Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[podstock]

11/13/03 update: Lakers 94-79 over the Raptors

Raptors came in as the lowest scoring NBA team, and the Lakers fortunately played enough defense so as NOT to win 105-100, which would've shown just how bad a defense we have

Since it was a home game -- things went as expected; not too much of a surprise.

Shaq: 23 points; 14 boards, NO assists (very surprising!)
Kobe: 19 points (on only 11 shots!!), 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Malone 17 points, 8 rebounds
Payton: 16 points 6 assists
George -- was in foul trouble most of the night, and only had 6 points

Horace Grant and Bryon Russell are struggling like mad -- Grant is just too OLD; Russell is trying too hard. He's gotta relax, the Lakers only need a few points from him and mostly defense.

Vince Carter has 23 points on 22 shots

this was pretty much a ho-hum game.

Malone had a strained left hamstring and didn't play the 4th quarter

Lakers have now won 18 straight home games during regular season

next up -- Friday, but I forget who they're playing

[podstock]

11/15/03 update: Lakers 94, Pistons 89

Lakers move up to 7-2,
while the Spurs lost their 4th game
and Sac lost its 4th game last night after a 24 point lead in 1st half to the Blazers
Seattle got blasted in Indiana, losing their 2nd game

Lakers just percentage points ahead of Seattle -- too early to be looking at standings, however


as for this game, Lakers won mainly b/c the Pistons just don't have the offensive firepower to keep up with the lakers

they did a good job in the first half, as both teams tied at halftime after Lakers ran up a 10 point lead.

3rd quarter was a draw; but Lakers pulled away in the 4th, as they just had too many offensive weapons.

play of game: actually, there were 2, and both involved Shaq grabbing a rebound and throwing a beautiful half-court outlet pass

the first was to George, who passed it to Payton, who tipped it back to George for a layup
the second was a beautfiul two-handed pass to Payton, who caught it with 2 hands in stride to a layup ---- much like Joe Montana throwing a ball to Rice in stride for a TD

Shaq: 21 points; 15 boards; 8 asssists
Malone: 16 points and 9 boards, and had a good matchup vs Ben Wallace, who had only 5 boards to go with 8 points and 5 steals. Malone did a GREAT job keeping ben off the boards!
Payton: 21 points and 5 assists. He shot better today than in past 3-4 games
Kobe: a very quiet (shhhhhhhhh!) 16 points, 3 boards, and 1 assist, as he focused on keeping Richard Hamilton, the Pistons primary score, to 6 points on 7 shots. Kobe did a BEAUTIFUL job denying Hamilton the ball. If Kobe keeps this up, he'll get another All-NBA defensive team!!!

the only Pistons to do anything was Billups, with 29 points...he should've shot more!

[podstock]

11/16/03 update: Lakers dominate the Heat, winning by about 20

this was a boring game, what with the Heat missing wide open shots, and clanking free throws as if they were Shaq.

Heat shot about 24-28 free throws for the game and barely made 50% of them

Shaq didn't play much and skipped half the 3rd quarter and all of the 4th....due to foul trouble (he had 5) and Lakers blowing out the Heat

Kobe was high scorer with 27 points, with 15 coming on free throws out of 16 attempts

Payton was a monster in the 1st quarter, with 11 points.

Lakers had an easy game.

Of concern, however, is Fisher and George's shooting. Fisher was 2 of 12, and George was 1 of 7

Fisher is shooting too much; he's a set shooter, same for George

Kareem Rush played a sub-par game -- this guy has to stop making up his mind to shoot and do nothing else!

Jamal Sampson, a 20-y/o rookie just activated, finally got his first few minutes of the season and scored on a Kobe assist

Lakers have won 20 straight at Staples center..and are 1 game from tying their all-time record of 21 straight home wins. Last loss was to NY Knicks

Next up: at Detroit on Tuesday,

[podstock]

11/18/03 update: Lakers 96, Pistons 106

Lakers got out-hustled, out-rebounded, out-scored

and just plain got out-played by a team that wanted it more.

Shaq was in foul trouble the entire game

Lakers now 8-3 and play in NY tomorrow in a back to back game

Last time they played back-to-back, Lakers beat Spurs in double OT, then got spanked the next night by the Hornets

[stalking_WOLF_21]

the sonics are creaping up on them

[podstock]

Originally posted by stalking_WOLF_21
the sonics are creaping up on them

in the long run (i.e. after 40+ games have been played, I don't think the Lakers will be worried about Seattle. We're more worried about the Kings and Spurs.

it's too early in the season.

[podstock]

11/19/03 update: Lakers dominate Knicks, beating them by about 16-20 points.

It was a close game in the first half, due in part to poor shooting by the Lakers, with 37%.

But the Lakers turned up the defense and offense in the second half and ran away to the victory.

