GOOD MORNING, AK & BK,

Glad you could finally join us. JK. we're all up and ready to rumble. LOL.

Tom

Me like. The Lakers are going to be hard to beat with Drew back in the mix. It's great news about his recovery timetable. Right on, man!

Lakers have had the hardest schedule in the league so far...wow http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking?season=2008&column=sos&order=true

Just thought i'd mention, the Lakers weren't winning with Shaq the last two seasons he was here. Everybody seems to have forgotten that, even with O'neal, LA lost to the Pistons, as well as to the Spurs during the Shaq era. The Lakers were rarely the favorite to win, having no supporting behind their two guns. Trading Shaq was the best thing the Lakers could do, getting top value for a guy who only averaged 21 points his last season with the purple and gold. The rebuilding process only took three and a half seasons, to get to a championship level, while also making the playoffs the past two. The team is now built for the future, as well as now, much like the Spurs and Pistons, maybe even better so.

Sister Mary Elephant,

When is Sergeant Stadanko going to come speak to the blog?

RESIGN MBENGA!!!!!!

who do you hafta seduce in order to get these decisions to be made ?!?!?!

From El Mundo, translated from google. Here’s the recap of last nights game. Even with the broken English, its still better than most LATimes articles.

Remember this is a direct word for word translation. Have fun trying to figure out what the writer is saying.

‘Show’ Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol. Chapter I

* The Spanish signed 30 points, nine rebounds and a stopper in 37 minutes
* The ‘Man 81′, Kobe Bryant scored 36 points for Angelenos
* Orlando scored 44 points in the first quarter, the best result in its history

Gasol and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic during the party in Amway Arena in Orlando (Florida). (Photo: AFP)
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Gasol and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic during the party in Amway Arena in Orlando (Florida). (Photo: AFP)
Last Saturday 09/02/2008 15:56 (CET)
Listen noticiaImprimirEnviar noticiaDisminuye letraAumenta letter
JORGE SALIDO COBO

MADRID .- Bryant Gasol + = 66 points. Third appointment of LPG as’ laker ‘and the first big night of the connection Kobe-Pau. Los Angeles Lakers suffered sealed a victory in their movement to Orlando (113-117). The Sant Boi (30 points and nine rebounds) became the ideal match for ‘man 81′ (Today, many 36) in attack and died by now to Dwight Howard, who spent a lot of time on the bench behind by the personal . The show in LA has only just begun. [ALBUM]

The Spanish was less and gained more prominence with the passage of the minutes. Quite the contrary her partner Kobe Bryant, who had been unrecognizable in the first two parties has been at his side Gasol with 11 and six points, respectively. KB stood at the foot so many Lakers with 14 in the first quarter. In this period, the franchise Californian forgot the meaning of the word ‘defence’ and fit 44! Points against, the highest record in history who signed the Magic in fourth. Turkoglu, Evans and Cook, the latter two former LA, cosieron to triple the yellow ring (today purple) with eight hits in 11 attempts.

With 33 in electronic, six of these Gasol, the Lakers aguantaron heavy rainstorm the first 12 minutes waiting for escampara. And escampó. Phil Jackson had to track Vujanic and Farmar and the team returned to defend while continuing with its fluidity anotadora. When this temporary amainó, Kobe and Gasol, almost hand in hand, returned to the crash. His technical saved between cottons for several minutes.

In just over two minutes, Pau forced two people from Dwight Howard, Orlando reference hitherto many with 10 and seven rebounds, and brought the match very expensive for his team. Foyle was no longer a shadow consistent for the Catalan, who left with 17 points to apparel, five less than his partner Kobe. At that point, LA was already a top (63-64) and wrists velvet several ‘magic’ of the first quarter had already become rough hands of peasants.

The resumption of the meeting brought about further entonados Lakers and Magic few more disoriented. Three consecutive shares of Fisher and two other of Lamar Odom threw to Phil Jackson to the victory. At that time, Pau used in defensive duties and he played dance with the ugliest, Dwight Howard. Bastaron two coruscations over Kobe Bryant clear the way for a little longer. It was he who provoked the fifth personnel DH and left via free Gasol to be transformed into a spring scorer with 11 points to go up to 28, the same as Kobe at the end of the third quarter. Time at which Californians sent 87-98.

