Bryant Returns to Philadelphia

The Los Angeles Lakers play the 76ers tonight in Philadelphia.  The game will be a return for Kobe Bryant in two senses of the word.  He will be revisiting his former high school in Lower Marion, and be reinstated in the Lakers lineup after his suspension. 
 

Kobe has done amazingly well in the games immediately following league-mandated suspensions, averaging just over 34 points.  The Lakers are also 3-1 when Kobe comes back from suspensions.
 

But if you’re thinking about putting a bunch of money on the Lakers, you might want to consider that the 76ers are currently on a five-game win streak.  Philadelphia is surging and the Lakers are spiraling downward.  L.A. will come into the game tonight with a four-game losing streak, and only 10 available players.
 

I’d save my betting loot to spend on Lakers tickets for when the Dallas Mavericks come to the Staples Center on Sunday.  StubHub.com will be your source for what could be a season defining game versus one of the best teams in the league.  


 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 9, 2007 - Post a comment

Second Half Missing as Lakers’ Worst Half Plays

The Los Angeles Lakers have now lost 10 of their last 13 games after Wednesday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.  After keeping within single digits in the first half, the Lakers, who had only four available reserves, ended up losing by 20 points at game’s end.
 

Roughly two thirds of the Lakers’ average points per game were missing, being that Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, and Vladimir Radmanovic were all sidelined. 
 

It’s amazing the Lakers even managed to put up 90 points and keep the Bucks (near the bottom of the East at 23-39) from putting up 150.  If Michael Redd had scored 52 like he did a few days ago, instead of the 10 he put up last night, the Bucks could have had their biggest blowout victory of this decade. 
 

For the people who visit StubHub.com to get Lakers tickets, help for your team is on the way.  Walton has been steadily improving, and unless somebody else’s face gets in the way of Kobe’s conveniently unconventional follow through, the Lakers should have half an offense.    


 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 8, 2007 - Post a comment

NBA out to get Lakers? Bryant out to get Uglies?

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road last night, spiraling down further and further towards the .500 mark.  Kobe Bryant, the Lakers’ go-to offensive player, was absent due to a one-game suspension, incurred from an elbow Bryant gave to Marko Jaric Tuesday night.
 
This is the second such suspension Bryant has received this season.  In an almost identical play a few weeks ago, Bryant hit Manu Ginobili while trying to draw a foul call.
 

Many Lakers fans are wondering if the NBA has been too harsh on one of its biggest stars.  Fans who buy Lakers tickets expect to see Bryant in action, shooting fade aways, traveling, chewing out his teammates, grinning and shaking his head, pounding his chest, whatever. 
 

But the NBA really can’t let the big stars get away with everything, simply because they make the league a lot of money. If you want that, then you’d be admitting that Mark Cuban and all of those crazy conspiracy-theorists from Sacramento were actually right.    
 

Ted Green brings up a good point though.  Ginobili’s nose is much too big.  Hitting that thing is almost unavoidable.  The odds of hitting it accidentally when two people are running around in the tight confines of an NBA-sized basketball court is way too high to suspend somebody for it.  But Jaric?  His nose is distinctly not monumental.  No excuse there.
 

At some point, though, the NBA has to draw the line between the ticket buyers’ expectations (especially those at StubHub.com) and the integrity of the game.
 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 8, 2007 - Post a comment

Bryant Suspended Following Latest Flailing

Kobe Bryant was suspended for tonight’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks following review of a fourth-quarter elbow to Marko Jaric’s face.  During last night’s Minnesota game, Bryant was blocked, and then in attempting to draw a foul, hit Jaric with his elbow. 
 

The play did not draw a foul at the time, but review from NBA officials has deemed it deserving of a one-game suspension.
 

Of particular interest to NBA vice president Stu Jackson was that a nearly identical incident happened with Manu Ginobili earlier in the season.     
 

Kobe Bryant, Gerald Henderson and Grassy Knoll apologists will argue that Bryant was only trying to exaggerate a foul.  However, in both the Jaric and Ginobli cases the defender was blocking a shot coming from Bryant’s right side, going left.  Supposing Kobe was fouled or was trying to fake a foul, wouldn’t it follow that Bryant’s arm would be moved left, with the motion of the defender’s arm, instead of right, back into the momentum of Jaric or Ginobili?
 

Regardless, the Lakers will be short one more player in Bryant tonight.  They already have no defense, so with their offense serving a suspension, things don’t look good for the Lakers’ chances. 
 

StubHub.com will have plenty of great Lakers tickets for when this already-awful road trip ends, and Bryant and his “magic elbow” are back.
 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 7, 2007 - Post a comment

Lakers Lose it Over and Over Again

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves last night 117-107 in double overtime.  The defeat puts the Lakers into a three-game losing streak, and starts the team off 0-2 in their road trip. 
 

Missed inbound passes and missed free throws cost the Lakers dearly, who also missed Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, and Vladimir Radmanovic when their interior defense, rebounding and scoring came to a near standstill several times.
 

Kobe Bryant managed to score 40 points and snag a season-high 13 rebounds, although he could only score one three-pointer during the two overtimes. 
 

By Phil Jackson’s account, the Lakers “gave” the game away.  The Lakers’ players can little afford to be so generous these days.  Jackson, however, is hoping that his annual book-giving tour will help alleviate some of the team’s problems, though he should have given out books a few weeks ago. 
 

