Moving right along: Lakers 114, Mavs 107
The Dallas Mavericks came into Staples Center on Friday night riding a five-game win streak and heaps of confidence after a terrible start to the 2008-09 season. They shot the lights out early, pushed the ball up and down the floor, got their bench (particularly Jose Juan Barea) involved, used their point guards (particularly Jason Terry) effectively, and caused L.A. fits. Unfortunately for Dallas, despite all that they weren't able to pull away, and once the Lakers started rolling in the second half, the Mavs couldn't keep up. The result: A 114-107 win for the home team, running their record to a league-best 13-1. It was a combination of Kobe Bryant (23 of his 35 in the second half), Trevor Ariza, and defensive effort that triggered L.A.'s run, as they held the Mavericks without a field goal for more than six and a half minutes at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth. No surprise Ariza played a big role in the defensive stand.
And as the box score notes, they did it all without fouling -- the Lakers were whistled for a mere eight personals all night, keeping Dallas off the line and forcing them to make shots from the field. Want some more positive news to kick off your Saturday? Andrew Bynum was able to take the floor despite a loose bone spur in his right foot, and put in a solid effort. Chris Mihm, though, was sidelined after turning an ankle at practice Wednesday.
There's all sorts of fruit to pick from this link. Don't ignore the sidebar, either!
In other news:
- The Blazers and Grizzlies have been talking about a Travis Outlaw-Mike Conley swap.
- Amare Stoudamire isn't a fan of the new system in Phoenix.
- Stephon Marbury: Suspended!
- An interesting feature on Orlando's Mikael Pietrus.
- Chris Bosh lost time for warmups after being stuck in an elevator.
OK folks I will be keeping track of the blog on any unfair criticism or negative shots targeted towards my great name...."Jon K"." Watch my back soldier"......Thanks Luke Walton
Posted by: Luke Walton | November 29, 2008 at 09:09 AM
Happy Saturday to everyone!
The Lakers aren't even playing 100% from start to finish AND they still pull another out of the hat. What would this team look like if they are able to play perfect ball the whole game. SCARY!
GO LAKERS!!!
Posted by: Happy Gilmore | November 29, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Sorry, but last night's game was disappointing as usual. So the Lakes are playing one half of championship basketball these days - that's really great. Does anyone on this blog think that this team can beat the Celtics? I don't.
Posted by: Otis | November 29, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Or think about this: of the next 11 games in the Lakers' schedule, only 1 team (PHX) has a winning record.
Posted by: The Snake | November 29, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Taliq, Mamba24, KBBlitz - your opinion?
Posted by: Otis | November 29, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Just thought people might like seeing Kwame Brown's nice words about Chris Mihm in a profile from the Register's Kevin Ding. It's in reference to the 2006 starting job Kwame inherited after Mihm mangled his ankle.
“I hope the Lakers don’t forget about him because he was the guy,” Brown said. “He went out – but that’s the nature of the beast, that’s what injuries do. I’m just happy the Lakers gave him a second opportunity to nurse his injuries. I just pray for him to come back and play again.”
http://tinyurl.com/6acazf
I don't mention that to remind of Mihm's former status with the team, but rather reinforce what BK and I always said about Kwame being a really good dude. Say what you want about him on the court (and we've all said plenty), but he's among the nicer guys off it that you'll find in the league.
AK
Posted by: kambrothers | November 29, 2008 at 09:34 AM
morning Laker Nation. Enjoyed last night's game very much. Our Lakers sure can use today to get some rest.Yesterday was a good test and Mamba showed us fans why we are now 13-1. Enjoy your Saturday in the greatest city on earth Laker fans!
Posted by: LakerBandit | November 29, 2008 at 09:38 AM
Good Morning Charles....Good Morning Everyone.....
Good thing our team is good enough to essentially play about a quad or so of basketball and still kick some Cuban butt...
The question is....wait for it....will this team ever play a 48 minute game?.... and do they even need to?
They probably hold back so as not to break the 200 point barrier...
My daughter says Dirk Nowitzky never ever has his mouth in the closed (with lips together) position...and I have to heartily agree....that could be some kind of hazzard for migrating flies...
