Well, I have to say that I am pleased with this win over NO. I do think NO is overrated as a team but I think it helps for the Lakers to come out strong and win by double digits. I think Pau did well but he needs to stop dribbling, in my opinion. Baby Bynum played more like a man tonight. He needs to do that 2x for the Xmas game.

So far, we own the west. Now it's time to take down the East!

This was a satisfying win. Now I want to be greedy. I would like the win against the Celtics in another satisfying manner. Lakers by double figures!!!

Go Lakers

Just watched the post-game interview with PJ.

He said that offensively, he was happy with the first half and not so much with the second half. Defensively he said he was happy with the sustained effort.

He talked about the match-ups against Boston and dropped in there that Drew will be a key to that. He characterized the Finals by saying that they played one half of terrible basketball on their home floor and that cost them game 4. His hope is that they have a good showing on their homecourt this time around.

He also said he was pleased with the way that Ariza was able to step up and guard CP3.

LOL - Worthy just said he doesn't have any Celtic friends.

Remember, these last two games don't count at all unless they win on Christmas, so that game actually counts for three.

Lakers vs. Hornets

Lakers' Journal

http://tinyurl.com/68k6w7

mike t

With tonight's win, PJ has 999 Ws.

when did mike t become a spammer?

I have not seen that Laker team in quite awhile. It was good to see them.
Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are the keys to the Boston game. If Lamar takes the ball to his high percentage areas which are driving to the hoop and posting up with those giraffe arms he can be effective if he goes up strong.
Andrew Bynum has lifted weights and trained for like half a year. If Bynum goes and demands deep post position, catches and tries to finish with authority or drop in jump hooks he can be effective.

If Odom or Bynum play soft or like space cadets or without an edge, it will put too much pressure on Kobe unless he drops 60 , Fisher, Pau and Vlad.
Yes Vlad is a ton more offensively functional than Luke Walton.
Vlad does what he does and does it better than Sasha at this time.
Sasha needs to get his "&&%&*$ in gear.
GO ARIZA, GO LAKERS, GO KOBE!
BEAT THE HELL OUT OF BOSTON!!!!

Much better effort tonight. I don't think it changes a lot, but it's nice to get some momentum going into the showdown on Christmas. I liked the D in the first half, seemed like the guys were committed to playing hard and together. (why not every night?) The Laker's have had lots of success in N.O, so I think we play with a confident attitude against this team, basically, we've got their number. As for the Celtics, well that remains to be seen. If anything, it will give us an idea of what were capable of being, or not. Not gonna be to hard to get up for this one.
I like the idea of playing Ariza at guard a little bit. His length and athleticism can definitely help stop some of the guard play that seems to eat us up. Putting him on Rondo could be an interesting matchup. More interesting however will be how we handle the low post game. I think Gasol is playing incredibly consistent and giving us 100% every night. Bynum, on the other hand, is looking like a lost puppy with unsteady legs. I don't know what's happened to him but nothing about his game is sharp. His base is very weak. Did he stop lifting weights? He seemed much stronger and dominant last year. He looks light to me, not as physical at all. Attitude and footwork are not good either. He just doesn't seem to have the fire in his belly that got all of us so excited before his injury. He's supposed to our missing piece against Boston. Based on what I've seen out of him in the last month, that's wishful thinking. We'll see Thursday.

Dooooood.

Chris Paul's dirty play is so embarrassing for basketball.

It's to bad, because he's a good player.

I'm just glad the officials caught some of the illegal stuff he was doing out there, like walking under players, grabbing, using the off arm, pushing for rebounds. Ridiculous.

The sad thing is that Paul gets away with it most games.

Great job by Ariza on Paul. Hopefully, this means we will see more of Trevor defending point guards, as everyone has been pleading the coaching staff to try.

Lakers can win against Hornets but loses to Wizzards, it's psychological problem. On Hornets, there is help and support to each other while onWizzards, they just coasting and turning it on when they wanted to. What counts most, is the Christmas Day win to avenge the previous embarassment during the Finals.

Well, did you know that the Chicken Little cause the win of this game, it is because of their critical remarks that players are threatened. I'm sure LO read the Hoopsworld article. When it comes to the need for trade or getting a PG help, got to be a little realistic than be an optimistic fool.

lakers-sth....

Yeah, I heard that Portland announcer talk about the refrigerator, too. They need to get off of Chick's cloud!

BD,

>>>>>You and I are Bynum diehards. Please give me your thoughts on
>>>>>why Bynum now looks like Odumb!!

