Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[podstock]

1/28/04 update: Lakers beat up Sonics by 12

Shaq came back, and was quite ineffective, as he score just a few points, got a few rebounds, and didn't play much much than 20 minutes.

Rick Fox played for the first time in 9+ months, played about 10 minutes, score 2 points, had a couple of rebounds, but likewise was ineffective

Kobe was still sore from shoulder injury, and scored about 16 points

but the stars of the game was the Lakers bench

yes, that's right - LAKERS BENCH!!

Lakers started the game down 22-9...but quickly came back to lead by 1. The bench took over in the 2nd quarter to give Lakers an 8-point lead.

3rd quarter, Lakers played listlessly, and Sonics were active, and cut lead down to 1.

4th quarter came, and it was ALL Lakers bench, led by Derek Fisher, with 5 (yep, FIVE) steals, and crucial rebounds by Horace Grant, and good shooting by Payton, the only starter to play most of 4th quarter

great great bench play, as the 2nd string got a 32-17 advantage overall for the Lakers.

Sacramento won; Dallas lost, and Lakers now #4 in playoffs hunt

next game = home vs Minnesota this Friday

then a doozy of a schedule - 7 road games in 12 days, due in part to All Star game being played at Staples, so both Lakers and Clippers have to vacate the buildling to allow preparations for the All Star game

this oughtta be good. Lakers are 1-9 in last 10 road games

yikes!!

[insanefishpossay]

Minnesota with the amazing come-from-behind win.

Sam Cassell is unstoppable in the 4th quarter. KG is unstoppable, period.

[podstock]

yes, MN was down at one point by 15 early in 2nd quarter, down by 9 at half, and came back to win, led by the hot shooting of Latrell and Cassell

KG didn't do much; but he doesn't have to, as he now has more firepower help

on the other hand, with the Lakers up by 2 heading in the 4th quarter, both Shaq and Payton sat on the bench, and watched as the Lakers, with no offensive weapons, fell behind by 7.

then, with 6 minutes left, Phil put both of them back in.

it's a Zen thing, I suppose

[minew_m]

I was pretty dissapointed with that game. I was all pumped up that Kobe would play but looks like he is out for another week or so. Shaq did do pretty good with the minutes he got scoring 22 points.

[podstock]

I do not believe Kobe was moving stuff around his garage and accidentally severed his index finger on a glass window

Dude's got enough money to hire someone to wipe his ™™™ every time he takes a sh*t; there's no need for him to do heavy duty lifting, especially when he's hurt his shoulder and could barely shoot a basketball.

He should've came up with a better lie - like perhaps he cut his finger while doing a dunk

story is as fishy as Jeff Kent breaking his wrist as he fell from his truck while washing it.

hahahaha

[podstock]

2/1/04: in a game played at 9:30 AM in the freaking PST, Lakers beat Toronto 84-83

I can't believe I had to wake up this early to watch a basketball game; but the time difference is due to it being played in Toronto at about noon

Good game, even though 3rd quarter was marred by tons of fouls being called as the game started to get a bit rough, with the Raptors hanging all over Shaq, and Shaq fighting back, getting a techical in the process

Vince Carter had a chance to win it at the end, was fouled by George and Rick Fox, threw up the ball for a shot, but no call by the referee, and that ended the game

it was a pretty good game, and I am glad Shaq was well enough to play

Game 1 of a 7-game road trip over.

Game 2 tomorrow at Indiana - the Best in the East

boy, this is gonna be tough!!

[podstock]

2/4/04 update: Lakers 111-106 over Cavs and Lebron in OT

it was a fairly good game, with both teams exchanging leads

but it got great near the end.

the game was close at the end b/c Shaq was missing over half his free throws.

Lebron had a chance to win it at end of regulation; the Cavs had the ball with 32 seconds, ran a play, and a shot was missed; but the Cavs got the offensive rebound with 15 seconds left, ran down the clock, and Lebron hoisted an 18-footer that missed everything.

In OT: Lakers score 6 quick points, as the Cavs got stone cold. Then Lebron made 3 long distance treys...but that wasn't even as the Lakers, with Shaq's 37 and Payton's 30, along with rookie Maurice Carter's clutch 5 free throws in OT, held on for a victory

Lakers are 3-1 on this 7 game road trip; and face struggling Philly tomorrow. Even though it's a back-to-back, they should still win.

Lebron had an average game with 23 points in regular session; and his three 3-pointers in OT gave him 32 total

he had a chance to win it for the Cavs...but airballed the final shot

[minew_m]

Great game for the Lakers. Shaq did miss quite a few FT's but he did hit a couple late when it counted. On the other side of the court, another great game for Boozer. I watched him play at Duke and never thought that he'd be this good in the NBA.

[podstock]

Originally posted by minew_m
Great game for the Lakers. Shaq did miss quite a few FT's but he did hit a couple late when it counted. On the other side of the court, another great game for Boozer. I watched him play at Duke and never thought that he'd be this good in the NBA.

Boozer was available for the Lakers, but they went for someone else - i forget who

I was hoping Lakers would draft Boozer as a backup for Shaq

oh well!

[podstock]

2/5/04 update: Lakers get blown to bits, 96-73, in a game that wasn't close

boy, did the Lakers stink up the joint!!

first, Payton got ejected in the 1st quarter for mouthing off to the ref. I've seen Payton play for the Lakers this year, and I don't see how the Sonics put up with him. This guy gets pissed at every single call!!

look, if you scream at the referee every now and then when a foul is called, that's fine. But if you're screaming at every call made against you, you lose validity. How is Payton considered a Hall of Famer? He's had so many chances to take over the games for the Lakers, but instead, he's basically shown that he's another John Stockton, but more athletic.

second, Shaq stunk up the joint - 3 out of 15 for free throws. You read it right!! three damn free throws made out of 15. And this guy is considered the most dominant in the game? a career 50% shooter?

heck, it's not hard to play against Shaq, just use the #9-12 players on your bench to commit fouls on him, then hope you can score enough points while he's missing his free throws. If you use four players to intentionally foul Shaq, that's 24 possessions that the Lakers have wasted. That's 24 possession where you can score 2-3 points while Shaq makes 1 of 2 free throws

think about that strategy -- not a bad one, eh?

Lakers shot 42% from charity stripe and 34% from the field

by, on a good note, the Lakers have lost 7 of the last 8 times they've visited Philly, which means even if they had their full starters, chances were more likely for them to lose

next game Sunday at Orlando; Kobe is supposed to be back, unless he gets into another "accident" lololol