Tag: LA Lakers

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New Orleans Hornets

Around the Rim: Changing of the guards?


1. Jason Kidd. Meet Jason Kidd 2.0
It’s hard to say that a guy who misses a triple-double by one rebound is playing second fiddle to a youngster in the point guard department, but last night it was true. Jason Kidd finished with nine rebounds, 10 assists and 14 points, but, like they say, he scores last scores best. At least, that’s the motto Chris Paul is living by after his lay-up with less than three seconds in the game gave the Hornets an 84-82 victory over New Jersey. CP3 has been playing out of his mind over the opening act of the season and last night was just one more chapter in the book. Paul paced his boys with a team-high 29 points to go with six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

2. The Chosen `One’

The Nuggets proved the old adage of “two is always better than one” again last night as Denver’s dynamic duo combined for 59 points during their team’s 122-100 victory over Cleveland. LeBron James wasn’t the only Cav on the court, but he was doing all the heavy lifting and it didn’t work out to well for the defending Eastern Conference champs. Behind LeBron’s 27 points, Ira Newble was the second leading scorer with 17 and it took him 15 shots to get that. In all, Cleveland shot the ball pretty well, 36-86 for 41.9 percent, but the Nuggets were rolling. Keyword being Nuggets, accent on the s. Anthony finished with 22 points and Iverson racked up a game-high 37. And if three is a crowd then Denver has a fetish for hordes because J.R. Smith came off the bench to chip in 29 more.

3. Those aren’t “Booos,” they’re “Boooz”
Carlos Boozer must be getting coached up by Mike Gundy on the side because there’s no doubt he’s a man! The Booze went off for 32 points and 10 rebounds, giving him his seventh double-double in eight games. Perhaps the most important number of all is the team’s six wins in those eight contests. Last night, Boozer led the Jazz as they savaged the poor Kings 117-93. As if having a 6-foot, 9-inch, 266-pound of man meat at your disposal isn’t enough, try throwing in a side of coach-hating Russians to the mix. The previously disgruntled Andrei Kirilenko almost got himself a triple-dip with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Allen Iverson vs. Cleveland 35 min, 37 pts (FG: 14-20, 3FG: 2-4, FT: 7-8), 3 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Los Angeles Lakers (3-2) @ San Antonio (6-1)
It’s been a while since the LA/SA rivalry was really heated, but make no mistake about it, these two teams still can’t stand one another. Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich might not come out and say it, but they’re still fuming over Phil Jackson’s “asterisk” comment in regards to their 1999 championship which was won in a shortened season. But when you tune into this game, the real animosity to concern yourself with is between Kobe Bryant and Bruce Bowen. Bryant is a point-hungry scoring machine and he’s been known to throw a few cheap shots in order to get his fix. Unfortunately, nobody keeps perimeter scorers jonzing more than Bowen and his tenacious D. These two have exchanged plenty of heated words in the past and both take this match-up as a personal challenge. Bring your cups with you, because this could get testy.

Buzzer Beater: We can kind of understand why Bulls fans would start chanting Kobe Bryant’s name when the Mamba comes to town. After all, it’s not too hard to want a guy who you’re watching him put on a clinic first hand. But what’s up with Chicago fans chanting his name during a game against the … Raptors?

The United Center sellout crowd of 22,467 lost its patience midway through the third quarter. With each turnover and each missed shot, the chorus of boos grew louder. Ditto for the chants of ”KO-BEE … KO-BEE … KO-BEE …” Then in the fourth quarter, the remaining fans passed the time by doing the wave.

Really, there was no other way to react to the Bulls’ embarrassing, humiliating — pick an adjective, any adjective for bad — 101-71 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.

Oh, yea; 1-5 record. Right.

