It felt like eons since the Lakers last stepped on the court for a postseason roundball contest.  But once this fateful day did arrive, the end result picked up with some "just happened yesterday" deja vu.  The Lakers remain undefeated in the playoffs, this time due to a 109-98, Mexican food nabbing win over the Jazz.  It was hardly a perfectly executed game for the Purple and Gold, especially during the first period, when Kobe Bryant's 15 points were the primary power source for a cobweb-stricken Laker O. There was also a rebounding index that will be broken down later in greater detail, but at the risk of coming off like the dude who blabbed that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's dad before you actually saw "The Empire Strikes Back," the Lakers came out on the short end of this particular stick. But way more good than bad took place, whether you're talking five Lakers in double figures, the eight blocks (four by Ronny Turiaf alone), or a defense that left the Jazz with an ugly 38% shooting percentage littering the box score.  Kinks will require ironing, but in terms of keeping that first round roll in forward motion, the Lakers did their job.  Until Wednesday's rematch... 

The breakdown is below.

My stellar luck in Big D continues. 

Long of the short of my situation, more issues conspired to doom me while heading to the airport, which prevented the catching of my flight.  I got another one that takes off four hours later, but as you might imagine after getting up at around 4:40 am and catching maybe two and a half hours of sleep, AK ain't the happiest of campers right now.  But rather than pull a "William Henry P." and sulk, I decided to use the downtime in productive fashion.  Thus, I transcribed copy from last night's game.  The same copy that I couldn't work into last night's post-game report because of Internet issues at the AAC.  And then my hotel.  Wow, I'm starting to get again annoyed just thinking about the whole fiasco.  It goes without saying, but I will be seriously happy to get my butt out of this town.

Anyhoo, your purple and gold thoughts... 

PHIL JACKSON

On whether he thinks last night's win was one of their best of the season
"It's one of them, but I think we have 45 other ones that were good, too."

On what went wrong during the second half
"They were playing at the far end of the court, so I couldn't tell them how to run their offense most of the time. (smiles) They got wild and started taking shots that were out of the context of our offense.  Some little things that I thought they did that really weren't well done.  Vladdy (Radmanovic) picked us up and gave us a lift when he came in for Luke (in the fourth)."

On it reaching a point in the West where it's not even about how you win, but just winning
"You have to win ball games and this is about winning ballgames.  Not watching what other people are doing in the conference or relying on somebody else to lose."

I wrote earlier today (in the Question of the Day) that I wouldn't read too much into the result of tonight's game- a strong 105-90 win over the Nets in Joyzey, nor the performance of Pau Gasol in his purple and gold debut.  I didn't say that I wouldn't make some observations, though. We'll get into more of this in tomorrow's broadcast of Purple, Gold, and Blue, at 11:00 am (Kurt Helin from Forum Blue and Gold will be our guest).  Just a few, off the cuff thoughts (i.e., don't get on me for not mentioning certain things...)

• This has the potential to be very, very good. 
• The spacing offensively was outstanding, which is particularly impressive given Gasol's very shallow knowledge of the offense.  The Lakers recorded 27 assists on 38 buckets, a very nice number, particularly on the road, where dimes are a little harder to come by.  With Gasol in the lineup, they have a ton of guys who move the ball well, and any extra room on the court will improve the work of the weaker passers, too. 
• Pau's face up game should mesh very nicely with a healthy Bynum, a hi-lo thing that could be awful constructive.
• If the ball movement can stay effective, guys on the perimeter are going to get a TON of clean looks.  If I'm Rad, Sasha, and Farmar, I'm a very happy camper. 
• Once Drew returns, the Lakers have the potential to be monsters on the glass.  And along those lines, personally I found LO's performance tonight to be very encouraging. If this is what they'll get out of him going forward, it'll be great.  He influenced the game in a big way, but didn't have to score.  14/15/5, off 13 FTs.  Anytime he gets to the line 13 times, that's good. 
• By the way, the Lakers won by 15, and Kobe scored six points.  Yeah, the Nets suck- really, they suck- but still, how often does that happen?

Plenty more tomorrow.

BK

Last night's win against the Knicks ran pretty late, so I didn't have time to transcribe all of the player copy, but I wanted to make sure y'all got a complete taste of the locker room jabber.  Some Ronny Turiaf and Jordan Farmar items (to go along with previously posted nuggets from PJ/Kobe/Sasha Vujacic), plus some thoughts from Derek Fisher after Sunday's loss to Cleveland, the third defeat in a row. 

