GO LAKERS!

Defeat N.O.

"Dude is like the the most stubborn person around. I guess that is why him and Hobbit go at it for weeks. But the idea that somehow playing with a sore knee once in High school gives him the balls to tell AB to "Man Up" is truly laughable."

Actually it was a complete ACL tear and had surgery on it and missed the playoffs. (Hope you love laughing at that).

and yea Bynum needs to man up because his knee is fine. You said it yourself "you don't know" so why give a judgment when Bynum himself is saying so? You basically calling him liar. Man I do criticisms but I don't call Bynum a liar.

If Bynum WAS really thinking about the knee he might have said something "It might be I don't know but I'm sure it will go away with more games" or maybe even "I don't to say anything about it" just to hide it up. Bynum wouldn't say otherwise it's posting up about an untrue thing.

In other examples:

"Ginobili is an offensive player; You want a punch off the bench. Trevor is a defensive and intangible player. Why save that for the second and fourth quarters."

To hold down the 2nd unit. As I recall most 2nd units do not have good "defensive" specialists other than San Antonio (Bowen). By playing him more with the 2nd Unit, you control tempo instead of just blast them with defense now and let them come back in the game. On the road it's crucial to NOT let the crowd back in the game. Or remember Indiana and Washington? Our 2nd unit collapses and I think if Trevor wasn't on them we would have lost the Washington game as much as we did for the Indiana game.

Perfect example? Game 4 2007 Finals. The Spurs led by double digits and Bowen needed to rest. LBJ instead goes on a tear and nearly rallies the Cavaliers again without Bowen to guard him. Bowen comes back in after resting and the Spurs hold down the Cavaliers.

The Lakers have TWO great perimeter defenders. Kobe Bryant and Trevor. Why have both out at the same time instead of 1 each quarter? That's called strategy. You have a good perimeter player defending in the starting lineup and one on the bench who can play many minutes as well. And if you think you are Mr. Know about Eric (who just likes to make fun of torn ACL) coach the team! You feel that PJ is doing a bad job on his rotations so coach it. I'll eat your words if you win it to the title. JK. Just don't make fun of injuries ok? I criticize Kwa-may Brown a ton but I don't make fun of his injuries

-blitz

blitz,

No problem. When Drew becomes the Beast, you will change your opinion.

As to our debate, whether mental or physical, the fact is that Drew has NOT gotten over his injury at this point because he is NOT playing as well as he did last year. Period.

JMNSHBO!

Tom

BTW, Anna, you haven't apologized yet for the Lakers - Celtics score in your dream being wrong!

Kobeblitz,
I disagree on the potential for Bynum scoring. Assuming he gets his explosiveness and comfort level back, he will be able to average 20+ points, because he will get easy buckets, Kobe's minutes will decrease somewhat and he will take a little less of a role in the scoring, and Gasol is such a good passer.

Hey Hobbit not since in a while your post was gentle so in return. I'll be nice too.

"It is my understanding that Kobe went for jumpers because the Celtics denied him access to the rim."

Kobe in the finals wanted to penetrate first but ran into defenders and was forced into tightly contested double teamed jumpers. Kobe at Christmas still shot jumpers but he did not fall for the traps of zone defense. Instead he went single coverage against Ray Allen and shot smarter, efficient jumpers instead of what he experienced in the finals. Plus by playing within the triangle offense he was able to break down the "Celtic defense" without too much trouble as last year when the Lakers relied on his penetration (and the Celtics really made that very hard to do). In other words yes he penetrated but he did it more as a result of a) defensive mistakes of the Celtics and 2) Passing from other teammates instead of him trying to dive into the paint where the army of green dwells. As a result: 56% from the field 13-23. Now isn't that efficient? Shows how much that playing within a well passing offense like the Triangle offense ANY defense can be beaten.

"Bynum scored 8 against Detroit. Is that going to get it done? Lamar scored 6 against Detroit. Is that going to get it done? Would you take Bynums play against Detroit
for 8 games, based upon what he turned in? Do
you trust him to stay out of foul trouble against
r. wallace?"

