I know. There are 4 million other things to be worried about with game two of the Western Conference Finals one hour away, but I can't help but post this.
We all remember the whole "Oh my god! Kobe just jumped over an Aston Martin" video. Well, he's back for more.
The second installment of the pseudo-viral videos promoting Kobe's Nike HyperDunk shoe takes a little bit of a different route:
Kobe's back injury in game four opened the door for ton of speculation. The fact the ABC7 reported that Kobe "couldn't stand up on the plane" didn't help much.
Throughout his career, Kobe has been known to suck it up--and he'll do just that on Wednesday: Kobe Bryant met the media Monday with a new companion - an electronic stimulating device hooked up to his sore lower back.
Plans call for the two to spend a lot of time together for the next couple of days, or longer.
The
Los Angeles Lakers' star tweaked his back in the opening minutes of
Sunday's 123-115 overtime loss at Utah that tied the Western Conference
semifinals 2-2.
"It's pretty sore right now," Bryant said Monday.
"It's tight. It's to be expected the next day, I guess. I don't know
how I made it through the game, to be honest with you."
Bryant said he was receiving treatment around the clock.
"Secret stuff," he replied with a smile when asked to be specific about the treatment.
Regarding the electronic stimulating device, Bryant said he had slept with it on Sunday night.
"It cuts down the pain," he said. "How, I don't know."...
"I'll be ready to play. I can't imagine it being any worse than it was last night." [Fox Sports]
I'm sure Vic The Brick will be equipped with some cool words for Kobe before the game.
Moving onto things of lesser importance (though they sure could use some defense right now), Trevor Ariza has been cleared by a second physician:
Hoopsworld has learned that Trevor Ariza of the Los Angeles Lakers has been cleared by a second independent doctor. Sidelined for months with a broken foot, Ariza has now sought out two additional opinions hoping to get back on the floor to help the team in its ongoing playoff run.
The Lakers' physician has been conservative as Ariza's CT Scan still shows a line on the bone which is normally interpreted as an unhealed fracture.
Ariza recently saw a doctor in Utah who postulated that the bone has indeed healed and that the line may never fully disappear.
The recent third opinion concurred which sends the ultimate decision to the Lakers who are inherently conservative when it comes to long term health of their players. To date they haven't been willing to put Ariza in harm's way, even for the ongoing playoff push. [Hoopsworld]
That's the scoop for now. Game five is on Wednesday. I'd call it a must-win. The Lakers definitely DO NOT want to face elimination at EnergySolutions in game six, so I'm calling Wednesday the game of the series.
Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum might undergo exploratory
arthroscopic surgery on his injured left knee if there is no
significant improvement in the next three to four weeks.
Lakers spokesman John Black said Bynum was examined Wednesday by Dr.
Steven Gecha in Princeton, N.J. Black said the team was told there had
been some improvement in the 20-year-old center’s knee, but Gecha’s
recommendation was exploratory surgery if there wasn’t more in the
upcoming weeks. [ESPN]
Sure, it's an unfortunate situation... but it's for the better. That's already been discussed here.
Regardless of the news, I'm still hearing "Just wait until they get Andrew back. They're going to sweep through the playoffs." Well, as of now, they are sweeping through the playoffs, and looking rather good doing so.
Some good news on the defensive front: Trevor Ariza was cleared to play on April, 27.
"A week from now, I can start doing a little bit of contact. And then a week later I can start playing." Theoretically, this means that Trevor should be good to go as soon as Sunday's game four, however reports earlier this week were hinting towards something sooner.
And, just a reminder: (Lakers up 2-0)
Game Three Friday - 5/9 Lakers @ Jazz 6:00pm - ESPN/KCAL
Game Four Sunday - 5/11 Lakers @ Jazz 12:30pm - ABC
*Game Five Wednesday - 5/14 Jazz @ Lakers TBD - TNT
*Game Six Friday - 5/16 Lakers @ Jazz TBD - ESPN/KCAL
*Game Seven Monday - 5/19 Jazz @ Lakers TBD - TNT
A couple of reasons for Lakers fans to breath a little bit easier going into EnergySolutions Arena where the Jazz had a 37-4 record: In their last meeting in Utah, the Lakers snapped a 19-game home winning streak with a 106-95 victory, anchored by Kobe's 27, and Lamar's 21 and 12. The Lakers are 3-1 in the season series. All four games were played without Pau Gasol in the lineup. Also, if the first round means anything, despite winning games one and two in Houston, the Jazz lost game three at home by two.
