Gun-slingin' wild horse in a 9-deep horse race. Yikes, mixed metaphors.

I used to think 8 seeds per conference was overkill, seeming to invite EVERYBODY to post-season. Well I don't recall such a wild neck-in-neck race in the West. The Lakers had surged to #1 of course, 10 in a row. Then lost one to Portland. Triumphed in an OT thriller at home against the Mavericks on Sunday. Vis-a-vis the stately Spurs in the West as of March 3rd, 10pm? Spurs 41-17, .707; Lakers 42-18, .700. #2 now by a percentile sliver. We can live with that. And regain #1 pronto. Lakers-Spurs conference final would be cool, depends on the scheduling.

I almost pity the Southwest division. The hard luck Mavs are in FOURTH place, a mere 3.5 games out of 1st where the Spurs reign, the tightest division in the tight West. Utah and the Lakers in their divisions actually have 2.5 to 3 games breathing room on Denver and Phoenix, by comparison.

Continue reading "LAKERS: PURPLE & GOLD PALADINS IN THE WILD WILD WEST"

Turiaf started out a lion on defense, stepping up as backup center for injured Casol, even as he did for Bynum before that.

Lakers clickin' on all 8-cylinders, from the start. Odom, Turiaf, Radmanovitch, Kobe, Fish. Mavs chipped away at 20+ Lakers lead, pulling to within 16 with a min. and change left in 3rd.

Oops, Terry's 3 for the Mavs at the buzzer pulls 'em within 12, 77-65, goin' into 4th.

Well Kobe better come back in and the Lakers better regroup.

15-1 Mavs run. Then Kobe scores, back up by 12.

So it's basically tit-for-tat now hangin' around 10 instead of 20 pt. margin.

79-72 Lakers, jeez. Then to 5, then a Rad 3, back to 8.

84-76 Lakers after Odom cleanup. Rad bangs another 3 after Mavs close to 6; 87-78 Lakers.

Continue reading "SHORTHANDED LAKERS SHOW GRIT & SMARTS, HANG ON TO BEAT MAVS 102-100."

And 7th seed 4 games out, 8th seed 4 1/2.

But 1 through 6 separated by ONE game? Has it ever been so insanely close? Is this the Western Conference of the NBA or the last race at Santa Anita? Crazy, baby!

So the Lakers slipped a hair again, losing to the #8 Warriors at Staples, 115-111 Sun. night, mostly due to giving up too damn much early and having to climb a big hill back.

That bumps 'em back to #2 seed behind New Orleans again, by miniscule percentage pts. And shrinks their lead over #3 Phoenix in the Pacific Division to a precarious 1/2 game. The Stoudemire-Shaq tandem gelled and dominated against Houston, their most recent game, I think, so look out!

Come on back, Pao, wade that ankle into the crazy fray, reinforced, if possible. Ditto Andrew close behind. We need you!

Continue reading "WESTERN CONFERENCE SEEDS 1 THROUGH 6 SEPARATED BY 1 GAME ONLY!"