Lakers Thread

[Fresh8]

Ninth win on the trot.

But soon the Lakers should be tested as they get to play on the road a lot more.

[dare]

Well after the 2 game home against Utah and Minnesota they will have a 5 game road trip against Utah, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Jersey and Detroit. I think that Utah is the only team capable of beating them, I like to see the winning streak extends

[Fresh8]

If my eyes don't decieve me... the Lakers just held the Jazz to 6 points in the fourth quarter...

[Fresh8]

Lakers finish their first 21 games at 18-3... majority of them being home games. The fun begins now. We will see how tough they really are.

Bad news, Kobe fractures another finger but should be able to play. Interesing fact - Lakers are 10-0 when Gasol has played.

[Andrew]

My guess is that he'll shoot a little poorer while it heals, but it ultimately won't matter with the team pretty much at full strength otherwise.

[adv1s5]

The Bulls lost seven games when they reached their fifty-eighth win that 95-96 season. Just thought i'd put that out there. Still, very silly talk at this point in the season.

Should be an interesting match tonight against the Jazz. I expect Okur to tear shit up this game.

[Fresh8]

Losses don't happen often to the Lakers, but there's often something interesting to come out of them.

After their 102-94 defeat Saturday against the Utah Jazz, forward Pau Gasol wanted more touches.

He made a plea for more action in the post after being asked how it felt to collect 20 rebounds for a second consecutive game.

"I'm just being active, pursuing the ball," he said. "I don't get many looks offensively, so I've got to get my offensive rebounds. Otherwise, I'll get five shots during the game. I'm trying to get my looks there, and I work hard and stay active and do what I can."

Good thing for him that he's rebounding a lot.

Gasol's back-to-back rebounding efforts made him only the third Lakers player in the last 14 years to take 20-plus rebounds in consecutive games, joining Lamar Odom and Vlade Divac.

Gasol made six of 11 shots in almost 43 minutes. He had nine offensive rebounds. So are teammates not looking for him or is he being thwarted by double-teams?

"A little bit of everything, I guess," he said. "I'm not inside a whole lot and teams are aware of our size advantage, and they come and double and they force us to make that extra pass. Guys have to knock it down from the outside so it opens up for us too."

The Lakers might have too many players in the post. Andrew Bynum likes to camp there, Kobe Bryant spends plenty of time there, and Ron Artest was aggressive in the post against Utah.

On Saturday, Gasol thought he was the odd man out.

I agree with Gasol. Get him more touches.

[dare]

yeah he should get 17 - 20 PPG

[Fresh8]

He won't with like the ammount of shots he gets a game. Who is pau going to get his shots from? From Kobe? No way that is happening cause kobe won't give up the rock

[Andrew]

As it is, he's averaging 17.6 ppg which isn't too bad considering Bynum's averaging 17.4 and Kobe's averaging 27.8 (along with Artest's 12.9 per game). Those touches have to come from somewhere.

[Fresh8]

As it is, he's averaging 17.6 ppg which isn't too bad considering Bynum's averaging 17.4 and Kobe's averaging 27.8 (along with Artest's 12.9 per game). Those touches have to come from somewhere.

Probably came from Bynum.

[NovU]

This season, it's like dejavu, LA and Boston on top of the league. I wonder if we'll see these two in the finals again, this time hopely both at full strength.

[air gordon]

As it is, he's averaging 17.6 ppg which isn't too bad considering Bynum's averaging 17.4 and Kobe's averaging 27.8 (along with Artest's 12.9 per game). Those touches have to come from somewhere.

Probably came from Bynum.

bynum's averaging even less points/minutes since Gasol's return. his December #'s are way off his All star worthy start:
15ppg/30mpg

So yeh it's Gasol digging into his numbers but you also have to factor in the Lakers are regularly involved in blowouts

[Fresh8]

As it is, he's averaging 17.6 ppg which isn't too bad considering Bynum's averaging 17.4 and Kobe's averaging 27.8 (along with Artest's 12.9 per game). Those touches have to come from somewhere.

Probably came from Bynum.

bynum's averaging even less points/minutes since Gasol's return. his December #'s are way off his All star worthy start:
15ppg/30mpg

So yeh it's Gasol digging into his numbers but you also have to factor in the Lakers are regularly involved in blowouts

Very good point re: blow outs.

Well it's good so the guys don't need to play their hearts out and burn out in the playoffs.

[Fresh8]

Kobe didn't fuck up his second chance at winning the game.

Lakers 107 Bucks 106

[dare]

Mamba 24 strikes again

[Andrew]

Actually, I'd say the officials strike again. That was a blatant charge by Kobe that was called an and-one. Still, a great shot all the same, can't take that away from him.

[Fresh8]

Actually, I'd say the officials strike again. That was a blatant charge by Kobe that was called an and-one. Still, a great shot all the same, can't take that away from him.

Yeah, Flo mentioned that it should have been called a charge...

[Fresh8]

Since the Lakers are celebrating 50 years, there have been some fun columns to read... a lot of them are about the 'evolution' of Kobe Bryant. On espn.com there's actually a 'blog series' with comments from past and current coaches, teammates, opponents of Kobe. Some interesting insights too - especially Phil where he said that Kobe asked West how he and Baylor averaged >20 ppg on the same team and Jax invited MJ to talk to Kobe about how to score in the flow of the offence.

Wow, Thunder v Lakers is going down to the wire. 109-106 Lakers lead with 0:19 left...

EDIT: Lakers win

[Patr1ck]

Kobe does it again. A 20 point Laker rally and last split-second 3 pointer by Kobe to seal it. Props to Udoka for missing both freethrows.

[Modifly]

Wow. What an amazing game winning buzzer beater by Kobe on the Kings. Just amazing. Congrats Lakers fans. Man, I feel bad for the Kings. That's the second time now they had it won against the Lakers. First leading by 7 points in overtime only to blow the lead, this time leading by two with a chance to extend the lead. Had Udoka made just one of those freethrows, the end result could be totally different. I guess that's why Kobe is the best player in the game.

[dare]

can you post the link of the kobe shot, dammit I didn't watch the game

[Modifly]

I'm sure it'll be up on NBA.com or Youtube in no time.

You can watch this while waiting though.

phpBB [video]

[Its_asdf]

lol Rodriguez tried so hard to sell the push off... You gotta know that if Kobe's getting the ball the refs aren't going to call anything.

[dare]

Well it's a clean push, just like the push of Reggie Miller on Jordan