anyway else feel that that game was boring?? The Lakers (even the announcers) are really tired of the game. Pau seems tired...Kobe is trying to pull them through. Too many mental lapses. Low energy. Even Phil looks like he took a nap on the bench. I think we survive Minnesota although they keep coming really close to beating good teams. If the Lakers snooze on the last game then they will get beat. Also, the road trip seems to be taking a toll on Derek Fisher. Farmar needs to up his play to give more of a rest for Fisher. Its important because the playoffs will feature a lot of games..and when they face Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, (maybe Baron davis or Iverson) they need somebody to guard them.

Time for everyone to hit the massage therapy table as soon as they get to MN. Gotta get those legs ready for that last game. It's highly important for us to head into the all-star break on a positive note.

Just as you described it BK - not a classic, but a W is a W. I'm pretty sure Chuck Daly said it best - you're only as good as your win-loss record. Which means that we're definitely within striking distance for the 1 seed.

Let's continue with the continuity gentlemen! With the roster pretty much set, it's time for everyone to hold that rope!

Repost from game thread:

Guess what folks? With tonight's win, we just matched our total road wins from a season ago: 17 wins!

What a difference a year and no Smush, Kwame, B. Cook can make!

I sure hope we finish better than 17-24 on the road this year. I'm not a betting man, but I think I would take that one.

I'm sure there's nobody who would've turned down 24-17 on the road just a couple weeks ago. We'll hit that if we play .500 ball the rest of the way. Our boys should go 10-4 the rest of the way for a 27-14 record.

lakers are looking good
gasol was a fantastic addition

is it just me, or does walton look like he has been playing worse?

Without Drew and Ariza, Lakers don't really have any other lock-down defender outside of Kobe, but the team can still play good team defense. However, when you have new players, team defense is the last to come together for the team. Hopefully when they are able to practice more together, they will be better going forward.

It was good to see them pull out the W after letting the Bobcats get close. Just like in Miami, they pulled away like good teams will in the closing minutes. This was great to see. Also, I can't say enough about Lamar's play on this road trip. It's just been terrific. The Lakers have been playing well together, and those losses aren't a true reflection of what they're capable of. I can't wait to see AB and Pau in the lineup together. What a thing of beauty that will be!!!!

GO LAKERS!!!

BK:

Another good win against an inspired but ultimately turned away opponent. Again, efficient 1-2 punch on offense by Kobe and Pau led the way for the victory. Good games by Jordan and Ronny and Vlade and Lamar also helped. I thought Jordan made several key plays including a killer 3 down the stretch. And Luke not only hit a key jumper down the stretch but made a couple of excellent defensive plays.

I am less worried about Felton’s penetration as the Lakers did an excellent job staying home on the 3-point shooters and challenging the outside shots, especially on JRich and later on Matt “Laker Killer” Carroll. Those layups will not come so easy when Drew comes back or when we can put Ariza on any hot perimeter player.

With a small guard like Felton, however, our defending guards need to follow him all the way to the hoop as he always crashes into the big man and then shoots a lean back layup that we could easily block. Farmar especially should have been doing this with his hops.

At any rate, Felton is a load to keep out of the paint and he played a great game, posting his season best point total. Mohammed also hurt us when Charlotte played their version of the twin towers with Okafor and Mohammed. Again, that won’t happen when Drew is in the game.

We have to remember that every team in the NBA has the ability to come back. It’s partly that all of these guys are pros and partly human nature to take your foot off your opponent’s neck a little whenever you get ahead. It’s one thing to play down to the level of your opponent, which all top teams do from time to time. What’s important is whether or not you hold off against the inevitable rally and take control and win the game, which is exactly what the Lakers have done the last two games.

On to Wednesday and the Timberwolves. As Kobe says, let’s leave it all on the floor and end this historic road trip 7-2 with a 4-game winning streak. At 34-17, Lakers are now tied for the third best record in the West, just 2 games from the best record and top seed. And right on a pace to win 55 games. LOL.

