Game 2 thoughts, mine and otherwise

Man This New Thread Was Needed!

BK

I think it's gonna be pick your poison. The Ja$$ try to double Kobe, he hits the open man for a clean shot. They try to man up on him, he goes off. It's going to be like the Thuggets.........the Ja$$ will try dsomething different, and yes, they're a better team than Enver, but..............to paraphrase the In'n'out commercials................

That's what the Trialgle's all about!

LET'S GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 TO 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't really believe that the Jazz are going to foul any less, that is just a ruse in an attempt to make the Lakers less prepared for the non-stop hacking show that is the Jazz.

Do the Jazz actually think they have a shot in hell at winning this game tonight?

Come on, Kobe just won the MVP trophy.

Kobe goes for 40 and the Jazz cry all the way home.

Kobe's MVP award is fantastic. It makes his coming defeat at the hands of the Jazz all the more perfect. Nothing will be sweeter than to watch the hopes and confidence of Faker fans everywhere rise to astronomical heights before tip off this evening... and then crash into a trash heap of historical proportions as Kobe and his team get destroyed over the rest of the series. The total disintegration of the Faker franchise under the weight of their bandwagon fans' recriminations and pain... courtesy of the Jazz.. is close at hand.

Here's a post from the Jazz Blog

"racist comment, racist comment, expletive, expletive LA, religious fervent, insult, polygamous cheer, racist comment."

Heres an article on Kobe. Its a lil harsh but its from his hometown so that should be somewhat expected

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20080507_
John_Smallwood__MVP_Kobe_Bryant_has_bounced_
back_from_bleak_times.html

At last, another game!

I have a number of expectations:

Utah will still be very physical. I think they will continue to put pressure on the refs to officiate their rough play (which tends to be more acceptable to refs in the playoffs).

Utah will shoot better.

Utah will try harder to pound and work the ball inside.

Utah will be better prepared as they actually have time for 2 practices before the game.

Utah will be better rested and will try to outwork the Lakers (and will work harder because they are less tired)

The Lakers will get a similar amount of freethrows if not more.

Lamar and Gasol will adjust some to the physical play.

PJ will not allow Okur to go off like he did. 21 and 19 for that Euro softy is totally unacceptable.

The Lakers are going to be able to execute better since the slight rust has been polished off.

We're gonna have to grind this out. If we execute a little better, we're very likely to win again.

Go Lakers!

Charles,

"Here's a post from the Jazz Blog

'racist comment, racist comment, expletive, expletive LA, religious fervent, insult, polygamous cheer, racist comment.'"

That's pretty funny man.

I just read the K bros, AK, I think account of the press conf, the david friedman account, and the plaschke account. The first one was interesting and made me think, the plaschke one made me wonder how every single event in the world can be so related to bill plaschke, and the friedman one gave me a warm tingly feeling inside that I haven't had reading an article about the lakers since about 2003.

good one, charles. Are there any Laker blog posters that waste there time posting on the jazz blog? why?

jazz posters, do you spend your time "thinking" and I use the word loosely, about comments to make in hope that eventually the jazz will beat the lakers and you can feel good about telling all us idiots that it was going to happen? if that's the best you can hope for, how is it worth it compared to the rather significant chance that the lakers will kick the utahans back to salt lake and you will look like an idiot if anyone notices you at all?

frankly, i guess i don't care either way. sorry. just a silly thought.

a lot of people are expecting Kobe to score bucket-loads in celebration of his MVP, but I believe the opposite is even more likely. He'll display his supreme team-building skills by guiding a 20,20,20 assault from the Super 3, efficiently putting the Jazz away by the 3rd quarter. With enough luck we may even get to see the Coby tonight.

Pig -- I spotted one!!

One thought on the Spurs -- It seems to me that the Spurs
don't handle adversity too well. If you look at the titles they
won, they really didn't have to dig themselves out of huge holes.
They have never had to execute a double digit comeback in a
game seven, like the Lakers in 2000. Sure they have a killer instinct
once they are ahead, but if you look at it historically, the few times
they were faced with adversity they have folded. In 2001 the Lakers
swept them after going up 2-0. In 2002 they folded in 5 games. In 2004,
They folded in game 6 after 0.4 game. I would be surprised if the
Spurs could now force a game 6 or 7.

Charles - that was funny! How sad for them - poor little trolls - don't really understand how the real world works. Let's have pity on them, shall we?