I won't mind Bynum or Lamar scoring 8 or 6 points as long as OTHER people step up. Is it going to be Sasha, is it going to be Trevor, maybe instead Kobe and Pau will pick up the slack who knows. But scoring wise as long as someone else picks up like Daniel Gibson did in Game 6 of the 2007 ECF against Detroit I won't mind those. And yes I do expect Bynum to stay out of foul trouble against Sheed since Sheed is the starting Center for the Pistons while Amir Johnsons is back at PF.

"you mean the SF who's been working on his DEFENSE?
Actually, I have heard of him. I think Trevor can do a
job against him. I look forward to watching it."

Believe me Hobbit, I like Trevor alot but against LBJ? I'm hoping he could make him struggle enough before he unleashes a barrage. That being said though as long as Kobe's off him I'm more than willing to let any SF on LBJ.

" I am EXTREMELY
comfortable with our win/loss record. We have
compiled this record while having sub-par play from
everyone on the team at one point or another. I stand
by my statement."

Fair enough. In the end the record will show us both how the Lakers do. Now I do want the Lakers to win but I don't see us "owning" every team in the NBA. It doesn't matter if the Celtics lost to Portland and we beat Portland so that makes us better. The Wizards beat the Celtics 3-1 last year and we beat them 2-0 yet we didn't win the series. I only count "our" wins not losses from other teams.

"Actually, I fess up when Trevor isn't
playing well. Like responding to your comment about
40%."

I think you said fuss up so please correct me if I"m wrong. And besides that is only 2 times you fussed up and Trevor had more sub-par games (like around 4). I'm glad that you can see different between a true shooter and a guy who just merely extended his range.

"With those things in mind, I don't see the benefit in nitpicking on their flaws"

The more they find out their flaws the sooner they can fix it so that they can become better players. Cook never "got it" when people criticized his defense. All he did was loose weight. Neither did Kareem Rush. They make a mistake they have to realize their mistake and work through it, not simply pamper them and say "oh it's ok". They are to find out what they did wrong and fix it. Otherwise teams will merely watch the film and KNOW where to attack them. If this was pre-season I wouldn't be this nor even this was the beginning. But this is nearing the All-Star Game break which is considered the middle and while players have improved some like Jordan has not (before his injury). And they do deserve criticisms whether it be up high as PJ/Kobe to down to the bench to Sun/Mbenga. We may be winning true but we have to realize our flaws and minimize them in time for the playoffs so they don't bite us back.

Like the 2006-2007 Dallas Mavericks. Before you can say "oh they don't play defense". They did back then and was 4th in the league at 92.8 ppg and choked against the Golden State Warriors who did not even play defense.

"Feel free to harp on Ariza or Farmar or whoever else
you want to."

I don't harp on Trevor contrary to what you think unless you are overrating him. I do the same when people overrated Kobe to Michael Jordan status or Shaq to Wilt Chamberlain/Bill Russell and especially Dirk Nowtizki to Larry Bird. Jordan deserves criticisms because he wants to play one way while the coaching staff says play like the 1st unit and all his response is "This isn't what I learned at UCLA/Taft High school". If he played more like a point guard then I wouldn't be that hard on him. And Eric M. and Laker Tom find it disturbing when I criticize Andrew Bynum. Even you criticized him for not boxing out (for once I thought you were a little too hard on that). I just think his energy level and focus isn't there while they give an excuse that his knee is causing it when Bynum himself said it didn't. I only criticized only 2 players really and that is Jordan and Bynum and they were fair criticism.

When you do go traveling have a safe trip Hobbitmage. You know despite our debates you have my respects.

-blitz

exhelo,
My sincere apologies... I can only say that while I'm happy I got the outcome correct, it would have been an even sweeter Christmas to have won by 14!

Anna

Hold up! Why did I just apologise for something that happened in my subconscious??

Denver, at 24-12 has matched their best start in franchise history...

Seriously?

kobeblitz,
"You know that Kobe isn't going to lower down his ppg, it's what great players don't do."

He's already shown the willingness to do that. Compare his scoring this year to what he was doing 2-3 years ago.