Tom

first post for me (on any blog for that matter), this is the best lake show blog around...

anyways, anyone see Ronny tear into Mbenga after two consecutive offensive sequences? i think it was in the mid second.

first series, Ronny went to the rack and was looking for Dieter to cut. he didn't and ronny missed the shot. ronny angrily motioned for him to cut on the way back on D.

second series, Ronny hit a 18 foot jumper at the top of the key, i think Mbenga missed the high pick. the whole way back on D he was ripping Mbenga a new Heart of Darkness. never seen him get down on a teammate like that.

I'm sure Ronny's frustrated with his diminished minutes and it looks like he's having a tough time finding any rythmn. like a number of you in the blog have been saying, he just doesn't have the same tenacity that drew us all to love him.

even my wife noticed that he doesn't dance on the bench as much as he used to.

just wanted to see if anyone else noticed that...thanks to the regulars and the K bros for good consistant content.

cheers

I still do not get all the complaining when we win. For some reason everyone believes we should just be blowing out everyone. Folks this is the NBA. I really dont know who our role model should be. Heck, Dallas just lost 2 in a row to bad teams. The Suns beat Washington by only one at home and the Wizards were without Butler. All you have to do is pick a team you consider a strong team and go look at the scores. EVERYONE has either lost to some bad teams or have had MANY close games against bad teams.

Can we improve? Of course, we have to. But keep in mind we are force feeding Pau our offense and defense, on the road with little practice time. Not to mention the 2nd unit has to adjust to new rotations again.

Until Andrew comes back I am just happy for the wins, by one point or thirty, it doesnt matter to me.

MH

Props to michael h.

And for all the whiners about Walton, Coach, Bynum's D (?!?!?!), winning close games, or any other lame Dooms Day prophecies: Be cool honey bunny, be cool!

Hi! I'm Cobe Karl! Hi! I'm Cobe Karl! I'm George's son!...

I'm Cobe Karl! George's son!

That never gets old. If you haven't seen it, it's on lakers.com. Freakin' hilarious.

HI! I'M COBE KARL!

CALI KING

Just was checking out the rest of the schedule. I think we have an excelent chance of winning the Pacific. We may trail the Suns by a couple of games but I wouldnt trade places with them . Just take a look.

The Suns have a lot of tough games left.

Celtics 2
Pistons 2
Dallas 2
Portland 3
Denver 3
Spurs 2
Rockets 2
Warriors 3
Lakers 1
New Orleans 1
Jazz 1

That leaves only 9 games against sub 500 teams. Now look at the LAkers.

Dallas 3
Portland 4
New Orleans 2
Golden State 2
Suns 1
Utah 1
Spurs 1
Rockets 1
Raptors 1

That leaves us with 15 games against Sub 500 yeams. Not only look at the the winning teams we have left. Not nearly as many, really good teams left as the Suns. We have had the toughest schedule of anyone.

MH

Everyone wants to see a large margin win, well stay tuned. I have a strong feeling the boys are going to unleash the wolf hounds on Wed. Everyone wants to get home and I think they'll be feeling their oats when the play the T-Wolves. I'm looking for a blowout.

I think the Lakers may, at this point in Bynum's career, be a better team with Gasol and no Bynum than with Bynum and no Gasol.

Which should make for a very potent combination if Bynum comes back healthy.

Posted by: exhelodrvr | February 11, 2008 at 09:12 PM

Ex,

I'm going to politely disagree with you. Prior to Andrew going down, he and the Lakers were on an incredible roll including winning 7 in a row when he went down. While Gasol may be more polished offensively including a face up jumper, Andrew was beginning to dominate the paint on both ends of the floor and is better than Pau defensively which can't be debated at all. Also, anyone watching can see that Pau in his short time with us has gotten more touches than Andrew did although Andrew started getting the ball more right before he got hurt. IMO we were already becoming a contender prior to Andrew getting hurt. If Andrew didn't get injured and kept escalating upwards the Lakers can make and win the finals. We could go deeper in the playoffs with only Gasol, but I don't think we can win a ring with just Gasol and no Andrew because of the difference defensively.

Those leastern team that we defeated were so helpful to the newly acquired Gasol and to the Lakers (playing with him).. I really feel we need more such games before playing with an elite team in the west. The way we played those passed 4 games(with Gasol) is like doing a filing to a rough surface until it becomes smooth.