Categories
Houston Rockets

Around the Rim: Rocket powered rejection


1. Spurs get Pop’d in the mouth
In a Southwest showdown, the Rockets bounced back from a road loss to the Mavericks and defeated the Spurs 89-81 in Houston. The loss knocked San Antonio from the ranks of the unbeatens and left them to ponder bigger problems than the eight point differential in offense. Led by Bonzi Wells and Yao Ming, the Rockets outrebounded the Spurs by 27 (55-28), including a 25-4 advantage on the offensive glass. Then again, in order to get a bunch of offensive rebounds you have to miss a lot of shots and that seemed pretty easy for the Rockets in the early going as they missed 25 of their first 37 shots. But the second chance points added up and sharing the ball paid off as the Rockets dished out a season-high 25 assists. Making the win even more impressive was the fact that Houston survived while Tracy Mcrady was going 4-of-14 for 12 points.

2. N’awlins goes nuts

Peja Stojakovic and Chris Paul went absolutely berserk against the Lakers. En route to a 118-104 Charlotte victory, Stojakovic scored 36 points with a team record breaking performance in which he nailed 10-of-13 from behind the arc. Most of his shots were the products of Paul passes and by the end of the game, Paul had a franchise-record of his own to cherish: 21 assists! Paul was just one point away from tallying a 20-20 performance which isn’t easy to do with points and rebounds, let alone points and assists. Throw in his three rebounds and three steals and you have another blooming performance from the point guard of the future. Oh, Kobe Bryant was there too and he turned in a pretty solid performance in a losing effort with 28 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

3. SC’s Neat-o Stat of the Day
Actually, we’re going to give SI.com all the credit for the crunching of numbers, but did you know that the average price for a ticket to see Kobe Bryant play a home game is $89.24? Ouch. Now, here comes the fun stuff. According to The Fan Cost Index, the average price across the league to take a family of four out to a game is $281.90. That includes “four average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two least-expensive, adult-size adjustable caps.” Well, if you want to see Bryant ignore his teammates and jack up 40 shots in front of Jack then it’s gonna cost you $453.95! For that much money, that package better include Demi Moore sitting on our laps for the entire game!

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: LeBron James @ Golden State 42 min, 24 pts (FG: 9-16, 3FG: 1-2, FT: 5-7), 14 reb, 9 ast, 3 blk

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Denver (2-2) @ Boston (2-0)
So, do you like freakishly large collections of freakishly skilled players? Well, then you’ve come to the right place because the TD Banknorth (we can’t believe we said it either) Garden is gonna be popping at the seams. Everyone knows about the big trio in green and white and the visitors aren’t all that shabby either. A couple of guys named Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony will join the defensive player of the year, Marcus Camby, and a pair of bad boys in J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin. This is a poor man’s all-star game and has all the makings of a barn burner. So, enjoy it because these two aren’t hooking up again until late February.

Buzzer Beater: If you were hoping to tune into Tuesday night’s game between the Knicks and Nuggets and see round two between the teams then you were probably pretty disappointed with your evening. There were no flagrant fouls called, no techs, no Carmelo Anthony hit and runs, and only two players (Nene Hilario and Marcus Camby) fouled out. Lame. We expected more with Zach Randolph in the lineup.

Categories
San Antonio Spurs

Around the Rim: The boys (and babes) are back in town!


1. Life is good in San Antonio
Sure, the Spurs got a new banner for the AT&T Center and, yes, they received some shiny new rings from the commish, but those weren’t even close to being the highlight of San Antonio’s day. That’s because Tim Duncan agreed in principle to sign the dotted line of a two-year, $40 million contract extension that will keep him sporting silver and black through the 2011-12 season. The Big Fundamental immediately paid dividends with team-highs in points (24) and rebounds (13) as San Antonio defeated Portland 106-97. All in all, that’s a pretty big day for the best power forward on the face of the planet, and his team.

