochness does not refer to this thread or to Cupcake. Those are two distinct urban legends. I'm just trying to tease you on that water horse on the succeeding thread. It resembles to lochness isn't it or to the Chinese dragon this coming Chinese New Year. Beware of the year of the rats.

Edwin Gueco,

"however he pleaded with Rod Thorn and even got insulted by Thorn & reprimanded "not to call him again if he cannot give his request", Cupcake pleaded. Again with Larry Bird, he was about to ship Socks & LO for JO but Bird insisted on including the monstrous contract of Troy Murphy that's where the stalemate existed"

there is no concrete evidence as to what EXACTLY the deals for either J-Kidd or JO were, so it's wrong to assume why each deal wasn't done.

In my opinion the only deal that Mitch Kupchak has made that I wasn't enamored with was the Kwame for Butler trade. I can even justify the Shaq trade because a trio of Kobe-LO-Butler would be pretty damn good right now.