Hard-fought throughout, the Lakers exhibited the required mental and physical toughness down the stretch, a close-out defense that was rewarded with a 92-83 victory. The clamp-down was highlighted by stand-out blocks and scoring from Pau Gasol. 7 of his 20 pts. came in the final three minutes.

As usual, Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 27 pts., w/9 rebounds and 5 assists.

Lamar Odom surprised with back-to-back 3-pt. shots in the final quarter.

Andrew Bynum contributed key blocked shots in the game and 9 pts., making his presence felt, especially on D, making it clear he was a key missing factor in last year's Finals meltdown.

Continue reading "Christmas Gift Lakers 92 Celtics 83"

As perennial prime pistol Kobe Bryant noted, the Lakers match up especially well against the Hornets.

Team D was key as it will have to be to defeat upper echelon teams, and especially if they meet their born-again nemesis the Celtics in the Finals -- admittedly quite a was off. Those Celtics are cruisin' along at a monster 27-2, while the Lakers improved their West-leading record to 23-5.

The Lakers got on top early against the Hornets and stayed ahead, weathering a late surge to win handily.

Continued staunch D is all they need, particularly in the wake of a recent knee injury to Jordan Farmar, necessitating an 8-wk. surgery sidelining.

Continue reading "Lakers Sting Hornets 100-87"

Kobe and LeBron were in early foul trouble, and D Wade was the most conspicuous spark for our U.S. team in the 1st half.

Chris Bosh made some key free-throws in the 2nd half, even as Dwight Howard was throwin' up bricks at the charity stripe.

Spain is a wily team and repeatedly broke down the U.S.A. defense, behind the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc. Fernandez was another stand-out.

It took the whole dang game, but the U.S. all-stars did prevail, as Kobe stepped-up with key defense and shots, the exclamation point coming with a 3-point shot on which he was fouled, his subsequent free-throw making it a 4-point play, spelling the beginning of the end for the Spanish Nationals.

Continue reading "USA Guts Out Gold Beats Spain 118-107 Behind Wade Bryant"

It was 62-62, when I tuned in. When I found out the Lakers had been ahead by 19 pts., and had again blown a big early lead, I was doubly glad I tuned in when I did.

Home boyz survived this time though. Finally won a 3rd quarter to lead by 9 going into 4th.

Pushing back when they were caught by Celtics, and balanced scoring was the key. That, and a huge Kobe Bryant steal with time running out.

103-98 Lakers, at the buzzer.

Now, still trailing 3-2 in series, L.A. still faces a history-defying challenge in Boston to win Game 6, then 7.

Phil Jackson says his team is "young and dumb enough" to beat the odds.

Tune in Tuesday to see how it plays out.

Continue reading "Oddly Redundant Lakers Survive Game 5"

Kobe facilitating like crazy, grinning early.

35-14 lead after 1st quarter is biggest early Finals lead ever.

Trevor Arriza big off the bench, offensive and defensive effort.

58-40 Lakers over Celtics, halftime.

Then Lamar and the home boyz went home but left their golem bodies on the floor to host a surreal debacle.

I don't specifically remember the floor crumbling to the center of the earth, or effort per se ceasing, but some sort of timequake resulted in Phil Jackson talking to Ms. Tacoya re L.A.'s lead being trimmed to 2 to start the 4th quarter, sayin' dry-jokingly that he's not sure what happened either. Then he said they'd get their groove back. Well, not really. And I'm starting to wonder if Phil's vaunted Zen equanimity has turned to senility.

Continue reading "Wealthy Attention-Deficit-Disordered Jocks Blow Biggest Early Lead in NBA Finals History"

Odom-eter reads: early foul trouble, broodingly M.I.A., and lacking the subtle touch even when he did manage to drive well to the hole. Finish, Lamar!

And Radmanovic had similar woes, re foul trouble and scoring.

D-Fish had a few key moments, but only scored 6.

Ray Allen was the Celtics offense, while Pierce and Garnett struggled, but there's little doubt they'll produce more in Game 4 -- ditto Odom, D-Fish, Radmanovic for the home boyz, though.

Look for the Lakers to tie the series 2-2 Thursday.

Continue reading "Lakers Pull Out Ragged Game 3 of Finals"

Get yer young guns blazin' earlier, and take care of this classic Western Conference Finals business at the OK (as in Odom/Kobe, w/plenty of Pau power) Corral. This is the match-up I predicted, though New Orleans made it interesting.

Over in the East, I was wrong about Orlando, who looked stronger in the 1st round, but still right about Boston lookin' a bit vulnerable for all their exalted won-loss record. Goin' 7 with Atlanta still seems preposterous. Goin' 7 again with Cleveland a lot more understandable, since they are defending Eastern Conference champs. Now, the Pistons have finally knocked 'em off their invincible-at-home perch, so they'd better shake out of their can't-win-on-the-road play-off rut, if they expect to prevail over the Pistons.

Continue reading "SMOKIN AT THE OK CORRAL"

Meanwhile, in the East -- s'up with Boston? What part of put the effin' lowly Hawks away do they not understand? Pistons struggled, but overcame Sixers in 6. Cavs offed the Wizards in 6. Orlando, echoing their great center Dwight Howard, is lookin' like the true "Beast of the East."

Boston is resembling an almost worse case last-year's Dallas Mavericks with their best-record-in-the-league-struggling-with-#8-seed syndrome. What'd Atlanta win, 43% of their games? Ugly. That kinda record is why I used to think the playoffs went too deep in seeding -- that is, until this year's amazing Western conference horse race, with the top 6 teams separated by about 2 games, and the whole 8-pack by a mere 4 or 5.

Continue reading "ROCKIN SECOND-ROUND ONWARD PLAYOFF PREVIEW"

Kareem, you will always be my all-time favorite Laker. The grace, dignity, and extraordinary numbers you posted over your long distinguished career remain nonpareil. And the multi-champ team with you and Magic and Worthy, et al remains my fave too.

Your ultra-expert comments on the Lakers status and playoff outlook are pure gold. Apart from Kobe's continuing leadership emergence, I love the performance and the steady basketball IQ of Pau Gasol. He's really raised the level of team chemistry, and the consistency of Lamar Odom's free-roving, all-purpose style of play.

Consistent and staunch enough defense, and this team can go all the way, even without Bynum's reinforcement of the front line (great job mentoring him, by the way).

Continue reading "KAREEM POST"

Time and time again these egomaniacs conduct themselves on-air as if we tuned in to listen to their dissociated yammering instead of dialed-in comments on the game.

Case in point: During the first half of today's first-round playoff opener between the Lakers and Nuggets, Jackson made a comment that Allen Iverson was one of the best pound-for-pound players in the NBA ever. Van Gundy goes off interminably, expressing incredulity, and maddeningly ignoring Jackson's "pound-for-pound" qualification, as Iverson is around 6'1" 165 lbs.

The contrast with KCAL's smoothly professional coverage is startling. Joel Myers and Stu Nance are much more in sync.

Continue reading "ABCs GAME COVERAGE SUCKS"