Posts for category ‘la lakers’

As I’ve stated, Ron Artest was unjustifiably tossed from Friday night’s game against the Lakers, which has since been downgraded to a flagrant 1.

The best part about Arest’s ejection wasn’t the quiet exit, but in the midst of slapping dejected fives to anything that moved, Ronnie tossed one the cheerleader’s way, via her pom-pom, and moved on in a matter of fact manner.

Seriously. It’s supposed to be the EENNN BEEEE AAAAA playoffs. Teams send messages to each other. Let it be.

Instead, NBA refs get to be the ones sending messages. Is that what fans want? Doubt it.

So I’m watching Ron Artest, who was having a terrible ‘crazy pills = horrible shot selection’ Ron Artest kind of night in the first place, get kicked out of game three in Houston with a flagrant 2 for no apparent reason.

Hard foul on softy Gasol, no biggie … just a sharp knock of the ball out Pau’s hands, the Euro goes flop-flying, and all of a sudden it’s D-Day. Artest gets kicked out because there is less than a minute on the clock, the Lakers have the game in hand, and because he’s Ron Artest.

“I don’t think that was a flagrant …. You know, I’m an 80s baby, so that shoulda been two shots and be done with it.” -Kobe Bryant

Back to game two.

Ronnie Artest had an intentional break down which was over-reacted upon by the refs who tossed him from the game. Here is the anatomy of that breakdown:

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It was like that part in Hoosiers when Coach Norman Dale discretely asked the ref to kick him out of the game so that Shooter the Drunk could take over with a chance at redemption. Last night against the Lakers, there was no drunk, the Jazz just had their final run squashed, and Jerry Sloan asked the ref to kick him out by calling him a mutherfucker. Could Sloan’s coaching career be over? Not like Hoosiers at all.

@ Mohawks Meeting Swarth

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Wizards won last night….awesome, and I was there to witness it. I should be talking about that game, but I’m not…..until later.

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Well….did we expect anything else? Thought so.

via Mr. Irrelevant (and then Stet Sports)

Q1

1st Laker Possession: McGuire is guarding Kobe (Reggie Miller calls D-Mac a defensive “Guru” whoa…easy there buddy…let the kid develop first)….he held his ground for the most part…..but still let Kobe get deep and he just missed the shot.

1st Wiz Possession: D-Mac up top as distributor says Fratello….but Kobe is a rover and Dom misses an open mid-range J (had that hitch in his shot there)

D-Mac looks a little intimidated on D…flinching at every Kobe move.

Habit: Wiz miss their first five, all jumpers. Lakers up 7-0.

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After he walked (and played) in Gilbert Arenas’ shoes, and before he became a Washington Wizard, Javaris Crittenton played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies. My immediate reaction is that while I’m sorry to see Antonio Daniels go (I have love for him too), I like the idea of Crittenton’s youth, potential, and size (who doesn’t like a 6’5″ PG?).

But before I get into doing a bunch of research on the kid’s past, I wanted to asked some NBA bloggers from LA and Memphis their opinion about Crittenton. Thanks to Kurt of Forum Blue & Gold and Josh of 3 Shades of Blue for providing their thoughts. Read on…..

Kurt from Forum Blue & Gold:

When the Gasol trade went down last season, the only twinge of regret for fans was losing Crittenton. Well, there was really no twinge of regret, but Lakers fans were sad to see Crittenton go. I haven’t seen him play in a year, but his game has potential with a capital “P.” He’s long, very fast, played hard on defense, was developing a shot, and he can get to the rim. He played a little out of control, especially for the rather controlled triangle offense the Lakers run, but that was a matter of youth and maturity. He could develop into a quality player in this league. He’s just in the weird spot a lot of young players are: He needs run to develop, but he can’t get run because coaches can’t sacrifice wins for experience. So he sits a lot.

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The Wizards-Bulls game starts soon, but I wanted to get some thoughts down on last night’s game against the Lakers.

First, you can check the Wizards-Lakers game blog on Bullets Forever.

This was another game where some “little things” killed the Wizards. I hesitate to get too wrapped up in these little things because every team, good and bad, commits such minuscule errors each game. However, it’s the quantity of these errors which are the differentiators between winning and losing.

I do like the fact that the Wizards tried hard and simply did not give up when down 20 in the 3rd quarter, and even down 19 with under nine minutes left in the 4th. This team should be setting a tone by continuing to try hard for the rest of this season, no matter the record. Losing is bad enough, but what you do not want to do is to create a culture of not caring about losses. So, people should stop all this talk about tanking or throwing in the towel, not the environment we want to create.

