Lakers Thread

Big game for Kobe reaching the magic 50 and surpassing Elgin Baylor for most points in a single season.
Great game for Kwame with 20 points and 9 rebounds and another triple double for Odom.

Hope they can finish the regular season strong. Can't wait to watch the Lakers - Phoenix game. Hope they win.

Hope they can finish the regular season strong. Can't wait to watch the Lakers - Phoenix game. Hope they win.

Yeah, since it looks more than anything that they'll be playing Phoenix in the first round. If they can get a convincing win against them right now, it will give them loads of confidence to go into the postseason with.

Or even a very close loss would be good! They can talk up the Suns before that first round... Jax can work his magic on them!

"These two triple doubles are nice, but I'd really like to get four in a row and go into the postseason with them," Odom said. "I am just going to be focused on winning the games and keep doing all the little things I need to do to win games."

^^ Thats what im talking about! I hope he does get a few more TD!

big win for the lakers strangely enough its now got to the point where i see kobe drop 50 and not even be surprised that much, lol plus isnt that like his 4th or 5th 50 game this season?
Lamar is really playing well as of late which couldnt come at a better time, if he can keep that level of performance up, not neccessarily triple double and night, the lakers could be trouble in the playoffs. Good to see kwame put up some good scoring numbers, his confidence raising in his scoring can only mean good things, its been great to watch him improve this season since mihm went out.
speaking of mihm hes supposed to be back tomorrow against the suns, i dunno if the lakers really need him straight back into the lineup. actually if Kwame can do this same thing hes doing now starting at PF and mihm can actually come back into the side seamlessly then we'd be all good, but the odds are if they pass to mihm in the post again kwame could well 'lose confidence' again.
tomorrows game is gonna be one hell of a game to watch either way

big win for the lakers strangely enough its now got to the point where i see kobe drop 50 and not even be surprised that much, lol plus isnt that like his 4th or 5th 50 game this season?
Lamar is really playing well as of late which couldnt come at a better time, if he can keep that level of performance up, not neccessarily triple double and night, the lakers could be trouble in the playoffs. Good to see kwame put up some good scoring numbers, his confidence raising in his scoring can only mean good things, its been great to watch him improve this season since mihm went out.
speaking of mihm hes supposed to be back tomorrow against the suns, i dunno if the lakers really need him straight back into the lineup. actually if Kwame can do this same thing hes doing now starting at PF and mihm can actually come back into the side seamlessly then we'd be all good, but the odds are if they pass to mihm in the post again kwame could well 'lose confidence' again.
tomorrows game is gonna be one hell of a game to watch either way

Jax actually said that Mihm will be backing up Brown, at least before he gets much healthier.
Funny how when like 2 months ago people were still talking about how stupid the Lakers-Wizards trade was on LA part. Butler did well in DC, but while the Lakers finishing strong( opposed to the ugly 2-19 finish last season) and close to clinching a playoff berth under Brown's big play, Washington has lost 5 in a row and no one is sure that they will be in the playoff picture.
And big props to LO's back to back TD, he has been coming up short all season and now he has 2 in a row.

Washington has lost 5 in a row and no one is sure that they will be in the playoff picture

that's because Butler is out He's averaging 18 & 7, that's why Washington is getting asses whooped.

But yes, Brown has made DRASTIC improvements this season.,

big win for the lakers strangely enough its now got to the point where i see kobe drop 50 and not even be surprised that much, lol plus isnt that like his 4th or 5th 50 game this season?

I think its his 6th 50 point game of the season.



Funny enough, I am not the kinda guy who thinks guys should go out looking to stuff stats, but if Lamar went out and aimed for double digit assists every game I think the Lakers can keep this nice little run going. His points and rebounds will always come but I find his size is really helpful for his size since he can see very well when making passes over the top. There ae lots of times where I dont feel he is looking for guys as often as he should, those times he's normally just looking to hand it off to Kobe. But if he focusing on getting guys involved (as we know Smush isnt the best pg at that) then Kobe can just keep doing his thing and Lamar will get more praise for his play.

Lamar is basically the pg -_-. I always see him bring the ball down the court.

Lamar is basically the pg -_-. I always see him bring the ball down the court.

He's the point forward in the triangle offence.

I just want to see more George + Walton + Kobe + Lamar + Kwame on the floor

I just want to see more George + Walton + Kobe + Lamar + Kwame on the floor

George basically falls recently, and while smush is starting to do his things in the 2nd half( still, that doesnt include defense), it's still good to see the current rotation, and bring in Sasha and George off the bench for their D( Yes, they are already better defenders on the lakers, relatively).
They are probably facing the Suns in the playoffs, now with STAT & Kurt out, Mihm back and improved LO( he now weighs 240+ after intense trainning this season btw), the Lakers still have a chance to advance.

It would be good for LA to advance... if the positioning did them a favour... maybe it'd be possible to see a Clippers Lakers second round show.. but that's pushing it. The Lakers got to make the second round before that could happen.

I'm sorry man... i won't do it again..

Last edited by Sit_is_a_bitch on Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What was the point of that?

Mate, please stop it or you will be banned. And can a mod please delete that post?

What the fuck?

I thought this mite be useful to some people with queries about rating and what they effect during gameplay.

Not useful at all. Not only does this not belong in the laker thread, but someone else has already made one of those.

Bill Simmons the biggest Kobe hater on MVP.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/060414

When I read that the other day I was a bit surprised he picked Kobe. Same guy who normally trashes him I think.

Well, I just liked the last part: 'I'm going to light myself on fire.' <-- Gold!

In Bryant's Case, the Show Really Goes On

Love him or hate him, it was always that way and if it wasn't already, he made sure it would be.