I think that Sasha's big brass testicles must be a contagious disorder, as now Ariza and Farmar are exhibiting symptoms of this malady (which in my opinion is a good thing indeed)....oh the humanity...
And now for something completely different.... I ate a hamburger last night and I can't get the smell off of my fingers---2 sessions with steel wool and Lava soap (with Pumus ! ) were ineffective seemingly...
No. 1.....The Larch...
AS ALWAYS, AS EVER, YET ANOTHER GREAT DAY (AND SEASON) TO BE A LAKER FAN !!!
GO LAKERS !!!
Posted by: Floyd | November 29, 2008 at 09:42 AM
Hey Floyd;
Are you Floyd the barber?
Posted by: Otis | November 29, 2008 at 09:51 AM
UTZ,
"It's time for Trevor to start. Our defensive presence will be established from jump street if he starts. Season is too precious to keep waiting till the 2nd half to kick the D into high gear. Someone's gonna catch us slippin before long. "
You are a smart man.
Posted by: Eric M. | November 29, 2008 at 09:57 AM
AK,
Whoever said Kwame wasn't nice?
The guy is a puppy he's so nice.
Did anyone else notice Lamar giving props to the reporter about TA's off season work? Was I the only one that found it, how shall I say, ironic?
And Otis,
I think Cleveland is the best team in the East. I don't think there will be a rematch in the finals because I think Cleveland is coming back to the finals.
But, hypothetically speaking.... the Lakers came really close to beating the Celts (game 4 meltdown, a few misteps in gm 1, gm 2)... now add in their ability to at least play defense and add in TA's improvement and the addition of Bynum and I think the scale is weighted to the Lakers side.
But I'll again say, it's a matter of beating Cleveland. They're my front runners.
Posted by: Tim-4-Show | November 29, 2008 at 09:57 AM
That is pretty nice from Kwame.
"I’m just happy the Lakers gave him a second opportunity to nurse his injuries. I just pray for him to come back and play again.” "
After all, it's more important to be a good man, than a good basketball player right?
Posted by: Eric M. | November 29, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Just finished watching all the post-game interviews. What did PJ say after he talked about the team "being put on their heels"? It was a term like "Tien Tao" or something. I noticed no reporters decided to quote that part in any of their articles.
Kobe talked about holding their opponents down for 5-6 minute stretches while they make runs. That's fine for now and against lesser teams, but these guys need to strive for making their opponents lives difficult and uncomfortable the entire game if they want to win a Championship.
Drew's foot may bother him when he pushes of but he seems to be able to land on it just fine. At one point, a teammate helped him up off the ground and I was surprised how he "hopped" up with extra energy and no apparent pain. Same with that dunk-turned-technical late in the game. He gave himself a lot further to fall when he did a chin up on the rim. There again, after he landed, no apparent pain.
Lost in all the Trevor talk was how key Fisher's shots were during that run late in the third quarter. As a team, the Lakers were clutch down the stretch, Pau, Kobe, Trevor all hit important shots when they needed to in order not to let up on Dallas even when the Jet was torching them. Speaking of Terry, PJ said Ariza was supposed to be guaring him. So, why was Farmar on him so much? That should've been Kobe or Trevor and Farmar should've been on Kidd.
The Lakers need to watch film on Bosh these last couple of games, where he's put up 30+/10. Make things really hard for him and Calderon and Sunday should be another good game.
Posted by: lakers_sth | November 29, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Say what you will about this victory, but it gets us closer to home court advantage in the playoffs and proves we can pull out a win when we're not playing good. We don't NEED to beat the Celtics now, so why worry about it?
What impresses me about this team is that I've watched them win every which way this season: we've won big, we've squeaked out close games, we've outscored people, we've won with our defense, we've outrebounded people, we've turned people over, we've turned the pace up, we've slowed the pace down, we've put people away in the first quarter, we've put people away in the second quarter, we've put people away in the third quarter, we've put people away in the fourth quarter, we've never quite put people away and just crossed the finish line ahead of them.