2. You sure you want to get rid of this guy?

Remember all that talk about how Kobe Bryant just isn’t trying hard enough for the team? Well, you can nix that idea after one game because in the Lakers’ season opener, Bryant went off for 45 points against the Rockets in a 95-93 defeat. In fact, the Lakers could have possibly won the game if it hadn’t been for Shane Battier’s 3-pointer with under three seconds remaining. We know that the tension is reaching new heights between Kobe and Phil Jackson and between Kobe and the Lakers, but Los Angeles should probably do everything they can to keep their superstar at this point. First off, there is no way they can ever get equal value for someone that talented and secondly, he led the Lakers in every major statistical category last night. If this is how Kobe plays when he’s pouting, just wait until he has something to smile about…if he has something to smile about.

3. The Warriors pick up right where they left off
The Warriors are probably pretty sick of seeing the Utah Jazz at this point. After putting an end to Golden State’s playoff party last year, the Jazz opened this season with a 117-96 win over Don Nelson’s club. The dynamic duo of Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams paid off again for the Jazz as they combined 56 points, 19 rebounds and nine assists. Heck, even the disgruntled Andrei Kirilenko produced for the club as he just missed out on a triple-double with nine points, nine rebounds and eight assists. The Warriors made it interesting in the final quarter, but without Stephen Jackson in the lineup (suspended, of course), Golden State just didn’t have enough firepower to hang.

Tuesday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant vs. Houston 43 min, 45 pts (FG: 13-32, 3FG: 1-3, FT: 18-27), 8 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk

Wednesday’s Game to Watch: Dallas (0-0) @ Cleveland (0-0)

It would be awfully tough to find any teams with worse tastes in their mouths than either the Mavericks or the Cavaliers. Both teams had great regular seasons last year and then both of them got absolutely humiliated in the postseason. In case you’ve already forgotten, the Cavs managed to win the East but went cold against San Antonio in the Finals. On the other side of the map, Dallas virtually coasted to 67 wins before having their hopes smashed by Don Nelson’s small ball. Now, we can’t predict what’s going to happen after the regular season concludes, but we can pretty much guarantee these two are going to be major players in their conferences. Both teams will probably be a little rusty to start the year, but LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki on the same court are must watch television any day of the year.

Buzzer Beater: The dream of dueling rookies was cut short after Greg Oden needed microfracture surgery before the season, but when the rookies are this good then having just one really isn’t all that bad. Kevin Durant sprained his left knee and his status for the season opener was up in the air until he had a good practice on Monday. Now it’s starting to look like the Nuggets should be more concerned about Durant’s health than the Sonics. Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo basically said it’s the kid’s call; if he feels good, he’ll be starting the game. And should that happen, all the other rooks out there can basically kiss that ROY trophy goodbye.

Categories
LA Lakers

The rift is growing between the Zen Master and his pupil


The Kobe Bryant saga with the Lakers has been going on for months as the dispute over whether he’s staying or going rages on. Well, after having all off-season to hash this thing out, here we are one day from the start of the regular season and we still don’t know what is going on. What we do know is that Bryant and the Zen Master traded a few shots the other day.

After Kobe Bryant didn’t practice Saturday because of a sprained right wrist, Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he expected Bryant to play Tuesday night in the season opener against the Houston Rockets, but he was critical of Bryant, questioning his commitment, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

“Obviously he hasn’t thrown his heart and soul into performing on the floor,” Jackson said, the Times reported. “That hurts me a little bit. . . . He was going to work at this thing and (would) put his full being into this. Right now, he’s having a hard time doing that.”

Bryant shot back with comments of his own.

That (should be) the least of (Jackson’s) concerns or anybody’s concerns,” Bryant told the Times. “You don’t have to worry about that. . . . I’m ready to play. Period. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Bryant didn’t travel to Las Vegas with the team and his status was day-to-day, Lakers spokesman John Black said. Bryant was injured after Utah center Mehmet Okur struck him Tuesday night in an exhibition game in Anaheim.

If Bryant is anything, he’s a baller. We don’t need to go all A.I. on you, but, c’mon, we’re talking about practice. Not a game. Listen, Bryant could be in a coma for 20 years like Rip Van Winkle, wake up and go off for 55 against the Pacers. We gotta agree with Kobe on this one, when you’ve got a roster with Kwame Brown, Maurice Evans, Chris Mihm, Sasha Vujacic and Coby Karl then the last person Jackson needs to be complaining about is No. 24.

