9-1 baby!!!!! BRing it on!!!!

Kobe looked at Luke at the end of game and said

........" I can't believe you ever started"

Don't get too excited hehe.

We still have Denver tomorrow and while it is only an hour flight from Phoenix back home to LA it still is a back to back game nevertheless.

At least we will have the home crowd. That's the only real advantage I suppose.

Great win tonight.

Pau again showed game. Sure he gained only four points but 9 ASSISTS?!

Inside out Game>Outside In.

And we won having Pau play mostly as our Center.

LOL!

-blitz

I guess BK's theory about the in and out game going through Gasol went up in smoke tonight............Did Gasol make any post moves tonight?

Boy, the Lakers don't do well against physical teams like the Suns, do they?

Dear Butler,

Don't take it personal...Destiny calls.

Love, The Banner Holder

At least we don't have Mike T for at least another nite

Where is BUTLER??? Crying back in desert?

Where is Butler? Does anyone of you here know the address of Butler? I will send him flowers with sympathy card. LOL!

Fatty,

>>>>>Thank God for percaset and muscle relaxers.

>>>>>A little bit of Laker Tom's stuff wouldn't hurt either.
>>>>>But that is still illegal in Az and I think it carries the
>>>>>Death sentence if caught?

I have never really gotten into pain , prescription or otherwise, but I also once had an “outpatient procedure” that involved a lot of pain and was given Percocet for the first time. Now that stuff was as good as the best stuff I ever smoked. So good in fact that it scared me away from ever wanting to use the stuff. LOL. I would imagine a Lakers game on Percocet might be really enjoyable – especially one where you soundly beat the locals.

Tom

folks, that was domination. Phoenix was on the Lakers' hip all night.

Pau didn't score much, but he had a good night. Andrew would've had a good night, but he fell for Shaq's fakes to many times. he'll learn.

TinidorS,

I actually think defensively Drew had a great game. Going against a guy who is still bigger then him and he made Shaq really struggle at first.

Offensively again though he had to get good passes from Kobe, Lamar, Pau, Jordan, etc. to really be effective. I didn't expect much from him when Shaq was on him, after all even in his last season David Robinson was able to guard centers really well so it's not out of the question for Shaq to do a similar thing. But when Drew went against Stoudemire in the 4th I was kinda disappointed instead of banging his way inside he merely again settled for those hooks instead of dunks.

But heck Drew is here for good defense and score when given the opportunity (as long as he is aggressive). Plus that jumper he hit in Shaq's face was really nice.

I think Drew had a good game.

-blitz

Charles,

>>>>>We need to run the Pick and Roll for Drew to get jump started!

Great point, Charles. You are absolutely correct. Thanks for bringing it up. Especially with Shaq guarding Drew. We all know that that is a major weakness of Shaq’s. Wonder if any of the so-called pundits and journalists will get that on their own before reading it on the blog. I bet one of those idiots will plagiarize you to portray his inside scoop on the game. LOL. We may have been the only team NOT to run the pick and roll against Shaq.

Tom

It's really fun chatting with y'all on the live chat ... even Pfunk, with his "Fire PJ" bandwagon of one!

Let's all celebrate for the win, that game was dedicated for Fatty.

Yes Fatty, we care for your early recovery, as Charles was asking in the other thread what kind of surgery did you have? You mentioned good for 15 minutes, lots of preps and was unconscious afterwards but could use the keyboard.

Did you have a circumcision?

Good game.

It's only November but come April the Suns will just be older.

1. Great win.
2. Don't know why, but I was actually worried going into the game.
3. Great job using defense and their brains to win this game.
4. Nash had back spasms. Too bad, I actually enjoy watching him dribble like he's in a holding pattern.
5. Too much kamikaze play by Kobe in the first quarter, but then he started driving to the hoop.
6. That double crossover by Kobe was sick.
7. Quick glance at the box score-Did not like that the only 2 starters with FTA were the guards. Were Bynum and Gasol scared of going through Shaq and Stat? Or were we just playing good, smart basketball?
8. Nice to see Shaq mending those fences. Life's too short to be bitter.
9. Can't believe the Lakers made it look this easy.
10. The Suns are discombobulated. They've been openly grumbling. The guards want more shots, the bigs want more touches.
11. Let's savor this until tomorrow night. 9-1!!!!!

