Long Time Laker Fan made all the "Trade Lamar" people into getting Rick-Rolled!

LOL!

(Kinda knew that trick when I was on the ESPN page and no report about a LO-Granger trade before and saw that post).

Shame though, we couldn't get good value for Von Wafer hehe (had to release him hehe).

-blitz

That was clearly Von Wafer's Greatest moment in Purple in Gold.

Had never seen anything like it before.

Will never see anything like it ever again.

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

GO LAKERS!

Oh and Rick F - thanks for the blackberry tip. What a coup and to think you made it all happen for the benefit of all Laker crazed blog fans. You are right about the whole computer/tv thing - I feel like I miss way too much of the game. but I am afraid I will miss some very witty wisecracks.

Way to go!

PyschedLakerGirl,

Don't expect Pau to be on the Starters for the All-Star team. There is simply too much votes for Yao, Tim, and Amare-me. As a reserve though, the coaches will select the reserves and no doubt Pau will be one of them.

-blitz

blitz,

>>>>>Reason PJ did not insert Bynum back in 4th is simple: Match up purposes.

I completely disagree with you, blitz. If you are correct, then Phil is guilty of making a stupid move in my opinion. Either that or he is trying to motivate Drew by humiliating him by benching him when the game is on the line. Just my opinion but think about it.

Since when do we allow other teams – especially loser teams with no size in the front court – to determine the match-ups? Last I looked, our philosophy is to force the other team to matchup to us, which the Warriors were definitely not doing with Drew since he had 18 points, 11 boards, and 2 blocks through 3 quarters – an excellent game.

Allowing the Warriors to force you to matchup was part of the problem that Dallas and other teams always have with Golden State. Rather than punish them for their lack of size, they tried to play small ball with the Warriors, which is what Nelson wants you to do. Put in a small gunner like Vujacic (who was having a horrible shooting night) and pull out the 7-footer who was killing you. It was never a choice between Drew and Pau but between Drew and Sasha. It was just Phil playing mind games with Drew at the risk of losing the game, which would have happened if Pau had not had a monster 4th quarter.

Of course, the Great Blitz will never agree but we all knew that up front. What are your suggestions for Indy and Miami? Or do you need to see their lineups before you fill out our lineup card. We are the freakin’ Los Angeles Lakers! We don’t matchup with the Warriors and anybody who thinks we do should join Avery Johnson in retirement.

As always, JMNSHBO!

Tom

Long Time,

>>>>>Okay, I have to dive in on this one. Shaun Livingston was vastly
>>>>>overrated even before he got injured. This season he was so
>>>>>ineffective that he only got into four games for the Heat, and played
>>>>>poorly when he did get on the floor.

>>>>>Maybe in a couple of years Livingston will be able to recuperate
>>>>>from his injury and play up to the role-player level he was playing
>>>>>before he was injured, but to be honest, Sun Yue has as good a
>>>>>chance of playing well this year as Livingston does.

LTLF, Thank you! Obviously, the jury has not even been convened yet to determine whether Sun Yue will ever make it in the NBA and your description of his “deer in the headlights” performances was right on. I didn’t see the game last night but listened to it and was encouraged that Sun did not give up and hustled back to block a shot.

Just think how intimidating it must be to be on a team as deep and talented as the Lakers. As you pointed out, a guy like Chris Mihm who was a starter before injury cannot even get any PT. It is doubtful that Sun will be any help this year other than giving Fish a few minutes of rest, but the opportunities could be of great help to this young man down the road. He has the size, length, and athleticism to be a unique player at the point. It is a long shot but one that the Lakers believed enough in to roll the dice.

JMNSHBO!

Tom

Von Wafer. Nice.

But now we have Ariza who gives you that same spark.

I wonder if some WC team is going to sigh Darius Miles to a 10 day contract and knock Portland out of the free agent market this year? I wouldn't do it, but I'd hope someone else did.

