Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[minew_m]

Great game. Shaq had a monster game with 15 pts, 16 rebounds and 9 blocks!!! Kobe took it over in the 4th though scoring 10. Great overall game!

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I am very surprised by Shaq's athleticism on the defensive end.

But I suppose when Karl sacrifices over $10M (Spurs offered him a $15M contract; Lakers are paying him $1M), and Gary sacrifices over $5M.....both to come to the Lakers,

even the big dogs like Shaq and Kobe take notice.

Unless injuries occur, the Lakers will win the title this year.

If teams couldn't stop Kobe and Shaq and 3 other starters in 2000, 2001, and 2002....

how are they going to stop Kobe, Shaq, Karl, and Payton?

Devean George, who has been left wide open many time this year, is shooting a career high 55%+, is scoring a career high 11-12 points a game, and making a career high % in three point shots.

Then, you have Derek Fisher and Horace Grant, and soon Rick Fox, (all three were starters on Lakers championship runs) coming off the bench, not to mention Bryon Russell, who has played in NBA Finals with Utah before.

Only injuries can prevent the Lakers from winning it all.

In the NBA playoffs, unlike the NFL playoffs, the best team ALWAYS wins. In NFL, one great game by an unknown (see Timmy Smith of the Washington Redskins or Doug Williams of the Redskins) can win the Super Bowl.

but in the NBA, you have to beat a team 4 of 7 times.

we haven't played Sacramento yet -- but they're the only team that has the slim chance to do so.

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12/4/03 update: Lakers 114-103 winners over the Mavs, the 46th time in 51 tries, going back about 10 years (they play each other 4x a year).

With no Dirk Nowitzki (out with ankle injury) and no defense, this game was over before it even started (a Yogi Berra-ism)..

Lakers jumped out to a 20-4 lead, primarily b/c no one could defend Shaq, and the Mavs couldn't hit their perimeter shots or their layups.

And all through the game, there was never a feeling that the Mavs had a chance to win, even when they cut the lead down to 6 points on several occasions in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

Mavs are a good offensive team, but when they face a tough offensive and defensive team (Lakers, Kings, Spurs), they fold like a torn tent.

Even I got bored at halftime, as it was very apparent that the Lakers could do whatever they wanted to do.

Kobe led with 32 points, 6 boards, and 3 assists; as usual he forced some silly shots when he could've passed to an open Karl Malone.

Shaq had 25 points, 19 boards, and several blocks -- boy, he is stepping it up big time on the defensive end. A lot of Mavs shots were short and barely hit the rim, or were unintentional bank shots that were shot long.

Karl had a quiet game, with 11 points and 9 boards

Payton had 17 points and 8 assists; he went over the 19,000 career point mark; he also went over Rod Strickland for 7th on all-time list in career assists with 7,714

George had a quiet game 8 points and 5 boards, with early foul trouble.

For the Mavs, Nash had 30, Walker had 24, and Finley had 19

boring game, and Lakers are now 16-3

next game - at home vs the Utah Jazz

that's right...Karl's former team

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12/7/03: Lakers 94, Jazz 92

what was an easy game early on, and a 21-point lead, was dwindled down to being a 1-point deficit, as the Utah Jazz played with tremendous determination!!

they've got a bunch of gritty players who can shoot...and did a great job against the Lakers 2nd unit, and against Kobe, who was 4-17 shooting.

Jazz played so well in the 2nd half that they whittled the lead down to nothing, and even took a 1-point lead with 33 seconds left....

then Payton passed to George, who hit the game winning 3-pointer.

Utah had 11 seconds left to score, but missed 2 outside shots, and Shaq rebounded the last miss as time ran out

Lakers now 17-3, and have a 26-game home winning streak; the all time record is 30, from Minneapolis Lakers.

Shaq and Kobe each had 19 points; Shaq with 15 boards

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12/9/03 update: Lakers 98-90 over the Knicks

Knicks were the last team to beat the Lakers at Staples Center, back in Feb, 2003.

Since then, Lakers have run off 27 straight home wins (3 short of all time team record, set by Minneapolis Lakers).

Lakers have now won 10 straight, and are 18-3

Knicks started the game hot, up 9-0 as van Horn rang up a jump shot and a 3-pointer....but the Lakers struggled through the first quarter, down by 7

Then, they turned up the defense and/or Knicks started missing shots.

The star defensive player of the game was Bryon Russell, who subbed for George late in 1st quarter and played so well that he was left in for the entire 2nd quarter by Phil. Russell had 3 steals alone in the 2nd quarter, finishing the game with 12 points and 5 rebounds, and an all-around nice game, playing 29 minutes.

Kobe led with 21 points, 9 assists, and 6 boards -- nice game, and didn't try to force shots.

Shaq had 15 boards, and 18 points, primarily b/c he was a lousy 5-15 from the field and 8-15 from the charity stripe

Karl, in his first game back from a 1-game suspension, had 20 points on 9-15 shots, with 6 boards and 5 assists.