BK (or anyone),

Any word on Andrew yet?

GO LAKERS!!!

I got a weird feeling about tonight. This entire MVP thing, although freakin awesome for Kobe I was so happy almost in tears when I saw the press conference, the team focus seems a bit shifted. That focus and killer mentality is a little down because of all the happy stuff going on.

When Utah sees the trophy ceremony at the beginning they will be more motivated to spoil the Lakers happy time.

So the Lakers need to sustain the 1st quarter surge Utah will try to make so they realize whats at hand and execute.

They are a phsyical team..if the refs are on their game, that amount of physicality will lead to fouls. Only Detroit in my recollection has been able to skate through with their physicality/aggressiveness.

Go Lakesrs!

Good Stuff BK

I for one have no doubt the Lakers will win tonight.

Also, while we're all waiting for a beatdown of the Jazz, have any of you seen Kobe's speech?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2474302918_077f8fb13e_o.jpg

Click at your own risk, Don't blame ME if you're offended by it :D

phred, Benjamin, justanothabrotha,

I actually never made it to the blog. Just adding some fun to our beloved blog...

Have a great evening brothers....

On Game 2

Utah will play a physical game, Gasol, LO and Kobe will be severely punished today.

Lakers will stick with the game plan of triangle offense in penetrating the Jazz defense.

Stay on course, the team that loses his head and deviates from their plan and may lose the ball game.

Coach Sloan will throw everything to stop the Lakers tonight, let's see how the $12M Coach will handle the pressure.

Eye on the prize, the road to Championship is to remove the obstacle in Round 2 Game 2, take away the Utah Jazz.

PS. Mamba24 has spoken, it's your turn, JWW.

Who am I doing an impression of?

"It was the best of times"

"It was the worst of times"

"The new MVP sat thinking about his award"

"In the corner, his teammates pondered their roles"

"In the other corner, a mouse found some cheese"

"Behind door #2, a brand new car"

Did anyone for a minute there think...

What is Kobe going to do with a KIA?

A KIA???

haha. It's nice of him to donate it to the boys and girls club.

typical Lakers fan post:

"We swept one series and one a game in the second round against a team we won three more games than in the regular season. Since we obviously have this years championship wrapped up, after we win the next [insert number between 3 and 10 here] championships in a row, do you think they will still make us play in the playoffs, or just give us the championship at the beginning of the season?

P.S. why do they make teams actually play each other in the playoffs instead of just giving it to the team with the most jersey sales? I still don't understand."

I must admit, I was worried about a let down game here because we've been winning so much, and we had that tendency at times during the regular season. But having seen the MVP press conference, I'm completely confident that Kobe will play with insane abandon and his team will back him up 100%. No one's going to let this one get away. It's would simply be unthinkable for it to be allowed.

"stock" is right. This would be a crushing defeat. He's also dead wrong. Because no one on his team has the testicular fortitude to come into our building and take something that we want this bad. (That may sound like more of an insult that it is intended to be. I mean, largely, that Utah doesn't have a Jordan or even a Reggie miller - a killer who loves to go into the opponents building and rip their heart out and step on it. They have a lot of talented competitive guys who would love to win this game and play spoiler, but there's a difference.)

At any rate, I feel plenty confident that we can get the W here.

I am very happy to see Kobe so happy. He's two weeks younger than me, and as you can imagine, I have followed the course of his following of our mutual dream of starring for the Lakers with special interest, attention, and to a certain extent affection above what I hold for my other sports heroes. I have been at turns thrilled, shocked, confused and overjoyed by all of the success, drama, adversity and chaos that have characterized his career in a field I can only, still, and however naively see as a dream come true.

It is a great testament to his character as an athlete that his fans can be and are 100% confident that the the success, the recognition, the flattery, and the awards, as well as the pressure, adversity, injuries and lingering question marks will do nothing but cause him to perform at a higher level. It is this characteristic, this confidence that I can hold as a fan, entirely irregardless of whatever off the court issues he may have had or immaturities he may had displayed, that makes me fully give him the respect and admiration due only the greatest of figures in the world of sports.

GO LAKERS!

Short Obsevation on this blog:

On this thread, I don't see the chin of BK and the forehead of AK. It is hard to read when we don't see our inspirations. lol!

it's clobberin' time.......

Charles,

"I actually never made it to the blog. Just adding some fun to our beloved blog..."

