Who's Not Honoring Me Now? (i)

OK, let's get this bloggy started right, let's get this bloggy started quickly.

We've had a few weeks to digest all the comings and goings around the league, so it's prediction time, but that'll be another post. Time to find out Who's Not Honoring Me Now -- I'd guess that numnut Marty Burns, but no, Marc Stein is this week's designated Hater.

Laker Rankings:
(1) - Sagarin
(1) - Hollinger/ESPN
(2) - Stein/ESPN
(1) - Burns/SI
(1) - Ball Don't Lie/Yahoo
(1) - Murphy/Covers

So, the Celtics have lost at INDIANA and at home DENVER -- two teams that will struggle to make the playoffs, and the Lakers layed an egg at home to a hot-shooting and certain contender Detroit team. Somehow, that was enough for Stein to put the Lakers at #2.

Meanwhile, the Sagarin index has the Lakers with a larger point lead over the #2 spot (Cavs) than the homecourt advantage factor, meaning the Lakers should be favored in any game, home or away.

Pretty easy schedule so far, and nothing daunting coming on the schedule, so mainly the Lakers just need to stay focused, especially on defense. Here's something not-at-all surprising: The Lakers are 4-3 at home against the spread (yawn, we're up 18, let's relax, stop playing D, and let Sasha jack up some shots), and 4-1 ATS on the road. So color me worried that we'll see a setback in one of these next 3 home games (Nets, Mavericks, Raptors).

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? VII

A couple of these are older -- Crouse for example is punishing the Lakers for those two bad losses. As far as the Lakers go, big deal. But those two losses will absolutely cause Kobe to lose the MVP award to Chris Paul. I'm not sure that anything that happens in the next week will change any of those grudge-holding, homerish, fatass writers' minds. Guess Kobe is the new Jerry West (also MVP-less). Logo2!


#3 - Sagarin/usatoday.com
#5 - Schuhmann/nba.com
#7 - Crouse/cbs.com
#4 - dime magazine
#4 - Hollinger/espn.com
#4 - Steyn/espn.com
#3 - Burns/si.com
#5 - Murphy/covers.com
#6 - Ludden/yahoo
#5 - Pincus/hoopsworld.com

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? VI

I may have to change the title of my post. Marty Burns is still picking teams from a hat (Rockets #1), and for some reason I couldn't find The Ultimate Hater Meija on CBS. Perhaps he was so consistently terrible they gave the job to this other guy.

I have been checking Sagarin regularly - the Lakers and Pistons have been swapping 2/3 back and forth by hundredths of a point, appropriately.

#3 - Sagarin/usatoday.com
#1 - Schuhmann/nba.com
#3 - Crouse/cbs.com
#1 - dime magazine
#1 - Hollinger/espn.com
#1 - Steyn/espn.com
#3 - Burns/si.com
#1 - Murphy/covers.com
#1 - Ludden/yahoo
#1 - Pincus/hoopsworld.com

Who's Not Honoring Me Now? V

Wow, a couple of #1s. Probably not deserved -- as usual, Sagarin and Hollinger seem to be the most reasonable. But appreciated none the less.

Then again, the Lakers are FIRST IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE as of today by a half game over SA, Dallas, Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Meija the Hater writes his rankings comments all about the Lakers and how this injury will hurt their "elite" status, while leaving them at #6 below New Orleans and others (despite a better record and, let's see, an embarrassingly lopsided win in NO last week.)

Good news is, the Suns lost to the CLIPPERS last night (Walton: "You mean Clipper legend Brian Skinner?!?"), so the Lakers are in 1st all be their lonesome in the Pacific.

#3 - Sagarin/usatoday.com
#1 - Schuhmann/nba.com
#6 - Meija/cbssportsline.com
#1 - dime magazine
#3 - Hollinger/espn.com
#4 - Steyn/espn.com
#5 - Burns/si.com
#3- Murphy/covers.com

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.

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

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

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)