During those losses, there had been much talk about production being picked up during Andrew Bynum's absence (and frankly, those conversations don't end after last night's win).  Is this a question of a player emerging as the unspoken (or even spoken) second option (and if so, "who" remains a mystery) or was it simply a matter of everybody upping their numbers a bit? Fish thought the latter scenario was the ticket and as last night's showing of six double-figure scorers showed, the savvy vet may be onto something.  We also talked about the offensive tweaks that'll be required until mid-March (since no other Laker is truly capable of duplicating the options Bynum creates) and how, while winning is still a possibility, how much smaller a margin for error the team has running their game without Drew (an aspect that hasn't been talked about much, but can't possibly be overstated).  Here's what everyone had to say.

AK

Between working solo (no offense to Mom, who brought her A-Game to the proceedings but didn't do any actual typing), not having the chance to pick up the audio recorder at BK's before the game and the ridiculous length a TNT broadcast takes to end, I wasn't able to get y'all much in the way of post-game copy.  Unless I was willing to remain at Staples until about 1 am, of course, but to put it bluntly, I wasn't.  That said, I wanted to make sure everyone got their fill of purple and gold quotes, so here you go.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the night wasn't necessarily seeing Kobe setting up guys so frequently, since we've seen plenty of games where he's racked mucho dimes.  But I did find it noteworthy that he'd look to do so immediately, despite the squad missing some key bodies.  I realize he was looking to make Denver pay for double and triple teaming him, but at the same time, Kobe hasn't always taken that approach while facing swarms of defenders in the past.  I don't think it's going out on a limb to say Kobe's history has included forcing the issue and not, as the expression goes, "letting the game come to him."  Thus, Kobe deserves praise for not only exercising self-discipline, but also extreme confidence in his running mates from minute one.  Obviously, it won't be like that every night, since supporting cast shots won't always fall and there will be nights where the league's best player needs to dominate, especially down the stretch.  But I always think it's a great sign when Kobe doesn't appear pressed to take over from the jump, so I asked a few people (including Kobe) about that aspect of the win.  Here's what he (and others) had to say about that and other topics.  In particular, I thought Derek Fisher had some good insight, espcially to my "chicken/egg" query.

Worst... refereed... game... ever.

I didn't realize until tonight that the NBA occasionally lets interns run a game while unsupervised, but that was apparently the case during tonight's 114-108 loss to the Cavs.  I can honestly say I've never seen three refs less in control.  To say the wheels came off the rails would infer that there was a train running smooth at one point.  Casey Jones had gone loco from the opening tip.  What began as phantom contact drawing whistles with rough house play on both ends going unpunished evolved into calling everything so over-zealously that I expected a courtside fan to foul out.  And beyond that, the trio often seemed confused, unorganized, lost.  Maybe even homesick, who knows?  To say the least, a disjointed affair.

Mind you, the refs didn't "lose this game" for the Lakers.  Despite the chaos, L.A. could have taken this bad boy.  Their lack of D against an offensively challenged LeBrons squad (and LeBron in particular) was the biggest culprit, with a sub 70% clip at the line and a lack of timely rebounding tied for a close second.  But it wouldn't surprise if the crummy referee flow put the Lakers off their collective game.  It certainly couldn't have helped matters.  Then again, as this five game streak has shown, putting the Purple and Gold on tilt ain't exactly mission impossible these days.

To quote Latka Graves during my favorite episode of "Taxi," "Hard to get happy after that one."

More to come later.  (NOW ADDED, AFTER THE JUMP)

AK

 

Yeah, it wouldn't be this team if they didn't make things more complicated than need be down the stretch. But it was a huge win with huge stakes. Not only did the Lakers take firm control of that 7 seed, but they put even more distance between themselves and the Hornets. Should they come up short against Chris Paul and his sidekicks on Sunday, they'll be happy to have that cushion.

Apparently, yesterday's extra film session wasn't actually spent watching a DVD of Walk the Line. Whatever was said and pointed out by Phil, his boys took it to heart. Best display of team D and overall defensive awareness in quite some time. If I were PJ, I'd make these guys watch film before going home tonight. And more film tomorrow at 7 a.m. Phil can give them some lollipops before each screening, just so the team doesn't feel unrewarded after a great effort.