Aloha, Michael:

Nice job putting together the stats on the Suns and Lakers remaining schedules. We appreciate the effort. Much easier to see the impact of our tough schedule than looking at Hollinger’s stats. No way the Suns are going to hold onto the lead unless Shaq finds the fountain of youth.

Staying in the hunt for the top seed is one the real pluses of the Gasol trade. All we need now is for Drew and Trevor to come back fully healthy by the middle of March. That will give Phil enough time to get the team to peak heading into the playoffs.

Just watch as the end of the season draws near. There will be teams tanking games just to avoid drawing the Lakers in the playoffs. Unless we win the top seed, in which case teams will be fighting tooth and nail not to be the last team to make it. LOL.

Tom

michael h,

Good point, and you're right. The Lakers SOS (strength of schedule) is one of the toughest in the league right now at .525. Only Memphis has had a tougher schedule with a SOS of .526. Of course, Memphis hasn't quite had the success as the Lakers, but hey, at least they have Kwame. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Anyway, of the elite teams, the Lake show does have the most favorable schedule after the all-star break.

Ex,

I've got to disagree with you on that. You're forgetting how much better Bynum is as a rebounder and defender. Gasol has an edge on offense, but it's not a huge edge. Bynum was averaging about 17 points a game from about Dec. 1 to when he got injured.

When you take D and rebounding into account there's no comparison. Don't you remember how we were smoking teams before Bynum went down? We beat NO by 29 at one point and had our higest point differential of the season (it was somewhere around 6.5-6.7)

Lakers w/o Pau may have accomplished only 5-4 in this trip, the way they give back points to opponents. So I believe we need Kobe, Bynum, Pau, LO, Fisher, Farmar, Ariza, Vlad, Sasha, Lu ke and Turiaf to blend with the team w/o doubting themselves if they wish to go to the Big Dance in June.

We are not pessimistic about our Lakers, we are just saying Championship is a rough journey. You have to practice the habit of taking care business early on teams like Bobcats and hawks. Don't be intimidated by Felton or Carroll or by Johnson and Nelson - no matter what these players are made of, they should be the one intimidated by the presence of Kobe and Gasol and the rest of the Lakers. So if the star player of Bobcat is a lame duck on the bench, the aim is not just a Win but KILL as early as 3rd.

To be a Champion, it's starts believing not just merely saying to the media, it's not only 55 wins which is just above the average accomplishment go for perfection.(As Kobe said they should have been 8-0 at this time.). it is not easy, that why to be a Champion, it is not for people who have a soft heart..Try to analyze all the Lakers dynasty and NBA teams that went for back-to-back championship they have a mindset of winning at all times and finishing their opponents early. It has to start in believing on ones ability, then feel it with your action that every score is addition and every stop on the opponent is a deduction (no time for jealousy that playing time was decreased; no need of blaming your teammates in front of opponents), no ifs and buts, just slash and burn and take no one captives.... that's the mentality of Champions. Once they give a leeway, exhibit their weaknesses then, it creates holes and opportunities for the opponents to poke it and break their dream dam.

.

Well now that the all-star break is here..check out whats going on.

The Blazers are falling apart now that Roy just said they cant "sneak up on teams anymore". I guess they were just a false sense of reality.

The Hornets got hot, but then cooled off and still arent beating the really good teams.

The Suns changed their whole franchise philosophy because they knew they didnt have the championship formula.

Popovich (Mr. class act of NBA?) just talked trash to the Grizzlies of all teams.

Mark Cuban wants Jason Kidd, which means he has no confidence in his current team (how does Dirk feel?).

The Nuggets score a bunch but they are currently the #7 team and keep losing to the traditional western powers.

In terms of the entire league, the Sacramento Kings who sit at 23-26, 10th in the West, would be the 6th seed in the East, right behind Portland which would be the 5th. Yeah, thats right. Golden State has a better record than Orlando. Oh speaking of Orlando...D-Howard apparently doesnt want to play defense and rebound anymore???

LeBron hates his teammates and once the trade deadline passes and the Cavs didnt get anybody, he will hate his franchise.

So that leaves the NBA with 4 teams that are currently stable. The Jazz (who are riding a big winning streak), the Pistons, the Celtics (who are surviving without KG) and guess who..the Lakers.