>>>>>I just think the kid is pissed about not getting the 4th quarter minutes
>>>>>at crunch time. If LO was taking your minutes how would you feel?
>>>>>Magic Johnson always talked about winning time which of course was
>>>>>the 4th quarter. This kid who is so green needs to know what it is like to
>>>>>grind out a victory. I don't give a hoot about Odumb. He is in the same
>>>>>catagory as Kwame and Smush. Losers! I will be glad to live thru the
>>>>>ups and downs with Bynum but 5 years with Braindead is wasting our
>>>>>time. Just like when we thought Jordy should be getting the minutes
>>>>>instead of Smush knowing he was never going to be the guy.

I think the reality is that it will probably take Drew until next year to get back to playing at the dominant level he was playing in the month before he was injured. I was optimistically hoping that his great effort during the summer was a sign that would not be the case but there is no doubt that Drew is not a Beast right now. A top ten center but not a Beast. The problem is physical in my opinion: Drew just has not fully recovered from his injury.

I don’t think Drew has an attitude problem or is not trying because he has the big contract. I think he is obviously laboring physically and lacks the great quickness and hops that he showed last year and may not regain it until next year. Last year, he was grabbing boards well above everybody else. This year, it is rare that he catches a rebound without other hands also touching the ball. He may have increased his vertical by an inch in practice but in games, he is a few inches short at both ends than last year.

I also think that teams responding to his interior defense by pulling him out to the 3-point line and running high pick and rolls with him ended up in making him hesitant and prone to getting caught in between. Tonight was a good sign as I thought all of the Lakers did a great job defending the pick and roll. CP3 had a difficult time getting by the double team, especially in the first half. And the rotations were generally better.

I still think the Lakers can beat the Celtics even if Drew is not 100% by the Finals and assuming that both teams make it that far, which I think is highly likely. I am confident that Drew will slowly get better and be better by the Finals than now but the game on Christmas Day will go a long way towards showing where Drew stands now and how much better he will have to be by year’s end if the Lakers are to win the championship.

The worrisome aspect about playing the Celtics is that they match up better against the Lakers than any other team. In a way, they have our number much like I think we have the number of every other team in the West. Of course, Lakers teams have historically lost the early finals against the Celtics, been called soft, but then came back do dominate Boston.

Who wins on Christmas will be important but not as important as how Drew and Pau play. Combined, they need to outplay Perkins and Garnett. I also have a wild hunch that we just might see Ariza or Odom start at small forward rather than Walton. And I think Kobe is well overdue for a big shooting game against the Celtics. Lakers by 10 – 100 to 90.

JMNSHBO! How about them Yankees! Gotta spend it to win, Jerry Buss.

Tom

Greetings Fellow Lakeshow Fans,

Here's a holiday recipe for a Lakers Christmas win vs Celtics:

*SPOONFUL OF ARIZA- Use him to guard and shadow Rajon Rondo EVERYWHERE and at times guard Pierce and Ray Allen (depending on the flow of the game and who's HOTat that time!)...Rondo is the key to their early sustained offense and transition...Lakers must make an individual and team effort to disrupt that portion of their strategy and SLOW him down, just as they did with CP3 TODAY...He's THAT GOOD this season...When he is not on the floor for the Celtics due to rest of foul trouble, their FEELGOOD flow is somewhat hampered. He DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE for them in that regard...

*POUND OF BENCH PLAY- Odom, Ariza (mentioned earlier), Radmanovic, Powell and Vujacic MUST match the intensity and physicality of the Boston reserves of Powe, Davis, Tony Allen and House when called upon. That means MOVING well without the ball, help defense to STOP penetration, rebound, spacing, screening, and play them STRAIGHT UP! NO FEAR!!! I have a feeling we might be seeing Powell often this game for his energy and physical nature (against Garnett to spell Gasol, who actually did a decent job on him during the Finals). Lamar playing point at times won't be bad either...

*A DASH OF MVP- If the Lakers can do the above mentioned, all KB24 needs to do is get the team involved, instill confidence on the floor and DO his thing...However, he must not take TOO MANY ILL-ADVISED jumpshots on the perimeter...TRUST ME, Boston will build the KOBE WALL as usual and INVITE that to happen 24/7...No need to revisit that aspect...He must look to penetrate more and run the action by using player screens to keep Boston HONEST either by scoring or passing to open shooters in space....Make Boston MOVE...The key is for him to not EXPEND SO MUCH ENERGY...Just play SMART TEAM BASKETBALL!

BTW, add Phil's ZEN to taste...

Merry Christmas to all...God bless and be safe. Staples will be rocking soon...

Laker pride through ADVERSITY!

The team definitely turned things around. Let's hope it continues.

BUCK FOSTON!!!! THAT'S RIGHT.....BUCK FOSTON!!!!

Posted by: bronxlakerfan | December 23, 2008 at 10:12 PM

Amen.

BEAT THOSE GRINCHES DOWN!

GREAT WIN TONIGHT, LET'S CARRY THAT MOMENTUM INTO CHRISTMAS DAY.

did u hear how boston crowds began chanting "beat la" in the final six minutes of the 76ers game?

