St. Magic

I'll admit it, this brought a tear to my eye. My favorite player of all time, just being himself.

"You have to understand, I love L.A., I love being our ambassador, I love bringing people together," he said. "It's funny, but I guess it still feels like I'm playing point guard, but in a different way, doing stuff more meaningful than winning."

Can you beat That?

I think I can take Erik, but Sam will beat me. 95%ALCOHOLIC

Want to be a x ray technician?

Merry Christmas To Us!

Nice win by the good guys yesterday... there is no way to spin that game as being a bad performance by Phoenix, or a hot streak by LA. Both teams were playing at a pretty high level (especially compared to the previous dog of a game - Miami/Cleveland), but the Lakers are just better, more versatile, and far deeper.

And what a great move by Phil inserting Ariza into the starting lineup! That makes the starting unit better defensively and better at rebounding. Oh yeah, he can also throw down the occasional SICK dunk:



Not sure this will last -- we'll see what happens when everyone is healthy. Or even Friday against a bruising Utah team we may see Turiaf in there instead, or Kwame once he is healthy.

Although, are the Lakers a better team with Kwame and Luke out?

did you blink? NBA thoughts...

Apparently...according to Hollinger we dropped a spot from #3 to #4. I wish I could remember his comment during our brief stint ranked in the top 3 all league. It was some Kobe slight where his point was basically when Kobe doesn't play well the Lakers are actually better.

Portland just ticked off 10 in a row. I have to respect the way they flipped that organization. A distinct transformation from the Jailblazers. And this is without Oden. This is a team to watch in the next few years.

Bynum...Can the kid really keep this up? Phil said he may come off the bench when Kwame returns. [are you havin' a laugh?] . This hasn't been Phil's best coaching in his Laker tenure, but you have to play this kid big minutes with Kobe. You have to love the Kobe to Bynum lobs. We see it more every game.

Happy Hoops, & Happy Holidays!

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? IV

3-0 last week including a win at Denver. People who rank the Nuggets higher than the Lakers make Bart sad.

#6 - Sagarin/usatoday.com
#7 - Schuhmann/nba.com
#10- Meija/cbssportsline.com
#8 - dime magazine
#7 - Hollinger/espn.com
#8 - Steyn/espn.com
#9 - Burns/si.com
#10- Murphy/covers.com


The comment at covers.com: "Three strong offensive showings in a row have masked the fact that the Lakers aren't playing a lick of defense."

Hey! Oh... wait, that's kinda true.

I Kidd, I Kidd

I'll be damned if Bill Friggin' Simmons didn't come up with a plausible "Kidd to the Lakers" trade scenario:

Los Angeles gets Kidd, Augustine and Madsen; Orlando gets Radmanovic; New Jersey gets Kwame, Telfair, Crittendon and a lottery-protected No. 1 from the Lakers in 2008; Minnesota gets Garrity, Vujacic and $600,000 from the Lakers.

That... just... might... work? I hate anything that breaks up a really good bench right now, but at the same time that's a trade that brings in a star without giving up Bynum, Odom, or Farmar:

Starters
- Kidd
- Kobe
- Odom
- Turiaf
- Bynum

Bench Mob
- Farmar
- Fish
- Luke
- Ariza
- Mihm

Garbage Collectors
- Mad Dog
- Coby
- Whoever the hell "James Augustine" is

Royce with the blocked shot

A player pulls up and shoots over Jamaal Tinsley:

Tinsley's group had arrived at the club in three cars owned by the player -- a Mercedes, a Rolls Royce and a Dodge Charger. Thompson said a group of people gathered around the Rolls Royce and gave Tinsley a hard time about his cars and his earnings.

After Tinsley and friends left, they realized they were being followed by a gray Chrysler and a dark pickup truck, Thompson said.

Instead of going home, Tinsley's group pulled into the Conrad Hotel, a downtown luxury hotel, where the shooting began. Tinsley's Rolls Royce was struck by several bullets, and five bullet holes were found in the Charger, police said.