And the other beautiful thing is, we have multiple PEOPLE who can win it. Our starters can win it. Our bench can win it. Kobe can win it. Pau can win it. We've got five guys who are a legitimate threat to be on the receiving end of a lob flush (Kobe, Ariza, Drew, Pau, Lamar) and just about everyone on the team can throw the lob pass. We've got basically four 7-footers.
Bottom line, we have so many ways to win, if something isn't working (we're not putting teams away when we should, our defense is bad that night, Kobe's got an off shooting night) we're still going to be in almost every game. THAT's a nice problem to have.
Posted by: SBPimp | November 29, 2008 at 10:16 AM
AK - The couple of times I got to go to an open practice, Kwame was always messing around. And I mean enough that he stuck out as "that guy" who just didn't seem focused on what they were doing. I remember one particular interview where PJ characterized him as the bad kid sitting in the back of the class that you always needed to keep busy so he wouldn't be so disruptive.
I also remember that, in the wake of that amazing game 4 victory at Staples a couple years back in playoffs against PHX, that Kwame had gone out afterwards to celebrate after and the next day was accused of sexually assaulting some girl. He basically disappeared in the series after that when he had been so effective those first few games. Remember the "gameplan"?
The cake throwing incident gets brought up a lot but what that is a great example of is that Kwame just doesn't "get it". He doesn't get when its appropriate to have fun (and what kind of fun) and when you have to keep focused on the business at hand.
So yeah, he's a good guy but I'd take every single current Laker on the roster and their attitudes over him 10 times out of 10. The chemistry on this team is special.
Posted by: lakers_sth | November 29, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Otis what do you mean?
If it was about the game then while it was a little disappointing for the Lakers to allow dribble penetration otherwise it is was a great game and while blow outs are nice (really nice) it was refreshing to see an entertaining game.
(would rather take the blow out win no matter what).
if that wasn't your question Otis what is then?
-blitz
Posted by: kobeblitz | November 29, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Otis...I can't say I agree.No team plays its best all the time.The trick is doing it at the right times and Jackson coached teams have a tendency to play their best ball at the right times of the year.
Secondly, the lakers have had a lot of stuff to work out with their roster so theres a pretty good explanation if they dont look as good as the celtics but lets face it they still have the better record...and if they have that without reaching their potential,given the Jacksons record,that would actually favour the lakers chances.
I think that basically these are two excellent teams who probably won't be beaten within their respective conferences and the one who has home court for the finals will probably wind up winning the title however I will concede that the the celtics are more likely to win without home court than the lakers are.
That said, the celtics are also less likely to reach the finals than the lakers as Cleveland could beat them in a series.I dont see the spurs,jazz or hornets as having a significant chance of knocking the lakers out if everyone is healthy although it is obviously possible.
Posted by: Kiwi | November 29, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Interesting when you read the LA Times article on Kurt Rambis' defensive scheme for the Lakers. It says that the success of the defense is predicated on ball pressure on the ball handler.
Which makes the Lakers vulnerable to dribble penetration by small, quick speedy guards in the NBA. We just saw that last night with Terry and Barrea. We saw it w/Iverson in the only LA loss this season so far. It c/d be a problem w/Parker and Paul in the playoffs.
That's why Farmar's poor defensive capabilities are a long-term concern for the Lakers.
The 15th roster spot is still open and the Lakers might want to fill this opening with a quick, defensive guard that can stay in front of the Iversons, Parkers and Pauls of the league so that the new player can get trained in PJ's system before the playoffs. Where is Tyron Lue now?
The good thing is that neither Boston nor Cleveland has a speedy, penetrating guard.
Posted by: LakerinBC | November 29, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Otis,
First of all, thanks for finding the negative in everything. Secondly, look at what happened to the Celtics against the Warriors the other night, the were down double figures, playing sluggishly, and came back. Mind you, that was the WARRIORS, a team much inferior to Dallas. Sometimes teams have bad games, the great about this Laker team is that they can have bad outings and still pull off a win.
13-1!!!