"better options with Pau and Kobe."
Combine the explosiveness he had last season, with the offensive repertoire he has shown in spurts this season (after he figures out how to use everything), and Pau will not be a better option. Throw in the attention that Pau demands from the opponents' defense and Pau's passing ability, with increased minutes as Bynum's conditioning increases and his propensity for dumb fouls decreases, with Kobe's minutes going down somewhat, and his explosiveness decreasing gradually, and Bynum will get his 20 ppg some season in the not-too-distant future.

I'm obviously not as hard on myself as Laker Tom! Although, perhaps I was forecasting further out, to Feb 5??? I retract my apology until the end of the Finals!!

Laker Tom is reasonable to have his confidence in Andrew Bynum.

What do we play for? RINGS!!!!

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

GO LAKERS!

WHAT THE HELL ARE THE CLIPPERS DOING?

PAUL DAVIS IS A GOOD PLAYER!!!

URGH!

Have they gone totally crazy?

Is Mike Dunleavy mad with power?

I don't know. I honestly don't know.

Go Clippers!

GO LAKERS!

I'll tell you where Luke got his injuries from...Luke (Darth Vader impression)..it came from your father. The Lakers should have known that blood runs thicker than the amount of money we decided to dump on his injury prone butt.

Anyway since Luke will be gone, I say we trade for Caron Butler. According to ESPN trade machine, we can trade Luke and Vlad for Caron Butler. muhahahahahhah.

blitz,

>>>>>As long as Kobe-Pau combo is in effect I'm sorry to say that Bynum
>>>>>probably won't get as much touches as you might want him to.
>>>>>Kobe has at least 5 years (assuming he's with the Lakers) and Pau
>>>>>is still at least 5 years effective also. Bynum simply can't get the
>>>>>touches with 2 better offensive players.

>>>>>That's my opinion of course but noticing trends, it looks that way.

I don’t disagree that Kobe and Pau are the Lakers 1-2 punch right now, which is how it should be. If Drew were the Beast, the Lakers would then have a 1-2a/2b punch, which would be better. That is what you will see next year, blitz. Hope you make the cut and are still on the team by then. LOL. JK. It’s all in fun, blitz. But time will show I’m right. Haha.

>>>>>I'll bet now Laker Tom/Eric M./Ex. That Bynum will not average 20ppg this year.
>>>>>If he does then I'll not only say I was wrong but also cheer for the Clippers as well.
>>>>>If he doesn't well what will you guys do? lol. (don't make it too drastic like Charles
>>>>>Barkley and Kenny's donkey or Charles Robinson and his laptop).

What a joke. Of course, Drew won’t do it this year. Next year, probably. Where will the points come from? Probably some from everybody plus a few we didn’t have before. And I think ex is right that Drew at some point will become a bigger threat than Pau. At some point, Drew will become almost as difficult to stop as Shaq was. Of course, he will never score as much as Shaq because that will still be Kobe’s job. But there will come a time, when Drew will take over from Kobe just as Kobe took over from Shaq. Of course, Drew will probably still have Pau around for a few years so the transition should be easier.

You act as if Drew’s play and potential are some form of mirage but that is not the case. There are three possible general explanations for the current play of Drew: (1) His play last year was an anomaly and Drew will never play that well again. (2) His play last year was for real but it will take Drew more time than expected to fully recover from his injury and he will become the player that we saw last year but not a franchise player. (3) Same as #2 but Drew continues to develop and eventually becomes the Next Great Lakers Center and Kobe Bryant’s heir as the Lakers franchise player. We all know you have chosen #1 while a few of us have chosen #3 and most of the blog would probably chose #2. Of course, all of us hope that I am right and you are wrong – LOL, even the great blitz.

JMNSHBO!

Tom

Ex,

I agree with you that Bynum will not be 20 and 10 this year.

20 and 10 will be in the future I think but the question is how long?

Kobe will still be Kobe for about 4 more seasons before any true signs of slowing down. But there has been guys like Karl Malone who still managed 20ppg at age 39.

Michael Jordan at age 39 still got 50 points at one time.

Knowing Kobe's competitive nature he will still average 30+ minutes even at age 34. I mean Fish showed he could still play at a high level (granted not like his prime) even at age 34. KB will still want to see the floor. Plus Pau will still be in the twilight of his prime at 32.

My projection for Bynum is around the 13ppg this season. Then maybe 15ppg then small tiny bits up until 20ppg. That's the projection and things could happen both up and down.