Better trade him and JO to the Lakers then. (Actually, please don't.)

Lakers Noogie Nuggs

Jon Barry is fine, but while Farmar was getting torched by AI, he actually said "why don't they put Fisher on him, he's a good defender." If by that he means, Fisher extends his defend so far past the 3 point line that when he inevitably gets torched, he's failed to guide the offensive player to the help defense" then I agree.

Lamar looked totally lost. He really shouldn’t shoot threes.

This just in: Kobe is incredible. Iverson had 49 points at the end of the third quarter. Kobe came in and held him to 2 points. (oh yeah, Kobe also scored 14.) I know the NBA is a team defensive game, but that still falls on the individual player- you have to slow the guy down, move him against his tendency and, when he gets past you, guide him to the help. Kobe guards the best guard or small foreword whenever it matters and still carries the offensive load.

This Laker team (which I don’t think highly of) would beat any of Jordan’s Bull teams. Although, whether you use 1980s refs or 2007 refs might matter.

Every Man has a Price

"I got a call from my agent wondering if I wanted to do a commercial with [Wade] and I said, 'Yeah' " [Clipper Paul] Davis said.

"He said, 'The only thing is . . . you kind of, sort of, get dunked on.' "

"I said, 'Well how much is it for?'

And he told me and I said, 'I'll get dunked on for that.'

Oh Kwame, Where Art Thou?

Gotta love home-and-road back-to-back games... pretty much set the Lakers up for defeat in Utah, not that they didn't help by playing like crap anyway. I have to believe they can come up with a schedule a little more fair than that.

Anyway, Orlando and Dwight Howard tonight. I can't believe I'm saying this, but boy would it be nice to have Kwame healthy to guard that beast in the post. Someone -- I'm looking at you Chris Mihm -- needs to use all 6 fouls against him.

Also the homecoming for Mo and Cook. Hopefully the fans show them some love, unlike those crackers in Utah inexcusably booing D-Fish.

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? pt. III

Not a good week last week... 3 game losing streaks are never fun. It certainly gave some of the haters a chance to drop the Lakers down where they belong... below the, uh, Nets, Bucks, Warriors, and Nuggets?

Rank (last week) -- mostly as of Tuesday the 27th (pre Seattle win).

Lakers #5 (4) - Sagarin/USA Today [as of 11/30]
Lakers #15 (9) - Meija/CBS
Lakers #11 (7) - Stein/ESPN
Lakers #5 (4) - Hollinger/ESPN [as of 11/30]
Lakers #15 (6) - Dime Magazine/FoxSports
Lakers #15 (8) - Schuhmann/NBA.com
Lakers #14 (11) - Burns/SI
Lakers #14 (6) - Murphy/Covers.com

2nd tier

ok, so we're not elite in the west...still it was nice to handle denver, a legit 2nd tier team. this was a good game for kobe to break out of his poor shooting slump. you knew it was coming, but some of the shots he threw in tonight were beyond creative....multiple fade away turn around jumper bank shots that were money. great home win, and a good way to answer a 3 game skid by running a couple back to back.

btw - another double double for socks bynum.. can he do this for 82 games?

Big game tonight

Tough loss at Milwaukee... Lakers controlled that game until the 4th, and then no one on the Bucks could miss a shot no matter how contested.

Celtics are 9-1 having played only one good team -- Orlando -- and lost. So with the Laker game tonight, they are showing some, um... love?

"There are a lot of people talking about how the Western Conference is head over heels above the East," Pierce said. "The Lakers will be a good test for us."

Pierce added: "no homo." I love how reporters leave that stuff in, rather than editing like, "is head [and shoulders] above the East."

SWSBOGW

Nice win by the Lakers last night, but it was the Pacers so... let's talk about the Knicks.

They got trounced by the Warriors last night in front of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who actually said afterward: "I'm sorry that the New York Knicks lost. They've been playing poorly, very poorly, and I'm disappointed."

This prompted the best line of the year from one of the SportsCenter crew: "Confronted by millions around the world without clean water, even the Secretary-General is sickened by Knick basketball!"