Links:

[MSNBC.com]: Jackson questions Kobe’s commitment

Categories
LA Lakers

Is Kobe in or out? Will someone fill us in please?

We’re not even into the NBA season yet and we’ve already heard a variety of stories involving Kobe Bryant.

First, Jerry Buss opened his big, fat mouth after a lot of the summer frenzy died down and told reporters that he “would certainly listen” to any trade offers made for Bryant. Then some crazy LA news outlets started yapping about how Kobe had already cleaned out his locker. Now, we get to actually hear from the Mamba on the situation and we’re more confused than ever about this whole mess.

I don’t know, talk to Mitch and Mr. Buss about that,” Bryant replied when asked if he had played his final game for the Lakers, referring to general manager Mitch Kupchak and the team’s owner. “I’m just getting ready. If I’m here, I’m ready to strap it up.”

My job is to play the game and get ready to play the game,” he said Tuesday. “That’s what I’m doing. I guess people are just intrigued by what’s going on around here. I understand that. I have a job to do. One thing I said at training camp was that I didn’t want this to be a distraction.”

When asked whether he was unsettled by recent events, Bryant said: “It’s our understanding not to bring up the situation and not talk about it. We just wanted to keep things quiet and go about our business. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit.

“We’ve just got to get back to basics and get ready and go from there. It’s my job to play basketball. It’s not my job to worry about what management is doing or this, that or the other thing. I’m going to be ready and let them do their jobs.

Bryant has been sitting out the last couple of practices which is apparently what has all the rumors flowing, but this is getting ridiculous. When Kobe wants out, the Lakers want him to stay. Then the Lakers start talking trade and Kobe wants to play. Geez, we haven’t seen this much contrast in one place since Charlie gave life to Night Man and Day Man.

Links:

[MSNBC.com]: Kobe sits out again, denies cleaning out locker

Categories
LA Lakers

Enjoy it while you can, Phil Jackson might be going fishing soon


Phil Jackson gave lots of advice to Michael Jordan over the years they spent together winning championships and breaking countless NBA All-Stars’ hearts in the process. Now it appears that the Zen Master might be stealing a page out MJ’s personal playbook.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Jackson is considering retirement, again, after the end of this season. Of course, he’s going to wait out the year and see how everything shakes out before he makes the leap. Basically it means that he’s going to have to see where the always indecisive Kobe Bryant ends up after the Lakers drop their first round series to the Suns, again.

We know that Phil is desperate to get that 10th ring as a coach and go out like basketball’s version of Liberace with diamonds on every finger of his hands, but sometimes you’ve just got to know when to fold `em. It’s his legacy and he can do whatever he wants with it, but there’s no way we’d put up with Kobe’s crying as the one man show in LA continues to hover amongst mediocrity. And sorry, but a broken down Jermaine O’Neal isn’t going to bring this franchise back to glory.

We fully expect for Jackson to call it quits after this season, but we’re sure he’ll come running as soon as the next head coaching opportunity for a preassembled, championship caliber team becomes available.

Links:

[CBS2.com]: Phil Jackson Heading To Retirement?

Categories
LA Lakers

Jerry Buss gets slapped with probation for driving drunk


Lindsey Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and Jerry Buss. One of these things might seem like it doesn’t belong, probably the old, wrinkly, funny looking rich guy, but actually all these celebrities share a common thread: they’ve all had to face the music after driving drunk. Even the old, wrinkly, funny looking rich guy.

On Tuesday, Lakers owner Buss pled guilty to drunken driving and got smacked with five years probation, fined $1,900, ordered to attend a first-conviction program and a Mothers Against Drunk Driving course after getting popped with a blood alcohol level of .13 percent. For a billionaire geezer, that’s basically sleeping on the lawn drunk.