28.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.4 APG, and 57 wins later, Kobe Bryant is your 2008 NBA MVP.
2008 MVP Voting (based on the NBA's MVP voting points system):
1. Kobe Bryant - 1,105 (82 first place votes)
2. Chris Paul - 889 (28 first place votes)
3. Kevin Garnett - 670
4. LeBron James - 439
5. Dwight Howard - 60
Longest-Tenured Winners*
Kobe Bryant - won following his 12th season
Karl Malone - 12th season
Hakeem Olajuwon - 10th season
Charles Barkley - 9th season
Kevin Garnett - 9th season
Steve Nash - 9th season
Dirk Nowitzki - 9th season
Magic Johnson - 8th season
Shaquille O'Neal - 8th season
Bob Cousy - 7th season
*First MVP Award
The press conference was terrific. Here are some notable quotes:
"Since you said that you couldn't have won this award without your teammates, are you going to be getting your teammates any sort of gifts?" - Luke Walton "How do you like the triangle?" - Tex Winter
And this one from Bill Plaschke: "Kobe, would you like to be a Laker for the rest of your career? Can you say that now?""I would like to. Absolutely."
Here's the full audio of the acceptance speech as well as the press conference, courtesy of myself.
Thanks to Utah's 113-91 win over Houston last night, we don't have to wait until Tuesday to see the Lakers take the floor. This is a good thing. I don't know how much longer I could take the "rest vs. rust" discussions. Anyway, the Lakers cruised through the first round, but that might be the problem. I'm not a big fan of speculation, but it's hard not to listen when someone says something along the lines of "well, the Lakers are going to get overconfident after the sweep, Denver just rolled over and gave them the series." Personally, I think the Lakers know what their doing. This whole notion of 'overconfidence' is milked too much in the media. It's playoff basketball. The Lakers (as with just about any other team) have enough experience to know what their going up against and how to react.
Sunday is going to make for some terrific basketball. Not only do we have the Lakers kicking off this series, but the #1 seed Celtics face elimination in game seven of that CRAZY series at 10am.
The Lakers are 3-1 in the season series, losing on November 30th at EnergySolutions Arena. On March 20th the Lakers issued Utah one of only four losses at EnergySolutions Arena. Interestingly enough, all three Lakers' wins against Utah were without Pau Gasol--just like the Denver series.
In the regular season, the Lakers scored
108.6 points per game and allowed 101.3 points per game with an
offensive rating at 3rd of 30 and a defensive rating at 5th of 30. The Jazz scored
106.4 points per game and allowed 99.3 points per game with an
offensive rating at 1st of 30 and a defensive rating at 12th of 30.
