Before last night's "return from exile" basketball performance with his new Celtics squad, there was apparently some sketch comedy in the works as well. I ran across the "Me and Stephon!" series while looking for his self-filmed statement to NY Fans upon his release from the Knicks, which is actually a pretty odd clip in its own right. (I imagine the "we can all say we had an experience here" sentiment must provide tons of solace to those patrons who paid those MSG prices for seats over the last few seasons.) Apparently, the clips of a chance meeting between L.A. actor Brendan McNamara and Starbury have been making the rounds over the week or so, but they unfortunately flew under my radar and I wanted to make sure they didn't do the same with y'all, because this is pretty entertaining.
As I wrote in yesterday's post, the jury is still out on how much Steph will help Boston. I definitely wouldn't have pursued him were I Mitch Kupchak. He ranks below even Tim Thomas on the list of dudes I'd give a long-term deal. But after watching this quartet of Curb Your Enthusiasm meets NBA TV meets "That's ^$%@# Stephon Marbury at a bus stop!" bits, gotta be honest... I kinda wanna party with the guy. This also goes a way to explain why Steph was so comfortable riffing with me at Staples. It's a shame I didn't know the guy back in the day when I performed with a live improv group. He could have brought something to the table.
Let's start with the obvious- any game played is an opportunity to win, and the Lakers didn't get it done Friday night in Denver, losing 90-79 to the Nuggets. Then there were the missed opportunities to score. 66 of them, at least from the floor- seven of which were sent away by Denver's resident Birdman (as opposed to the resident Birdmen of Alcatraz and WWF, respectively). Yep, LA shot a miserable 28-94 on the night, 29.8%, leading to another missed opportunity: Jordan Farmar's meaningless layup at the end of the game prevented the Lakers from establishing a new franchise low for shooting in a game. The game was ugly either way. At least they could have left us with a more colorful historical footnote to write about. Second worst doesn't have the same cache.
As AK mentioned last night, the love, or lack thereof, was spread all through the roster. One night after shooting a combined 21-25, Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom went 15-48. The bench, who had a redemptive night against the Suns were effectively neutered by the Nuggets. Seven points for the five guys who clocked in. There are other ugly numbers in the box score, but I'll let you dig 'em up.
While nobody likes excuses, there are explanations.
Rarely does a box score really tell the whole story. But if you take a gander at this bad boy (and I do mean,
baaaaaaaaaad boy), you get a very telling indication of why the Lakers couldn't come out on top. Save D.J. Mbenga's 1-1 effort, only (Pau Gasol) had more points (18) than field goals attempts (13). Derek Fisher was Even Steven (seven apiece). From there, everyone else's hucks bested their tally, leaving them with both a 30% clip from the field as a team, along with a 90-79 loss.
Feel free to cite other aspects like fatigue (late night/early morning arrival into Denver), foul trouble, defensive lapses, inconsistent reffing, or J.R. Smith (22 points) and Chris Anderson (seven blocks) playing huge off the Nugs' bench. But in the end, you still gotta unite ball and net. The Lakers were absolutely inept on the offensive end in a way that couldn't be overcome. Not even by Denver's own rotten play.
Oh well, losses happen to the best of them. And with the Lakers now 48-11, they happily don't occur all that often.
AK Photo: Like the Lakers, Pau Gasol falls. Credit: David Zalubowski / Associated Press
Back end of a back-to-back, high above sea
level, against a team that seems to be overlooked despite a
(as of Tuesday) .680 winning percentage. Chauncey Billups has added
order and presence on the perimeter, 'Melo has raised his game, and
Nene has solidified the middle of a defense that had all the interior strength of a cherry cordial. These Nuggs guys play some D, folks. A tired Lakers squad falls behind early,
then is put away by a strong fourth quarter from the home team.
Some of those things still apply. The Lakers played last night, arrived late into Denver, which is still at high altitude. Nene, after missing games with knee issues, will be back in uniform tonight, and (as Kobe will tell you in the vids below) Chauncey has made a huge difference for George Karl's bunch. On the other hand, the .680 winning percentage is down to .655 after losses in three of their last four games, and the Lakers are hardly tired after poleaxing the Suns Thursday night.