Unfortunately, we have no idea what ever happened to the way, way, way younger chick who was riding in the 74-year-old’s Mercedes on the night of the arrest. All we know is that you’d have to be one cracked out, self loathing, alcohol swilling, pill popping, Bret Michaels skank to be riding in Buss’ whip at one in the morning. Wait a minute; Lindsey, Nicole, Paris…where were you last May?

Links:

[SI.com]: Lakers owner gets 5 years’ probation, fined $1,900

Categories
Indiana Pacers

Jermaine O’Neal is basically banging on Jerry Buss’ door

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, Jermaine O’Neal wants to get the heck outta Indiana soon.  And of course, he wants to play on a team that can contend for a championship.  After all, Kevin Garnett is finally getting a solid shot at a ring and taking postseason suckers like Paul Pierce and Ray Allen along with him.  But, unlike Garnett who remained quiet and pessimistic about being traded, O’Neal is letting the whole world know that he wants to be wearing the purple and gold next season.

I love L.A.,” O’Neal said. “I normally train here every summer. The last two summers I haven’t trained here because I got hurt, but I love it here. My daughter loves it. My wife loves it. This is one of the prime places that if I were to be traded, I would allow Indiana to trade me here.

Hmm, sounds like he loves L.A.  But the biggest selling point about L.A. is Kobe Bryant and O’Neal didn’t forget to start buttering up the bitter superstar with hopes of rings and “missing piece” dreams.

I think Kobe’s in a position right now where he understands that he needs some help,” O’Neal said. “He needs some help to get to the position where he wants to be. I think he’s the best player in the NBA and the world, but obviously no player can do it by himself. He has a nice group around him, but he needs some help and I can give him some support.

Of course, O’Neal has to be healthy in order to contribute which is something he hasn’t been able to do over the past several seasons.  However, O’Neal is claiming to currently be at 100 percent.  And just to be sure that he didn’t put all of his eggs in one basket, O’Neal lobbed up a distant second choice as he gushed over the Lakers.  

Los Angeles and New Jersey would be my top two teams,” O’Neal said. “I think L.A.’s a real possibility and I think New Jersey’s a possibility too.

What, no New Jersey lovefest?  

Links:

[SI.com]: California dreamin’

Categories
NBA General

Santa Shaq can stay, but Kobe isn’t welcome at Christmas this year


If you’re already getting burnt out on all the Tim Donaghy chatter that has dominated the NBA landscape for the past few days, here’s something that might distract you from the incessant coverage. It seems that the NBA and ABC have finally given up on the holiday bad blood between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and for the first time in a long time it appears that the fans won’t be settling into a Lakers/Heat game on Christmas afternoon. Instead, the scheduling gurus have decided to focus on the on-court feud of the future between LeBron “Baby Dunker” James and O’Neal’s sidekick, Dwyane Wade. Of course, this could have a little something to do with the fact that Bryant is pushing to get outta Los Angeles too.

Now, the schedule isn’t final and this is all speculation at the moment, but we’re really hoping that this is true. We were getting sick of all the hype that went along with the LA/Miami game and the James/Wade battle has a lot more sizzle to it anyway, considering that both are able to compete at extremely high levels still. Sorry Shaq, we’re not saying that you’re washed up just yet, but if you’re going to be the main billing in a X-Mas day contest, you should at least be in better shape than the obese kids you’re profiting off of.

Links:

[MiamiHerald.com]: Stockings void of Shaq-Kobe

Categories
LA Lakers

The Kobe Bryant video is out and we feel cheated

It’s hard to believe any of the reports that you hear about Kobe Bryant anymore. One minute he wants this, the next minute he wants that; but the one thing we do know is that Bryant has a dirty potty mouth.

We know that L.A. is still trying to keep their cornerstone, but now that the Kevin Garnett trade has fallen through and the Lakers have reportedly turned their attention toward an injury prone Jermaine O’Neal, there’s only one way to make Bryant a winner again: “Ship his ass out!”

Links:

[Our Book of Scrap]: The Full “Kobe Rips The Lakers” video