Bye bye Dallas. You've been out-maverick'ed

39 points in the 2ND HALF!!

Good win especially on the road.

The Mavericks went on a cold spell the 2nd half. Their mistakes combined with our defense won it!

And our offensive finally................finally took advantage of the Mavericks mistake.

Will be tougher tomorrow but lets carry this momentum.

-blitz

For those wondering why Walton was inserted?

My theory is that Radman was playing ice cold so he inserted Walton to keep Trevor when he needed to be in.

That was the right timing with the minute men and Trevor looks to be part of the 5 who will close out games. Really good too because with Kobe at SF and Sasha at SG last year our defense was more exposed (Kobe has to handle more defensively at SF and Sasha while intense isn't the shut down defender).

Trevor keeps Kobe from SF and allows Kobe to guard more perimeter players than tougher SF. Nice *role* playing which I just love.

-blitz

Damnit,

Jason Kidd freaking got a triple double. Bad news for fantasy.

New Orleans will be tougher and we will have to close down the favorite passing targets of CP3 to win.

Have to work on 1st half defense I suppose. It's not okay if Erick Dampier got a double double against.

Plus we have Mr. Posey Sucks to guard Kobe which doesn't bode well for us. Let's hope the short flight from Dallas to New Orleans gives enough rest for the Lakers.

AIM FOR 2-0!

-blitz

Gerald Greene looks like he could easily be a Jason Richardson-type scorer. Dallas should have played him more tonight.

But this win is a wow. Just wow. They held the Dallas Mavericks to 39 points in the second half. That is just nuts.

So this is what a Kobe Bryant-led team looks like. Nice.

I am really disappointed right now. There goes our point differential.

When was the moment where Phil went, "Screw this zone defense, MAN TO MAN!"

It is pretty clear that to beat Dallas, you have to pressure them, and not give them any room to dish around the court. That's why they're bad, and why they were pretty good (along with some hot hands, of course) at certain points tonight -- zone give them too much room.

As for Lakers, man alive, do they have problems shooting the outside shot tonight? Oh well, it's a win anyway.

This team still has a lot of growth to do. But for one night, I think we grew leaps and bounds.

We learned that we can't always overpower the opposition. That rebounds count for a lot. That we got heart to win.

Now we have to rest up and come at it again tomorrow. Hopefully with a different beginning, same ending, same result lol.

Kobe had a great interview over on NBATV just now.

I don't know when NBATV went big time (used to be Rich Kamla or David Aldridge's brother) but Kobe was interviewed by Ahmad Rashad, Gary Payton, and Chris Webber.

Gary was fawning all over Kobe as an incredulous Webber said that Payton had just picked New Orleans to win. But Payton kept on saying that he was most proud of Kobe because he lets the game come to him now, and that now that Kobe has that mentality, Payton believes that Kobe will win a championship.

I don't know if Rashad, Payton, and Webber are going to be regulars in the studio, but if they are, they have a certain magic chemistry that could rival TNT's crew. I really liked the banter going on between Payton and Webber, and they definitely held my attention in talking to Kobe.

TREVOR - FREAKING - ARIZA

enuff said.

Treavor STEALTH Ariza

enuff said

Today, it's funny - I was telling my friend before the game how much I loved Ariza and how I felt that he was the X factor for the Lakers this year and BOOM

my MAN lit up the defense..

GOD I LOVE THIS MAN~!!!

GO LAKERS!!!

what a great win... Lots of heart!!

2nd team rocked...again!!!

Ariza... 6th man of the year!!!

special mention to Mr. Ariza. just pure effort out there today. give the man the game ball.

i know a lot of you may be disappointed because it wasn't a blow out but it's these kinds of games that they have to grind out that builds that can't lose, won't lose mentality.

mad props to the squad.

all heart, all marbles, man.