Wes

"What are your suggestions for Indy and Miami? Or do you need to see their lineups before you fill out our lineup card. We are the freakin’ Los Angeles Lakers! "

See? You get too over passionate when I suggest things anything about Bynum.

Think about it. I dunno if you got what Stu Lantz was saying (dunno if you receive KCAL in the Bay) but he said:

"The Warrior won't mind having one on one they just want to score."

And having a Small lineup made them score on us BIG time. And this isn't any opinion this is what happened. Whenever Bynum and Gasol tandem was out there the Warriors put a lead on us. Why? Because their speed lineup gets by the big men who are not as quick as the smaller lineup. Sure the big men could dominate inside but they Warriors don't mind, they are willing to shoot three pointers and not go by their bigs.

Teams are going to attack weaknesses of the Lakers: Increase size means a less quick lineup. If I was the other coach that is what I would be thinking. Put together the Warriors when they have a healthy Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson and the team is much improved. Less size means less post defense but more shooting especially against 3 point shooters.

You cannot simply expect teams to obey, the coaches are not *dumb* and simply play into the strengths of the Lakers like Minnesota attempted to do with Al Jefferson. They will attack the weaknesses of the Lakers regardless.

Indiana game? My advice is to play one on one defense until they play with smaller lineups. Sag off Rasho to help deny TJ Ford and make him shoot jumpers.

Miami? Advice is to continue the current defensive scheme and force D-Wade to shoot jumpers and not anyone else. A 29% shooter I'd rather shoot 3 pointers and knowing Wade's penetration skills is something we all rather have.

In any case you can't simply say "play to our strengths" you have to FORCE them to. The Warriors play small ball and a matchup with the Lakers favors them because of shooters. In any case there is a 7 footer regardless of Bynum or Gasol in the Lakers small ineup so what is there need for size? Match up with Warriors and have a 7 foot makes it still an advantage for the Lakers possibly even better.

And Laker Tom, I suggest you don't get too over passionate. You have been doing too much when it comes to any criticisms about Bynum regardless if it's me or anybody else. I'll say this to you as I do to overzealous Kobe fans who get too zealous.

Bynum is good but he has not done anything to merit greatness yet. He can still be criticized and just because he was having a great game does not always mean it's beneficial. For anything he could have a 20 and 20 game and still lose because of bad match ups.

Don't get too passionate just because you disagree with me.

-blitz

THINKING OUT LOUD!

I am not quite sure how I feel about tomorrow’s match up between the Celtics and the Cavaliers. I mean, there is no way in the world that I could root for the Celtics. I’ve always been a loyal American League and Western Conference sort of fan, meaning I will root for a team in my league or conference in the event that the Yanks or Lakers are not in the mix. I even admit once rooting for the Red Sox (God, what an admission. What was I thinking?) but the idea that I could root for the Celtics? I don’t think so. Celtics vs. Zombies? I would side with the dead guys. So I guess Celtics vs. Cavaliers, I should root for the Cavs.

But, you know what, that’s a problem for me, too. While I admire LeBron’s talent, blitz is right that LeBron James will always be LeBronze to me. LOL. Frankly, I know he is great but I just don’t like the guy. Maybe part of it’s the competition with Kobe and we all know how defensive I can get whenever anybody challenges KB24’s rep or standing. For sure, some of it is my natural rebellious knee-jerk reaction to the East Coast media bias and marketing machine that relentless pimps LeBron as the answer to everything. Bottom line, I hope the chump gets his billion dollars but never ever wins an NBA championship

So what the hell do I do? When I was younger, it was almost impossible to watch a major NBA matchup without juice on the game. While I have managed to get over that most of the time now, I find it very difficult to watch a game without developing a rooting interest. Part of an obviously overly competitive attitude, I know, but that’s just the way it is now. For me to enjoy the game, I have to pick a side and commit some emotion. Silly but true. It’s why I always bet on the true win or loss of a game regardless of point spread. I want to win the game not the bet. The bet is just to add juice and top the high for the game.

