Archive for February, 2009
Phil talks about the current state of the team and the difference Bynum makes when out there with the squad…
DailyBreeze: It seems everyone has an opinion on whether the Lakers are better without Andrew Bynum clogging the paint and slowing them down.
Some have opined the Lakers are a good deal better without their injured 7-foot center.
Coach Phil Jackson acknowledged the benefits of playing without Bynum, but declined to say Friday that the Lakers are better without him. They are not as complete as they are when Bynum is healthy and in the starting lineup.
“Offensively, we’re more streamlined,” Jackson said. “We probably run better offensively. We can do things with multiple ball handers out there, particularly with Luke (Walton) and Lamar (Odom) out there. We know we have four ball handlers. Pau (Gasol) is very capable of running. So that part of our game, fastbreaks and scoring, has gone up.
“Defensively, I don’t think we’re quite as good.”
Just because they can: The Lakers have never wavered in their pursuit of the league’s best record and home-court advantage for all four rounds of the playoffs.
They have made it clear again and again that getting the top mark is their top priority for the regular season.
“It’s more of a challenge for us just to get the best record,” Kobe Bryant said. “That is kind of how we approach it. It’s not so much having home-court advantage in order to win a championship. It is more about us having the best record just to say that we have the best record. We are comfortably playing on the road and we will inevitably have to win games on the road to win a title.”
Continue reading ‘Jackson on Bynum: He completes us’
Lakers Examiner: After one of the worst offensive performances in Los Angeles Lakers history Friday night, the fans and the media were eager for an explanation, and that’s what they got…sort of.
Phil Jackson had this to say…
I’m supposed to tell you what happened and you watched that garbage for 48 minutes? That was a garbage game, no doubt about it. I wish we could repay the fans some money for that game. Neither team played very well, but they played better than us.
Kobe Bryant, however, had a different theory…
Blame Sun. Sun took too long getting our In-N-Out Burgers last night after the game. I don’t know where…he went. He could have went to the one in Compton for all I know.
That explains it! I know how grumpy and tired I get when I don’t get my Double-Double animal-style immediately after my articles. There’s no way I could perform to my capability the next night.
It’s good to see that Kobe could joke about the loss immediately following the game. The Lakers were playing so well on the offensive end, they were due for a miserable shooting night. It’s going to happen, so all they can do is move on.
I never thought I would see the Nuggets hold a team to under 30% shooting for a night — let alone the Lakers! It happened though and it was ugly.
Only one Laker shot better than 50% and that was DJ Mbenga with his 1-1 FG’s. It was pathetic. Good thing we have a seven game lead in the West.
On a good note, we held the Nuggets to 41.7% FGs and only 90 points.
Don’t really want to rememeber this game so on to, the bests of the night…
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Join us again, for another evening of pure jibberish.
Kobe: ALL ABOARD! Next stop… Denver, Colorado!
This image always gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Whomever comes up with the best caption here gets to rest on the TLN bench and ice his (or her) knees.
David and G end your work week with the recap of the Thunder, and Suns game, discuss how the Lakers are 12-1 without Andrew Bynum, and react to the user comments from last show. Plus, with all this Kobe and Shaq talk, David and G decide to countdown the TOP FIVE Lakers 1-2 combos of all time, and I guarantee you their list is one of a kind. As always they reveal another TOP Lakers moment. While G-Small, continues his extreme love for Kwame Brown.
A can’t miss show; we’ll see you in there!
Music -
T.I. – No Matter What
Flo’z – Official TLN Intro
NeYo – Closer
Ok Go – Here It Goes
Ludacris ft. Bobby V. – Pimpin’ All Over The World
T.I ft Justin Timberlake – Dead And Gone
Audio -
Kobe Bryant postgame vs. Suns
FSN NBA Theme
Mission Impossible Theme
KCAL-9 Lakers @ Portland
ABC Sports Mike Breen and Hubie Brown
Stephen A. Smith on Kwame Brown
Sound Effects courtesy WavSource.com.
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Download Link: Voice of the Nation – Episode #26
Hoorah! Kobe getting some love! It’s interesting to see how the Celtics and Cavs have been struggling with some injuries while the Lakers continue to steamroll along… back 2 back MVP’s? I can dig that.
NBA.com: Kobe fans rejoice. Your favorite is now the favorite.
After having LeBron James and Kobe Bryant one-two in Race to the MVP for nearly two months, this week we’ve flipped the two. Last season, before Bryant won his first MVP award, we didn’t move Kobe to the top spot until he faced off against the Hornets’ and Chris Paul in late April.
Until then, the authors of Race to the MVP had Paul at No. 1 for most of the season’s second half, and rightfully so. The Hornets had exceeded expectations by not only leading the Southwest Division, the NBA’s toughest and but also challenging for the top seed in the rugged West.
But then, Kobe and the Lakers — with the help of a Spanish import — came on strong down the stretch and challenged the upstarts from the Crescent City for supremacy in the West. On April 11, 2008, Kobe had 28 points, 10 boards and nine assists as the Lakers topped New Orleans 107-104 en route to staking their claim to the No. 1 seed in the conference.
We bring up last season for two reasons: one, to illustrate how close we thought the race was between Paul and Bryant, and two, the speed with which Kobe overtook Paul.
But like most memories, ours have been clouded by time. We may have thought the race to be close, but when the votes were counted, it wasn’t. Kobe was first on 82 of the 126 first place votes, with Paul receiving 28 first-place votes. That’s a blowout.
Continue reading ‘Kobe 1st in NBA.com Race to the MVP’
Karl speaks his mind…
RealGM: “Don’t you have to make the statement that maybe they’re better without Bynum?” Karl asked reporters on Thursday.
“Why do we always say Bynum? How many games has he played for this team? I like Bynum. I think he’s a great player. But sometimes you can have too much talent out there and it can kind of be confusing.”
Shaq talks about his old team, with their NEW success…
L.A. Times: The Suns didn’t make those defensive stops against the Lakers, giving up 132 points.
O’Neal was impressed.
“They’re playing team ball, playing great ball,” O’Neal said. “Nothing bad you can say about them.”
O’Neal played eight seasons with the Lakers, winning three championships. He was traded to the Miami Heat during the summer of 2004. Now, O’Neal said it was all about business, for him and the Lakers.
“They wanted to move in a new direction and they wanted to stay under the salary cap, under the salary cap,” O’Neal intentionally repeated. “And back then, I wasn’t talking nothing under the salary cap.” O’Neal said laughing.
He has played for four teams during his 17-year career, the Orlando Magic, Lakers, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns. O’Neal also won a championship with Miami. He has one year left on his contract after this season that pays him $21 million.
O’Neal was asked where he would like to have his jersey retired when he’s done playing.
“People ask me that all the time and I don’t really know whose decision that is,” O’Neal said. “In a perfect world, I’d like to have them in all four or all five places. But you never know.”
Continue reading ‘Shaq has nothing but good things to say about Kobe, Lakers’
The Lakers are in Denver to face the Nuggets. A win tonight and the Lakers can close out February an impressive 12-1.
The Lakers, lead by Kobe Bryant, jumped on the Suns early and did not take their foot off of the accelerator until they had administered a 26-point beat down in a 132-106 win.
The Lakers tied their season high in scoring 132 points and made a season-best 54 field goals topping the 48 made against Minnesota on 1/30.
Kobe later stated that he saw Thursday’s match up as a trap game and made sure from the start that the team wouldn’t see an injury-riddled team relax and take the night off.
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