Bulletin Board Material:

At 6' 6", a few rebounds might serve useful, but who's counting? For sheer quotability, Fernandez is the class of the NBA's international field. Several weeks back, when asked by OregonLive.com's Sean Meagher whom in the NBA he most looked forward to playing against, Fernandez replied:

"Pau. I've never played against him, only on the same team. I want to put points on your face."

Just listened to PJs post-game comments. He talked about how Dallas really made the Lakers pay for the mistakes they made on offense. He also said tonight was one of those games that was a learning experience (esp for Drew getting out-played on the boards by Dampier) even though they managed to escape with a win. Lastly, he talked about how, the last time they had this much depth, it was on the 99-00 team which is a nice comparison when the team is looking to start a new run of Championships.

Ok this is seriously annoying.... scince the start of the season I have posted 4 blog 2 of which got to stay. Tonight my blog once again was posted then dissapeared. I have made sure to sign my name and everything...... that is going on??????

I often do not agree with Rosen on anything but lol @ this:

"Luke Walton only played for three minutes, but managed to embarrass himself on both ends of the court. His defense was pitiful and he beat the ball to death on his very first touch. No wonder he's been relegated to the end of the bench."

http://tinyurl.com/64klwx

I am in no way blaming Luke for this game. After all he was put in a no-win situation at that point. But thought it telling.

Hi Simi-

After a bit of deliberation, we decided to block the second post b/c of the political stuff. Harmless, yes, but we're trying to keep all that to a minimum.

And, of course, since it was a repost, we had to yank the original.

Sorry for that. But like I said, we're trying to honor the political ban.

Thanks.

BK

congrats to the lakers for pulling out this gritty win. didn't get to see it on tv, but was keeping an eye on the score on espn.

looking forward to the game against Hornets.

as for the point differential, i'm sure LA will beat the hell out of many a lessor (Eastern Conference) opponents, and will pad that differential back up, lol!

That was the best game yet. They had to dig deep ino their grizzled souls to find those last 8 minutes of hustle on D.

Phil is using his rotations nicely, I'll wager Luke would take Vlad's spot if he continues to space out and build a moon colony. He had a great 1st 3 games, a mediocre game 4 and has been pretty lost since. I like Ariza off the bench, starting would be one step too far. At least right now.

Hopefully Bynum watches some film on Chandler, because he seemed very un-prpeared for Dalembert, who he has played well against in the past. Not to sure why he has gone to a 8 fott jumper as opposed to his better low post game. No jump hooks, no up and unders or drop steps. Mostly alley-oops and mid-ranger jump shots. Strange. Unless he's trying to establish a mid-range game. I'm all for it, but I'd rather he take a pitchers poitn of view: Work on it in practice and make the opponenet beat you with your best pitch or in this case shot.

Kobe is amazing.

Who said Gasol was soft?

Fish might want to shoot a little less. Just for a quater or two, but we'll need him to be aggresive in the 4th tomorrow.

Lamar is playing with fire and brimming with passion. But he needs to channel that better. Folks have said he looks uninvolved, I think he looks maniacally obsessed to get ahold of that ball sometimes. Between him and Ariza, they are like Wu-Tang rebounders.

Tmorrow is another war.

I"'m not saying that Robinson didn't change his game. I'm
saying your "mostly for defense" is wrong by any
rational standard."

For that part, didn't I say Robinson was still the 2nd option until Manu and TP comes? That by no means is saying that Robinson was the same production as Bowen or Ben Wallace. Who in their minds would think that Bowen or Wallace are 2nd options? Robinson changed his game more towards defense because Duncan was the 1st option. Was he still a scoring threat? Absolutely. That doesn't mean he wasn't in the same caliber as Bowen and Wallace.

"I did say that he's shooting well
enough to space the floor."

Again PJ's quote:

"It's (Ariza's jump shot) not enough to spread the floor. It is enough though to keep opponents honest".

If you still think it is enough to spread the floor that is fine. PJ has said otherwise though. Here's a question though: If Trevor's jump shot is enough to spread the floor (not saying he is good as Radman) wouldn't have Trevor already started instead of Radman?

