Here is a video on “the Machine” which I thought was pretty funny.

The Machine Break down

http://thelakersnation.com/blog/2008/11/19/machine-break-down/#comments

I felt like part of the reason Gasol sat for long periods last night was because Phil didn’t want the team to just rely on dumping the ball to him (even though that probably would have worked).

an analysis of the damage that rose did personally last night.

“Odom has had conflicts in the past with Vujacic – including one just a week ago in the visiting locker room in New Orleans after Vujacic didn’t bring back a borrowed bottle of Radmanovic’s body wash out of the shower, leaving an exasperated Odom to go fetch it.”

I think I saw that episode of Saved By The Bell. We’ll be lucky to survive the season with such tension. Will people stop lending Sasha their bodywash, leaving him to stink after road games, which hurts his confidence with the ladies, making him even more bitter and annoying??

Phil runs a system offense and this year’s team clearly has not gotten comfortable with that system yet – this will impact us against the really good teams in a series situation. This team is prone to settle for jumpshots and there are better jumpshooting teams out there. This team does not exhibit a killer instinct on defense yet.

Our talent will get us into the playoffs – that is not the question. However, we will need more to win a championship. I know, it is early yet. Phil is still developing the team. I just don’t subscribe to all the unbridled optimism with our early success. We still have growth to make before we become a true monster.

The discord arose after Ariza had the ball under the basket and passed it out to Vujacic on the wing. Rather than move it back to Ariza or another teammate, Vujacic just held it for a beat and then launched a 3-pointer out of the flow.

The shot missed badly, and Vujacic was soon called for a foul, leading to an automatic timeout with 8:37 left in the second quarter.

That’s when Ariza got in Vujacic’s face and stayed there as the players walked from the far corner of the court back toward the Lakers’ bench. [Kobe] Bryant shepherded Ariza toward the end of the bench and stood in his way while Ariza, who has a temper that his furtive demeanor belies, remained so keyed up that he just kept pacing.

[Phil] Jackson benched both Ariza and Vujacic. As play was resuming, Jackson did something he never does: He left his usual area and walked to the end of the bench to address the matter directly with Ariza.

“It’s just something that we want to keep internal, so I’d just as soon not talk about it,” Jackson said after the game. “Trevor let it out, and it was unfortunate to see that on the court.”

Jackson also made a point late in the game to take Vujacic to task for misreading a play on offense. Assistant coach Kurt Rambis also spoke to Vujacic at length during another timeout about proper decision-making on offense.

Neither Ariza nor Vujacic wanted to dwell on the incident afterward, although Vujacic managed to make clear where primary responsibility lay by saying: “I wasn’t doing anything. I was playing basketball. … Have I done anything? Have I reacted inappropriately? Was I unprofessional?”

Said Ariza: “It wasn’t anything big. We both want to win. We’re out there and we’re competing, and we just had a little disagreement, that’s all.”

“It is in this vein that I say this team is good enough to beat most opponents on most nights, but not yet good enough to beat the good teams consistently.”

How can you say that. All they’ve done is beat the good teams, consistently. Last year and continuing through to this year, so far. Sure, we’re not at maximum level yet, but what teams are? And yet, we’re still beating the supposed contenders we’ve faced pretty handily. It’s only going to improve. Bynum still looks uncomfortable with Pau.