Series Schedule: Game One Sunday - 5/4 Jazz @ Lakers 12:30pm - ABC
Game Two Wednesday - 5/7 Jazz @ Lakers 7:30pm - TNT
Game Three Friday - 5/9 Lakers @ Jazz 6:00pm - ESPN/KCAL
Game Four Sunday - 5/11 Lakers @ Jazz 12:30pm - ABC
*Game Five Wednesday - 5/14 Jazz @ Lakers TBD - TNT
*Game Six Friday - 5/16 Lakers @ Jazz TBD - ESPN/KCAL
*Game Seven Monday - 5/19 Jazz @ Lakers TBD - TNT
Starting Matchups: Point Guard (LAL) Derek Fisher - 6-1, 205 - 11.7 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 2.9 APG (8.5 PPG in Round 1) (UTA) Deron Williams - 6-3, 208 - 18.8 PPG. 3.0 RPG, 10.5 APG (20.8 PPG in Round 1)
Shooting Guard (LAL) Kobe Bryant - 6-6, 220 - 28.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.4 APG (33.1 PPG in Round 1) (UTA) Ronnie Brewer - 6-7, 223 - 12 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.8 APG (9.3 PPG in Round 1)
Small Forward (LAL) Vladimir Radmanovic - 6-10, 234 - 8.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.9 APG (8.2 PPG in Round 1) (UTA) Andrei Kirilenko - 6-9, 223 - 11 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 4.0 APG (9.3 PPG in Round 1)
Power Forward (LAL) Lamar Odom - 6-10, 230 - 14.2 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 3.5 APG (11.7 PPG in Round 1) (UTA) Carlos Boozer - 6-9, 266 - 21.1 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.9 APG (16 PPG in Round 1)
Center (LAL) Pau Gasol - 7-0, 260 - 18.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.2 APG, 0.5 SPG (22.2 PPG in Round 1) (UTA) Mehmet Okur - 6-11, 263 - 14.5 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.0 APG (13.1 PPG in Round 1)
All-Time Series Facts (from game notes):
Lakers vs. Utah in Postseason (from game notes): The Lakers and Jazz have met three times in the postseason (1988, 1997 and 1998) with Los Angeles advancing on once occasion (1988 Western Conference Semifinals 4-3, the lone time the Lakers have held the home-court advantage over the Jazz). Utah eliminated Los Angeles from the playoffs in two consecutive seasons: 1997 Western Conference Semifinals (1-4) and 1998 Western Conference Finals (0-4). The Jazz sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in 1998 included a 112-77 victory in Game 1, the largest margin of defeat by the Jazz over the Lakers in their playoff series history.
Staples Center Advantage (from game notes): Since moving to STAPLES Center prior to the 1999-2000 season, the Lakers have won 82% of their postseason games (45-10). The Lakers have topped the century mark in half of their postseason home games at STAPLES Center (28-of-55) while the opposition has been held under 100 points in all but 14 of those games. In their last 18 home playoff games, the Lakers are 15-3.
By now, we've all seen the "Kobe jumping over an Aston-Martin" video. Sure, it was a good video, and sure people are still convinced that Kobe actually jumped over a speeding car, but I've found one of the coolest (for lack of a better word) commercial/spots I've seen in a long time.
I don't know the deal with the airing of the spots, but they've been around for a few months. I may have just missed it, but I was shocked to find these works of art on KB24.com. I can't believe this got past me.
It's a part of the Nike Zoom Kobe III campaign, titled "Geniuses." There are five different commercials featuring Kobe dressed up as DaVinci, Mozart, Einstein, and George Washington Carver. My understanding is that it's a web exclusive, so that may explain why they've gone under the radar... but I'm still tripping out on why I missed this.
The Lakers took advantage of their home-court advantage tonight, locking up win two of the series, 122-107.
Kobe shook off an ugly FG% from Sunday afternoon and took ownership tonight. Kobe was one point short from his playoff-high in scoring, which is 50, in overtime on 5/4/06.
In addition to his 49, Kobe managed to dish out 10 assists. Pau chimed in with 18 points, 10 boards, and three assists. I mention the assists because one of those three was an impromptu alley-oop to Kobe that had 'top plays of the season' written all over it. Lamar Odom got into foul trouble early, leaving Luke Walton with more playing time than usual... no problem for Luke. A couple of choice threes highlighted his 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. D-Fish posted 10 points, but was 0-2 from three.
The Nuggets had a strong showing from their power-duo. Iverson scored 31 and Melo posted 21. Marcus Camby cleaned thing up, with 17 rebounds, but the Nuggets couldn't stop Kobe's the Lakers' offensive proficiency.
"Undefendable" - George Karl on Kobe Bryant
My take on it all? It's really impressive to see the Lakers gelling so well. The chemistry between Kobe and Pau is remarkable considering the guys have only been playing together since February. I also liked how Luke stepped it up with Lamar in foul trouble.
The Lakers will hop on the plane Friday night for Saturday's 2:30pm start. Phil Jackson's formula for success figures that that the mile-high elevation of Denver doesn't affect the body for 24 hours, thus the Lakers flying in around midnight. Interesting strategy.
