Welcome Back We all want to know if Lamar Odom will return to the court this Friday against the Bobcats. Well, judging by this LA Times article, Odom should be ready to roll. Practice on Wednesday seemed to go well for him. Kwame Brown is another story. It looks like we may have to wait for his return a little bit longer.
Mid-Season Report Ladies and Gentlemen, the Lakers have played 42 games out of an 82 game season. That’s about half-way through the year. I am happy to report that the state of the Lakers is strong, indeed. They hold a 27-15 record which is currently good enough for the 5th playoff seed in the West. They have accomplished this in spite of Lamar Odom missing 21 games, and Kwame Brown missing 18 games. All in all, not too shabby.
The Highlights Being at the half-way mark started me thinking about the best plays so far this year for the Lakers. There have been many great ones, but I think this one is my favorite. It may not be Kobe’s most spectacular dunk ever. But I feel that blowing by “Kobe-stopper” Bowen to jam it over Duncan more than makes up for any lack of theatrics. It’s such a power dunk I can hear Kobe thinking, “Yeah!” as he does it.
Now I know everyone out there has their own favorite play in mind. Please post them up in the comments section. I’d love to hear them.
-Rob
DrRayEye says
I can’t do one play for team–but I can do it by player:
Evans: circus no look hook layup
Walton: reverse pivot hook
Farmar: blocked attemted shot by opposing center
Smush: blocked last second layin attempt by Terry
Turiaf: One on one agaist Duncan with game on the line
Sasha: series of threes in 4th quarter to win game
Vladrad: as above
Cook: many crucial baskets
Bynam: His early season “coming out” game
Who/what did I miss?
Kas says
You missed odom and brown.
favorite play: i think it was vs the bulls when kobe passed it to a streaking kwame for the and one dunk. the play its self wasnt that awesome but kobe was so happy about afterword (laughing and clapping) it that it just stuck in my mind.
Favorite game(s): 1st of the season, vs spurs at home, and kings.
skigi says
Don’t forget Smush’s dunk on Ben Wallace at Staples, and Mo Evans put back where he basically climbed up somebody’s back, and Bynum blocking the crap out of Mike James at the end of the T’Wolves game.
And by the way, I almost like Kobe’s 2nd dunk on Duncan from that game even better… think about it… TD was already embarrassed and the crowd was buzzing, and like 2 minutes later, up goes Kobe for an alley oop over him again, except this time he fouls the $@&! out of his arm so he doesnt get posterized AGAIN and he still can’t stop him.
JONESONTHENBA says
Kobe’s block on Deron Williams in their game against the Jazz in Utah was pretty awesome…
Jason says
That one really difficult shot Kobe took. Anyone know which one I’m talking about? =)
Isa Saalabi says
I’m with jonesonthenba, Kobe’s block on Williams was incredible. That’s my fav too. Isa Saalabi.
Mannie Jenkins says
I kind of liked Kobe’s go ahead shot over Duncan and Bowen to seal the last game against them.
League wide, though, that Jason Kidd shot where he was fouled with his back to the basket and flipped it over his head for the bank shot was pretty spectacular. I know others have done similar things, but somehow Kidd’s looks like he knew what he was doing.
DYi says
My favorite plays are two-fold…
1. Sasha Vujacic’s clutch shooting at Dallas (?) and
2. Ronny Turiaf’s go ahead lay-up against San Antonio.
They are my favorites because they are highly indicative of the Lakers this year…not just about Kobe getting his, but these guys, who are 9-10 on the rotation stepping up, which is so emblematic of the Lakers as a TEAM this year. This is not to say Kobe hasn’t had spectacular individual plays, but the very fact that we can even talk of other teammates is such a great thing!
Exick says
I think I like that Dunk On Duncan the most because of Bowen. As Kobe drives past him, he’s reaching and grabbing, and Kobe kinda pushes Bowen’s arms off of him before he goes up for the dunk. Then Bruce looks over at the refs immediately afterward. Sure Bruce, cry to the refs after they didn’t call either of the fouls.
Also I love the crowd reaction. The Spurs home crowd (many of which were Laker fans, hehe) all seemed to cheer when Kobe threw that down.
Kwame’s absolute obliteration of Nocioni is a close second. For those that need to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xnLIrOdfjY