Shaq had 23 points
Kobe had 21 points and 4 assists
Malone chipped in with about 15-17 points and grabbed 14 boards

Unlike the Pistons, who are a good team, with a center in Wallace and fairly good offense and defense, the Knicks have no big men (Doleac is more a power forward) to keep up with Shaq and Malone

Lakers, as a result of their big inside presence, shot an astounding 47 free throws to the Knicks 6 (that's right, SIX), and this is happening at MSG. Normally, you don't see this much discrepancy for the road team. Lakers made 37; Knicks made all their free throws.

But, every time Shaq got the ball, the Knicks grabbed him. Shaq shot a wonderful 11-16 free throws.

Fisher was absolutely ice cold. You could've put a beer in his hand, and five minutes later, gotten a nice, chill/frosted beer.

He was 0-10, missing from outside, inside, bank shots, treys, lay-ups. Boy, he was really trying to shoot his way out of the slump. Finally, near the end of the 4th quarter, he made 3 consecutive shots

Lakers now 9-3.

Forget who they are playing next

[podstock]

11/21/03 update: Lakers 101-94 over the Bulls.

what should've been an easy game turned out to be a tight game

Shaq strained his calf muscle in the first half, and left the game for good early in 3rd quarter -- he should be good to go vs. Memphis this Friday

Lakers got out to a great start, up by 11 in 1st quarter, and 27-21 after the 1st.

Then the Lakers reserves came in, and that resulted in the Bulls not only catching up, and getting the lead.

Marshall did a great job, but Jalen Rose (hounded by potential trade to Toronto) played poorly, missing wide open shots.

In the end, the Lakers, esp. Kobe, took over in the 4th after being behind by 4 at the end of 3rd quarter

Kobe looked like the old Kobe of last year....as he helped carry the Lakers, with 28 points, only 4 boards, and 3 assists

Karl had another great game, with 14 points and 18 boards. He's got 32 rebounds in the last 2 games

Fisher was ice cold again, and Kareem Rush just hasn't improved this year from last. He's basically a street player, without a grasp of how the Lakers' offense works.

Lakers now 10-3

next up is home vs Memphis this Sunday

[podstock]

11/23/03 update: Lakers maul the Grizzlies by 30+ points.

A very surprising result, considering that the Lakers didn't have Shaq, out with a strained calf muscle. Shaq most likely will miss the next game also, at home vs. Wizards. We should be able to win that game too!

It was a close, tight game, with the Grizzlies leading at various times for 1 1/2 quarter.

then from the 4-minute mark of 2nd quarter, the Lakers just dominated, and the Grizzlies played poorly!

Malone had 20 points and 10 boards in limited action
Kobe had 28 points, 3 assists, 4 boards, and several dazzling shots

Bryon Russell and Slava had tremendous games off the bench. Bryon had 14 points in 21 minutes -- season highs. Slava, his first game of the season after that bruised heel and missing the first 13 games, had 12 points and 10 rebounds -- he has been the most improved Lakers this season!!

the 2nd half of the game was pretty boring. Not sure why the Grizzlies played so poorly, considering they beat the Lakers by 10 last week!

Lakers made a new record with their 22 straight home win, all-time best!!

next game: Wed vs Washington at Staples.

Sacramento coming on strong, having won 5 straight, and only 1 more loss in the loss column!

[podstock]

11/26/03 update: Lakers 120, Washington 99

why the huge discrepancy, esp. with Shaq missing his second straight game?

First, the Wizards were playing their 4th game in 6 nights, and if this were the Lakers with same schedule, I'd suspect they'd be listless as well...at least the Wizards scored 99 points.

Second, the Wizards are missing Stackhouse, so that's about 20 points missing.

Third, the Lakers now have 3 great players..whereas last year, with Shaq out, there was only Kobe.

Kobe scored 22, with 4 assists and 4 boards, in a whopping 26 minutes. He took only 13 shots

Karl scored 13 points, with 5 assists and 5 boards, in only 28 minutes, and took 5 shots.

both players made 7 of 7 free throws each

Gary had 10 points, 1 board, and 5 assists
George had his season-high 18 points on 7-10 shooting
Slava, starting for Shaq, had his second straight great game, with 11 points on 5 of 5 FG!!

boy, if Slava can do this night in and night out, and when Rick Fox comes back, along with Bryon Russell (10 points on 3 of 5 shooting) and Derek Fisher (14 points on 5 of 8 shots) and Kareem Rush (14 points on 6 of 8 FG)...that's one HELL of a bench.

boy, these past two games, the role players really stepped it up!!

but, next game is a MONSTER game, with the Spurs visiting the Lakers at Staples this Friday!

Lakers have won 23 straight home games and will tie their all-time record of 24 straight if they win Friday - - Shaq most likely will play after a week off for his strained calf muscle