But the “little things”….last night, they included:
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The Lake Show is in DC tonight, and I’m afraid that Laker Nation posers will be dominating the Verizon Center. I’ve been called a Laker-Hater in the past, and yes, this fact forced me to root for another team I dislike, Boston, in last year’s Finals (just like the damn Super Bowl when I had to root for the Giants over the Patriots). Oh well, what’s a sports fan to do?

It is what it is. Thankfully, someone who is a real Lakers fan, Kurt from the Forum Blue & Gold, has been kind enough to take time to answer some questions I had about his team. Read on…..

[UPDATE: Head to Forum Blue & Gold to check my return answers about the Wizards]

1) In the olden days, when it came to Phil Jackson, I was like “meh…..he’s a convenient opportunist and I’m not buying his Zen B.S.,” but more and more, I’m beginning to like Phil because of his snarky sarcasm that screams, “Will you baby NBA millionaires just grow up and be men?” Plus, the realistic side of me knows that he’s always been a damn good coach.

That being said, what’s to make of the latest with Andrew Bynum? To me, what amounts to about a half an NBA season (last year and this year) does not make a boy a man. So, is he really a kid who doesn’t know better, or should he be in at the end of games for boards? And why do the Lakers do so much communicating in the press anyway?
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com did the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The order of appearance: Atlantic Division, the Southwest Division , the Central Division, the Northwest Division, the Southeast Division, and finally, the Pacific Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:

picture from flickr/gamescoreblog

Golden State Warriors

[Upside and Motor] (check the great picture too)
The Warriors jumped the shark. Two seasons ago they were a darling, last season they took a slight step back (but enough of a step to fall just short of the postseason), and now they’ll find themselves struggling to reach 11th place in the West. Welcome back, lottery balls; the Bay’s missed you. Predicted Record: 30-52

Los Angeles Clippers

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Phil Jackson…..you sly dog, you.

Did you see it? Phil’s moment at the end of the 3rd quarter of game 5 against the Spurs? I love NBA mic’d up and the required between quarter interviews.

Fresh off pleading his “case” to Steve Javie, Phil turned to chat with TNT’s Craig Sager. Sager asked Phil about his talk with Javie (most think it’s spelled ‘Javy’, and NBA Draft.net thinks he looks like Martha Plimpton)….Phil exclaimed that the refs gave Kurt Thomas an extra FT. Thomas made a bucket, was fouled, and sent to the line for an And1 opportunity with just under a minute left in the third. Phil said he wasn’t paying attention, making a sub, and that Kurt Thomas missed his initial FT attempt, but then was given a second, which he made.

Marv Albert and Doug Collins did a double-take……and checked the replay. No dice Zen Master, didn’t happen. But did Phil Jackson really believe that Kurt Thomas shot an extra free-throw?

We are all aware of Coach Jackson’s mind games, on and off the court, with referees, opponents, the media, and even his own players (in a homeless man’s Clockwork Orange kind of way). He’s already called the Zen Master, now I’m adding the title of Minister of Mental Trickery (in a Saddam Hussein era Iraqi Minister kind of way - they had a ton of those guys)…..and maybe Jedi should be added to the moniker list as well.

I must admit that I might be suffering from ‘boy who cried wolf’ syndrome, as it’s to the point where I simply assume that everything that comes out of Phil Jackson’s mouth is some sort of trickery, or at least serving a purpose.

Did Phil really think that the refs gave Kurt Thomas two free-throws? Could he have been planting a sympathetic seed in Steve Javie’s head which might benefit the Lakers in the 4th? Might Jackson be making the entire story up to Craig Sager?

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Before last night….I was all about Chris Paul for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. And if I had to vote right here, right now, it would still be CP3. (by the way, I wrote this on November 13th 2007).

But the match-up between Kobe Bryant’s Lakers and Chris Paul’s Hornets was dubbed the game that decides the MVP race (sorry Bron Bron, you lost to the Bulls….no dice), much less an important game for Western Conference seeding. The Lakers won…..so yea, I’ll follow the crowd.

Actually, I’d rather not…..what I’d rather do is stop hearing all the bitching and moaning from those in the ‘Kobe for MVP’ court.

SIDE BAR: Advisors/Handlers/Latin Mami Wife of the Kobster:

Kob, to get back on track….you need to get the public loving you again, you gotta get gangsta with it (excuse me, I mean ‘wit’ it).

Yea papi…….you gotta get on the net and blog it out…..get ‘viral’ with it…..make a video of you jumping over a car-ra. (I don’t know Kobe’s wife, but imagine Rosie Perez’s accent in White Men Can’t Jump.)

