Hey Charles...EastCoastJessie's a girl too.

Charles, thanks for the info. Im still trying to score tickets but haven't gotten a definite answer yet.

Good to see alot of Laker Girl Bloggers!

Check out this youtube clip - Lakers Rhapsody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7_AlZFpsXQ

So I was sitting around tokin' and readin' the blog...as I often do...and I noticed something. I am on only a few bandwagons. So here it is, BABY! Put me on 'em all! thats right, I said ALL because I am on the Lakers bandwagon baby! Have we had one of those yet? Please inhale now as I blow smoke at the screen...

IT'S TIME TO WATCH THE LAKERS AND DRINK SOME BEER, TOKE A BOWL AND SCREAM AND CHEER!!!

LAKERS 4 LIFE BABY!!!!!!

LakerMan 420

Charles

i'd amke that the "WE CAN"T GET ENOUGH MAMBA24" bandwagon, and I'm already on board!

J.W. Weatherman - Calls were made against both teams that hurt BOTH teams all night. But when it comes down to the final play of the game, and you call a foul on someone that doesn't even have the ball who is LAYING ON THE GROUND, something is wrong there. If Ellis is driving to the hoop and charges Fisher, I'd be totally fine with a charge call. But to have the game end like that, you can't honestly say as a Laker fan that it feels good. Not saying warriors would have won that game, but they at least deserved a shot.

Jay Jay,

>>>SACHA -

I assume you mean Sasha...

>>>... I HATE this guy. He thinks he's freakin Kobe every
>>>time he gets the ball and shoots at will no matter how ill
>>>advised.

Except for the assist to Lamar for the two points that WON
THE GAME. Or the assist on the fast break to Luke. Or his
other assist. Or maybe you got up to go to the kitchen for
a sandwich when his assists (or his two steals) were happening
and didn't see them.

Your criticism against Sasha is about as pertinent as Gunner's
criticism of Kobe over-shooting. The position both players
play
is SHOOTING GUARD. It's their JOB to take outside shots.

>>>If Lamar hadn't fought off two Warriors for that board
>>>of Sacha's last awful attempt we'd have lost the
>>>game

If you want to criticize Sasha's shooting in Sunday's game,
fine. But in last night's game, Sasha shot better than 50%,
and without his 19 points including a CLUTCH 3-point
dagger in overtime, the Lakers would have lost the game.

Hate him if you wish, but this season Sasha makes 43%
of his 3-pointers. 43%! Derek Fisher shoots about 43%
OVERALL, including 2-pointers. Sasha is the 10th most
efficient 3-point shooter IN THE LEAGUE!

So if Sasha's got the shot, I WANT him to take it.

I only hope that some team doesn't offer Sasha a full MLE
this summer, as I'm not sure that the Lakers would match
it, since they'd have to pay DOUBLE that to keep him
(since they're already over the luxury tax before re-signing
Sasha, Turiaf, and Ariza).

SHOUT OUT TO THE LADIESS IN THE HOUSE:

SFLAKERGIRL, PSYCHED LAKER GIRL, LAKERGURL,SIMILAKERGIRL

ooooooooooooo la la

The Ladies Man

Hey Sonny! Thanks for the info. FYI- Sam Mitchell won COY last year and Dirk won MVP.

Look at how far that got the raptors and mavs last year!

http://www.nba.com/playoffs2007/

Good thing Kobe and Phil aren't in the running up in Sacramento.

"mambaaaaaa..... ooooooo"

I'm putting that up on my computer so that when I turn it on, it plays that harmony right there...

personally, I don't look at Phil's or Kobe's mention of being short-handed as an attempt to get any type of sympathy if you will, or as an excuse of sorts if the team doesn't perform well. I think they do this to REMIND the media that despite all the team's shortcomings, we are RESILIENT and a feisty group and will go hard every game even though we are missing 2 starters so don't come at the Lakers like we are just gonna bow down, cuz we aren't..We are gonna be reckoned with regardless. I don't see the players boo-hoo'ng B4 games about being down KEY players. They go out and perform and mostly WIN and not even at full strength, so just know when our guys come back we are gonna be THAT MUCH better...That's how I see it...

Thanks Mamba (and Botsoy),

Hey I did a bit of research. I discovered that Dave Dameshek is the pseudonym of Gunner, but keeping with the Jeckyll and Hide theme, he's the flip side, the one with the civilzed sense of humor and artistic taste.

And thanks for making me Keeper of the Flame. One championship on its way, Sunny Side Up. The flame's doing the cooking. And special thanks to Faith for keeping the refrigerator in good nick.

Put me on the LO bandwagon too (and while you're at it remind him to remember to sink ALL free throws at the end of 4th quarters cause OTs provide unnecessary stress, making the sauce go sour).