Payton had 17 points, 2 rebounds and only 4 assists

George didn't play much, primarily b/c Russell had a great game. He score 4 points with only 2 boards

For the Knicks, it was Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley, both of whom scored 26 points. Nice game for both of them. Too bad they didn't have Allen Houston, or this could've been a seriously interesting game. Houston out with troubled knee

next up = Dallas Mavs and their whiny coach and whiny owner come into Staples Center, hoping to win for the first time in over 10 years at Lakers home court (they've lost something like 25 straight). Nowitzki expected to play

[minew_m]

Another great game for the Lakers!

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12/12/03 update: Lakers lose by 17 points to the Mavs, on the exact day that the Mavs last won at the Lakers home court, 13 years ago.

Tonight, Lakers were out-rebounded, out-assisted, out-scored, out-hustled, and generally out-played.

Even with Finley, the Mavs had more than enough offense, and the Lakers could do nothing with the zone defense of the Mavs.

Then, with the Mavs leading by 18 points with 4:55 left in the game, Coach Nelson employed the Hack-a-Shaq, fouling Shaq intentionally on every Lakers possession....

and it worked, as Shaq made a lousy 11 of 24 free throws.

Kobe had a horrific shooting night, throwing up bricks by the dozen, going 4 for 18.

And the game started badly for the Lakers, who were assessed 3 technical fouls, 1 flagrant foul, and Payton ejected, all within the first 8 minutes of the 1st quarter.

Lakers first home loss.....oh well. Lakers handed the Mavs their first home loss earlier in Dec. What comes around, goes around

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12/13/03 update: Blazers beat Lakers by 5

Unlike yesterday, when the Lakers barely gave effort, tonight was a much better night, albeit a second consecutive loss, and on a back-to-back night to boot

It was a game where the Blazers had leads of 8-11 for most of the game, and the Lakers nearly came back to win, on the strength of Kobe's game, as he slashed and dashed his way to 35 points.

But, the Lakers inability to defend Rasheed, and their inability to grab the rebounds allowed the Blazers almost 40 second chance points, and that killed them.

Shaq had a sub-par game.

not much else to add...Portland just played better, led by Zach Randolph and Rasheed

Lakers now 18-5, and tied with Sacramento in losses, as these two vie for the best record.

Lakers have a favorable December, and don't play again until this coming Friday -- they better take advantage, as they have a killer Feb-March, where most games are played on the road.

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12/19/03 update: Lakers 101, Nuggets 99

Kobe spent all day and all afternoon in court.

Kobe took a flight back to LAX, sped through Southern CA traffic

Kobe entered the game in 2nd quarter

Kobe hit game-winning shot

Just another ho-hum day for **THE** most clutch player in NBA for the past 3-4 years.


oh, and other players also did well.

Shaq had 26 points, 11 boards, and 6 assists
Karl had an average game with 11 points, 8 boards, 1 assists
Payton 10 points, 1 board, 11 assists
George got back on track, going 5-7 with 12 points

For the Nuggets, who played a TREMENDOUS game, and it looks like the Nuggets are for real, as they've already won 6 road games this year (they won 4 last year).

Carmello had a fairly good game , with 24 points, 5 assists, 2 boards; but George and Russell played good defense on the kid, who shot well, 8-17 attempts

the 5'5" Boykins was great, with 10 points......

but this was all Kobe, all the time

Lakers play next on Sunday

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12/21/03 update: Lakers 107, SUns 101

Just a typical ho-hum game; where the Suns play a close, competitive game (despite the Lakers at one time having an 18-point lead

but there was never a time when it seemed like the Suns had a chance

the biggest story of the game was Karl Malone, injured knee when one of the Suns rushed to block Karl's shot, and fell on Karl's knee. Xrays negative...MRI tomorrow to see about tendons and ligaments

Kobe had a very subpar game...with only 10 points on 12 shots. But, given that Shaq, Karl, Payton were pissed at Kobe last Friday when Kobe shot 4 lousy shots in the latter 4 minutes of the game

it was pretty clear that Kobe got the message to stop shooting tough shots out of the blue.

Devean was player of the game, with 19 points, 9 rebounds, several tipped rebounds, 3 assists, and great overall play!

Luke Walton played for the first time in 4 games, when he was inserted in the crucial minutes of the 4th quarter (Phil Jackson is a weird coach -- he doesn't play Luke for 4 games; then puts him in on crunch time)...Walton had a great 6-7 minutes, with 5 points, 3 assists, and good all-around play!

the bench played great, lead by 14 from Bryon Russell and 11 from Fisher

Marbury had a tremendous 1st quarter, with 12 points....then he was inexplicably on the bench for most of the 2nd quarter -- why not give him 5-8 minutes break, then quickly bring him back in??

Marbury didn't score again until late 3rd quarter, ending with 31 points

Lakers now 20-5

next game: on the road Tues at Golden St