We all know, the series doesn't start until you win on the road. Here's a reminder of what's to come:
Game Three Saturday - 4/26 Lakers @ Nuggets 2:30pm - TNT/KCAL TNT Announcers: Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Craig Sager
Game Four Monday - 4/28 Lakers @ Nuggets 7:30pm - TNT/KCAL TNT Announcers: Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Craig Sager
*Game Five Wednesday - 4/30 Nuggets @ Lakers TBD
*Game Six Friday - 5/2 Lakers @ Nuggets TBD
*Game Seven Sunday - 5/4 Nuggets @ Lakers TBD
Also, for those curious about Ronny Turiaf's absence (if you didn't catch it early on in the telecast):
"Ronny Turiaf's sore throat turned out to be a case of tonsillitis.
He attended Wednesday's morning shootaround, but was noticeably
lacking in energy so the Lakers sent him home to rest and recover.
They're hopeful their backup center will be sound enough to play in
Game 3 on Saturday afternoon at Denver." [Long Beach Press-Telegram]
[edit - Thursday, 10:46am] Kobe is fed up with JR Smith's jawing.
“Better learn not to talk to me,” Bryant said of Smith’s jabbering. “You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.”
Also, something pretty funny: The TNT staff's take on Kobe's HyperDunk video:
He's been dancing around the questions for the past few moths, offering tight-lipped answers, really leaving the fans to draw their own conclusions. Well, today Kobe was direct about his aspirations to spend the rest of his career in Los Angeles:
“Absolutely,” Bryant said the day after the Lakers beat the Denver
Nuggets 128-114 in their playoff series opener. “I’ve always wanted to
be here. I just felt like I was in a position where I didn’t really
have a choice. They wanted to go in an opposite direction. My legs
aren’t as young as they used to be. Just let me know.
“I love the weather. I love my ‘63 drop-top Impala. I love the 405 (freeway). I love my guys.” [HoopsVibe]
This may instill hope amongst the Lakers faithful, however, we know how fast things can change. I can't lie though. I wouldn't mind seeing the 24 hang from the rafters.
It turns out today was a pretty busy day as far as news from the Lakers' camp.
More Andrew Bynum drama:
When asked after practice if there was a risk of messing up team
chemistry by playing 7-footers Bynum and Pau Gasol at the same time,
Jackson replied: “I think without a doubt that Andrew would come off
the bench and we would play him a little bit off the bench if there was
any chance that he could come back and play again, but it’s such a
remote thing. We’re not seriously thinking about it." [ESPN]
Also, some bad news for the Mbenga fans out there:
Center DJ Mbenga got caught up with some of the other participants
and ended up on the floor with a look of agony on his face as teammates
and team medical personnel gathered around.
DJ had a CT scan and was diagnosed with bruised ribs. He is officially listed as Day-to-Day. [Lakers Basketblog]
Randoms from the LA Times Lakers Blog: 1. Ronny Turiaf was sent home today, suffering from some sort of ailment 2. Kobe commented on those "DUI" chants raining on Melo on Sunday, calling them "uncalled for." 3. That above noted injury that DJ Mbenga duffered was from a knee to the ribs. Ouch.
It's been eight long years since the Lakers achieved such a feat.
That was the 1999-2000 season. We remember what happened then.
You can call it wishful thinking, or you can call it forecasting, but I am awfully giddy. I haven't been this giddy since the Pau trade back in the beginning of February.
The Lakers just took down the Kings by a score of 124-101 in the 82nd and final game of the regular season, to clinch the #1 spot in the Western Conference. I had my doubts about this game. Heck, my last post was addressing the potential that the Kings had to pull a little bit of an upset to make the #1 race a little more interesting.
Well... Kobe, Pau, and Lamar proved my speculation wrong. The Lakers never had a huge run, but the gap was comfortable the entire time. This was the game fans needed before nervous time starts this weekend. It was a nice reflection on a terrific 57-25 season.
One thing came to me tonight.