Posted by: laker hopeful | November 29, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Brian and andrew,
well done on the Kwame call...I always got the feeling he was a nice guy.He was great with Bynum even though he was a clear threat to him when he was recovering from injury early in the '06' season.Kobe even said he was sad to see him go and like a brother...it was clear the players liked him.Not many of us fulfil our potential and have flaws that undermine our positive attributes and in kwames case it has defined him for years...no wonder the guys developed a healthy attitude to life.
Posted by: Kiwi | November 29, 2008 at 10:33 AM
more thoughts....
This team is starting to remind me of the Lakers of '88 or '89....if we were not literally behind by 23 points in the third quarter we would often lose...
An actual lead in the third was certainly a death nell..
That was a funny year--I actually rooted for us to get behind by 23 so the real game would start...fun times indeed...
No. 3 .... The Larch
GO LAKERS !!!
Posted by: Floyd | November 29, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Luke,
No problem. You need to talk to Phil about increasing your minutes.
Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | November 29, 2008 at 10:47 AM
I'm glad that Bynum not only played, but played well with his injury. Playing through pain is a sign that a player has heart. Heart is the most difficult quality to "teach" to an athlete. For the most part, you either have it or you don't.
Championships are never won by teams without heart.
What do we play for? RINGS!!!!!
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | November 29, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Kobe the best player of all time.Lakers 2009 champion.
Posted by: Adrian Palomar | November 29, 2008 at 10:53 AM
"Gasol is schooling him on what being power forward means."
This is from the Mavericks blog. Who said that Pau couldn't defend??
Pau is an under rated personal defender. Maybe not as good as a post defender as Andrew is but certainly not a weak defender.
And Amare again whining?
Dude must really care for his statistics over winning. Not a good *team* attitude. In 7 seconds or less, even D'Antoni and Nash were complaining how Amare cared for only himself and not for the team.
Congrats Stoudemire, you don't need to be called Stoudewhiner anymore (hey your restaurant is a nice one).
You have now the honor title of "Amare-me" for your "me-first" attitude.
-blitz
Posted by: kobeblitz | November 29, 2008 at 10:57 AM
I really enjoy Kevin Ding's articles. He's one of the best sportswriters in Southern California, not because he's a particularly gifted writer, but because his articles always seem to have a point. That point being providing the reader with a broader, more personal, understanding of the subject matter he's discussing.
A lot of writers seem to ignore that essential component when formulating an article. That's the reason why the quality of sports journalism has suffered so terribly over the last decade or so. Sports writers make themselves to important a subject in their own writing and as a result ignore the importance fo the subject matter they are discussing and the audience to whom they are writing.
In any case, I, too, would like to see more minutes for Mihm, Powell, and Luke. Our depth is our greatest strength and being our greatest strength it should be utilized to its greatest extent.
Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | November 29, 2008 at 11:00 AM
The difference between a blowout game and a "disappointing
victory" seems to be whether Vlad Rad is shooting hot that night.
Vlad's a really streaky shooter, and when he hits 3 or 4 3-pointers,
then the Lakers are usually leading early and blowing teams away
late. But when Vlad has a brick-laying night like last night, it's a closer
game.
I hope he's hitting his shots when we face Boston.
Posted by: Long Time Laker Fan | November 29, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Otis btw,
Yes we can beat the Celtics. Last year our defense (while under rated) wasn't as good as it was this year.
Plus the Celtics don't have a defensive specialist such as James Posey for perimeter players. They have really looked not like themselves last year (a close win against Atlanta at home, losses not only to Indiana but also Denver at home??).
The Celtics are still an a elite team no doubt about it. But the Lakers are better.
If you want to judge last night's performance than judge the Celtics performance against the Pacers and the Nuggets. Or will you ignore those facts?
-blitz
Posted by: kobeblitz | November 29, 2008 at 11:24 AM
If we play the Mavs in the playoffs, we just might very well earn JJ Barea a max contract. We continue to find a way to make ordinary point guards look like stars.
Our big men have to do a better job of playing pick-and-roll defense and keeping the guards in front of them. Both Pau and Drew need to either trap the guard or lay off the guard enough to prevent penetration. Kurt Rambis cannot be happy with the defensive effort last night.