-blitz

Greetings Fellow Lakeshow Fans,

CONGRATULATIONS to Laker Pau Gasol on being named 2008 European Player of the Year by La Gazzetta dello Sport, a premier sports journal overseas. Think of it as our Sports Illustrated per say...

Speaking of Gasol, here comes the NO Hornets into Staples tonight, a team he typically plays well against...

Should be interesting to see who starts at SF...For the purpose of matchups, I would prefer Ariza to start and have Vladimir come off the bench to space the floor for the second unit. BTW, I love the idea of Ariza shadowing Paul for a majority of the time as indicated on an earlier post.

After all, it is imperative for our Lakers to "cut the head off the snake" when it comes to a taking away a team's strength. CP3 IS THAT HEAD!

Other than this obvious strategy, playing tough D will be the order of the day...and, of course, the smart and aggressive play of AB, which will be key on both ends.

Laker pride through ADVERSITY!

Tonight's game actually worries me a bit with Luke out.

If you start Rad, I can guarantee you Peja will be get 2 or 3 wide
open 3-pointers in the first quarter, which will get him on a roll.

If you start Ariza, Peja will be kept in check, but the Lakers
offense (assisted by a good New Orleans defense) may sputter a bit.

Luke is the halfway guy. He's better at staying at home with
a 3-point shooter like Peja and gets the offense going.

All things considered, I think I'd start Ariza tonight and take my
chances that the other four starters can work out the kinks
in the offense.

The Way the Celtics Were – To the Tune The way we were by Streisand

Mmm. Mmm.
Memories, light the corners of my half wit mind
Musty watercolor memories of the way the celts were.
Scattered pictures of the Title we left behind
The Title the Lakers this year took from us
for the way we were.
Can it be that it was all so simple then
or was it just the referees were blind?
If we had the chance to beat the Lakers again
No way would we? No way Could we?
Memories, may be beautiful and yet
The Refs help is too painful to remember
so we simply choose to forget
So it's the KG's Maniac laughter we will remember
whenever we remember
the way we were.

The Celtics rely on Rondo to distributr the ball to the right players at the right times, and when Rondo takes full advantage of the opportunities afforded by the defense having to stick tightly to Pierce, Garnett and Allen, the Celtics can play pretty awesomely.

But maybe it's hard for Rondo to play at his full capabilities when everybody telling him he's about to be replaced by Marbury?

LakerTom,

"tone down his rhetoric and realize his opinions are not fact. In fact, didn’t you say almost the same thing to me before?"

Yep...That was me. And you have my permission to "Blog Slap" me if I ever start sounding like God Almighty, I mean Blitz. It's amazing how an "I think" or "IMO" makes even the most strident comment tolerable.

Yea...I find it hard to believe that we can think so alike about the Lakers yet be so opposite in politics. That is why I refuse to even drive through San Fran. I'm afraid I'll catch whatever it is you got. lol I hear you're looking at increased contributions(taxes) down there to try and keep the socialist utopia afloat. Say it ain't so. LOL

LTLF,

"All things considered, I think I'd start Ariza tonight and take my chances that the other four starters can work out the kinks in the offense."

You act like TA is Ben Wallace. TA is a GREAT athlete who can run the wings, is a bigtime finisher, and yes plays far better defense that Luke.

And as for Luke's "IQ", give me the great athlete any day who will only get BETTER over the next year or two.

Luke has reached his peak, and is on the DOWNSIDE of his career. That's a scary thought isn't it. All he has is smarts...and while I root for the underdog as much as anyone, his "Smarts just don't make up for his MANY physical limitations.

Time for the "Andrew, hit or miss, take 2 sky hooks a game and call us in the morning" bandwagon

... hit or miss or Phil whistling from his perch.

Big minutes tonight for Ariza. Match him up with CP3 and move Kobe to the 3 and put Fisher on whoever starts the 2 for the Hornets (I really don't know? MOPete?)

Agreed?

dave m: "they've been real solid since chauncey came in... and birdman's a difference maker off the bench."

It wasn't an indictment of their play this year. Rather, it just shocked me that 24-12 is the best the franchise has ever done to start the year. They've been around for how long and have never been better than 24-12?