I do want to watch the game, primarily to take a measure on each of the Lakers top two competitors for home court advantage and the NBA Championship. Too bad that the suggestion earlier on the blog that the two teams end up forfeiting the game as a double loss sounded great to me. If it wouldn’t give Boston and Cleveland excuses to use when the Lakers win the championship, I might wish for injuries. OK, I won’t go that far. Except maybe for Paul Pierce. Doesn’t he owe us a knee tear from the Finals? LOL. I actually want the chump to be there for the Finals when we win in on the parquet. So for that reason I guess I will root for the King to have a terrible game but the Cavs to win. Man, the things you have to do when you’re a die-hard vengeful Lakers fan. LOL.

Of course, JMNSHBO!

Tom

blitz,

We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Drew had a great 3 quarters. His play was the primary reason why we built the big lead. Pau was the guy alone in the game when most of that big lead disappeared. But all of that assumes that the defense was the same, the Warriors shooting the same. We have dominated this team many times over the past few years when they had better personnel than they had last night by playing big to their small.
To me, you don’t take some defensive breakdowns and hot shooting by the Warriors and pull your center and go small. Hey, but what do I know. You may be right. In any event, this discussion is over for me. Have a good day, blitz. We just don’t agree. JMNSHBO!

Tom

ah, the wafer slam. pantheon.

Blitz,

"Keep it civil Eric"

I'm really not sure what you mean other than I mocked you this morning because the first post out of your keyboard after we won was "If we only had Luke."

If you are going to continue with the Mike T./kwame imitation, then I'm going to mock you. Sorry. But I will try to mock you in a civil way though. ;)

I agree with you on much, but for the life of me can't figure out the intellectual disconnect on this one.

Peace.

I think you missed the point Laker Tom lol.

The way Gasol was playing in the 4th was just clutch. And Andrew Bynum was taking a rest. Like you said why put away a hot hand player like Gasol for Bynum?

The point is that the Bynum-Gasol pairing that began the game and began the 3rd quarter is what helped build up that Warrior lead. Had we continued to use that lineup, it is opinion that we would have lost the game. It is more than okay to leave Bynum in the game it's understandable considering he had an advantage over Biedrins and same with Gasol. But putting them together at the same time against a team that uses a small lineup? One of the concerns off season was when teams went with small lineups to take advantage of the weakness of having 2 7 footers. Simply Jackson did the right thing and had to bench either one of them.

See what I mean Laker Tom? It's not "Bynum bad Gasol good" campaign. It is not having 2 7 footers when there is a lineup that is very strong against that mismatch, especially when the PF is more quicker than you. You simply have to adjust and get the key mismatch. Otherwise why put Trevor Ariza at Power Forward when he's much better at Small Forward.

That's why I tell you not to be too passionate. Sometimes it gets ahold of your better judgment and makes you arrive at a conclusion that is not what the author meant to be said.

-blitz

This is crazy...you guys are more obsessed with the Celtics than even we are here in Boston!

As "Long Time Laker Fan" pointed out, the Celtic slump is typical after a long winning streak. The `72 Lakers went 2-4 after winning 33 straight, and went 5-4 at one point the following month.

The Celts are doing a Muhammad Ali "rope-a-dope" right about now. This should continue until the All star break. Then, we`ll acquire a couple of title-starved vets {Steph & J. Smith} to revitalize us for the big second half push. Cav game Friday is of no concern...the Celts are free to mail it in.

You guys should just be concerned about LA`s "Curse of the Nine"...very bad outcomes in 1959-`69-`79-`89-`99.

Boston Globe headline for 2-6-09 :
"Boston Bakes "Bean"..{as in Kobe Bean}

C`s The Day!!!!

i was at the game in oklahoma city when von wafer got jumped over and dumked on by kirk snyder, i had a horrible headache in the ford center that night, that loss got worse when snyder dunked on wafer. it was a sick dunk to see live however.

kobeblitz
I find your post comments to be interesting but wrong! Not to mention that you are caking Luke like a groupie gone wild! Luke is averageing 1.9 assist a game and to me that's not enough to post half a page saying nothing!