X factor? None other than Kwame Brown. 21 points, 12 boards and energy off the charts. As I commented during Brian's live blog, I wouldn't pencil those numbers in as Kwame's averages for the next month. Aside from the fact that Sacto sports the softest inside presence this side of jello, it's not like he hasn't teased fans before. But the kid's definitely done some nice work of late and may very well have been the difference behind this win. I kinda wish Kobe had missed one basket, just so Kwame could have ended up the leading scorer. He doesn't get the opportunity often, so it's a shame to see him come up a point short. And if he hadn't been named Carl's Jr. Star of the Game, I would have forever boycotted that B.S. fast food chain. Except when they're doing waffle fries promotions, of course. Those babies is good.

AK

Sure, they made everyone sweat a touch. But the Lakers (Kobe, LO and Smush, in particular) came though in the end, nudging out the Hornets 113-107. Huge win on a couple fronts. For starters, the Lakers' third quarter began like deja vu all over again. But instead of letting the entire twelve minutes spin out of control, they manned up and got things under control, even finishing ahead by a point. Hopefully, they'll remember that success the next time things go awry to begin a second half. It was also important because Sacto and Utah won. I imagine y'all prefer them 1.5 games back.

All that and Jim Jackson's first bucket in a purple and gold uni. Welcome aboard, Jimmy!

Stop repeatedly rubbing your peepers in disbelief and rechecking the ESPN's box score. You're reading things correctly. The Lakers actually beat the Pistons. Detroit's known for their D, but it was the Lakers putting the clamps down, allowing only 16 points in the 4th and never letting go off their lead. They owned the boards (Kwame alone had a dozen). Four players hit double figures. And Kobe should get an endorsement deal from whatever sinus medicine he's on, because what better advertisement can a product get than a guy scoring back to back 40's after downing it?

Enjoy the win and hope the team can bottle the vibe until Monday when the Spurs arrive. If they can put together another night like this against San Antonio, eyebrows will certainly be raised.

And if Lakers fans want to take something positive away from that mess against Boston, that's a start. Not to say there weren't any purple and gold highlights. Kobe's game, obviously. LO and Smush coming alive down the stretch was great, if you don't count the missed free throws. Unfortunately, you must, and their combined 8 for 17 represents opportunity lost. In the end, though, the defense (or lack of anything remotely resembling it) was the the Lakers' Achilles heel.

Speaking of the ol' Achilles, AK ran into Laron Profit in the locker room after the game. He said the surgery went well, he's rehabbing hard, and looking forward to a playing next season. When told about the support and concern coming from the blog's readers after he went down, Profit emphatically said to relay his thanks.

It's hard to believe, but a big-time Lakers win over Miami- complete with a Kobe/Shaq hug out, a near triple-double by LO, a few D-Wade thunder dunks (Give the dude credit,folks... He can play) and #8's typical late minute "money ball"- managed to get completely upstaged. Entirely. By a lightning in a bottle kinda thing. Lotta stuff went down that night, but there's one moment that will remain with me for quite some time. With approximately three minutes left in the first half, I watched Andrew Bynum officially lose the title of "rookie" and take on a brand new label:

Rock Star.

His three first half minutes head to head with Shaq electrified Staples in a way I haven't witnessed in person since the first PJ era. It felt like a concert. You'd have thought Bono was playing center, the way that kid had the crowd on their feet and in the palm of his hand. To watch him battle the Big Fella was absolutely awesome. Everything about it, from start to finish. Even the part when Shaq severely posterized him, which I was terrified would leave Bynum with a broken neck. He looked somewhere between helpless and dead. It was like watching the roof collapse on a wheelchair bound puppy. But the kid got up, brushed himself off, sprinted down court, and on the very next possession, faked the Diesel on a spin move for a buoyant dunk. Bouncing like a Super Ball and stoked outta his skull, he even gave Shaq a little elbow action on the very next possession, which was met with a forearm shiver that would have intimidated many an Ultimate Fighter. And just for good measure, their little scuffle gets broken up by Kobe Bryant, the man who spent his first eight seasons feuding with Shaq! Are you kidding me?! You could bring together a team of Oscar winning writers and still not come up with that script.

That, my friends, is a full three minutes!