"Your first question implies that there is a difference
b/n being a starter vs. being a role player. I think that is a
bad distinction. I see Vlad as being a role player
and he starts. However, we're going about this
backwards. Please define role player? "

I will admit that I mixed up my words and for that I apologize. But to answer your question Hobbit, the idea of a role player is to make the floor easier for the player(s) the team has build up around. For the Lakers, PJ had role players like Radman and Derek to open up the floor enough to discourage less help defense coming against Kobe should he penetrate or Pau/Drew when they are posting up. Trevor has a role to be a defender off the bench. Sasha has a role to be a shooter off the bench and spread the floor so teams don't clog the lanes to prevent Trevor's slashing or Jordan's penetration. That is what a role player is. The main options of the team (Kobe, MJ, LBJ, Shaq) is what makes the team and role players (Derek, Sasha, Jordan, Trevor) is what helps those go to guys out. That is what a role player is and depending on what position/style the go to guy is, determines how much minutes they should get with those guys. Might be difficult to read but I think you get point.

"It seems to me that I have been consistently saying that Lamar was the 2nd best PF on the team to Pau. The desire to not have lamar in the starting 5 was specifically to have him stay at the PF where he's done his best work."

Like I said in the past: PF is where Lamar gets more rebounds and scoring. We have both said it is about *defense* no? SF Lamar isn't as good offensively and might not have gotten as much rebounds as he did at PF but I have shown that Lamar did have much better stats defensively at the SF. Last year Dirk averaged 30 points on more than 50% shooting and that was against Lamar Odom. Lamar may be quick but he is not strong enough to handle the more muscular power forwards. At SF he is strong enough to handle most (not all) SF. He is now at 6th man since PJ still has Derek running the point and Pau is way better than Lamar at PF. It has benefited both Lamar and the Lakers team since we got a rebounder off the bench. But he is not a great defender at PF.

About Paxson and Armstrong:

Hobbit, allow me to say this please :): Simply you have to see the Bulls and the way they were constructed. Before PJ came who was the starting PG? Sam Vincent. A classic dish and drive guard. John Paxson came into the starting lineup as a SG when MJ moved to PG. When PJ came he put Pippen at Point Forward, Jordan back to Shooting Guard, and John Paxson to PG. Paxson had PG height (6'2") but he was not a classic dish and drive point. (That's why I have compared him to Derek Fisher). Plus he was too short to play against most SG (which is why I was still amazed at how good defense Joe Dumars played at 6'3"). BJ Armstrong was the classic dish and drive guard but because he was not a shooter that Paxson was. Thus he was relegated to the bench and performed well there. BJ Armstrong was the better guard overall guard, remember he was the one who managed to get an All Star selection in 1994 when MJ was playing Baseball. Why his stats were at most comparable to Paxson's are simple: he came off the bench. He would replace Paxson just as much Craig Hodges would replace Jordan when they both went to the bench. Still don't get me? Then why did Armstrong average 15 ppg in the year Jordan was playing baseball and 14.2 when MJ returned? Since Jordan wasn't there to penetrate, Armstrong was allowed to play his game up to his strengths with penetration. Pete Myers was there to be a shooter and Pippen still took care of point guard roles from time to time and also became the main option. When MJ returned the Bulls let Armstrong go in the expansion draft even though he was averaging 14ppg and was a very good guard too.

In other words, Paxson started because he was the perfect complement to Jordan's penetration and be the outside shooter that was needed in the Triangle Offense. Paxson was the better player for the triangle offense than BJ Armstrong was had he played with Jordan. That does not mean outside of the triangle offense Paxson is better than Armstrong.

Same story with Jordan and Derek I might add. Personally outside the triangle Jordan is going to be way better than Derek in his prime. Being with Kobe in the triangle though, Derek is the better complement than Jordan is. Just like Derek was a better player for the triangle offense than Gary Payton was.