I know I'm no authority on the matter, but Lamar proved himself to me tonight. My dislike for Lamar in previous seasons was leading me to turn my head to the numbers he's been putting up lately. Lamar has the third most double-doubles in the league since the All-Star break. Granted, a lot of them haven't been much above 10 and 10, Lamar has shown a ton of improvement in his new role as the third option. People have been saying it all season long. Lamar Odom is contributor, not a leader. The removal of the Lamar from the spotlight of being a second scoring option has been the best possible elixir for his previous lack of production. There's no telling if he'll be re-signed in the off-season, but, pending his performance in the playoffs, we might see Lamar sticking around.
The Lakers played proficiently tonight, Sunday, and Friday. It was nothing short of a dream conclusion to the regular season. Hopefully these final few games have satisfied the fans with the current line-up. I spent the afternoon trolling some Lakers chat rooms and forums. People are still hung up on the Bynum and Ariza situation. It's been said around here by a few people (notably in LF19II's post), including myself; Bynum and Ariza won't make a huge impact on the post-season picture. This team is solid as is. Sure, Bynum will be a body, but the subluxation is a serious injury. If Bynum comes back not fully-recovered, the patella has the potential to do the exact same thing as it did on January 13. All I'm trying to say is that Bynum is a guy to build the franchise around once Kobe is past his prime. Let's not mess that up.
Finally, the Lakers' round one matchup is still in the balance. Their opponent will be Denver unless the Nuggs can swing a win against Memphis paired with Dallas losing to New Orleans. It's really a toss-up right now. We'll see what happens.
Oh yeah, Is this the final validation for the Kobe for MVP camp? I believe the votes go in on Thursday, and the results are released Friday.
For the first time since the 2003-2004 season, the Lakers have clinched the coveted Pacific Division. With their 107-104 win over the Hornets, paired with a 90-101 Suns loss in Houston, the Lakers locked up home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Talk about progression.
After losing in the finals in 2004, the Lakes hit rock bottom in the 04-05 season, finishing fourth in the pacific and missing the playoffs. 05-06 saw a third place finish in the Pacific and 06-07 saw a second place. The last two finishes resulted in first-round losses to the Suns (no kidding). This season marks, coincidentally, the first since 03-04 that the Suns won't be finishing on top of the Pacific.
Despite blowing a 30-point lead down to one in the third, the Lakers reacted properly and got the job done in a huge statement game. The statement? That they can ball sufficiently without Bynum in the mix. As Lakersfan19II alluded to earlier, of course Bynum deserves to be celebrated, but fans are weighing too much on his return. Sure he'll be a presence if he gets back in time, but the focus needs to shift onto the current set of healthy players. Kobe and Pau's averages, and a decent showing from the rest of the guys can and should get the job done against the best of the best. Check out LF19II's post, it's a good read.
Tonight's game was probably the most influential h2h matchup in the MVP race. Rumors had it that some writers were basing the whole of their vote (stupidly) on tonight's game. Here's a look:
I know those stats don't mean much, but I needed an excuse to photoshop The Mailman into something.
All of that said, the Lakers are now a half game out of the top spot in the West. The Hornets face Sacramento tomorrow, the Cleepers on Tuesday, and Dallas on Wednesday. The Lakers host the Spurs on Sunday and the Kings on Tuesday.
Buckle up!
Also: Ariza injury update from earlier: "Lakers forward Trevor Ariza had a CT scan
this morning on his injured right foot that showed that the bone has
still not healed completely.
Ariza continues to rehab with the Lakers training staff and has been
cleared to increase his work on the team’s Alter-G treadmill from
70-80% of his body weight this week to 90% next week."
People were freaking out over this on the web...
And finally: Hollywood was drooling over Kobe + family rolling out the The Home Depot Center last week to catch David Beckham in action... well, here's part two:
I just found an interesting story from the Washington Post via The Lakers Nation about how Kobe's been dealing with the officials as of late.
Bryant has held his tongue, walked the other way or used another, more
confusing means to voice his frustrations to officials. "I just cuss
them out really bad in Serbian," Bryant joked.