It reminded me of that scene in Goodfellas, when the young Henry Hill gets pinched selling black market smokes, but gets through his trial without saying a word or giving up any of Paulie's crew. As he leaves the court house with Jimmy Conway (who just slipped him a roll of Hundys), all the wiseguys are outside, whooping it up, and Paulie yells out "You broke your cherry!" That's what the night felt like with Bynum. You couldn't have squeezed a bigger gut check into three minutes, and he passed with flying colors. I'm not saying he's the second coming of Shaq in his prime. I'm not even declaring him a future All-Star yet. The kid's still raw, got a lot to learn, and would currently get crushed by Shaq if they battled 30-40 minutes. Sorry, but it's true. And that's no biggie. As a teenager, Henry Hill wasn't quite ready to organize the Lufthansa heist, either. But during those three minutes, Bynum displayed charisma, energy and major, major balls. And everyone in the audience is now dying to see an encore.

What else do you need from a rock star?

AK

It's not exactly going out on a limb to predict the Lakers would struggle while Kobe serves his two-game suspension. Thus, tonight's 98-94 loss to Utah should be about as shocking as Paris Hilton craving attention. It's not a given they couldn't win. After all, the Jazz are still pretty average. But the Lakers sans Kobe won't scare anybody, so it's pretty much a coin flip, with the Lakers coming out on the bum side of the nickel.

Ever since the fallout from elbow-gate was announced, lot o' talk's been thrown around the blog regarding Sir Ocho, with opinions ranging wider than Bynum's wingspan. I've seen everything from cries for a Kobe trade to fans actually rooting for 2 Kobe-less losses as cementing proof of his worth. Say what you want about the dude, but he's apparently impossible to watch without forming an opinion. Whether he'll finish his career better than LeBron and/or Wade remains to be seen (there's too much basketball left in all three to form an even remotely educated opinion). But when it comes to eliciting emotional responses, he's a first ballot Hall of Famer and the other two are living on ten-day contracts.

Anyway, the game...

As one would expect after a loss like last night's, the mood in the Lakers locker room was a touch... how shall we put it... miffed.  A three game skid was not the way the team wanted to close out 2005 (although at 15-14, they're still playing above preseason expectations). As always, Kobe attracted a slew of microphones, and while clearly disappointed, he gave some pretty candid thoughts on remaining optimistic, his flagrant foul on Mike Miller, and the need to toughen up while playing in the 213. Here are some of the highlights from a short Q & A.

On giving up 3's at the end of the game
We really focus on winning games on the defensive end... When we make mistakes offensively, we come down and get stops defensively and not give them easy looks. We didn't do a good job of that tonight. We gave them too many open looks down the stretch and they knocked them down.

On the final Lakers possession (Kobe drives, miss, Mihm misses the put back)
I definitely got fouled. That's why I never go to the basket. They're just going to swallow the whistle.

On Phil Jackson stating that he wasn't worried about the losing streak, and not taking it hard
I feel the same way he does. As frustrating as it is to lose these games, I feel exactly the same way he does. We're not soft. We just have to do a better job of finishing off quarters and starting the third quarter right away. Those little mental lapses that we may have, man, it just comes with inexperience... They have some savvy veterans over there. They knew how to exploit us.

On needing to do a better job protecting their home court
That's how we have to play. We have to be aggressive here. This is our home court. We can't just allow people to drive down the lane... dunk on us. That just can't happen. We have to stop that. We have to be more physical, especially at Staples Center. We have to establish that.

On the elbow he gave Mike Miller, which drew a flagrant.
I hit him, yeah... Any player that was going to come down the lane at that particular point and time, I was going to let him know that they just can't walk through there. I think we as a team have to do a better job of establishing that and me as a leader of the ball club, I have to take initiative to do that. And hopefully, everybody else will see that, especially with this being our home court. People come in here... It's Hollywood and all that stuff. They're gonna come down here and look pretty. Shoot jump shots. Dunk the ball. Finger roll the ball and all that cute stuff. We gotta stop that.

On the elbow to Miller being as much a message to Kobe's teammates as Lakers opponents
Yeah, we can't allow people to come down here and play Globetrotter ball. We gotta make a stand.

On never having the lead in OT
It sucks. It's as simple as that.

All those who predicted the Lakers would come home from this road trip 5-1, raise your hands.

All those with their hands raised who aren't actually lying, keep your hands up.