But the way, what’s the deal with this “viral marketing” term? I get it, spreads like a virus, right? Last time I checked, viruses were killing fools and Kobe is killing me with his fugazi video. He might as well get a triple threat match going with Kenyon Martin and Tim Thomas.

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I got home from the Washington Nationals opener just in time to catch the last 8 minutes (incl. OT) of the Wizards-Lakers game. I know, I know…..I gotta get a DVR – all the kids are doing it. Nonetheless, what I saw of the Nick Young show was highly entertaining. I was probably more into that game [meaning yelling loud enough to make my neighbors wonder] than I have been for any other this year. I could be labeled as a Laker-hater, but at least the Wizards covered the 9.

The Wizards-Jazz game? Read the live game blog if you dare. [Wizards Game #74 @ Utah Jazz] Surfing around the blogosphere, the obliteration seemed to be expected, especially with the absence of Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels due to injury (not to mention Gilbert and Etan). Yea, well maybe I expected it too. But it would’ve been nice to see the Wizards take some pride and get scrappy. Oh well. At least the Wiz are at…..home sweet home?

The Reach Quotes from Cali to Utah…….

Dig of the Week
“This is where Abe Pollin’s insistence on not paying the luxury tax combined with the injury issues have really hurt this team……..From my seat, this team has needed a quick, defensive-minded point guard type coming off that bench all season and simply hasn’t had one. [Ivan Carter]
– Of course, criticism of Abe Pollin has been around the block and then some….including making several stops on my street.

Who Does # Two Work For?
“Well the trip didn’t end on the best of notes, but the team still went out west and held their own and cameback home still holding down the 5 spot in the east. [WashingtonWizardsBlog.com]
– Way to tow the company line guys. In the least, let’s go ahead and add a ‘barely’ in front of ‘held’……unless the the goal of the Wizards was to play from behind in every game.

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Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to witness the Wizards handle the Lakers in La-La land tonight. Bummer. Combine my distaste for the Lake-show (mainly as a result of Kobe) along with bragging rights over an LA-bred co-worker, and I hate having to neglect my Wiz this evening.

Remember when the Lakers came to DC? It was the game where Caron Butler probably re-injured himself and ended his consecutive FTs made mark at 73. A truly tragic loss, 103-91, for which I stayed the entire time, and then was forced to watch a SuperBowl between two teams I genuinely dislike. Not the best DC sports Sunday.

Today, I believe, will provide some reconciliation for that February 3rd. And I have a higher mission than the Wizards-Lakers game at 9:30 tonight. I’ll be taking the trusty green line down several metro stops to check out the debut of the Washington Nationals new ball park, Nationals Park and the domestic debut of the 2008 Major League Baseball season on ESPN (8:05 pm).

I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not a sentimentalist, nor some type of baseball purist (basketball is obviously my main squeeze), but there is something about the crack of the bat and a sporting environment which is most conducive to a day of social interaction with family and friends…..awww, screw all that, I’m just ready for the cold weather to be put out to pasture.

And who knows, if the DC metro system doesn’t betray me, I just might be able to catch the end of a game where the Wizards will hopefully have the upper-hand over the Los Angeles Lakers.

I’ll have my own review of the Nats stadium (along with photos, etc.), but here are some good Nats-related posts you should check out if you so desire:
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I had the unfortunate privilege of attending the Super Bowl Sunday game between the Wizards and the Lakers. Yea, I wanted to go to the game. It’s hard to pass up the chance to see Kobe Bryant in person, and the chance to see his team, the Lake Show, get a beat down from my Wizards. Little did I know…..not even close.

The morning started off well enough with brunch and Bloody Marys at Clyde’s, along with a friendly wager with my friend Dean, the Lakers fan. My dad set the line since before the game, since one was no where to be found. With the presence of two all-stars, Caron Butler and Pau Gasol, in the balance, bookmakers weren’t touching this match-up. So, even though the Wiz were at home, from pops, they would get 3.5 from the Lakers, and 5.5 if Butler did not play.

Well, at some point during the game, probably when the Lakers built a 26 point lead, their largest, I naturally complained about the line set by my father. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I set the line at 12,” he retorted. The Wizards lost by 12, 103-91. But in the end, I didn’t deserve to win and the Wizards didn’t play like they deserved to win.

So, I present notes of a tragedy:

1st Quarter
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God Kobe, I wish I knew how to quit you!

Yo ‘Melo, can you give Stephon a ride to Bal-more?
Oh yea, tell Mr. Omar to give me a call.

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