The Lake Show - Last Game Updated - Dynasty Over...

[Zoom]

is it just me or is your game really dark? cause when I look at the smush picture the thing that pops out is the bright yellow headband

What is your brightness set to?

Brightness set to 40... wat do u recommend?

Too bad you lost, but its realistic to keep Kobe on the bench and play the young guys.

Cheers. Yeah, shot clock was winding down and Bynum was at top of the key so i shot... it happened a second time and he air balled but it was a shot clock violation... so he really had 2 3 pt attempts!

Tough loss without Kwame and Kobe, but good try, teams have hard time winning when their best player is out. Nice stuff, Ill be reading

Thanks, just trying to keep this realistic!

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Updated: Oct. 15, 2006

Game Preview: Phoenix Suns (0-0) at Los Angeles Lakers (1-1)
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Phoenix Suns return to play against the Los Angeles Lakers months after their first round triumph in last season’s playoffs. Amare Stoudamire is set to make his first start of the preseason against the Lakers after a one season hiatus from the NBA due to injury.

The Lakers are still without Kobe Bryant, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm and coach Phil Jackson. Guard Sasha Vujacic returns to game duty and is set to battle rookie Jordan Farmar for a spot in the Lakers rotation for the regular season. Vladimir Radmanovic sat out the last game because of his sore right hand but is set to return to the floor in this game.

The Lakers come off a loss to the Seattle Supersonics in which Lamar Odom led the team with a superb near-triple double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists in 39 minutes of game time. Coach Kurt Rambis has stated that he will try to allow Odom to rest against the Suns, “Lamar has done a good job in his leadership role but with Vlad back, we can afford to let him (Odom) sit out a bit.”

The Suns recently returned from their tour of Europe and their most recent result on the court was against Maccabi Tel Aviv: a 119-102 victory. Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa led the team with 29 points while free agent signing Marcus Banks added 21 points for a balanced Suns attack. Reigning MVP Steve Nash has been reportedly rusty this off season but he managed to have 13 points and 7 assists against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

This game is expected to be another chance for Lakers Andrew Bynum and Farmar to impress the coaching staff. Bynum made a good impression in the game against Seattle with 6 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Farmar has been solid thus far in his role as a playmaker, averaging 8 assists in 2 games but he has shot a disappointing 5 for 16 from the field in 2 preseason games.
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Projected Starting Line-up

Suns - Lakers

C: Stoudamire, A - Bynum, A
PF: Diaw, B - Odom, L
SF: Marion, S - Radmanovic, V
SG: Bell, R - Evans, M
PG: Nash, S - Parker, S

[Fresh8]

Oh, beat those Suns in my honour bro!

[kristelonzze]

you can do it bro!!! a very avid fan of lakers here!!!

[Marquis]

Good luck man, interesting how good Evans will be at the starting 5

[Its_asdf]

I hate to say it, but you're going to get your ass handed to you if Kobe isn't playing, and Stoudemire will crap on Stoudemire.

You'll need a lot of luck (or in this case, crappy AI) to pull this win off.

[Zoom]

Don't worry Sit, I will beat those Suns

kristelonzze, I hope you check in here more often then fellow Laker fan

Marquis, Evans played in the starting lineup of the first game He's pretty good and gives me a good defender when I need one and has a decent shot in the game He's definitely my back up SG for Kobe

Its_asdf, I will try and keep Phoenix down with my killer defence

[Cornerthree]

Good luck, be careful for Diaw he's allways killing me when I'm playin' against 'em...

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Updated: Oct. 16, 2006

We know what Kobe did last Summer
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By Ric Bucher
ESPN The Magazine
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Kobe Bryant addressed the
media at the conclusion of
practice yesterday

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Kobe Bryant returned to training for the first time since knee surgery and he was looking good. Bryant was a bit slower than usual and his shot was looking a bit off but as Kurt Rambis said, he was still challenging his team mates. Not only did Kobe look a lot stronger, he looked smarter than ever. He knew where to go and knew when to pass and where to pass. Bryant, number 24, was a whole different player.

“I’m just trying to play more a mature kind of game. I’m going to trust in my team mates and I’m going to try and do whatever I need to do to help us win games,” Bryant smiled at the end of a tough scrimmage.

The NBA’s most talented ball player wasn’t able to do much in the past summer because of his knee. Although his time on the court was limited in that respect, Bryant found other things to do off of it. Apart from his time in the weights room, which has really shown in his added bulk, the Black Mamba has been taking part in a lot more basketball-unrelated activities.

The past summer has been one of goodwill for Kobe and many have been impressed by Bryant’s sense of compassion for the wider community. Bryant visited Leukaemia patient Slavador Torres as part of the Make-a-Wish foundation (that was televised on ESPN), set up the Vivo Foundation sending eight students overseas to visit Italy and visited the Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club (where they claim he always visits) to play with the children.

All of this may sound like a player who had a bad record in the past and is trying to fix his image. For many, they think it’s all an act put on by Kobe Bryant to let people like him again. That may be part of the reason but Kobe claims that his intentions are only aimed at helping out those who need help.

“As a sports player, you make a lot of money and you look at the underprivileged and it makes you think that you’ve got to do something about it,” Bryant said. Lakers’ legend Magic Johnson was proud of his Lakers counterpart, “Kobe Bryant has really impressed me with his maturity and his heart. I can say he’s made me a fan of him as a person.”