Charles - love the more mamba24 bandwagon.
And yes, the ladies are in the house! Today is all about LAL girl power and celebrate LO day!

marx,

>>>I saw Lakers and Detroit in Final, and Phil put Luke on
>>>the floor to run trial angle offense, result....5,6
>>>turnovers, at that time, Luke was a rookie, Phil had
>>>high hope for Luke, he thought Detroit was stupid, they
>>> couldn't guard Luke,

You have a selective memory. Luke got minutes in the NBA
finals in 2004 because Karl Malone was so badly injured that
he was getting beat all over the court by the Pistons.

Phil's options to take up some of the minutes? Luke Walton,
Slava Medvedenko, or Brian Cook. And Slava was also
the only backup center.

The results?

Game 1 -
didn't play Luke

Game 2 -
Luke played 27 minutes
7 points on 3 of 3 shooting
5 rebounds
8 assists
2 blocked shots
0 turnovers.

Game 3 -
Luke played 19 minutes
4 points (1 of 5 shooting)
3 rebounds
2 assists
1 steal
2 turnovers

Game 4 -
Luke played 12 minutes
0 points on 0-for-1 shooting
1 rebound
3 assists
2 steals
2 turnovers

Game 5 -
Luke played 19 minutes
2 points on 1 of 4 shooting
3 rebounds
5 assists
3 steals
3 turnovers

So unless you mean "5, 6 turnovers" over 3 games, then
you're wrong. Overall, he did very well for a rookie, but
they had him playing a lot of his minutes at PF, and Luke
just isn't big enough to match up with Sheed or Big-Ben.

Phil putting Luke in had nothing to do with him "having
high hopes for Luke" or thinking that "Detroit was stupid".

Rick Fox was injured and barely got in any minutes, and
Karl Malone was injured and played so badly that for
game 5 he didn't play (Phil started Slava at PF for game 5).

So your memory that Luke played against Detroit in the
2004 finals is correct, but pretty much everything else
about your memory is wrong.

marx,

>>>Phil lets players taking day off, or cancel shooting
>>>around, next game they lost, is that the smart coaching
>>>plan

It depends. What do you want more? a 22 game winning
streak during the regular season? Or a championship?

When it comes to "smart coaching plans" to achieve the latter,
Phil is the best living coach.

ex,

I once heard Charles Barkley call Steve Nash and Yao Ming European once when he was on PTI. Kornheiser made a crack about Chuck calling them European, but he didn't seem to get it. haha.

mamba24,
Please put me on the "Stop excessively criticizing Luke when there are a number of Lakers who play poorly and ignoring it when he has decent games just because you are mad at the Lakers for the contract they signed him to" bandwagon.

never:
-------------------
“My primary concern for the future is our point guard, forward, and center positions. “

I get it! You think we are set at point guard, forward, and center positions. Sort of like your annoying DVR-fooling predictions? Well, I agree with you. We have Fish and Farm at point guard plus rights to Sun Yue. We have Pau and Lamar as starting forwards with Ronny, Vlade, Trevor, and Luke as backups. And we have Andrew Bynum at center with Mihm as backup. While we may see some minor tweaking with the roster, what we have now is the core of players that with Kobe will comprise the next Lakers dynasty. So you are right, we are really set at every position. All we need to do is get healthy.

thedroppper:
-------------------
Welcome to the KBros blog. Great post. I especially loved the “beachboy and spaceboy” monikers, which perfectly encapsulate the true essences of Luke and Vlade, as well as “cringeworthy moments,” of which there definitely more than we would all like to see. Keep it coming, excellent scribing and sense of humor.

lakersrydeordie:
-------------------
“With Luke, he is, what he is....”

Truer words never posted about Luke. You made a lot of excellent points about Luke and the bottom line benefit to the team if he can get his game back. I think Luke has a very high basketball IQ but is limited by his physical talent and lack of confidence. If he can regain his confidence, his high BBIQ will enable him to contribute despite his limits. Phil is obviously hoping, as we all should, that Luke can get his mojo back. If he does, he will no longer be “puke.”

Tim:
-------------------
Thanks for the recap of the play. Smart move by Fish to make sure that Ellis went down with him rather than leaving him open and unguarded. Big risk, though, because don’t the Warriors get free throws plus the ball on dead ball fouls by the defense? That could have been disastrous, The locals are still up in arms over the call, although I would probably agree with them that it should have been a no-call. At any rate, there is no way the Lakers will not sweep the Warrior if they have either Pau or Andrew back. If they have both, every game will be a blowout.

Floyd:
-------------------
“I do know that I am sick to death of the lame ass stack play we run at the end of games.”

Great point! I have been screaming the same thing all year. What happened to spreading the players out to make it harder to double Kobe and to running players off of multiple picks to free up a shooter for an open shot? Remember Fish’s 0.4 second shot play or the similar play earlier in the same year where Kobe came off a double pick to get a wide-open 3 at the top of the key? Come on, Phil, how about some X’s and O’s?