I would not be surprised to see these the final 4 teams. The Lakers and Jazz probably end up the 1-2 seeds.

my prediction:

1. Lakers
2. Utah
3. NO
4. Phoenix
5. Dallas
6. SA
7. Houston
8. Denver

1st:
Lakers/Denver
Phoenix/Dallas
NO/SA
Utah/Houston

Preferred order:

1. Utah
2. LA
3. SA
4. Phoenix
5. Dallas
6. Houston
7. NO
8. Denver

Utah/Denver
Pho/Dal
SA/Houston
LAL/NO

Remember this is not about final records, but division winners

Michael H.,

Aloha. I'll echo Laker Tom. Thanks for the breakdown. If you look at Hollinger's SOS ranking, the Lakers have had the hardest schedule and the Suns have had the easiest of the 30 teams. I took a look at who the Hornets played and they've played a lot of the weaker sisters, although they have beat the Suns 3 times.

I'm so tired of hearing how the San Antonio Spurs are so great because of their defense. So I went to look at point differential, number of field goal attempts, and other oddball statistics.

San Antonio's low points allowed might be partially attributed to their slower, deliberate game. The Lakers average 81.8 attempts per game to 78.5 attempts per game. I realize that Tony Parker's out and you have to look at turnovers and free throws, but I'm trying to convince myself that point differential is the next best way to assess a team's success (as it is in baseball) after W-L records. Even though Faith and her defense mantra is starting to influence me, I still feel that you have to score to win.

Here's some interesting stats:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?

stat=teamstatoff&sort=pts&league=nba&avg=pg&split=56

7&season=2008&seasontype=2

I puzzled over the FGA column. It's really all over the map. We have a -4.1, Phoenix has a -6.3, and Memphis has a -6.1. Detroit +4.3 and Goldens State +4.1. A negative number means that we allow more attempts than we take? Need help on that one.

GREAT ARTICLE ON LAMAR ODOM CHANGING HIS GAME

http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/lakers/stories/PE_

Sports_Local_D_lakers_notes_12.409faf6.html

Kudos to Broderick Turner of the Riverside Press-Enterprise for his timely and insightful article on Lamar Odom’s successful efforts to change his game to playing without the ball in his hands. Per Broderick, the coaches have been working with Lamar to help him adjust to his new role. And to Lamar’s credit, he is willingly working hard to adjust.

The results so far have been great. We saw two perfect examples of the problems that Lamar can create without the ball tonight: (1) an easy layup on a feed from Kobe as he curled and cut off the high post and (2) an emphatic dunk off a pass from Pau as he cut on the baseline. There is nothing that beats double teams on Kobe and Pau than having a guy cut to the hoop. It’s the triangle offense at its best.

And having a guy like Lamar, who has the length and athleticism to finish at the hoop, making those cuts is going to make the Lakers incredibly tough. And it gets Lamar the ball down low where he can do damage instead of out at the 3-point line. It also fits perfectly with Lamar’s willingness to do the dirty and tough work down low where he can be a real beast. And it reduces the ball handling errors and charges he picks up.

The other thing that has impressed me about Lamar’s game has been his willingness to forgo the easy 3-point shot attempt and instead penetrate for an easier mid-range jumper, drive to the hoop, or pass to a player with a higher percentage shot. I have been impressed with Lamar’s recent decision making when he gets the ball at the top of the key. Now that he does not have to be the #2 scorer, he seems to see that he has a lot of options besides just lofting up another 3.

Way to go, Lamar…Now if we can just work on that right handed drive and lay-up…LOL.

Tom

Chris Mihm to have surgery.

siiigh.. i know this must be disappointing for him. but come one. why was this guy resigned in the first place. some people just get money given to them in this league

good luck chris. but get healthy and retire.

i enjoy this Lakers, but I will enjoy more Pau Gasol as 4, he was asking for a 5 at Memphis, he is a excellent false 5 scoring, but much better, you will see, as 4, and everybody scores better with him on court, because he pass with an excellent skill. With a 5 rebounding, and receiving passes from him LAkers - I do like to write this way to avoid LA lakers as "la la... la" - will be at finals sure, and betting for them would be bad paid.

I'm watching the game on League pass, still can't believe Gasol is a Laker and will be for years! I love this team.