The Lakers would never admit that they needed a win against a potential contender in the middle of January, which is precisely why that job falls onto people like us. This team, yes — the back-to-back defending champions — needed a solid, momentum-building victory over a strong playoff team and they got exactly that tonight, […]
Lakers/Clippers: Seeds of a Rivalry
The inconsistency that has plagued the Lakers all season long reared its ugly head in today’s matinee affair against the upstart Clippers, resulting in a 99-92 loss to end the forum blue and gold’s seven-game winning streak. Going into today, much of the focus was on the NBA’s newest darling, Blake Griffin. Unfortunately, for the […]
Lakers/Nets: L.A. Escapes Jersey with a W
[picappgallerysingle id=”10362645″] Give the Lakers credit for what they haven’t been able to do in so many of their recent losses — close out games effectively. When playing the lowly Nets, though, this of course begs the question of why L.A. went down to the wire against them in the first place. As has been […]
Preview & Chat: The Chicago Bulls
[picappgallerysingle id=”7391365″] Records: Lakers 16-6 (3rd in the West), Bulls 12-8 (4th in the East) Offensive ratings: Lakers 114.5 (1st in NBA), Bulls 104.8 (20th in NBA) Defensive ratings: Lakers 105.6 (11th in NBA), Bulls 103.6 (9th in NBA) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol Bulls: Derrick […]
Lakers at Jazz Preview & Chat
[picappgallerysingle id=”8757060″] Records: Lakers 13-2, Jazz 11-5 Offensive ratings: Lakers 116.9, Jazz 100.6 Defensive ratings: Lakers 105.4, Jazz 104.7 Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol Jazz: Deron Williams, Raja Bell, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson Injuries: Lakers: Andrew Bynum, Theo Ratliff Jazz: Mehmet Okur The Lakers […]
Tick Tock, Tick Tock…
[picappgallerysingle id=”10069170″] The natural reaction after consecutive disappointing losses is to look around and assess blame. The truth is, even after the Nuggets and Suns made a mockery of the Lakers’ defense, this ship isn’t anywhere close to sinking and is actually going to get a whole lot more durable with Andrew Bynum’s inevitable return. […]
Preview and Chat: The Phoenix Suns
[picappgallerysingle id=”8953286″] Records: Lakers 8-1, Suns 4-4 Offensive ratings: Lakers 116.1 (1st), Suns 111.5 (2nd) Defensive ratings: Lakers 105.3 (10th), Suns 110.9 (28th) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol Suns: Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu and Robin Lopez. Injuries: Lakers: Andrew Bynum (out) The […]
Lakers at Kings Post-Game Thoughts
[picappgallerysingle id=”8269054″] Some things never change; there’s still that annoying cowbell at Arco Arena, Kobe’s all-around brilliance, Derek Fisher’s clutch shooting and the Lakers reigning supreme over the Kings. The House that Mitch built continued its early season steamrolling of the league tonight, this time knocking off Sacramento 112-100 to improve to 5-0. Let’s take […]
Lakers at Suns Game Preview
[picappgallerysingle id=”8955325″] The 1-0 Lakers head to the Valley of the Sun tonight to face a drastically different Phoenix squad than the one that took them to six games in last year’s Western Conference Finals (shout out to Ron Artest…that Game 5 winner is still fresh in my mind). That old stalwart with the long […]
Around the World (Wide Web)
[picappgallerysingle id=”10067741″] From Mike Bresnahan, L.A. Times: It’s only one game into the season, and the Lakers have an easy schedule until late December, but Bryant’s progress will continue to be monitored until he shows signs of regaining the burst and lift he possessed before his right knee started hurting toward the end of last […]