For Kobe Bryant, who put the "star" in "star-crossed," it has been a remarkable season, though, even if it turns out to be less than he hopes, or lives, for.

The first round of the playoffs is where his season used to start, not end. If the Lakers are unhappy that things aren't the way they were, imagine Bryant, who was 18 when he arrived and 26 before he found out there was some other way.

Of course, Laker fans have one thing no one else has ever had:

Him.

There might have been a better player or two, but there was never a high-wire act such as this, with his daring and surreal repertoire. General Manager Mitch Kupchak recently mused, "I hope people appreciate how good this guy is."

Indeed, it's a privilege you have to remind yourself to enjoy. When you see Bryant all the time, that fadeaway three-pointer he makes after going up without his feet under him and scissor-kicking to get it there isn't unbelievable at all.

Scoring 40 or 50 is no biggie. It takes 62 in three quarters or 81 with the rest of the league calling and text-messaging each other to turn on their TVs.

"He's a joy to watch," says Jerry West, Memphis president and Laker icon. "I still watch their games. Why would I watch? I watch to see him play….

"He does things that most players couldn't do. He makes them look routine. It doesn't take my breath away anymore. I've seen it so much, but it's just routine now, and when you go there, very much like a Michael Jordan, you're always expecting something fabulous to happen. And he doesn't disappoint a whole lot, I don't think….

"It's a treat for the fans. They have a genius playing for them."

The fans would take less artistry and more wins, but so would Bryant. Now the Lakers' oldest starter, it looks as if he has been marooned here. Forget about putting a development team into Staples, this one's close enough.

The Lakers are playoff-bound, an important step if only the first of many. Now, even for people who didn't like Bryant's naked ego long before he got in trouble, there's no mistaking his greatness.

Unfortunately, there's no going back to a simpler time. Bryant has regained his trademark poise, which is good because he can't just let everything go. As hard as this looks, it's harder. At 18, he was cloistered within his family and merely wary of outsiders; now he's angry, and it runs deep.

Book or no book, the return of Phil Jackson, who restored a measure of respectability, was a gift. Nevertheless, Bryant's description of their relationship to The Times' Mike Bresnahan — "We understood one another extremely well from a basketball standpoint. The important thing for us was to put it behind us, move on, and accept this challenge we have in front of us" — suggests professionalism more than forgiveness.

Whatever his faults, Bryant was always the most professional, the strongest-willed and most compartmentalized. He has a smooth working relationship with Jackson and is praised as a leader by people in the organization who weren't saying that a year ago.

Similarly, Bryant is dealing graciously with media after having withdrawn in previous seasons but that's professionalism too, and only goes so far.

His sense of privacy that was always unrealistic — he was angry about a short story in the Orange County Register reporting his 2002 marriage — is even more dramatic.

Once thick-skinned and sure of his destiny, he now regards the media as a giant supermarket tabloid.

Since any profile or question-and-answer interview includes allusions to Colorado, the Laker breakup and his fall from grace (Sports Illustrated just reported his negative Q ratings put him "in the company of Vince McMahon, Robert Blake and even Barry Bonds"), the whole exercise is fraught with peril.

Bryant set out to go beyond Jordan, not Allen Iverson, but here he is, an outlaw icon. After all those years without "street cred," Dime Magazine, a voice of the hip-hop generation, just put Bryant on its cover. His jersey is the NBA's No. 4 seller, behind Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Iverson but ahead of Shaquille O'Neal, Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.

Not that Bryant was ever cut out to be all things to all people, as was Jordan.

Aside from his other gifts, Jordan was sensitive to what people thought and devoted to maintaining an image he always feared he could lose.

Bryant arrived younger with no fear, patience or need to fit in. John Celestand, his teammate for one season here, was a freshman at Villanova when he met Bryant, then 17, in the Wildcat dressing room. Villanova was recruiting him, but Bryant blithely informed the Wildcats that he'd probably go straight to the pros.

"We laughed that night back in our dormitory," Celestand wrote in Pro Basketball News. "We took turns asking each other, 'Who does this kid think he is? What is he smoking?'

" … Maybe we were laughing at the fact he would play his high school playoff games in our gym and sell it out — when sometimes we couldn't. Maybe we were laughing at the fact he would show up on our campus at the parties we threw — and some people thought he was the host.

"One thing is for sure: Kobe Bryant believed he was Superman. He believed he could accomplish anything."

In fact, Bryant accomplished a great deal but "anything" is a tall order.

Bryant has enough money to make it without endorsements. The Lakers don't need him to be adored, just to last until they can sign big-ticket reinforcements … in 2008. He says he intends to make it happen sooner but then, he would.

In any case, remember to take a good look. This show isn't playing anywhere else.

I agreed with the writer above. This has been Kobe's year and therefore one of the most memorable years in the NBA. He made history by scoring 80+ points and 62 in 3 quarters. He's the best player on his team and the most feared player to go one on one. Kobe has been the man and therefore the MVP for 2005-06.

Suns tonight, live over here too. big, big game both to more or less make 7th seed definate (we could have clinched it if the kings lost last night i think, the bastards). Lakers are gonna need their A Game tonight.

yeah..really big game....i think the key to a win is kwame brown......if kwame doest have his A game....i think lakers will have a really tough time trying to win...

Good news for Lakers today. Nash is out for the game. He's not injured, just resting for postseason.

*Edit*
Wow, Laker's lead 16-1.

*Edit2*
Lakers win by 20 pts. 109-89. Lakers barely kept the Sun's below 90. Lakers clinch playoff berth. Kobe scored 43, and the crowd was chanting "We want tacos".

lol....i think lakers should now always have free tacos if lakers hold a team below 90...it we keep the crowd in to it more.......

WE WANT TACOS!!!

lakers make the playoffs

great overall game for them, tacos for the fans, who could ask for more?