All those with their hands still up... Dude, you people are such liars!!!

I'll say it right now. I'm shocked. Shocked. A team still learning their offense, coming off a skin of the teeth home win vs. the Bobcats, embarking on a 6 game voyage and racking up 5 W's, the last of which was an absolute buttocks-whipping? I wouldn't have bet that getting 10-1 odds. But that's how it went down in Graceland, with the Lakers basically in control from start to finish. Naysayers will say the win comes with a caveat, since Shane Battier and Bobby Jackson were donning civvies. But the Lakers were more tired than Al Pacino's Insomnia character, so that squares things up. And even if it doesn't, a win's a win... except when it's a road spanking. Then it's more than a win. The Lakers should feel pretty stoked coming back to Staples for Friday's game against Washington, although I imagine they're mostly gonna feel the need for a nap.

Thoughts on the game...

Some think there's no such thing as a good loss, but I disagree in the case of the Lakers 90-84 loss to the Spurs. Put that first quarter aside (a tempting offer, considering how ugly L.A. played) and I think this was the best The Lakers have looked in a while. The Spurs are a team they have no business beating. Seriously, their bench smokes the Lakers' starting five. By miles. And the Lakers are missing Devean George, Kwame Brown and Slava. The Laker Nation should actually feel pretty stoked about this one, despite clocking another "L." It was far from perfect, with that "Okay, for real... Can Kobe and LO actually play together?" matter still a bigger mystery than the Iraq exit strategy. But the team was more energetic, more so than the usual Kobe-watching strategy. Keep up that kind of effort on a regular basis, and they'll inch themselves closer to .500... And maybe further.

Anyhoo, the game...

Well, at least it's a sports spectacle not involving T.O. But let's be honest. Two fairly average teams  squaring off, no matter who's coaching them, is barely worthy of a one ring circus, much less the three ring extravaganza the media has tried to create out of it. But it did provide relief for Lakers fans convinced they have the worst constructed, least flexible roster in the NBA. Please! The Knicks make L.A. look like a team built for the ages and way under the cap. How a payroll with those players tops 110 mil is beyond me. There ain't a franchise guy in sniffing distance. Even Laker fans unhappy over a lack of depth or stars must admit, Kupchak at least has a plan, regardless of whether or not you think the plan makes sense or is being executed properly. Isaiah's route feels like letting a recovering alcoholic hang out with Tara Reid at an open bar. A lack of self control will rear its ugly head. (Let's see... Jerome James? Starbury and Crawford in the same backcourt? Jerome James???)

Anyway, the game...

...Even if it's a weird one.

For those who missed tonight's win against Atlanta, consider yourselves lucky. You get to cheer a Purple and Gold victory without having sat through it. If there's a way for a game to be uniquely bizarre, yet still boring, this one pulled it off. Granted, it wasn't entirely the players fault (Unless part of Hawks rooks hazing involves wiring Philips Arena- more on that later). But this wasn't the easiest one in the world to sit through. But, as Brian pointed out earlier today, the Lakers need to shred the bad teams, and that's what they did. So here are the highlights (of sorts) from this four game road trip's opener...

From this point on, they all count, kids! The Lakers closed out the preseason on a high, taking out the Kings 105-103 while playing in Vegas. (No word yet as to whether or not Bynum managed to play a few hands of blackjack) On one hand, the Lakers let the Kings back in this one, allowing them to make a game of it.  On the flip side, they did gut it out for a W, which might have not been the result last season, when the tendency was to fold like a guy asked to call an all-in with a 6 high. Glass half full or half empty? You decide. Either way, the Lakers went 6-2 this preseason, certainly better than fans or Phil Jackson (his teams traditionally suck around this time) could have possibly expected.

Your highlights:

Andrew Bynum was officially, finally in the house.

He's turning 18 on Friday, but got an early gift tonight, at long lost cleared to play after suffering an abdominal strain during camp. The verdict: Not half bad. It's a little early to declare him an all-star in the making, but he did a lot more than simply avoid embarrassing himself. Perhaps he was simply following the good example set for him, as this was probably the Lakers' best effort the entire preseason, especially during the first half. Granted, they were battling the Jazz, a bad team even without the injured Carlos Boozer. But this kind of effort, especially on defense, could spark some W's even against some heavy hitters.

Anyway, some highlights: