Lakers Jordan Farmar makes NBA Rookie Team
Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be apart of the NBA Rookie Challenge and youth game for the second consecutive year held at New Orleans Friday, Feb. 15, according to an article published Wednesday, Jan. 30 on the official Press of Atlantic City Web site.
Farmar, who is only one of five sophomores who have been invited back this year, has been averaging 9.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game -a steady increase across the board from last season, according to the Press of Atlantic City report. Trailing Lakers’ Derek Fisher, Farmar is second in shooting from behind the arc with 40.6 percent and has put in an impressive season to date for the Lakers.
The big game pits the leagues best sophomores against its best rookies - two teams selected carefully by a panel of NBA assistant coaches and will be followed by an All-Star game on Sunday, Feb. 17. Still haven’t seen the Lakers and its talented troupe of players in action? Check out a pair of Lakers tickets right here and now at Stubhub.com and don’t miss out on another minute of the high-intensity NBA action!
Lakers come out on top of New York Tuesday
Kobe Bryant lead the Lakers yet again for another victory Tuesday over the New York Knicks at the Staples Center - the last of Los Angeles’ home games before they are off for a nine game tour, according to an article published Wednesday, Jan. 30, on the official ContraCosta Times Web site.
Bryant, with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists pulled the Lakers ahead 120-109 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter when he hit a jump-shot. Sasha Vujacic quickly jumped in on the effort, making a pair of three pointers and scoring 12 of his 20 game points during the fourth quarter. Pooling their talents, Vujacic and Bryant helped the team come back from a 99-91 deficit and overcome major the Knicks’ scoring machines Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson, who both had 22 points respectively in Tuesday’s game, according to the report.
“Well, defense was a hope and a prayer for us the first three quarters,” Jackson said afterward in an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Jan. 30. “We finally found a way to defend that made sense.”
Other top scorers for the Lakers included Lamar Odom with 22 points and 12 rebounds, Derek Fisher with 17 points and Ronny Turiaf with 14 points and nine rebounds. The Lakers may have been hurting defensively, but offensively the team was right on par, according to many sports critics, including the LA Times. As they continue on the road, the Lakers will hope for that same optimism and luck. Fans can get geared up for the next set of games by purchasing a pair of Lakers tickets at Stubhub.com right here and now.
Looking to the Future: Lakers Reflect on Possibilities for Season
The Lakers are looking forward to putting a three-game losing streak behind them.
Will it happen? Coach Phil Jackson and the team hopes so. With Andrew Bynum sitting the bench for the last few games after an injury, it seems that many players feel the added pressure of “stepping things up” a bit, according to Kobe Bryant in an article published Monday, Jan. 28 on the official Orange County Register Web site.
“Things change very fast in this business,” Lakers co-captain Derek Fisher said. “You win four games and you have a player get conference player of the week. The next week, you lose four games and you’re the worst team in the league. “We have to keep in mind what we’ve accomplished as a whole and keep in mind that we have a whole second half of the season.”
As the Lakers tried to get pumped up for the big game against the New York Knicks tonight at the Staples Center, they are also trying to stay focused on the immediate future: a series of nine away games that could make or break their status this season, according to the Orange County Register report. The Lakers will take on the Detroit Pistons, the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards in the coming days and fans should get ready for major NBA action.
If you still haven’t been to a game, then what are you waiting for? Be sure to secure your seats by snagging a pair of Lakers tickets right here at Stubhub.com.
Lakers Counting Lucky Stars they have Kobe not Shaq?
Although the Lakers are not in perfect shape - Kobe with a head injury, Andrew Bynum with a shot knee and Lamar Odom monitoring a heart issue - the team is certainly not in serious peril.
As one sports critic pointed out, the LA Lakers could be in worse trouble if owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak hadn’t decided back in 2004 to trade Shaquille O’Neal for Odom and several other key players and keep Kobe Bryant, according to an article published jan. 26 by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. O’Neal, who currently has $60 million and two years left on his contract with the Miami Heat, is injured again and his numbers are down this season, the Daily Bulletin reported. Not to mention that his divorce, which has been blown up by the media, has started revealing details of his private life to anyone who will listen. That includes a reported $26,500 spent on babysitting and $24,300 on gasoline per month - yes, per month.
Although O’Neal was a key player in leading the Heat to an NBA Championship for 2006, it is clear that his reputation of “getting the job done” is not following him into this season. Take one look at the stats and fans can see that the Lakers were smart to trade. Compared with Lakers Andrew Bynum, who has had 18 double-doubles in 35 games this seaosn, O’Neal has only come up with seven in 32 games. On top of that, the star is only averaging 28 minutes play time per game, with 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds.
Doesn’t seem like Shaq’s expenditures are adding up to a big benefit for the heat. Guess that’s one trade the Lakers can look back on with out a troubled mind. Ease your troubled mind and be sure to get your Lakers tickets in advance so you don’t miss the next game. Visit Stubhub.com right now and get a pair today!
L.A. Lakers on the Road in Dallas
The Los Angeles Lakers are set to play the Dallas Mavericks tonight in Dallas, a game that should be very tough to win. Not only are the Mavs playing some good basketball at home (where they are 18-3 so far this year), but the Lakers will also be without one of their best players, the young, up-and-coming Andrew Bynum.
The ESPN game preview page has an Accuscore Prediction that has the Dallas Mavericks favored to win, 75% to 25%… whatever that means. The Lakers are doing fine this year, and there’s no real reason that you should completely count them out of this game. Both teams come into the game having won 8 of their last 10.
The Lamar Odom-Dirk Nowitzki matchup should be one of the most important to keep your eye on during the game. Because of Bynum’s injury, Odom might have to be called on to play under the boards a bit more.
To get Los Angeles Lakers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Trade Talks Suggest Lakers’ Radmanovic, Brown may be blowing over to the Windy City
While the young star and the old time rookie are still holding strong in games, the Lakers Vladimir Radmanovic and Kwame Brown may be catching the trade winds out of Los Angeles and into Chicago sooner than they thought.
The Chicago Tribune’s columnist Sam Smith has suggested a new deal that looks different from the original Kobe Bryant for a package of players. That deal was called off months ago but now a new one is brewing, according to an article published Jan. 23 by the Pasadena Star-News. Brown and Radmanovic would be traded for the Bulls Ben Wallace. Wallace has approximately $28 million left on his contract, while Brown still has $9 million and Radmanovic is signed for $5.6 million until the 2010-2011 season, according to the report.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson did not comment on the trade but is rather worrying about the state of his current players, especially Luke Walton, who has had a week ankle since the Lakers’ training camp in Hawaii, according to the report. Due to the injury, Walton has only been averaging 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
“We just have to watch that he’s not overplayed,” coach Phil Jackson said. “Too many minutes are going to hurt him, wear him out and tear him down. Offensively, he’s struggling. Defensively he’s doing a good job for us.”
Still haven’t booked a pair of Lakers tickets? What are you waiting for? Now is a great time to snag a few for the whole family at Stubhub.com.
Lakers on Texas Tour; Hope for Clean Sweep Against Spurs, Mavericks, Rockets
The Los Angeles Lakers are back in Texas but just because it’s a big state doesn’t mean the team is ready to back down - intimidated, the Lakers are not.
Coming off a big win over the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers face off against the Spurs tonight, Wednesday Jan. 23, at San Antonio’s AT&T Center and are filled with momentum but not overly confident, especially with star player Andrew Bynum benched with a knee injury. While center Bynum, who was acting as star Kobe Bryant’s right hand man until he was hurt in mid-January, is expected to sit out the next two months, according to a report published on the official Lakers Web site.
“It’s tough to go on a march through Texas,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said in an article published Tuesday, Jan. 22, by the Pasadena Star-News. “This is a different team,” Jackson said of the Spurs. “This is a defensive team. Scores are low. We’re going to have to eke out points and hope we can defend them much better than the last time we were in San Antonio.”
And that’s exactly what Bryant intends to do, the all-star point guard told reporters.
“It’s going to be challenging,” Bryant said. “We lost two of our better defensive players (Bynum and Trevor Ariza), so we’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to have to combat that as a unit and really play the game mentally and be as prepared as possible.”
As Bryant and the gang works those details out in practice, Los Angeles fans should be working on trying to score a pair of Lakers tickets to this Texas triangle match up series. Don’t miss out on your chance to watch these games court side - visit Stubhub.com right now!
Lakers Dominate Denver: Nuggets star Sprains Ankle
While the Lakers emerged victorious Monday, Jan. 21, against Denver, Nuggets fans weren’t the only ones suffering.
Fans at the Staples Center celebrated a 116-99 victory for the Lakers this Martin Luther King, while the Nuggets were not only taking a game loss, but also the potential benching of one of their star players, Carmelo Anthony, who was helped off the court during the second quarter with a possible sprained ankle, according to an Associated Press article published on the official Lakers’ Web site.
Anthony, who is the NBA’s fourth leading scorer and who has whopping 25.8 game point average this season, attempted a jump shot with about six minutes left before halftime before coming down to land on the foot of Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, twisting his ankle and dropping to the court in pain, according to the article. Anthony’s ankle X-rays came up negative for a sprain, according to an Associated Press article published Tuesday, Jan. 22, on the International Herald Tribune Web site.
The win for the Lakers means the team’s 18th win in the past 22 games, and propels LA to a more definite seed in the championship. Now at 27-12 for wins, the Lakers are trying to carry on the teams’ momentum straight through the rest of the season. Be sure to snag your tickets and watch those games unfold from the stands. Get Lakers tickets right here and right now at Stubhub.com.
Father Son Rivalry: Lakers’ Coby Karl and Denver’s coach George Karl
Lakers’ rookie guard Coby Karl likes to give his father a hard time. Unlike most father-son competitive banter, however, the Karl’s have a bit more unusual situation on their hands.
Coby’s father is George Karl - coach of the Denver Nuggets, a team that is in direct competition with the Lakers. The guard, who was signed to the Lakers this summer, has been averaging 1.8 points in the seven games he’s played this season and now the odds are shaping up that he may play in his very first game against the Nuggets tonight, Jan. 21, as the Lakers face off against the team at the Staples Center, according to an article published Monday, Jan. 21 on the official Rocky Mountain News Web site.
“The opportunity to compete against my son is a dream come true,” Karl said. “It will be a special situation any time, but the first is going to be more special. . . . It’s a feeling very few fathers will ever have.”
Coby shares that feeling and although he does often tease his father about Jackson’s nine NBA championships and Karl’s lack thereof, the young NBA player said he still looks at his father’s accomplishments - including his recent entry into the NBA encyclopedia - with an overwhelming amount of pride.
“To just grow up around my dad and being (around the NBA), to play against him would be something,” Coby said. “It would be surreal.”
Make sure not to miss the Lakers as they take on the Denver Nuggets at 8 p.m. Eastern Central time and take advantage of the opportunity to score a pair of Lakers tickets for the next game at Stubhub.com.
Suns Shine over Lakers at Staples Center
The Lakers have forfeited a long-standing winning streak, falling to the Phoenix Suns 106-98 Thursday Jan. 16 at the Lakers home base Staples Center. NBA star Kobe Bryant, who led the Lakers with 30 points and seven rebounds, was clearly disappointed with the team’s performance but was even more at odds with the way LA’s home crowd reacted to Kwame Brown’s performance.
Brown is filling in for Andrew Bynum, who sustained a knee injury Sunday while the Lakers were facing off against the Memphis Grizzlies. Unfortunately the rookie, who was recruited from Georgia Tech as one of the top ten picks, happened to be a part of seven out of the 22 turnovers Thursday for the Lakers. As he fouled out of the game in the fourth, Lakers fans booed Brown off the court.
“I thought it was terrible,” Bryant said of the fans behavior. “If they wan to do that, they can stay home. He’s going to be our guy here for two months. He’is going to do fine, he’s going to play well the next game.”
One thing is for sure: the Lakers will need to step up their performance and not rely on Bryant, who scored the majority of points Thursday and has consistently been scoring double digits throughout the season. With Bynum out for eight weeks, the Lakers will need to increase the intensity to qualify for the Championship games.
True fans have no doubt that Los Angeles will be a part of the post-season action and that’s why you should be sure to book a pair of tickets for an upcoming game right now before seats are gone. Get Lakers tickets now at Stubhub.com!