Bryant said he has learned how to swear in the native languages of teammates Vladimir Radmanovic (Serbia), Sasha Vujacic (Slovenia) and Ronny Turiaf (France). "I've been cursing in French. French is really cool, because everything sounds good in French."
Now, I'm not typically one to condone bad behavior, but I have to admit; I find this pretty humorous.
The Lakers just solidified a playoff berth with a come-from-behind 112-108 win over the "panic time" Mavs.
Lamar Odom pulled his weight tonight, setting a season high with 31 points; three off from a career night. Odom pulled down 10 rebounds, dished out five assists, and blocked two shots. Impressive? I'd say so.
Kobe posted 25 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Pau played elegantly (I've been jonesing to say that for quite some time no) with 25 points, four rebounds, and two blocks.
I'd say it was a near-picture perfect night from the triad.
Vlad Rad played like Vlad Bad tonight, posting four points on 0-4 from three-point land. The Nation is counting the days until Pau jumps over to the 4, Bynum acclimates himself back into the starting 5, and Odom rocks the "no pressure" 3.
Dallas certainly put up a fight, as anyone watching the game would attest. Dirk scored 27, Jason Terry put up 23, and Josh Howard added 23 and seven.
So, with seven out of eight teams in the East already in, the Lakers become just the second to clinch a spot in the West. This also marks Phil Jackson's 17th career playoff berth in his 17 seasons in the association.
Hats off to Lamar tonight. I don't have a problem calling this one of his best games in a Lakers uniform. He's had a few big ones, but none I can recall have come at such a pivotal time of the season. For those of you lucky enough: Playoff tickets go on sale tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 10am through Ticketmaster. And, for the niche stuff: Ira Newble saw action for the second time as a Laker tonight. Newble managed to pull down one rebound in 2:37. So, his totals as a Laker now stand at two points and one rebound in 6:23.
On January 4, I wrote a post on one of the best Lakers box scores of the season. Javaris Crittenton had 19, Andrew Bynum and D-Fish had 17, Jordan Farmar had 16, Kobe and Ronny Turiaf had 15, and Trevor Ariza had 11.
Well, tonight was probably the worst box score of the season. Not only did the Lakers get clowned by the 19-53 Grizzlies, but they did it in classic 2004-2005 season fashion. For those of you that haven't seen the headlines, Kobe scored 53 points, his 23rd 50+ game of his career. I knew something bad was brewing when Kobe scored 10 of the team's first 10 points, and Joel Meyers said something to the effect of "The Grizzlies have a one-point lead over Kobe" (please note the "something to the effect." I don't remember the exact context, nor do I care to). Kobe had next to no offensive support tonight. Sasha Vujacic was the second-leading scorer with 14 points on 4-14 from three. Jordan Farmar put up 11, and I'll let the screenshot speak for the rest of the guys. The Lakers lacked on the other side of the ball as well. Ira Newble got the DNP-CD tonight. I think that Newble's defensive skill-set just might have been a factor in the three-point loss.
If there was anything good to come from tonight's game, it would have to be Kobe's demeanor. After racking up his 14th and 15th technical fouls on Wednesday, Kobe didn't appear to have openly complained once tonight. That's the way it should be. Today, sports talk radio was saturated with talk about how he has whined more this season than others in the past. He had a pretty stand-up outing tonight; I can respect that.
In the end, stand-up outings aren't going to get wins. The Lakers are 4-4 since Gasol's injury. As noted in my post earlier today, Pau could be back for Sunday's match-up against Washington. He did an interview during the game with Patrick O'Neal and stated that his status is pending on how Saturday's practice goes.
Well look what we have here! Hardwood Paroxysm has declared today, March 11, Kobe Bryant Blog Day in honor of one of the most polarizing players in the association. Check out the post here, and soak it all in.
In honor of this holiday of sorts, I'm choosing to post one of my favorite Kobe clips of all time. It might not be the highlight of his career... and maybe he's not too fond of this particular moment in time, but I think we can all enjoy it objectively.
Also - Check out Hoffman's Kobe Blog Day post here. And again, don't forget to check out Hardwood Paroxysm.