Good morning Chuck23.......had to say nothing to you.....

AK or BK,

I have a question that one of you may have an answer for. The Trailblazers have issued a warning to other teams not to sign Darius Miles, that they’ll basically sue any organization that signs him.

Have you ever heard of a team trying to blackball a player like this, and do you think the players association will let this happen? If I were Darius I’d sue the Blazers immediately. A player only gets so many shots at the NBA and to have a team actively trying to block a player’s career seems really egregious to me.

Wes

Blitz,

I have made my case against Luke on one or two occasions. I think that is all that is necessary. I don't see the point in endlessly repeating myself making the same points over-and-over; day-after-day.

I know some people like to do that....Are you looking in the mirror...lol But seriously I just don't see the point.

You, LTLF, Helo, or others in the "Luke is good" camp, won't be swayed no matter how many time I post the LONG LIST OF THINGS LUKE CAN'T do. Those of us that think Luke Sucks, and that his only future is as an underwear model or selling hot-tubs, laugh ever time you post stats somehow PROVING that Luke is the key to a Laker championship. So we just have to disagree, and move on.

You as usual...Refuse to move on. You get some crazy pleasure out of the arguement itself. Why else would you and Hobbit go at it for WEEKS.

I MIGHT argue like that if it is the "Why Magic Johnson is better than MJ" arguement, but the "Why Luke's good passing is the key to a Laker title", is an arguement I'll pass on.

find your post comments to be interesting but wrong! Not to mention that you
are caking Luke like a groupie gone wild! Luke is averageing 1.9 assist a game
and to me that's not enough to post half a page saying nothing!
Posted by: chuck23 | January 09, 2009 at 08:08 AM

I BEG YOUR PARDON, WHEN YOU SAY LUKE YOU'VE SAID IT ALL

Good morning Chuck23 PER THE HEAD OF THE MAMBA CLAN.......had to say nothing to you.....

WE WANT BOSTON slap slap SLAP SLAP SLAP

Mamba24 - YEAHHH!! I like it MUCH better like that - LOL!!

you tell em Eric M. lol @ underwear model.

It's a lovely day in Lakerville...game day. Cures all ails, makes everyone wake up with a smile in their faces.

Let us take redemption against the pacers...that loss, while it propelled us back to our winning ways (eventually)...smarted!

Go Lakers!

>>>This is crazy...you guys are more obsessed with the
>>>Celtics than even we are here in Boston!

... says the guy who is coming over to the Lakers blog to post.

Good to see you back RLC.

I'm sure the Celtics will recover from their losing streak and will
probably do another 10+ game winning streak or two between
now and the end of the season.

In fact, if they win tonight, I think it will be like hitting the reset
button for them.

When I said "The Lakers hit the Celtics so hard they lost
6 games", I was only half joking. After the Christmas game,
it put just a little bit of doubt in the Celtic players' minds, and
gave just a little bit of encouragement to some other teams that
the Celtics weren't invincible. And that set the stage for losing
a few games that they would have won in early December.

If they win against Cleveland tonight, it may give them back
their swagger and put them back on a winning streak.

That's why I can't decide who I'd rather see lose tonight.

If Boston loses, that little bit of doubt will linger with them for
another couple of weeks, and maybe they'll slide even further
before they right their ship. But LeBron is so damn smug,
I'd really love to see his team go down as well (also that would
give the Lakers the best record in the league).

But to be honest, yes, Lakers fans have ALWAYS hated and
been obsessed with the Celtics -- it goes back to the 60's when
they played each other 6 times and the Celtics swept all 6.

But before you get too cocky, the two teams are 2-2 against
each other since the 60s, and in that time the Lakers have
won 9 championships to the Celtics 6. At this rate it will only
take another 40 years or so before the Lakers have more titles
than the Celtics.