Haha, even better. I did have my suspicions. It was just too perfect.

Oh, no way we get outrebouded as badly today either. No frickin way!

Bynumite,

OMG, that was funny. I love it.

Tully Moxness-

Bob Barker?

Wound the Troll.

Starve the Troll.

GO LAKERS!

Just a pre-tip-off observation, carried over from game one:

Boozer's entire game depends on push-offs, fend-offs, and various other forms of MMA. And while an all-star, capable of shoving Lamar in the back or clearing out the long arm of Pau with the off arm, one Laker cat that has no fear of him whatsoever is...

...the MVP. A couple of times last game KB came to the ball in the wing position in the triangle, with Boozer forced to step out and cover. And #24 dribbled around him and layed up the ball like I do against my 9-year-old nephew. Or like a Roman Legion working over a few Phoenecians. Take your pick. Doesn't mean the Jazz got-no-shot, but that Broozer's impact is going to be limited. Lamar is just as quick, gets up just as well, but is soooo much longer - and in the 4th, the tall dude is still tall. The way I see it, the only way the Jazz win the whole thing is if Williams pulls a "Troy Hudson" series out of his $%@, which won't happen in Sloan's do-it-my-way-or-die system.

AK/BK,

You are right about the Lakers having developed the Spurs attribute of being able to play a team evenly and then take it up a notch and create a 10 -12 point lead changing the completion of the game. The only thing to tighten up in that context is that when they get a big lead, they then play with less dispassionate mechanical precision than the Spurs. As in game one, the 19 point lead can crumble.

But that is why we love them and not the Spurs. They are not collectively "the machine." They are human and artists who play with fluidity and emotion. Still, I'd like them to play smart when they have a lead and extend it.

They know what I have just posted. As Kobe says, they are a high IQ b-ball team. That is why tonight I predict a blowout. The Lakers will, at some point, have more than a 19 point lead. That goes doubly if the referees call fouls.

GOOOOOoooooOOOOO LAKERS!!!!!

stock,
Just curious, does your name come from the thin soup, from what farm animals are called, or from periodically replenishing the shelves in a store? I'm guessing the farm animals, because I know that farming is big in Utah, but it's always interesting to hear where posters get their names.

I still think this is gonna resemble a WWE pay-per-view event. Go Lakers!

hey, and I'm not talking to anyone in particular, and I've been saying it all year. I know we might not win. There isn't a basketball team in history (except one of those LaSalle HS ones) that has won every game. That's what makes it so much fun when we do. And that's what I'm having right now. Fun. And in the words of the not so immortal John Lennon, I don't think I'm the only one.

WOOHOO

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LOVE.

Stock -
Props to standing by your squad. I hope you man up tomorrow when you're down 0-2.

Regardless, come June your squad will have the exact # of championships they're destined to have forever.

Now, I gotta be out and watch your squad play it's usual, uninspired road game in person. I'll be the dude in the Laker gear chanting MVP.

Repost at tail of another thread

JustaLakerFan,
So Jim Buss hit a home run with Bynum. If he were a scout, "I'd say great, you did a hell of a job." He's not a scout, he's part of Lakers management.
He's acted like a tyrant and pissed off a lot of people. He's forced Kupchak to work with an arm tied behind his back, but still Mitch had to take all credit for any failings.
Read more and maybe you'll have serious doubts about Jim Buss. By all accounts I've heard, he's an insufferable, arrogant fool.
Posted by: Benjamin | May 07, 2008 at 01:48 AM
Benjamin
The only comments I have read come from supposed posters who think they have inside information. Show me the comments from insiders or accounts you heard who have said what you just did.
Jim Buss is not a scout but he is the owners son and heir apparent to the ownership leadership. I'd say that gives him a lot of say.
Jerry Buss (owner) gave him props for his good work so thank Jerry for recognizing the work his son has done instead of calling Jim an insufferable arrogant fool.
and Mitch got blamed by posters not management as Jerry Buss suppoerted Mitch 100%. Get your facts right.
Posted by: JustaLakerFan | May 07, 2008 at 05:27 PM