Lately, I've been trying to shy away from the post-game posts. It seems like some of them just lack the substance that the Fox community deserves. Well, tonight, I couldn't resist.
The Lakers just walked out of one of the most hyped games of the season with a win. Twas not a huge win numerically, but it solidified 3-1 season series win over their division rival.
Win. Win. Win.
Kobe and Pau combined for 70 points (41 and 29, respectively). Kobe's finger didn't seem to get in the way of a 41 point outing, and, yet again, Mr. Gasol impressed me with his Spaniard flair and finesse. I know, I've prefaced just about everything Gasol does with the word 'Spaniard,' but there's no denying that Pau's game is elegant... and frankly, I find Spain elegant.
You saw that hook shot.
That aside, Lamar came out with a good showing, and despite missing 25 layups, he managed to score 22 and pull down 11.
Oh yeah, we almost forgot. Shaq made his Phoenix debut today (stache-less). I'll never be one to hate on The Diesel, but he looked very sluggish coming into the game... He almost looked confused walking out to center court before the opening tip. Nevertheless, Shaq did what he does best, and provided a huge presence physically down low. Despite getting off to a slow start, he managed for 15 and nine; just in the neighborhood of his season averages.
If we want to look past the Kobe-Shaq hype, Amare Stoudemire stole the show on the Phoenix side of things. 37 points and 15 rebounds really showcased Amare's abilities at the four. Steve Nash also chimed in with 22 points and eight assists.
The bottom line is that this was a fun game to watch. I was standing in front of the TV for the entire fourth quarter. That's how I judge the overall aesthetics o####ame... the 'stand-factor.'
Lastly, The Lakers' win boosted them into a tie with the Suns atop the Pacific Division. Upcoming games anyone?
Lakers: Suns:
Food for thought...
[edit: 1:53am] Check out Tom7's ####t on the game if you haven't already. It's like 400x more comprehensive.
I'm a realistic observer of the vast world that surrounds the Los Angeles Lakers. You can thank Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Cedric Ceballos, and Vlade Divac for making that possible. The greatest person of all time is Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn. There's no getting around that. Me? I'm eighteen years old and working my way to a journalism degree.
I lied. 
his playoff-high in scoring, which is 50, in overtime on 5/4/06. 
the fans to draw their own conclusions. Well, today Kobe was direct about his aspirations to spend the rest of his career in Los Angeles:
You can call it wishful thinking, or you can call it forecasting, but I am awfully giddy. I haven't been this giddy since the Pau trade back in the beginning of February. 
double-doubles in the league since the All-Star break. Granted, a lot of them haven't been much above 10 and 10, Lamar has shown a ton of improvement in his new role as the third option. People have been saying it all season long. Lamar Odom is contributor, not a leader. The removal of the Lamar from the spotlight of being a second scoring option has been the best possible elixir for his previous lack of production. There's no telling if he'll be re-signed in the off-season, but, pending his performance in the playoffs, we might see Lamar sticking around. 
107-104 win over the Hornets, paired with a 90-101 Suns loss in Houston, the Lakers locked up home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. 
with the officials as of late.
Lamar Odom pulled his weight tonight, setting a season high with 31 points; three off from a career night. Odom pulled down 10 rebounds, dished out five assists, and blocked two shots. Impressive? I'd say so.
Well, tonight was probably the worst box score of the season. Not only did the Lakers get clowned by the 19-53 Grizzlies, but they did it in classic 2004-2005 season fashion. For those of you that haven't seen the headlines, Kobe scored 53 points, his 23rd 50+ game of his career. I knew something bad was brewing when Kobe scored 10 of the team's first 10 points, and Joel Meyers said something to the effect of "The Grizzlies have a one-point lead over Kobe" (please note the "something to the effect." I don't remember the exact context, nor do I care to). Kobe had next to no offensive support tonight. Sasha Vujacic was the second-leading scorer with 14 points on 4-14 from three. Jordan Farmar put up 11, and I'll let the screenshot speak for the rest of the guys. The Lakers lacked on the other side of the ball as well. Ira Newble got the DNP-CD tonight. I think that Newble's defensive skill-set just might have been a factor in the three-point loss.