Posted by: EJK | November 29, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Great win,
But this team is gonna be in trouble with point guards. Boston still scares me because of how Rondo is playing. Right now he is the 2nd best player on the team. Sacremento & Dallas point guards have killed the Lakers. This is not a good thing. If Farmer does not pick it up the Lakers are in trouble against the better point guards in the league. Defense starts at the point guard and if you can't stop dribble penetration it can kill your whole defensive scheme. I want the Lakers to cream Boston, but with the way our point guards look now, Rondo is gonna have a field day.
Posted by: TONI | November 29, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Great Victory by our guys!!!!
Although I'm confident our team KNOWS that having a lackadaisical first half is putting the game on the line and then we have to play catch up the rest of the game... it does provide the fans that adrenaline rush that makes basketball such an exciting game!!! LAKERS have so many weapons that they can play the Cat and Mouse game anytime they want to. So far so good guys. Just remember that to bring home the O'brien Trophy we need to play 48 minute games at 110%!!!!!!! WE NEED TO PLAY FOUR FOURTH QUARTERS!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOLAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Carlos DeeP | November 29, 2008 at 11:36 AM
You the man. Wes
If I was David Stern, I would be very, very worried about what teams are doing to free up cap space for 2010.
Teams are making trades based only on freeing up cap space, with no regard to keeping a competitive team on the court for the next TWO years.
Some of these teams will get a big surprise when the aren't able to land LbJ Dwade, or any of the top FA's.
The teams aren't lone.
These young players, making deals to meet up on a particular team ion two years is very destructive.
They act like this is the first time that Free Agency was in play.
Players in the past were able to become FA's without acting like they had already mentally left the team 2 years early.
Things weren't always great for ML or AI early in their careers. They weren't going around wearing the baseball caps of other city's MLB teams, or dissing the home football team.
And Barkely is stupid?
The InBev takeover hasn't devastated The Louie yet. Wait until the layoffs occur.
Lots of worry about the auto industry, though.
Posted by: STLKOBEFAN | November 29, 2008 at 11:45 AM
For as poorly as we played last night, we sure played well. By that, I mean we were able to pull ourselves together after that dreadful 1st half.
I was nervous there for a while, but I think most of us were.
First, I was freaked out when I heard about Drew's bone spur. I thought, "great...not another injury." That kid sure stepped up; a sign of growing greatness.
Second, I thought Kobe's shooting slump was continuing, but grateful that we stayed in the game without his numbers. (How wonderful is it that we've got Pau picking up the slack when we need him?)
Third, when we couldn't seem to put our defense together I had flashbacks to our breakdowns last year, especially against sub-par teams.
But, in the end our defense shored-up, our starters started putting up starters' numbers, and with that, Mamba started to strike. A team that can do that against a veteran team with a 5-game win streak is pretty special.
As Phil continues to emphasize "d" in practice our transition offense will continue to become more effective, giving our 2nd squad the opportunities for the points we know they can score. We'll stay at (or near) the top of defensive efficiency statistically, keep getting points-off-of-turnovers, keep resting our 1st squad, and the best closer in the league will take over when he needs to. (What a swing from the 1st half to the 2nd.)
Dallas wasn't much of a test, per say, but they were a testing ground for the utilization of all our Lakers' facets of the game. I'm so glad we have so many to draw from.
Posted by: Chris | November 29, 2008 at 11:50 AM
FYI Otis
So far this year, the Lakers are giving up 0.97 points per possession.
The Celtics? 0.97 pts per possession.
The main difference is in opponent's field goal percentage, the Celts are much better there. This means the Lakers defense, when the opponent DOES get a shot off, is not as good as the Celts... but the Lakers counter this by getting more steals.
What about on offense? The Celtics are scoring 1.05 pts per possession.
The Lakers are right at last year's average, 1.11 pts per possession.
I'd say the Lakers, even though they might only play half a game of solid D, are still measuring up to the elite in the NBA, and their record shows it.
Posted by: Tim-4-Show | November 29, 2008 at 11:55 AM
AK,
Why do you love Mihm so much? We get that he was out last night
For people that don't know, the cavs fan are Lebron's ________
How can you wear a Yankees hat in Cleveland and get away with it?