In addition to his already-mentioned endeavours, Kobe toured Asia to promote his new shoes and Nike. After returning, he still had some things to do and that involved teaming up with some special Lakers season ticket holders. Along with stars Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kobe produced a series of advertisements calling for unity between the population of the United States in their fight against terrorism. The Chilli Peppers also released a single for the cause, in which all those working in the project appear in the music video. “It was an honour to work with all the stars,” Kobe humbly admitted.

“It was a very risky and controversial thing for him to do,” NBA commissioner David Stern said, “He was fined for it because he did it against the NBA’s will because he doesn’t speak for the League and we’d like to keep out of politics.” Bryant was fined for his efforts but it was all worthwhile as donations have flooded in thanks to the cause. The funds collected have been used to provide the military in Iraq with more resources to work with.

At least that worked a lot better than his team mate Luke Walton's debut in drama.

Bryant also worked with Will Smith, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Pink and Boyz 2 Men to host a charity basketball game, music concert and a wide scale clean up of underprivileged neighbourhoods in the Philadelphia area. “It was great to help out in my hometown of Philly,” Will Smith happily exclaimed, “I came out of West Philadelphia and I’ve always talked of helping out my old neighbourhood. It was great to be back.” When asked about why he helped out, Allen Iverson answered, “We all come from the same place. It’s the city of brotherly love man.”

All in all, it’s been a busy summer for Kobe Bryant. Now though, he can finally return to his only refuge. The basketball court.

[funk99]

Great Writing. Kobe finally returned and will be better this season

[Zoom]

Just adding: I hope people check out the links... especially Luke Walton

[Jing]

ah, well my brightness its about 50 or 60 something

[Zoom]

I will try the game with 50 brightness then Cheers!

[Its_asdf]

Did you write these yourself? If you did, you're the second coming of Jesus.

[Zoom]

These are all my own articles. Thanks for thinking they are good Hope you checked out the links btw

[Zoom]

Updated: Oct. 15, 2006

Kwame Brown out for five weeks
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ESPN.com news services
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Team doctors updated the Los Angeles Lakers on the status of centre Kwame Brown this morning and it has been revealed that the big man will be missing at least another four weeks. This puts both him and Chris Mihm out of play after the regular season begins.

“It’s a big blow with both our big guys out,” Kurt Rambis said, “We will need to look elsewhere for help and we have no choice but to start Andrew (Bynum) now.”

Andrew Bynum was surprised with the news of his team mate’s injuries and the fact that they wouldn’t be returning to play until after the season would have already begun. He was more shocked at the fact that he would most probably stepping into the starting position. “I’m looking forward to playing,” Bynum whose 19th birthday is in two weeks said, “I’m looking forward to playing and so are the fans. I will try my best to step up.”

Lakers assistant coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was specifically brought in last season to work with Bynum, has no concerns for his pupil to grace the Staples Centre floor, “I think Andrew is ready to do something on the basketball court. This is the perfect situation but I’m not saying he will be an overnight celebrity. He’s going to struggle but he will learn a lot more valuable lessons from playing now.”

Just a year and a half ago, Bynum was still playing high school basketball in New Jersey. The 7’1” centre has learnt a lot from his mentor Abdul-Jabbar but understands that he still has many things to learn. The big man has a bad habit of keeping his arms down when going for rebounds and his post moves aren’t refined just yet.

“It takes time for him to learn this stuff (post moves),” Abdul-Jabbar said, “He’s got decent footwork and soft hands. He will get there eventually.”

Bynum was critical of himself as he thought of what he could do to improve, “When I got here, I thought that basketball was all about scoring. The coaches have taught me that I need to play defence so I’ve got to be more aggressive on defence this season.”

Kwame Brown is out for at least four weeks due to a bruised rotator cuff and bursitis in his right shoulder. The other Laker big man Chris Mihm still hasn’t trained since ankle surgery.

[Mark.]

Nice articles, good to see Kobe as the good guy Im working on those banners for you, except my computer had to be reformated so havent had a chance the past few days. Plus my imagination as been crap recently...

[Zoom]

Don't rush brother... and yeh man, ur Kiwi right? Howd u like us winning in league? You folloow it right??? You should pop into my NRL thread before I get blamed for spamming lol

[Marquis]

Cool articles. Keep going!

[Mark.]

Haha yeah the league was quite gutting, I thought we played pretty good, controlled our emotions etc, but you guys just had the killer instinct in the end. In the end we just couldn't stop Gasnier and his chin

[Zoom]

Thanks Marquis!

And Mark, don't associate the chin with anyone else but Toni Carrol. He is the chin! Yeah, it was a close game of league...

[Its_asdf]

I want to smother you in kisses for allowing Bynum an opportunity to play.

I also want to re-iterate how much I love your articles. Glad to see some people around here who don't just simply copy and paste every ESPN article they see and claim it as their own.

[Zoom]

First of all, Bynum's only in cause Kwame and Chris are out in real life

Second of all, thanks for your comment! Unfortuantely, I don't have the time to do graphics and shit like that so I will just write for everyone to read

[CouchPotato94]

OHEMGEEBYNUMISGOINGTOSTART.

I just had an orgy.

Nice read

[Zoom]

Don't get your keyboard dirty