You know life is good when you are watching Mbenga block a shot which leads to a Luke Walton jumper.
The Lakers blew out another opponent Sunday night at Staples. This one was a result of great passing and team defense. The Lakers held the Raptors to only 37% from the field and outrebounded Toronto 54 to 36.
The Lakers dished out 34 asssits as a team, and had 19 turnovers, mostly due to sloppiness in the fourth.
The Lakers are simply blowing out playoff teams left and right now. The difference in this game clearly was size as Bynum and Pau destoryed the bigs of Toronto in the paint.
Description: As fans, we “believe.” After the loss to the Boston Celtics last year, the fans always believed in our team; even when we were down. Now as we continue to our road to redemption, the fans and players believe more than ever. Enjoy this second collaboration between Flo’z & LD2k!
Marc Stein of ESPN recently ranked the Top 20 expiring contracts and rated the probability of the player being traded. Looks like Lamar will stay put according to his sources…
6. Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers) Expiring Salary: $14,148,596 Soon to be traded? UNLIKELY
Odom repeatedly has insisted that, even in a contract year, he’s OK with his new role as the Lakers’ sixth man.
If the Lakers are convinced of that, why would they dare mess with their chemistry by trading Odom during the season, especially given how well they’ve played in November? Even an Odom-for-Marion swap, which does make some sense for both teams, represents a risk for L.A. because Marion isn’t big enough to stand in for Andrew Bynum should Bynum’s injury issues return.
So it’s probably smarter for the Lakers to wait until the offseason and bank on the idea that they could convince Odom to participate in a sign-and-trade — and thereby avoid losing him without compensation — if the current harmony doesn’t last.
One of the all time greats continue to climb up the scoring charts…
Lakers.com: With 35 points November 28 vs. Dallas, Kobe Bryant moved within 38 points of 22,000 for his career.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, should Bryant reach 22,000 points Sunday, November 30 vs. Toronto, he would become the youngest player to reach 22,000 points in NBA history, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain (30 years, 100 days) who achieve the milestone on November 26, 1966, by one day. The next youngest to 22,000 points were Oscar Robertson (31 years, 117 days) on 3/21/70 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (31 years, 350 days) on 4/1/79.
Additionally, should Bryant, who will be playing career game #880 and will be 30 years, 99 days of age on November 30, reach 22,000 points before game #906, he would become the 12th fastest player ever to 22,000 points in terms of career games.
Bynum came out and had a monster game but some were worried some type of minor surgery would be needed on his foot. Today we learn that there is no risk of further injury and in about 2 weeks, it should be healed…
After injuring his foot while colliding with Vince Carter during a lob attempt on Tuesday, Bynum worked out Friday morning with the team and went through his usual pregame warmup at STAPLES. He had been listed as day-to-day, but perhaps the best news is that the injury isn’t expected to linger. Essentially, the small bone spur in his right foot may cause him irritation particularly after he plays on it, but Bynum said the pain is not expected to last for more than two weeks.
L.A. Times: Down 12 points to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, the Lakers seemingly pushed the button that sent them into overdrive.
Muddling along against the New Jersey Nets, the Lakers seemingly turned on the switch that snapped them back to life.
None of them seemed worried about what has become a frequent habit of rallying to win games after sluggish moments.
The end result is all that matters to them, and that has been win after win after win after win.
“It’s good to know every game is winnable,” Lamar Odom said after practice Saturday. “So we’re down 10, with seven minutes left, six minutes left, we know that we can come back and win that game. Is that a position that we want to be in every game? Of course not. We want to beat the team by as many points as possible.”
The Lakers are 13-1, so there really shouldn’t be much to complain about, Odom said, smiling. They are not trying to win style points.
“Our goal is to win every quarter, every possession that we play,” Odom said. “With that said, we want to win every game possible. Some teams you are going to get beat [by].”
From George Mikan, who led the Minneapolis Lakers to five NBA championships, Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers all-time leader in field goal percentage, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, to Shaq Diesel. The list of those who have anchored the Center position for the Los Angeles Lakers reads like a basketball all-time hall of fame induction.
Andrew Bynum, the latest big man in the middle, is a key component to this year’s squad which boasts the association’s best record. The seven footer nicknamed “A-Train” from St. Joseph High School in New Jersey makes his presence known with 2.5 blocks per game, a key reason why the Los Angeles Lakers are a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end holding opposing teams to under 93.00 PPG and a field goal percentage of 42.9 making for a league-leading +13.25 point differential.
Inside The Lakers: Andrew Bynum foot hurts. Really. It just didn’t seem to affect him very much in Friday’s win over the Mavs. Bynum scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in over 36 minutes of action.
After the game, he said his injured right foot felt no worse for wear, but the real test will come tommorrow morning.
“Right now it feels good,” Bynum said after the game. “It doesn’t feel any worse than it did before the game, which is a good sign. But tommorrow morning is going to determine a lot.”
Asked how his injury –which is on the top of his foot — was affecting his play, Bynum said: “Jumping is difficult, just pushing off is difficult but it’s something I’m able to play through.”
His teammates don’t seem all that concerned.
“Welcome to the league, man,” Kobe Bryant said of Bynum’s injury. “It’s like a badge of honor. It’s only a flesh wound.”
He also clarified the circumstances behind another injury he’s been playing though. He’s been sporting a rather wicked shiner under his right eye for the past few days.
“I caught an elbow in the Sacramento game. I don’t know who did it though,” he said.
L.A. Times: The Lakers looked a bit flat Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks, as if they needed to be energized.
Forward Trevor Ariza gave the Lakers the jolt they needed, his boost of energy helping them pull out a 114-107 victory over the Mavericks at Staples Center.
Ariza had a season high in points (15) and field goals made (seven). He took only 12 shots, and had five rebounds, three assists, one blocked shot and one steal.
“I guess I’ll start with the fact that he made a lot of tough shots tonight, which really isn’t something we rely on him to do,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “But he was able to get the ball in the lane, make the tough shots after he got the ball in the spot where he could convert. He made a number of open shots that were important to us to have at that time of the game.”
Ariza took all of his shots in the second half.
He entered the third quarter with 9:48 left for Vladimir Radmanovic and never left the game.
The Lakers trailed by 12 points when Ariza went to work.
His put-back dunk and a layup got the Lakers started.
“I just took the shots that were open,” Ariza said. “They were playing off me and I was open and I was shooting.”
As I am selling tickets throughout the day, I’m thinking why are people spending so much on this Dallas game when they aren’t even that good? If only I knew that this would become one of the more entertaining wins of the season.
The Lakers were down big in the second half, but had an incredible run sparked by great defense and carelessness on Dallas’s end. The Lakers outscored the Mavs by 14 points in the second half to come away with a 114-107 victory Friday night.
Once again, the Lakers had 5 players score double figures, and had another clean game with only 10 turnovers and only committed 8 fouls the entire game!
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6. Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers)
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