(SWSBOGW = some would say because of global warming)

No Mo: Cook and Evans for Trevor Ariza

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Lakers traded forwards Brian Cook and Maurice Evans to Orlando today for Trevor Ariza, an athletic 6-foot-7 swingman who made a name for himself when he played at UCLA.

Sad to see Mo going... no such love for Cookie since he can't defend anyone. We're getting back a 4th-year player who was named a starter for Orlando this year, but has yet to round into form after battling foot tendinitis. I remember him being pretty good on a lousy Knicks team his rookie year. Real explosive and a good defender at 6'-8" and will probably play mostly PF considering Luke and VladRad off the bench. Which means.. Luke is the new Ko-B?

Stephon Marbury said in Ariza's rookie season: "After watching him the first week of camp, we knew we had a steal." And don't question starbury because he has some damaging info on all y'all motherfuckers.

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? part II

Lakers went 3-1 in the last week with a loss at SA, win at Houston, and home wins against Detroit and Chicago. Pretty good week, so one would assume their rank should reflect that. Not so for that idiot Marty Burns, who has the Pistons at #8 after going 2-3 on a west coast trip that included a loss at Sacramento. Otherwise some pretty decent love here.

Oh, and covers.com would like you to know that the 6-3 Lakers are 7-2 against the spread.

• Lakers #4 (8 last week) - Sagarin/USA Today
• Lakers #9 (13) - Meija/CBS
• Lakers #7 (10) - Stein/ESPN
• Lakers #4 (NR) - Hollinger/ESPN
• Lakers #?? (14) - Heisler?/LA Times (no idea where this went)
• Lakers #6 (7) - Dime Magazine/FoxSports
• Lakers #8 (10) - Schuhmann/NBA.com
• Lakers #11 (9) - Burns/SI
• Lakers #6 (12) - Murphy/Covers.com

LA Times Lakers Blog

One of the guys co-authored Fishing on the Edge, the autobiography of 2003 Bassmaster Classic champion Mike Iaconelli.

bench...

great bench play against the confused bulls squad. the walton pass to farmar was on a "whole nuba' level". kwame's injury looked ugly, but if we keep mihm and bynum healthy it's not a huge blow to the rotation. i'm praying this isn't another omen to consecutive injury plagued seasons. 6-3. great start and great heart.

Phil's Man Crush

Too appropriate for this blog not to post... Phil's comment after the SA loss:

"We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game because there's so much
penetration and kick-outs"

Then nobody of any importance got upset, so Phil had to apologize to "cowboys, Texans, horses." And zinged ESPN for making it an issue.

Is it me, or is that joke simply not a gay joke? You could use pretty much any movie known for sex. Which I guess they don't make anymore, except for porn or straight-to-skinemax.

Poll: Nervous Time

(from Sony who doesn't have post permissions yet)

What Makes You Most Nervous?

1. Lamar chucking up a 3
2. Fisher leading a fast break
3. Fisher driving into the paint
4. A hard interior pass to Kwame
5. Vlad guarding someone

Who's Not Honoring Me Now?

One of my pet peeves is the weekly NBA Rankings on various sites -- you can really smell the bias. The best is Sagarin's computer ranking which uses a computer algorithm based on win margin, schedule strength, etc. The worst is usually Tony Meija from CBS, who is a full hater, but the LA Times is also homer hater which may be worse:

Lakers #8 - Sagarin/USA Today (thru 11/12)
Lakers #13 - Meija/CBS (thru 11/12)
Lakers #10 - Stein/ESPN (thru 11/11)
Lakers #14 - Heisler?/LA Times (thru 11/10)
Lakers #14 - ??/FoxSports
Lakers #10 - Schuhmann/NBA.com (11/11)
Lakers #9 - Burns/SI (11/12)
Lakers #12 - Murphy/Covers.com (11/12)

post away

I think they bonked my other blog. for now this is it. post away if you have a lakers man crush (no homo).