Slump Breaking Break

The Lakers are looking forward to the All-Star break as a chance to refocus and recoup.  Everybody seems to notice that the Lakers haven’t been acting like their old selves lately.  The team has to find a way to break out of their current slump after losing several close games on a miserable recent road trip, and one the other night to the Knicks.  
 

When asked what he though was wrong with the Lakers, Phil Jackson had this to say: “I would say it’s just a lack of playing together and finding a way to win.  Those are the things the team was capable of doing earlier in the year and they’re not now. Sometimes you can throw it out and say it’s bad luck. Sometimes you can say it’s a lack of execution.”
 

Bad luck could be the Kwame Brown injury.  Lack of Execution: Lamar Odom.  It’s hard to say that a bad knee kept him from performing versus the Knicks, either in the whole first half, or in the closing seven seconds.
 

To see if the Lakers can regain their swagger, check out StubHub.com for Lakers tickets, but get some for a game after the All-Star break.  


 

Permalink - Posted in General on February 15, 2007 - Post a comment

Student Surpassed (Zen) Master?

Darth Vader: The circle is now complete. When I met you I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.
 Obi-Wan: Only a master of evil, Darth.
 

“Ballhog Bryant” as some have taken to calling Kobe, is regularly accused of selfishly padding his stats, not giving the ball up enough, and rape.
 

Whether you agree with any of those claims or not, one has to admit that Coach Phil Jackson has noticeably been avoiding criticism of his star player.  In fact, ever since his tell-all book, the Zen Master seems to have nothing much to say about Kobe Bryant, and only negative things to say about the other members of his team, most recently Lamar Odom.
 

Is Jackson afraid to take verbal swings at Kobe because he fears he will loose control of the player he needs to win, or because he really has no qualms about Kobe’s actions on the court, or because Bryant has finally become more powerful a force on the team than himself?
 

It seems that Bryant feels he has the right to chew out his fellow teammates as much or more so than his coach- at least when the Lakers are on national television.
 

This is all very disheartening.  Unless, of course, it is an old Zen Maser’s mind trick…
 

See if Kobe can become the both the Lakers offense and the coach by getting Lakers tickets at StubHub.com.      


 

Permalink - Posted in General on February 15, 2007 - Post a comment