Bynum’s Back in the Starting Lineup

Lakers center Andrew Bynum struggled during the series with Utah but will be back in the starting lineup on Monday, and hopes to pick things up against Houston or Portland. After taking Tuesday off, the Lakers had a low-key practice yesterday, but Bynum stayed after everyone else left, shooting off to the side with Lakers’ Assistant Coach Kurt Rambis. The Lakers will play either the Houston Rockets for the Portland Trail Blaers on Monday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at Staples Center and Bynum needs to be ready to bounce back from his poor performance against Utah. Game 6 is tonight in Houston and the Rockets lead Portland, 3-2.

Bynum averaged five points and three rebounds, shooting 39.1% against Utah while picking up 16 fouls in 77 minutes in the five-game series and was offered some words of encouragement after Wednesday’s practice, which was not attended by Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson due to personal reasons. Lakers’ Special Assistant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is also Bynum’s mentor, told the L.A. Times, “Andrew, he wants to excel. So he’s looking to dominate the game and sometimes you have to be patient … He’s figuring it out. I’m sure by the end of the playoffs, people won’t be talking about these issues.” A lot was expected of Bynum against Utah, after the 21-year-old missed 32 games due to a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, but he has admitted that he lost focus and his play suffered when he lost his spot in the starting lineup to Lamar Odom. Bynum will start in the next series because of Houston’s 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming (or alternatively because of Portland’s 7-foot centers Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden).

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 30, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Take Advantage of Day Off

The Lakers finished off the Utah Jazz on Monday and are taking advantage of their day off before the second round of the playoffs, in which they would undoubtedly rather play the Rockets than the Trail Blazers. So what did the Lakers do on their day off yesterday? Lamar Odom joked to the L.A. Times that he planned on attending an Angels or Dodgers game before admitting he would likely watch Houston play Portland. Luke Walton probably spend the day resting a partially torn ligament in his left ankle.

On Tuesday Portland defeated Houston, 88-77, closing to within 3-2 in the series; this Thursday Houston will host Game 6. The Lakers went 2-2 against Portland in the regualar season and have lost eight consecutive games in Portland while they went 4-0 against Houston and are 5-2 in Houston over the last four seasons. Although they won’t admit it outright, the Lakers would rather play Houston. Odom did tell the Times, “Portland is a team that plays well at home against us. They seem to kind of handle us up there.” Andrew Bynum is expected to return as a starter regardless of who the Lakers get in the next round, with Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson telling the Times, “He can certainly give us minutes against either one of those teams. More than likely I would put him right back in the starting lineup in that situation.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 29, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Squander Lead But Luckily Win Anyway

Last night at Staples Center the Lakers managed to squander most of their 22-point third-quarter lead against Utah Jazz but still walked away with a win, 107-96, closing out their first-round playoff series four games to one. Kobe Bryant had 31 points, Lamar Odom had 26 points and, after losing another big lead in the fourth quarter, the Lakers won the best-of-seven series and now get either Houston or Portland in the next quarter.

Houston has a 3-1 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers, with Game 5 tonight in Portland; the Lakers were 2-2 against Portland this season (including two lopsided losses at the Rose Garden) and they were 4-0 against Houston (winning by an average margin of 13 points). Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson cancelled practice today and the team may have another day off before the next round, to be determined by what happens in Portland tonight. With the Lakers downtime comes concern over Andrew Bynum, who only had two points and five rebounds in 12 minutes during Game 5, and Luke Walton, who is out for at least a week due to a partially torn ligament. “We don’t really have a preference,” said Jackson about who the Lakers will play next. “It’s interesting. That’s a much more physical series than our series is. Both teams play extremely hard.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 28, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers 3-1 and Want to Finish Things at Home

The Lakers, who are currently leading 3-1 in series against Utah Jazz, would like to finish things up at home tonight, thus avoiding another trip to Salt Lake. As Kobe Bryant told the L.A. Times, “I love Utah but I’d rather not see it again until next year.” The Lakers can close out their first round playoff series in Game 5 tonight at Staples Center, which would mean winning for the 13th time in their last 14 playoff home games. If the Lakers end things with the Jazz they can look ahead towards Houston or Portland, but if they don’t they will play Game 6 in Utah on Thursday.

Of the Lakers’ strategy tonight Pau Gasol said, “You don’t give them any life, any hope. Set the tone early and control the game. Make the game yours, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Bryant said Sunday he’s going to “continue to be aggressive,” much like he was in Game 4, with a 38-point, 16-for-24 shooting night. While only eight teams in NBA history have lost a series after being up 3-1, the Lakers were the last team to blow such a lead when they fell to Phoenix in seven games in a 2006 first-round series.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 27, 2009 - Post a comment

Utah Wins Game 3

Utah Jazz took a Game 3 victory last night at home thanks to Deron Williams’ shot with 2.2 seconds left. Williams scored on a 14-footer, allowing the Jazz to cut the Lakers lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is at Utah Staurday and the Jazz is likely ecstatic about last night’s win, as an NBA team has never come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. Kobe Bryant only made five of 24 shots and his 28-foot three-point attempt went right and off to the side of the rim as time expired. During postgame interviews Byrant said resignedly, “I know I played bad … It was a combination of two things. One, I just didn’t shoot the ball well. Two, they did a good job of mixing up their defense … It’s my responsibility to put the ball in the whole.”