Some suggestions:
 

Radmanovic: Snowboarding for Dummies
GM Kirk Kupchak: For the Love of God, Do Something!
Kobe: The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul
 

If you like watching basketball better than reading, check out StubHub.com for some Lakers tickets when they get back from the road.  Although if current trends continue, the Staples Center might just be as quiet as a library, anyways.  Bring a good book just in case.   
 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 7, 2007 - Post a comment

More Bad News for Lakers

According to a specialist, Lamar Odom’s shoulder will likely require a season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum.  Luke Walton’s foot specialist gave him a no-go for the Lakers four-game road trip. 
 

Walton, who was suffering form a sprained ankle and has been easing back into practices not only needs more time to heal his ankle, but now has been diagnosed with tendonitis as well.
 

If Odom can get his shoulder in working condition in less than three weeks, he might be available for the playoffs. Otherwise, he goes under the knife and will sit the rest of the season on the bench. 
 

The Lakers start their road trip tonight when they play the Timberwolves in Minneapolis.  When they get back to LA, you can get Lakers tickets at StubHub.com.  But without a lot of great play from Bynum, Evans and Cook, and maybe a little luck, you’ll be seeing the Lakers coming home from another dismal road trip.      


 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 6, 2007 - Post a comment

Lakers in Trouble

With the loss against the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 6-12 without Luke Walton.  With little time remaining in the regular season, the Lakers’ playoff ranking hangs in the balance. 
 

On Friday the Lakers lost to the Sacramento Kings, failing to make any effort at a defensive stop.  On Sunday the Lakers picked up the defense and held the explosive Suns to under 100, but didn’t have enough firepower on the offensive side to beat the Pacific Division leaders. 
 

The Lakers are now 33-27, good for sixth in the Western Conference.  The Clippers and Nuggets trail the Lakers by only a few games as it stands.  With Injuries piling up, and no moves as of the trade deadline, the Lakers are apparently just going to let their problems work themselves out.
 

Phil Jackson normally recommends that an inspirational book be placed on problems for thirty minutes a day, but the Lakers are quite beyond that.     
 

If they can’t find whatever they had in the beginning of the season, the Lakers will soon be in a tight race for a playoff spot.
 

Lakers tickets for regular season games are getting fewer and fewer, and before long StubHub.com will be selling NBA playoff tickets.  Will the Lakers be an 8 seed, or can they hold on to sixth?  Only time will tell.    

Permalink - Posted in General on March 5, 2007 - Post a comment

Scottie to be Beamed up to Lakers?

Lakers coach Phil Jackson contacted 41 year-old Scottie Pippen over the weekend.  The phone conversation was apparently aimed at deciphering the conditioning and fitness Jackson’s former player.
 

If the Lakers can’t get Walton or Odon back at full strength by the end of the regular season, Lakers fans- and Phil Jackson, apparently- will be missing a versatile small forward come playoff time.  That is, unless an old timer with one more season in him can step up.
 

In a world where a retired UFC former champion in his mid forties can take the title from a young mutton-chopped buck (as one Randy Coutre did Saturday night), and Rocky can convince a boxing commission he is capable of fighting again, I have to believe the people are ready for Scottie. 
 

If you’d like to see what the old man has left, think about getting Lakers tickets at your source for unlikely comebacks, StubHub.com.       

Permalink - Posted in General on March 5, 2007 - Post a comment

A Slap on the Shoulder

Vladimir Radmanovic will miss out on $500,000 for injuring his shoulder in a snowboarding accident and having to miss nearly a month of regular season play. 
 

The fine, which is actually a pretty sweet deal by most sports writers standards, will make sure that even for the games in which he is not playing Radmanovic will receive more than $600,000 in compensation. 
 

I should hit the slopes more often.
 

Since the penalty was so weak, it merely will act as a slap on the wrist for the young Radmanovic, who the Lakers apparently would like to see develop in the long term. 
 

In other news, Aaron McKie is having respiratory problems, Maurice Evans is sick, Kobe is getting better after his sore throat, and Luke Walton and Kwame Brown participated in light practice today.
 

Lakers tickets are available at StubHub.com.  LA will take on Sacramento in a rivalry game that is now as cool as the other side of the pillow.  I won’t be there, though- heading up to the mountains for a ski weekend. 


 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 2, 2007 - Post a comment

Farmar, Vujacic Dissed Hard!

In his continuing effort to chide Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic, Phil Jackson openly admitted why veterans Aaron McKie and Shammond Williams are getting what would have been their playing time.
 

For weeks the Lakers had been in involved in various trade rumors surrounding point guards Andre Miller, Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby.  The arrival of any of which would have sent Jordan and Sasha packing.
 

Phil Jackson had this to say about why McKie and Williams got the nod: “We had to go with some veteran guys who know how to play.”
 

Ouch!
 

He added, “You know if things come to them, they’re going to shoot, and Aaron has the reputation of being a defensive stopper.”  Phil Jackson then thought to himself, Farmar and Vujacic can’t even keep Jared from scoring. You know. The guy from the Subway commercials.
 

He then chuckled to himself.  
 

And I meant score with a woman.
 

Phil continued, saying, “They’re going to fill gaps we need filled, and then we will see about getting the young guys back in there and getting their experience.”
 

Burn!
 

Well, if you like wily veterans, then check out StubHub.com for some Lakers tickets, because it looks like Jackson has lost patience with the greenhorns.
 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 1, 2007 - Post a comment


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