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.

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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.

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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:
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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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