Bryant wasn’t the only one who had a problem with that, as the Lakers combined to shot 36.8%. Lamar Odom remained steady off the bench with 21 points but that was about it for Lakers’ highlights. It seemed as if the Lakers had the game, until the Jazz made a comback with 23 points and 22 rebounds from Carlos Boozer; Deron Williams had 13 points and nine assists.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 24, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Will Be Tested in Utah

The Lakers are about to enter Game 3 against Utah Jazz with a 2-0 lead, similar to their position last year when they lost Games 3 and 4. Last season the Lakers had a 2-0 series lead before the Jazz beat them twice in Salt Lake City. Andrew Bynum wasn’t able to fully participate in practice because of knee soreness, only contributing to the Lakers’ nerves. Bynum sitting out most of Wednesday’s practice was more a precautionary move than anything but after he was sidelined for 32 games because of a torn medial collateral ligament the Lakers can’t be too careful.

Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson told the L.A. Times that Bynum’s soreness might be because of the bulky brace he has been wearing since his return six weeks ago: “I don’t think it’s anything that the training staff thought was structural. Some of it’s due to [the] brace, wearing the brace and the inhibiting of the brace of the motions. I think it’s all capable of working out, but he did not work much on the court [Wednesday] at all.” Bynum will play tonight in Game 3 of the best-of-seven opening-round series.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 23, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Have Deja Vu Against Utah

For the second game in a row, the Lakers built a big lead against Utah Jazz but then needed to make it up after their opponent rallied at the end. The Jazz never led but the Lakers almost lost their 20-point advantage and needed some last-minute help to pull off their 119-109 victory and take a 2-0 series lead over Utah. Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson simply wrote “14 mo” on the locker-room white board as a reference to the number of victories the Lakers need for an NBA title.

It looked like it would be an easy win for the Lakers (just as it did in Game 1) but the Jazz climbed 109-106 with 3:17 to play. Thanks to Trevor Ariza’s three-pointer the Lakers were able to breathe easy after the scare, taking a 116-108 lead with 33.9 seconds left. Ariza scored 13 points and handed out nine assists while Kobe Bryant had 26 points and nine assists. pau Gasol has 22 points and six rebounds and the Lakers shot 60%.  Game 3 is set for Thursday, with Andrew Bynum telling the Los Angeles Times, “Thursday’s a very, very big game for us. The calls are going to go a lot more their way because it’s their house. Their fans are going to get into it, and we can’t turn the ball over so many times.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 22, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Avoiding Fouls

The Lakers were well on their way to enjoy and easy victory over Utah until the Jazz went to the free-throw line 28 times in the final 24 minutes Sunday, cutting the Lakers’ 22-point halftime lead to nine and reminding L.A. that they made the playoffs too. After winning their playoff opener, 113-100, the Lakers are feeling defensive, especially after last year’s playoffs against Boston.

Tonight is Game 2 during the Lakers’ best-of-seven series at Staples Center and they hope to break their lose-the-lead pattern. As Lakers’ forward Trevor Ariza told the L.A. Times, “It showed up in the second half of the game [Sunday] and I think we all realized it. For some reason, I think it’s going to be a little different this next game.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 21, 2009 - Post a comment

One Down, 15 to Go

The Lakers opened the playoffs with a 113-100 victory over Utah on their home court, a victory which Boston, San Antonio, Orlando and Portland were unable to claim. The Lakers weren’t enthusiastic about their Sunday night victory over the Jazz in Game 1 of a best-in-seven series because of its unsettling ending; after a 22-point Lakers halftime lead things went awry. Luckily Kobe Bryant dunked after a drive down the lane with 1:26 to play in the second half.

The Lakers need 15 more victories to wing the franchise’s 15th NBA championship and Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson wrote a simple phrase postgame on the whiteboard in the locker room to show they wouldn’t get there with wins like that: “15? Not like that.” Jackson told reporters after the game, “I don’t even know if we can say we prevailed on that second-half effort, but we got the win. It wasn’t a coach’s delight, that’s for sure, but we were able to outscore them.” Jackson is 47-1 in playoff series when his teams hold a series lead of any kind, with the only break in his reocrd being three seasons ago when the Lakers lost a 3-1 advantage against Phoenix.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 20, 2009 - Post a comment

Game One Sunday

The Lakers kick off their first-round series with the Utah Jazz on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center.  While Los Angeles is heavily favored in this matchup, it’s important for the Lake Show to come out with guns blazing in the series opener.  There’s a lot to like about this Lakers team, but they have been known for going through some spells this season where they don’t play the most passionate brand of basketball.  While head coach Phil Jackson’s calm demeanor is certainly a rarity in this league, the Zen Master hasn’t had much trouble getting his team mentally ready for big games in the past.

The keys to this series don’t necessarily lie in the individual matchups, but more with which team will execute better on the defensive end.  Since both of these teams have so many weapons, stopping the opponent’s marquee players will be paramount in securing victory.  It will be much easier for the Lakers, though, as their main concerns will surely be point guard Deron Williams and power forward Carlos Boozers.  Their two-man game is a central part of the Jazz’s half-court set and slowing this combination will do wonders for the Lakers’ chance of making this a quick series.  The Jazz will have much more difficulty shutting down the Lakers’ offensive attack, especially with a healthy Andre Bynum manning the middle.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 17, 2009 - Post a comment


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