:)

9-1.

What do we play for? RINGS!!!!

Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.

GO LAKERS!

Mel,

1) It was Barnes that had back spasms not Nash.

2) Even though Pau and Drew didn't dominate, it was playing smart basketball. Against the Detroit Pistons, we played outside to outside basketball or outside to inside basketball which isn't really a recipe for success. Against the Suns when they tried to do the same thing to us, we played inside to outside basketball which invited double teams to the post and we kicked it out to good shooters. 9 assists from Pau Gasol speaks for itself.

and

3) Indeed. Porter uses a Shaq, Amare punch, way less from the Nash Stoudemire combo of 7 seconds or less. Just like Sir Charles Barkley said, sure the Suns are talented but outside of Amare and Shaq, most of their guys are shooters who want the ball. D'Antoni's offense gave them the opportunity to play to their strengths. Now emphasis is on post which guys aren't really happy with.

-blitz

"I guess BK's theory about the in and out game going through Gasol went up in smoke tonight............Did Gasol make any post moves tonight?"

pfunk-

No, it didn't. The point was that the Lakers are a much better team when they work from inside out. And if you were watching the game (in between trying to figure out how to blame the hard times at GM on Luke and PJ) it was very obvious that when the Lakers moved the ball and worked it inside, they were far more efficient and productive than when they hucked from distance and ignored the paint.

It doesn't matter if it's Pau (who did have nine dimes tonight, so it wasn't like he was just standing around scoping the crowd for women), LO, Bynum, Kobe, or someone else down low: When the Lakers operate inside-out, they are a far better team generating higher percentage shots from all over the floor.

BK

I'll give my report right now.

Right now, as I see it, the Suns can't beat the Lakers.

You see the Lakers are too high powered and the Suns aren't that good defensively. Although Shaq isn't the problem. Shaq can still ball.

But the Suns, in theory, have the same philosophy as the Pistons and Celtics.

They have a huge center and a scoring PF.

Now if you notice the losses to the Piston and Celtics you should see one thing very clearly. Both teams dismantled the Lakers.

The Suns, even if they had won the game tonight...I don't think they could be the Lakers in a 7 games series. Why? Because the Suns weren't able to dismantle the Lakers. They, at best, were trading baskets.

I'll say it again. The Pistons and the Celtics "dismantle" the Lakers and that's why they beat them. They don't trade baskets with the Lakers. They demoralize the Lakers.

Now the reason why the Pistons can't beat the Celtics is because they play the same style of ball. But when the Pistons coach takes out Kwame and puts in Maxiell and the rest of the short line-up the Pistons get killed in the lane. When Kwame went of the game tonight the Pistons were up by 3 points 19-16 with a 2 and a half minutes left in the quarter.

When Kwame came back in the game the Celtics were up by 12 points 39-27. That's a 15 point difference. When the half ended the Pistons shaved 3 points off that lead. The score was 49-40.

In other words the Pistons outscored the Celtics 13-10 in the 5 mintues Kwame played to end the half. That's 3 points up in his first rotation. And 3 points up in his second rotation.

Now when the 2nd half started the Celtics outscored the Pistons by 4 points by the time Kwame was pulled from the game halfway through the 3rd quarter. Kwame finished with a plus 2 differential.

The Pistons got out scored by another 6 points to end the quarter and trailed by 20 to end the half.

Game over!

It plain, to me, to see that Kwame clogs the middle pretty good. When he's in there teams don't attack the rim at will. Does that mean the Pistons should beat everyone with Kwame in the game most of the time? No! It means the games should be close when he's in there against good teams. But when the Pistons try to go small with Maxiell or go thin with Amir Johnson...they get killed in the lane by good teams. Maxiell is too short and Johnson is too thin.