But this is the NBA and bocinazo end until there is nothing decided. In the last quarter, Bogans, Lewis and the best Torkuglu, back, revitalized the Magic from the perimeter, which succeeded in cutting the difference to a few Lakers to be stuck in that attack and are often deflated in recent quarters. It happened in front of Atlanta, but in this case the outcome would not be the same.

Gasol, most outstanding Howard only made a basket in this time and in the end appeared as ever. Kobe Bryant, from the line staff, sealed the many critical if the Lakers added their second victory with Gasol in their ranks. The first big night of the connection Kobe (36 points) - Pau (30) drew to a close with a few final minutes of suffering for Angelenos.

Just got my playoff invoice from the Lakers. Roughly $1000 per seat for the entire playoffs - they assume home court advantage for all rounds (16 games). In comparison, it's roughly $1100 per seat for the entire regular season. Theoretically, the organization would make more profit if all 16 games were played than they would the entire season. Gravy.

Good Morning Laker Nation,

Thanks LTLF and SBPimp for your comments on the last feed. I am not pushing a panic button on Jordan and Ronny, just noticing that we have little bubbling problems that hopefully will get worked out. Jordan glaring at Phil is kind of funny to me. When Smush did it, it was problematic because his response is to shrink away. Jordan can take the heat, and it will make him work harder.

Not signing Mbenga for the year makes me think the Lakers might be making another trade. Yes Mihm is "on the way back" but he's made of paper mache (sp?) - what if he gets injured again and can't finish the season? We've got Ronny & Pau for sure, Andrew later. That just seems really thin upfront for the playoffs (I think of Pau as more of a 4 than 5). And it means having the minimum of 13 on the roster. I'd rather have Mbenga on the bench all season than be short in the playoffs.

But it's not my luxury tax money, so...

AN1,

That is great! Do you volunteer to keep the tally on Daddy's "Sick Days"?

I will get a chuckle every day reading "2,3,4,....15, 16,"

Fanastic win last night for the Lakers. Pau is a pretty special player. I think that Pau is a player that is used to playing with skilled players and elevates his game when surrounded with structure and talent. In Memphis Im not sure he had that and he probably started to disappear. its like the Randy Moss sort of thing. When he broke in the NBA he had something to prove. Now he realized that franchise was in turmoil and it took away his moves. But now he's rejuvinated. But man Pau has some moves. He can get around big men..did you see him make a those baseline moves on Dwight Howard??? Plus while Kwame is stronger (theres no doubt about that) Gasol makes his defender foul by playing D, plus Gasol can do some tricks.

As far as everybody else, Farmar and Turiaf are sucking. Farmar I hope is not hitting the wall, but as you can see, how important it was to have Fisher. Fisher played all the important minues as he will in the playoffs. Turiaf struggles when he plays fewer minutes...and once Bynum comes back he will have fewer minutes.

Luke really sucks, Vlad is more impotant, but there will be a time when Vlad disappears and you need Luke. But Vlad works well off Gasol and Kobe because he can just roam the floor.

Odom has picked up his playe since the Kwame trade. I guess that might have been the shot in the arm he needed.

Also, as i said in the thread yesterday, I spoke with Andrew for a 10 minutes yesterday and he seemed to be doing just fine. Actally he walked with no limp...said that he thought he hurt his knee really bad..but now its not a big deal. As far as the swelling I can confirm that the Lakers arent putting up PR...but his knee looks just fine. In fact he looked really good still...plus he hasnt gained any weight like Kwame or Shaq do when they get hurt.

Plus just talking to Andrew ...he will have no problem once he and Gasol are on the floor together. Hes defintely not a spotlight guy but definitely seems like a guy that will show up when you need him to. I think he has a chip on his shoulder.

Man I still cant get over how polite andrew was. AK/Bk how come you never mentioned that when everyone questioned his character this summer?? That would have changed everyone's notion of him.

AN1,
Loved that El Mundo article! Hilarious!

Hey, a great win in any language.

Great article guys.

Lakers finally winning a close game is good news to me. I've been a bit worried about close games...Lakers never seem to pull them out because everybody keys in on Kobe and we all know in the past he would have put that shot up.

In my opinion, Lamar Odom, Ronny and Fisher are essential to the chemistry of the Lakers. Kobe might be a great player but he's never been one of the most likeable. He doesn't hang with the scrubs like LO does.

Hearing all the unhappiness coming out of the Phoenix locker room prior to the Shaq trade, you can see that team chemistry cannot be overlooked.