Another REPOST that I had to make sure got read

JustaLakerFan,
PJ "refused" to play Bynum? A 17 year old, with approx two years total of high school basketball experience because of injuries, and PJ "refused" to play him? No, it couldn't possibly be that Bynum wasn't ready yet. And there is no history of careers being ruined by young players being pushed too far too fast.
Posted by: exhelodrvr | May 07, 2008 at 08:21 AM
Ex,
I guess you forgot about the flip side to rookies who contributed from the start. Magic, Karreem, CP, etc. Oh don't forget Kobe shot airballs and boy did that ever ruin his career!
But to be more specific I was referring to the Suns series during Bynums 2nd year. Go back and see the games where Bynum was getting double teams but PJ refuse to exploit that with another player left alone. He would pull AB even though he was getting Suns attention.
I have also posted videos were PJ tore up Bynums confidence by makiking him cry for something insignificant and making fun of him for the way he complained about foul. Just because AB did not yell at Bet but tried to be diplomatic he gets made fun of.
So before you deify PJ look how he has abused players including AB, Horace Grant, and Vlade.
Posted by: JustaLakerFan | May 07, 2008 at 05:38 PM

AK/Bk - what's up guys? Over an hour before an update? Oh - I know - you must be polishing up Kobe's trophy for tonight's presentation.....OK - all is forgiven! LOL!

Lakers better come out with an A+ game.

whatever happened to steven "the truth"? has he come back to blog since kobe won MVP?

Lets win this one! And the next one, and the next one... and the next one after that til we get the championship!

justanothermambafan-

Sorry. Can't update and drive. Cops don't like it! (haha)

BK

ouch!

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/l
akers/la-sp-lakerep8-2008may08,0,1253430.story

Kind of off topic, but what the hell. It's all Kobe-all the time in Lakerland nowadays, so sue me.

There one more award that Kobe Bryant deserves to win:

NBA's Best Dressed.

I'm an older guy who appreciates the lost art of dressing well. Perhaps because of Kobe's exposure to Italian culture and fashion, that dude really knows how to appreciate fine clothing. His suits are always impeccably tailored, always with that special Italian or European flair that makes him look like he just stepped off the pages of GQ. Look at the nice black suit he wearing to Staples tonight, with a black shirt and yellow tie. And it's not about how much money he can spend on his wardrobe. There are many people with lots of money who don't have a clue how to dress themselves, and they can manage to look like a New York pimp despite spending a small fortune on their wardrobes, especially among pro athletes, who usually have more money than taste.

Prime example that comes to mind? Shaq, except he dresses like an Alabama pimp. Apologies to our Alabama Laker fans out there.

I hope I don't sound like that guy on Queer Eye for a Straight Guy.

Almost game time...

Its going to be so cool to watch Kobe accept the trophy infront of Staples. Im expecting a MVP game out of Kobe followed by solid performances by Lamar, Luke, and hopefully Farmar. I just don't see Gasol having a great game tonight, hopefully I'm wrong.

GO LAKERS

JustaLakerFan,

Reread my previous post and respond in a way indicating you comprehended it. Otherwise, I'm not going to reply to you. You completely missed almost all of my points.

MVP MVP MVP

go lakers

no cable here. is there any way to watch tonight's game online?

JustaLakerFan,
You're showing your lack of understanding by comparing Bynum to Jabbar, Paul, Johnson, and Bryant. As I pointed out, and you ignored, he only played about two years of high school ball. Jabbar had four years of college, Johnson had two years of college, Paul had at least one. Bryant had 4years of HS. Jabbar, Johnson, and Bryant are in the top 10 of all-time greats. Paul is headed that direction so far. Bynum - appears to be pretty good, but too soon to tell for sure. AND ONLY TWO YEARS OF HS BALL. And bigs tend to develop much more slowly. PAY ATTENTION!!

JustaLakerFan,
You're showing your lack of understanding by comparing Bynum to Jabbar, Paul, Johnson, and Bryant. As I pointed out, and you ignored, he only played about two years of high school ball. Jabbar had four years of college, Johnson had two years of college, Paul had at least one. Bryant had 4years of HS. Jabbar, Johnson, and Bryant are in the top 10 of all-time greats. Paul is headed that direction so far. Bynum - appears to be pretty good, but too soon to tell for sure. AND ONLY TWO YEARS OF HS BALL. And bigs tend to develop much more slowly. PAY ATTENTION!!

I would like to make a public acknowledgment in front of GOD and the Blog faithfuls and congratulate Kobe Bean Bryant for winning the ....... MauricePodoloffTrophy..........duh duh duh big deal so what i could win a Podoloff with both my hands tied behind my back.

Apology accepted TJSimers (as we do the Sith choke from a distance on him).