F that! F Boston! Beat their asses. shut those stupid bandwagoners up.

BEAT BOSTON

GO LAKERS!!!

For the Boston game:

Put Ariza on Rondo
Kobe on Pierce
Pau and committee on KG
Andrew on Perkins
and Fish and committee on Allen

Shut them down!!!!!!!!

"We can play, man."

Yes you can Lamar, yes you can.

Merry Christmas!
In faraway China, I bless every lakers Christmas happiness, happy New Year!! Especially to Kobe.
We all are looking forward to a brilliant show of lakers at Christmas.

If Portland wants to talk about the fridge let them do so. They know where it came from. As long as they give credit where credit is due, it should be all good. I do, however, dislike their announcers.

LakerTom,

I had previously noticed that Drew isn't lifting as much as he was last year in several previous threads. But, it seemed I'm the only one who noticed. I had predicted that it wouldn't be 'till late December or early January before he would regain that form. I had hoped I was wrong, but it looks like I might have been right.

Looking back at previous footage, Bynum used to get his elbows up to rim level. He hasn't done that at all this season. He's good, right now. Just not great.

The flip side is that last year, he would get way above the rim a couple of times a game then fizzle out by the end of the game because he had no stamina.

Now, he's not as high above the rim, but he can continue to go up over and over because his stamina is CLEARLY better this year.

Imagine him next season if he ever gets his old hops back to add to his new found lung capacity? Dominant.

Then, factor in another season of seasoning and what do we have here?

Dude is for real. Remember when it was just me and a couple of other bloggers singing Drew's praises (of whom I believe you were one)? I saw him in those Summer League games with Jordan and I just knew. His flashes of greatness back then were so great that I just knew.

I mean, let us digest this for just a moment; Drew doesn't play but 5 minutes in the first quarter, and not much of the 4th quarter, and yet we feel that he dominated the game...

The future is so bright for this kid.

--Fearless

Word is that the Lakers are planning a surprise gift for PJ on Xmas....his 1000th victory!

GIT 'ER DONE!!
BUCK FOSTON!!!

Dear Laker Family,

It is 11.25 pm on Christmas Eve in the state of New South Wales in Australia, and while it may be a little early for you guys I want to wish you all (and your loved ones) a very merry christmas.

To Andrew and Brian, thank you for your dedication to this blog, for creating a space where like minds (and not-so-like minds) can meet and discuss those pressing Laker issues of the day. I'm sure you go above and beyond the duties required of you by the LAT and it is very much appreciated.

To all on the blog from whom I have gleaned even the slightest wisdom over the year- I thank you.. that means you, Laker Tom, Kobeblitz, Floyd, Justanothermambafan, and Jon K.. while having been a fan of the Lakers and the roundball game for some time, my knowledge of the game has grown through your willingness to impart knowledge and I thank you all.

To those whose posts have amused me all year: Fatty, Faith, Edwin- always quick with the come back, giving us all something to look forward to.

To the dissenting view- important on all courts, of opinion or otherwise- Butler, Korey, Mike T and especially Taliq- keep the debate alive and call it as you see it. Keeps things lively around here!

To Charles- thanks for being my friend in multiple platforms!

Will chat to y'all again on Boxing Day (Christmas day Vs Celtics your time!!!)

Anna xx

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through LA
Fans tingled with anticipation
Of the showdown on Christmas Day.

The Celtics would be bringing
The best record in the NBA
But the Lakers would be ready
With something to say.

They finally found their game
Against the Hornets on Tuesday
They called it a warm-up
For the Big Game on Thursday.

Now their lockers are hung
With uniforms a glistening
They have a statement to make
The Lakers are determined to make sure
The Celtics are listening.

On Kobe
On Pau
On Andrew
And Fish

On Luke
On Sasha
On Trevor
Dunk strong with a swish.

The crowd at Staples
Comes for a game to watch with delight
The Lakers come determined to make them happy
On a Purple & Gold Christmas night.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pretty much what all of you said... a little surprised Sasha only played around 11 minutes but perhaps it makes more sense within the context of Phil trying different guard looks - Trevor and Lamar each taking their turn at advancing the ball and of course, Fish's continuing iron man minutes. Still, I'm hoping for more minutes for Sasha - the machine does better with extended driving hours.

Tom - I'm hearing you about Drew but I'm still hoping he hits a better stride by mid-season... that he plays into better shape, timing and confidence. JMCRABBY (just my curmudgeonly refusal to admit he won't be beast-like this year).

Finally a good game for the Lakers. Concur with all that we haven't played this well since earlier in the season. The Lakers and fans want for Christmas: Keep up this intensity and focus for the rest of the seasons.

Go Lakers, bury the Chowds on Christmas day.