JAY JAY:
-------------------
Welcome back! I agree that Lamar has been playing like a beast, although I do like the bloggers who are trying to give that nickname to Andrew, who truly is a “beast.” And Sasha, the best quote of all was Phil’s about everybody on the bench shooting a hole in him when he cast off a 3-pointer on a 1 on 3 break. I actually love the guy as well as Farmar because neither is at all afraid to shoot. Having 4 guys – Sasha, Vlade, Fish, and Farm – all shooting over 39% on 3’s has turned the Lakers into one of the top percentage 3-point shooting teams in the league.

Rick:
-------------------
“When I see so many hateful comments as have been posted lately, I've been forced to look in the mirror and regret my own angry remarks here. It is easy as a fan to demand perfection and consistency, but as we've all seen, games and individual players have an ebb and flow. I can't assure myself that I'm capable of living up to it, but I will attempt to impose more self-discipline in my tendency to criticize. A team that has come this far despite so many injuries deserves better from me.”

Glad to see you return to the positives, which clearly outweigh the negatives by a huge multiple. Lakers will win another NBA championship this year. We will end the season with a 12-game winning streak and possible match sweep through the playoffs.

Tom

-Kobe quote beofre his last free throw "It's over, this game is over".

-It's hilarious how much Sasha enjoys annoying the opposition. He is on his way to perfecting this unique craft.

-I hope Ronnie continues to get major minutes even after Gasol and Bynum return. He's earned it.

-How did Baron Davis not make the all-star team? That's just plain wrong.

-When Phil picks on Vlad, Phil's goal is to motivate him, not to embarass him. Phil knows what he's doing.

-Phil does not pick on Luke because Phil knows how emotionally fragile Luke is. Any criticism to Luke, and what little confidence he has will be completely gone. This is the same reason why Phil rarely picked on Smush and Kwame the last couple years. Phil knows what he is doing.

LAL_fan,

I appreciate sonny's inclusion of sacbee articles. Sac has been humbled by a few recent so so seasons so they're not guilty of blind hatred like the Funs fans and media have been the last few years.

And who could possibly get tired of hearing about Ron Artest? The guy practically needs his own news wire.

K bros,

Nice Violent Femmes reference.

I just want to mention something that I've noticed that someone else mentioned.

It would seem that near the end of the season and during the playoffs Odom plays his best. If there's anything that allows us to forgive his inconsistency, it's this fact. If he's going to consistently save his best play for when it really counts, we cannot trade this guy.

It's like his play goes up to 11 during the playoffs, like James Worthy. Unfortunately, it's also like he sometimes plays 3-4 during the regular season. Hopefully, that's coming to an end henceforth.

Mamba,

Man oh man, please put me on the "I hate the Celtics" bandwagon. I start grinding my teeth just thinking about their pasty, abrasive and drunken fans.

"Go Laker pansies until Bynum comes back!!"

pansie = playing with a gash on your face, and getting 5 stitches after the game is won... in overtime.

"People need to understand that, right now at least, the Lakers are shorthanded. They go about eight deep, and it's a rotation of imperfect players. Everyone's minutes go up, and the options for mixing and matching go down."

BK

Excellent point, BK....that's the main reason why people need to get off of Luke's case and realize that he has got to play some minutes. Phil just doesn't have as many options due to injury and the fact that Newble isn't ready to play yet. That being said, I wanted to strangle Luke when he made that 4th quarter turnover. That gave the Warriors momentum and changed the game IMO. Just kick the ball out and run the clock, Luke!!!

This Laker team has continued to amaze me all season long. The have to go on their longest road trip in over 30 years? No problem...they go 7-2. Pau goes down in the first quarter of the first game of a brutal four game road trip? No problem...the Lakers make adjustments, tighten their belts and manage a 2-2 split. Golden State comes into Staples and steals a game? No problem...The Show returns the favor the very next night up at Oracle.

LO deserves major accolades for his recent play. He and Kobe played major minutes in the GSW back to back and gave everything they had. Despite the anxiety that last night's game caused me, I absolutely loved the way both teams embraced and exchanged pleasantries after the game was over. Both teams walked off the floor feeling good about themselves and knowing that they had given it their all in a hard fought game.

kwame brown hasn't got any playing time with the grizzlies. i wonder if anyone will sign him in the offseason. haha

Charles or it is charlie brown :):

I am a lover not a fighter, no problem with mamba24, as a matter of fact I find it very amusing that he keeps circling the bandwagon hehehe..By the way are yuo his enforcer?

Shout out to all the laker ladies!!

oooooooooooooh la la..

The Ladies Man

PS: Did I mention Gasol is also a very soft player as well or shall we say another pansie..