But, as I mention to Jeremy Wagner of the Roundball Mining Company, I think the Nuggets are a team that deserves more attention from Lakers fans. A little more respect, if you will. They're not a threat on the level of Utah or San Antonio, but still a squad I've decided to take seriously. Good call? I asked Jeremy for his thoughts:
For the first time in his professional career, Marbury won't be wearing half a snowman on his back and chest, Dennis Johnson (3) and Larry legend (33) having beaten him to the punch). And besides going into "full Frosty" mode, there are major other firsts in Starbury's long, sometimes prosperous, always strange professional life. He won't be making a boatload of cheddar to play ball. Nor will he be the face, focal point, "man," or any other adjective used to describe a team's star/alpha male. Marbury's career has been nothing if not the polar opposite of
"boring," and this just adds another wrinkle to an intriguing string of
madness. The entire basketball watching community's peepers will be fixed on Beantown with curiosity about how this will play out. I'd be lying if I claimed not to be interested. I'd also be lying if I claimed to have an inkling as to how this will shake out.
And neither does anybody else, if they're willing to be honest.
A tough season for the Phoenix Suns was given no reprieve upon arriving to face the purple and gold. New
coach. No Amare Stoudemire. No Steve Nash. And as mentioned in last night's report, a whole lotta Goran Dragic. If that sounds like the formula for an easy peasy Laker victeezy, it's ain't your first day at the basketball analyzin' rodeo. The 132-106 win began with some traded baskets, followed by a 22-6 Laker run, followed by very little worries for the home team's box score. The gap grew so wide that dudes like Adam Morrison and D.J. Mbenga were able to get some rare first half run (Tacos in particular did himself nicely), indicative of a scenario one-sided enough that the Lakers could enter "loose and fun" mode.
How nutty did things get? You had the hops-illy challenged Sasha Vujacic attempting a throwdown. Result? "E" for effort, "F" for "Flight." By Sasha's own admission to me after the game, it was more of an "interesting layup."
No Steve Nash tonight. Word is he won't play thanks to an ankle injury suffered Tuesday against the Bobcats. Those of you with Leandro Barbosa and Goran Dragic on your fantasy teams, go ahead and get jiggy with it. Assuming, you know, people still do that sort of thing. I don't. This how I roll. (This is how Andy rolls.)
We've all seen how the second unit has performed of late, and it's something that has the attention of the coaching staff (and not in a good way). "I haven't been happy with our younger guys out there," Phil Jackson said. "I don't think they've been really feeding the system the way you have to feed the system for everyone to stay happy." Too much individual play, not enough ball movement when the break isn't there and they have to settle into a halfcourt game. One idea kicked around among the coaches? Moving Luke Walton to the bench (or having him run more with that group, at the very least) to help grease the wheels something we kicked around today on the podcast. We're like geniuses!
Only three of the eight guys on the cover of Phoenix's media guide will actually take the floor tonight- Barbosa, Shaq and Grant Hill. Nash and Amare Stoudamire are both injured. Boris Diaw, Raja Bell have been traded, Terry Porter fired. Next year, don't be surprised if they just go with a pic of the Gorilla.
Stuff Andrew Bynum said, questions omitted: "I haven't started running yet. I'm biking and on the elliptical, so that's progress. It feels fine. Very little pain. I'm optimistic. It's feeling really good, and I just hope everything keeps going the way it is now... It's a totally different kind of injury than the one last year. That was more internal, this time it's more outside. Much more superficial. You can feel on it, and know exactly where you need to put the stim, where you need to have massages, and stuff like that. This one's a lot easier than last year's... Right now, all I know is it feels good to me, and I think I'll be able to at least come back and contribute... (A typical day) is to wake up and go to rehab, then to practice. That's it really. Then do a lot more at-home treatment... I have no idea (when I'll start running). They haven't discussed that yet..."
And there you have it. Chat box below! See you at tip time. BK
It's nothing short of astonishing that a little more than one year ago, the purple and gold's Pacific Division
rival was considered at best, a legit title threat and, at worst, one of the more purely entertaining teams of recent memory. And now... they're a train wreck worse than the one Dr. Richard Kimble evaded in "The Fugitive."
Popular Events
As the Lakers get set to defend their title, Lakers tickets are going to be huge all season. Dodgers tickets and Angels tickets are also in high demand with another season of MLB baseball underway.
