I wanted to get away from the emotion of the last game and talk a lot of Xs and Os, but in an email Reed makes a very good point that emotions may well determine this series: I think that is an often overlooked, but important, subplot in any series — which team allows some […]
Archives for May 2009
Now We Have A Series
Welcome to playoff basketball, this is fun and going to get better. Let me start by discussing the topic du jour, Derek Fisher decleating Luis Scola. I loved it as a Lakers fan. This team has been blasted as being soft for a year now, and as recently as a couple days ago by an […]
Lakers/Rockets Game 2 Chat
The T-shirt idea posted over at the LA Times Lakers Blog (and shown above) really sums up my thoughts. There are a lot of people saying the Lakers lost home-court advantage, but that’s not how I see it — of the six games left, they are split evenly. What having the HCA gives you is […]
Game One Thoughts
Prior to the start of the playoffs, we said that the second round would be the toughest round for the Lakers, that Houston (and Portland) were the biggest matchup and deepest teams LA would face. Denver may have something to say about that logic now (they are playing interior defense for the first time in […]
Lakers/Rockets Game 1 Chat
Time to stop talking and start playing. But, if you can’t get enough talking, I have a few thoughts up over at Dime Magazine (as do the guys from Dream Shake) about why the Lakers will win this series. Consider it the last two posts condensed down to 250 words. Also, Bill Bridges asked and […]
Lakers/Rockets: When The Lakers Have The Ball
For part two of our preview of this series, try to speed-read it. Because what the Lakers need to do in this series starts with pushing the tempo and getting the Rockets to run. It’s one of the big lessons we can take away from the Portland series. Let’s be clear — the Rockets are […]
Lakers/Rockets: When Houston Has The Ball
We start the breakdown of this series when the Lakers are on defense and the Rockets have the ball. The Rockets offense is about Yao Ming — it is where their plays start, where they will need to get the majority of their offense. Basically, pretty much every Rockets set involves getting the ball to […]
Kentucky Derby Picks
As is an annual tradition around here, my wife and I are throwing a big Kentucky Derby party and I have some picks for the race. I am boxing these three as an exacta. If you are just a basketball fan, root for Join the Dance, owned by Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic. And […]
First Thoughts on Lakers/Rockets
I’ve fought off the urge to send taunting emails to all the cocky Blazers fans I know and thought instead it was time to start looking ahead to the Rockets and what we can expect from this series. What follows are some broad strokes, and starting Sunday morning will come a more detailed breakdown of […]