Twenty years from now, when you’re watching the Kobe Bryant biography on ESPN Classic3, December of 2004 will be painted as the nadir of his career. He’s the villain — not for the alleged sexual assault (he never received more love from the L.A. fans then when having to make court appearances during the day […]
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Flashback To 2000
I saw the Lakers play defense. I saw a version of the triangle offense. I saw a relatively easy Laker win. What year is this again? First, I have to get this off my chest — I don’t know what possessed me but I watched the ESPN feed of the game last night. I guess […]
On Tap: The Houston Rockets
Usually one of the first things I do when looking at a Laker matchup this time of year is see what happened the last two times these teams hooked up. However, in the case of the Rockets, the Lakers’ 84-79 win Nov. 13 is almost meaningless. There are three reasons for this: 1) Tracy McGrady […]
Just Trying To Help
At practice yesterday, Rudy T. told his charges he was “open to suggestions†for improving this team. Glad he asked. (Well, maybe he asked the players and not me, but that never stopped me from answering anyway.) If Rudy T. were a regular reader of this site he’d already have seen many of these, but […]
Will Kobe Wear Suspenders?
Just passing this on as a public service announcement: Kobe Bryant will be on the Larry King Live tonight on CNN. The impetus is that Kobe is one of several players donating $1,000 for each point they score this weekend to tsunami relief efforts in Asia. Kudos to Kobe for that gesture. Check your local […]
No D in Big D
The Lakers landed at LAX about 1 a.m. this morning and went home, where they apparently left their defensive skills when packing for two games in Texas. Below is a list of observations from the last couple of games, plus some other stuff clogging my inbox. • Dallas had an eFG% of 59% against the […]
On Tap: The Dallas Mavericks
There’s no way to talk about tonight without first mentioning the debacle last night — that was maybe the worst Laker performance of the season. It was the kind of effort that won’t beat the New Orleans Hornets, let alone San Antonio or a hot Dallas team. Last night was a clinic in how to […]
Life After Vlade
He was never going to be Shaq, but when the Lakers signed Vlade Divac in the off-season my reaction was that he would be a good bridge between the old Lakers and whatever they team would evolve into in a few years. But Vlade’s back blew up that bridge before the season started, and now […]
On Tap: The San Antonio Spurs
Let’s face facts here — the only part of this game Los Angeles sports fans are going to see tonight is when the Orange Bowl is at halftime or at commercial and they flip their bar stool around to squint at the television over in the corner with the Lakers’ game on. But this should […]
He’s A 40-Point Man
“Kobe The Aggressor” has been the Christmas box office release at Staples Center, a movie where the guy already the focal point of the Laker offense tries to play an even bigger role (leading him to score more than 40 points in each of the past three games). Teammates requested it behind the theory that […]