Re: Robinson's DPY. Again you mis read me. I have said that David was the 2nd option. He was there for mainly defense but he could score good as well. I think this where our terminology gets between us. Robinson changed his game like we both agree for defense and he focused more on defense than he had in his best years. That does not mean though he gave up his offense all the way until Manu and TP arrived.

re: Trevor's numbers will go down though I hope they don't for the Lakers sake. But that doesn't mean his performance should change. I expect Trevor will continue to do a fantastic job at the role playing he has done so far and Dallas game shows he is a fantastic role player for the Lakers (defense and energy and hustle).

re: If PJ's saying "It's not enough to spread the floor" doesn't speak for itself.......oh well.

re: The point was that you were saying "start your best players". I'm sorry this had to degenerate again over "who should start" but that was the point. It isn't always about having your best overall players start. It is having the *right* players for the right combination of people. Trevor is without a doubt a better defender and energy player than Radman is. But Radman's role in shooting is what makes him more perfect for the starting 5 than Trevor is. The way that you were sounding made it seem that Trevor is good enough to spread the floor like Radman could. Is it serviceable? I concur but not to the point where it could really force opponents to not only respect his shot (which it has) but to fear it. Radman might not always shoot his 3 pointers well (that air ball was quite embarrassing) but teams knows he is a good 3 point shooter and they will try to cover him up more than they would do against Trevor (teams look for his penetration rather than his jumper). That was the whole point to your question.

Understand now?

-blitz

Hmm EJK,

Jackson Journal? LOL Mike T. stuff there.

Faith and Lakers_sth,

After turning the ball over and not going back into transition fast enough our defense really did great. Sure there will be teams who will make 3 pointers at us at times, it happens. But the Mavs made only 6-22 Three pointers. Most of them came at the 1st quarter when we kept on turning the ball and were beaten in transition. The next time the Mavs scored on a 3 pointer was in the 4th quarter! 16 3 pointers were missed by the Mavericks (1 beautifully blocked by Trevor). And look at the box score:

J-Kidd: 1-7

J Terry: 1-3

Dirk: 0-2

G. Green: 1-4

Stackhouse: 3-5

Wright: 0-1.

With the exception of Trevor's blocked shot all of the Mavs save for Stackhouse missed the majority of their 3 pointers. When we were able to set up our zone defense , our defense tightened and the Mavs didn't shoot well from 3 point territory as much. The Mavericks made 4 out of 6 three pointers in the 1st Quarter. Afterwards when we came back to better defense and defended transitions better the Mavs launched 16 three pointers and only made 2. A big difference when the zone defense is allowed to be set up instead of getting burned in transition.

-bltiz

THE BEST

Two men go in one man comes out is how the saying goes.
Well tonight, you just might be right, depends on what CP3 Shows.
They say he’s the one, who should have won, the MVP last year
And who is they, don’t look this way, I won’t shed not 1 tear.
CP3 is good as we knew he would, but good is not enough
When you play, The Mamba let’s say, Baby you better know your stuff
Some people say, And try to play, The MJ is the King of the Hill
From my view, Their sights askew, because Kobe fills that bill.
His determination, and their dedication, indeed may be the same
But not to put a hex, but even Tex, says the Mamba has a lil more game.
And then you know, it’s even so, When asked who’s the best he’s seen
Even 9Rings had to say, When both came to play, It would have to be Kobe Bean
And so tonight, Some folks just might, Compare Chris Paul to # 24
But as I’ve just said, don’t lose your head, take that weak #$#@ out the door

Vlade was the bad taste in the mouth for me. What a joke. I cringe every time I watch him. He does make a few good defensive moves per game and can light it up, but nothing with a consistency that merits him starting and staying on the floor. I always experience unbelief when Phil decides to leave him on the floor and NOT CALL A TO.

But on the good side, Trevor was amazing! We'll have our hands full with Boston but we can pull it out.

GO LAKERS!

I LOVE LA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!