They both play with energy and it looks like they're good and exciting ball players. But when they are in the game against good teams, the rim is exposed. Not against Cleveland because their center is too slow-footed. They can expoit the Cavs. But they can't do that to the Celtics because the Celtics are a better defensive team than the Pistons.

Once the Pistons, against the Celtics, go away from the big line-up...they get killed by the Celtics.

Now what does that mean for the Lakers?

It means there are two teams that can beat them. The Pistons and the Celtics play the pefect ball to beat the Lakers. They have the right personal.

Wallace of Detroit could never play center for them with McDyess at the 4 spot and beat this Lakers team. Bynum's arms are too long for Wallace to deal with. Plus Wallace, as good as he is, is too thin in the azz to clog the lane. McDyess is too short to deal with Gasol. They only beat the Lakers if Brown holds Bynum and Wallace gets Gasol.

And when either Bynum or Gasol is out of the game and one is still in Kwame can still hold the other and the middle is still clogged.

Well, once the Pistons set the tone for the game then Maxiell and McDyess can come in and do damage.

The same goes for the Celtics. They have the right personal to deal with the Lakers.

But what's more is that the Lakers are a mixed team. They say they're a defensive team. But they're truely not...not against a real defensive team.

Amare is a defensive liability. And Steve Nash seems to be like a fish out of water when he's not playing small ball.

The Suns are flawed.

It looks like the Pistons might get better with McDyess and they might have a chance to beat the Celtics. But if for some reason the Celtics stumble...the Pistons can still beat the Lakers.

Again, the Lakers philosophy of ball plays perfectly into the Celtics and Pistons defensive philosophy and personal.

The Lakers aren't true defenders. Kwame is a true defender. Perkins is a true defender. They both weigh like 270-275.

Bynum and Gasol aren't true defenders. They're scorers. They can get away with their version of defense against the rest of the league and have their scoring abilities push them over the top in beating teams. But not against the Celtics and Pistons. Why?

Kwame pushes Bynum out of defensive position and Bynum is ineffective defensively against the Pistons.

Same goes with Perkins and the Celtics.

Kwame pushes Bynum out of offensive position and Bynum is ineffective offensively against the Pistons.

Same goes with Perkins and the Celtics.

I think the Lakers beat the Cavs.

Here's how to tell. Just like the Suns....if the Cavs don't dismantle the Lakers....the Lakers win with too much fire power.

The only way the Lakers lose is when they face a team that has the ability to dismantle them. And that's something the Pistons and Celtics can do right now.

The Pistons and Celtics don't have to dismantle any other teams in the league. But the Lakers are perfectly suited to be dismantled by both the Celtics and Pistons.

That's my opinion.

mike t.

"And if you were watching the game (in between trying to figure out how to blame the hard times at GM on Luke and PJ) it was very obvious that when the Lakers moved the ball and worked it inside, they were far more efficient and productive than when they hucked from distance and ignored the paint. "

Obvious? What do you know about OBVIOUS? The guy who defended Walton, Mihm and still protect PJ despite their OBVIOUS flaws. Gee...you have some nerve using that word.

mike t.

blitz,

The espn recap mentioned Nash. But if Barnes has back spasms, too? "Ow, my aching back!"

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=281120021

bk,

C'mon. Pau wouldn't be scoping out women in Phoenix. Only A-rod digs older chicks.

I disagree with the thought that Drew has to be an offensive threat in order for us to be successful as a team.

This team is more loaded offensively than practically any other team in NBA history. We've got 2 dudes who have historically dropped 20 points a night on a fairly regular basis (LO and Pau), 1 dude who can go off for 50 on any given night (Kobe), and a lot of roleplayers who regularly contribute double-figure scoring (Fish, Vlad, Farmar, Ariza, Sasha). We are FINE on scoring. What is separating this team from last year's team is our defensive intensity and our strength on the glass. Drew has had a tremendous impact on both of those things, and the whole team is clicking as a result.

Who the hell cares if Mike T. whines that Drew's getting his points off putbacks and lobs? We've got the best record in the NBA and we're not playing our best ball yet.

I agree. People should not be excited. We play Denver today. We all know how we got lit up by Iverson last week. Let's watch out for Billups.