The news hit right before game time — Steve Blake was actually in his warm-ups and was ready to play against the Rockets — but in an instant the third longest tenured Laker (behind Kobe and Pau) was a Laker no more. Blake was shipped off to the Warriors in a 2-for-1 trade that netted […]
Steve Blake
Lakers/Spurs: Gut Check Reveals Guts
Sunday night marked the arrival of a new, long-term houseguest in Lakerland – the ghost of roster future. In the absence of Kobe Bryant – a scenario initially not expected to come to fruition for handful of years – all eyes will be on Dwight Howard to recapture his MVP form of years past and […]
Game 2 Preview and Chat: Lakers vs. Nuggets
Well, that was fun. A year after a playoff home opener in which they were brutally craved up by Chris Paul and after a(nother) regular season in which a double-digit leads made frequent cameos but were often unable to carry a show, on Sunday the Lakers physically dominated an overmatched foe in a manner that […]
Lakers/Mavericks: We’ve Got a Point Guard!
Box Score: Lakers 109, Mavericks 93 Offensive Efficiency: Lakers 123.9, Mavericks 105.7 True Shooting %: Lakers 68.2%, Mavericks 53.5% On the heels of a brutal come-from-ahead loss in Houston on Tuesday night, the Lakers wrapped up their Texas two-step in Dallas, where the defending champs and administrators of last spring’s postseason humiliation awaited. More tough […]
Preview and Chat: The New Orleans Hornets
Records: Lakers: 26-16 (3rd in West), Hornets: 10-32 (15th in West) Offensive ratings: Lakers: 104.1 (14th in NBA), Hornets: 99.1 (29th in NBA) Defensive ratings: Lakers: 101.4 (9th in NBA), Hornets: 104.9 (17th in NBA) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum Hornets: Jarrett Jack, Marco Belinelli, […]
Lakers/Jazz: 40 Again, Plus The Bigs Deliver In Crunch Time
Box score: Lakers 90, Jazz 87 (Overtime) Offensive Efficiency: Lakers 90.6, Jazz 86.1 True Shooting %: Lakers 49.8%, Jazz 43.5% The Good: Through three quarters not only was this not a contest, I was hard pressed to identify an honorable mention. As he did last night against the Suns, Kobe Bryant set the tone early […]
First Impressions
It’s said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. It seems that the Lakers bench took that saying to heart as they showed up big in their first regular season game. By turning the tide in the third quarter and then riding that wave of energy and emotion to take the […]