Great win, should be 7-2 on this road trip...I'll take it.

If any of you missed Ronny's video from San Antonio, this is entertaining to watch how the Laker scrubs hang out before the game. Good Stuff:

On the Road with Jordan&Ronny
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/otr_ronnyjordan.html

Rick,

I thought PJ used him and Mbenga showed enough to stick around, he filled in exactly as needed during the Kwame/Pau interlude and could provide that on a spot basis. Again, I think they are confident that Drew, Ariza and Mihm are on the way back, and yet still I see no need to leave roster spots open when we have a serious chance to advance THIS YEAR.

I hope you are right about Jordan/Ronny...maybe a little home cooking and a couple of games against bad teams will get the youngsters' spirits' up...

ex - You pay for the whole package regardless. This year they're offering a payment plan where you can pay half and then get automatically charged for the remainder if the team makes it to the Conf Finals. After its all said and done, any unused tickets get credited back to your STH account.

Celtics #29 & Suns #30 on the SOS ranking.

For a guy that supposedly not capable of playing defense, Pau Gasol perhaps played the best defense of all.

He got DH out of the game. By flopping (I know, not really defense lol, but it worked), by making DH play defense on him, and by challenging any and all shots he could. The game really begun when we recognized that only some players should help...if your man is Jameer Nelson, stay on your man. Ditto for Hedo Turglu.

But the biggest difference of all was his leadership. Last play (that counts), guess who was yelling, "One stop guys, one stop." Pau that's who. He may not have the physicality to go one-on-one but he's capable of holding his own.

Go Ka-Pau!

Posted by: Faith | February 09, 2008 at 12:26 PM

Faith,

Very nice post concerning Pau getting DH into foul trouble and showing leadership out there on the floor last night. Now if Pau suckered DH into charging into him, how much easier will it be for Pau to get someone like Shaq into foul trouble when Shaq can't help but run people over. This may sound crazy, but in a matchup with the Suns at full strength I would stick Pau on Shaq and keep Andrew on Amare because Drew wouldn't know how to take a charge from Shaq and would probably get in foul trouble himself guarding Shaq whereas Pau could easily draw charges. Andrew would make life very difficult for Amare on both ends of the floor. Shaq would most likely guard Andrew when the Lakers are on offense which would be great to watch. LO would be difficult for either Hill or Diaw to guard. We won't see these matchups unless we meet in the playoffs because our last game against the Suns on Feb. 20 with the Lakers not at full strength.

The fact that the Lakers were able to bounce back from the 1st quarter onslaught and 4th quarter comeback of the Magic in Orlando's building speaks well for The Show. Orlando was sky high to beat them last night, but the Lakers found a way. Just win, baby!! GO LAKERS!!!!

The spin is that Pau is not the greatest of defensive players, based on his reputation at Memphis. As the Griz's best player, he could ill afford to go all out on defense at all times against the Duncans and Garnetts. He would have surely been in foul trouble more often than not. And as the best player on the team, he had to play big minutes. Once Bynum comes back, Pau will be surrounded by Baby and Lamar and in a better position to turn up the defensive intensity. If he does get in early foul trouble, the Lakers bench is deep enough to compensate. While I don't foresee Gasol as the Defensive POY anytime soon, I don't think he's as bad and as soft as some scouts say he is.

good game...still we need defense... we allowed magic to get over 100 points....if we want to get that title...lakers must tighten up its defense...again... let every team that the lakers meet feel that they can't win against LA...

i have read some Japanese philosophy...that a powerful warrior wins by not using his power... but only by letting the aura of his power be felt by his enemies... the bottom line is that, everybody knows the offensive power of the Lakers today... but the defensive power is still not there yet... or i mean it still not that impressive...to be a champion... we need to break the hearts of the other teams... let them feel that they can't can score against; they can't score more against us...thus, they can't win against us.... let them feel that..

"Had to listen to last night's game: did Luke play as poorly as it seemed? "

I'd say yes. At this point he's probably just waiting to be moved to the IL next month when Bynum and Ariza return (assuming Mihm becomes active soon). He might just stay there for the remainder of the season unless someone else gets injured. I can't say that's necessarily a bad thing. There's a traffic jam at the SF position and Walton is the weakest link IMO.

the lakers D was awful against Orlando, who had too many wide open looks and scored 113 pts. i'm not as impressed with this win as most people, it would appear.