Lebron is like God in this city, and they just let him get away with saying that "Knicks fan be on the lookout for 2010." You must have major testicles and power to get away with some like that, while you still play for another team
Posted by: wow | November 29, 2008 at 11:59 AM
lakers_sth - going back to your question about the most unstoppable player, I'd still choose kobe - imo, with the game on the line, he's the man. he just knows so many different moves and is so relentlessly driven. i'd put lebron ahead of d-wade, he's got the size, the post-ups, etc., etc. not sure who i'd put 4th.
Posted by: dave m | November 29, 2008 at 12:13 PM
That's the big difference of the Lakers today vs. a year or two years ago, they find ways to win in a lost ball game. There are off nights for everyone in a 14 game series, you can't expect win all the time in NBA. For young Lakers enthusiasts, they get spoiled of victories of think of Laker players as machine or a bandwidth always available when needed. Who cares about the Boston thugs? They can have their own games while Lakers take care of their assignments but in the course of 82 game series, you can't expect a win in every game and blame the erring players when losing. Players should have a forum and reply to highly negative fan base who are spoiled by victories and overflowing optimism.
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | November 29, 2008 at 12:31 PM
A few thing I want to touch on.
1. Can some of you stop crying about the Lakers only playing defense for half a game. Boston has been going into the half with a doble digit deficiet more often than not and still most here still annoint them the NBA best team. If anyone notices its easy to beak down a defense with unpredictable plays and hot jumpshootin..but very difficult to sustain it for a whole game. Teams are going to get hot..but the trick is weathering the storm and still walk away with a W. For all the griping and complaining over how we played not one of you will trade this 7pt win for a 1pt loss.
2. Geezz it must reall suck to be a Suns fans right about now. Miami will never shoot lights out like that again..but when u have a team that fields 5 players with no legitamate center and then beat you convincingly on our own court when your team has a top 5 center in NBA history and a very dominate power forward...something aint right..and as Phil said last year their window was closing fast..and Nash has been rendered more useless than tits on a bore hog. Pathetic..extremel Pathetic.
Posted by: lakeraholic | November 29, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Hmmm...spotty play, not fully satisfying (although I love a good comeback as much as the next guy). Give the Mav's credit, they brought it.
But, as in my pre-season prediction, I don't see us getting into a real flow for a few more weeks and possibly not until the spring. We'll get it, and it's nice to win without playing our best...although I think we may loose some disappointing games.
Here's hopping Drew's foot feel OK today...
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Cameron | November 29, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Man it feels good to be 13-1. Gotta keep it going tomorrow against the Raptors. I wish the Raptors would do a retro night and bring back those purple jerseys with the dinosaur.
Lamar = 6th man of the year
GO LAKERS
Posted by: mrbarneydangles | November 29, 2008 at 01:09 PM
I would have loved to have been there, that moment that Plaxico Burress says to himself, "I'm going drinking so I better get my gun."
Sweet.
Wes
Posted by: wesjoenixon | November 29, 2008 at 01:36 PM
http://tinyurl.com/54w5l4
Now, I think LeBron James is an idiot and I know he's heading to the Knicks or the Nets... so, Charles Barkley has a point, but...
Didn't Pumpkinhead Barkley do something similar with Kobe Bryant a couple years ago?
Does Chuck "Never Won A Championship" Barkley have a problem with all the best players in the NBA because of personal ego issues?
Hmmm.....
Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | November 29, 2008 at 01:45 PM
I was really glad to see AB play through the pain and thoroughly outplay Dampier this game.
I was unhappy and mystified to see yet another obscure player look like an all-star against us.
Posted by: Laker Kev | November 29, 2008 at 02:27 PM
It's crazy!
The Lakers are off to this "GREAT"(?) start.
One of the best ever, right?
But guess what?
ONLY MORE ONE LOSS and we'd be behind Boston!
THEY would have the better start!!!!!!!!!! Talk about walking on eggshells.
We have to put this "GREAT"(?) start into perspective.
I don't hear any Celtic fans getting all too stoked yet, and they could have the best record in the nba, AS SOON AS TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
i just hope the guys didn't party too hard last night for "Jordy's" birthday, they are gonna need to bring everything they have to stop this Toronto team.
Posted by: Hendrix | November 29, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Wow,
"AK, Why do you love Mihm so much? We get that he was out last night."
As I stated pretty clearly, the reason I pointed out that Kwame quote about Mihm had little to do with Mihm himself, but about how good a dude Kwame is. You don't often hear about other players taking the state of a former teammate's career so heavily to heart. BK and I have mentioned on many occasions that despite any misgivings about Kwame as a player, he's a pretty solid person. I just thought it was worth mentioning.
AK
Posted by: kambrothers | November 29, 2008 at 03:03 PM
Is last night's Suns loss really a Suns victory because the Heat's inside people didn't score too much? That sounds like a BUTLER victory to me!
So continues the Suns push to 82-0! 1972 Dolphins better watch out, using BUTLER VICTORY (TM) calculations, looks like the SUNS will be breathing down your necks!
Meanwhile on Planet Earth (rather than Planet Orange), the Lakers are getting ready to put away PEEHONIX in the Pacific.
Posted by: Jman449 | November 29, 2008 at 03:09 PM
Kiwi,
"the lakers have had a lot of stuff to work out with their roster "
Definitely - both individually and as a team. Bynum, Ariza, and Farmar are still at the "improving noticeably as they play more" stage of their careers, the coaching staff is still figuring out the best rotations, and the team is still figuring out how to mesh together, the latter especially with Bynum and Ariza.
Posted by: exhelodrvr | November 29, 2008 at 03:13 PM
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WILD-WILD WEST?
With a 13-1 record going into tomorrow night’s game against Toronto, the Lakers have already forged a 5-game lead in the loss column over their Western Conference rivals as 7 teams, each coincidentally having suffered 6 losses, battle for second place and a chance to avoid playing the Lakers until the Western Conference Finals.
With the Lakers quickly separating themselves from the pack much like the Celtics did last year and the Celtics being challenged by Cleveland, Orlando, and Detroit, the conference races have flip-flopped from last year, with the Lakers walking away in the West and the Celtics in a competitive dog fight in the East. What a difference a year makes.
So what happened to the Wild-Wild West. Well, for one thing, the Lakers got a whole lot better than everybody else when they got Bynum and Ariza back. The trades for Gasol and Ariza last year coupled with Bynum’s emergence created an extremely deep and athletic team that is most likely to run away with the Western Conference top seed.
As for the rest of the west, Portland finally seems to have figured out how to win. Denver is slightly better with Billups and Phoenix is at least respectable as long as Shaq stays healthy. Dallas even seems to be playing better than ever since the Kidd trade. And San Antonio and Utah have weathered injuries but still seem to be outstanding teams. Houston is still learning to play together. But none of these teams are in the class of the Lakers.
Ironically, the East is where there may be competition with Cleveland, Orlando, and Detroit playing solid basketball and trailing the Celtics only by a couple of games. It is not as tight as the Western Conference race was last year but it is a far cry from the cakewalk the Celtics had en route to the best regular season record and home court in the Finals.
This bodes well for the Lakers. The Celtics have already dodged a couple of very close bullets, while the Lakers have won more easily. However, as someone pointed out, as good as the Lakers are playing, all it would take is one loss for them to fall behind the Celtics in the race for the best record and home court advantage in the Finals.
At any rate, this season is about the Lakers and Celtics and best record. That is who the Lakers are playing every time they take the court. The game may be against the Raptors but the only competition are the Boston Celtics. Same with the Celtics. I think Cleveland will falter and Orlando is not for real. The NBA is in for a lot of Lakers and Celtics in the Finals for the next decade. Far as I am concerned, what could be sweeter?
JMNSHO.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | November 29, 2008 at 05:20 PM
The best thing about this start is that we're not putting crisp games together and we seem to coast at times.
All this team needs is one focused quarter to win a game, two focused quarters to blow you out and three or more to grind you into the ground.
Good times.
Posted by: Xodus | November 29, 2008 at 05:41 PM
DEFENSE DEFENSE
Warriors 64 - Knicks 84
HALFTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: ch | November 29, 2008 at 05:53 PM