Which Lakers Will Walk?

There will be a victory parade held to celebrate the Lakers’ NBA Championship win tomorrow (June 17) in Los Angeles and then the team has to get down to business. The NBA draft begins June 25 and the Lakers have the 29th, 42nd and 59th picks, but the biggest decision will come with free agency, as Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Kobe Bryant are all free agents. July 1 Kobe can terminate the last two years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. He will be 31 in August and averaged 32.4 points, 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds during the finals, on his way to his first Finals MVP award. A five-year, $135-million contract is the max for a player his age and if the Lakers let Kobe walk absolute chaos would ensue. Reserve Shannon Brown as well as forwards Odom and Ariza officially become unrestricted free agents that day. Recently there has been speculation that there might be room on the roster for both Ariza and Odom but it comes down to Lakers’ ownder Jerry Buss to decide.

Lakers’ General Manager Mitch Kupchak spoke to reporters while celebrating the team’s 15th championship saying, “I think we could be in position to advance to the Finals for the next three- four years. But this summer we’ll have some free-agent issues we’ll have to address.” Read the full article at the LATimes.com.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 16, 2009 - Post a comment

And the NBA Championship Title Goes to… The Lakers

The Lakers beat the Magic in Orlando last night in Game 5, winning their 15th NBA title and 10th in L.A., with Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson earning his record-setting 10th ring as a coach. Jackson now has one more championship ring than Boston Celtics great Red Auerbach. Kobe Bryant is now proudly wearing his fourth ring–his first without Shaquille O’Neal–and had 30 points, six rebounds and five assists to help the Lakers beat the Magic 99-86. Derek Fisher also got his fourth championship ring, highlighted by his Game 4 performance.

After the game Bryant said, “I don’t have to hear that idiotic criticism anymore. That’s the biggest thing. I don’t have to hear that stuff anymore. I can’t believe this moment is here. They won’t see us as losers. L.A. is brutal, man. When I go to Disney World and Disneyland, I can enjoy the moment. I don’t have to answer questions about, ‘What the hell happened to you guys?’” Although Bryant can opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent July 1, he told reporters, “When the next season comes around, we’ll go from there. We’ll be ready to work again, that’s for sure.” The 13-year veteran can re-sign with the Lakers for five years and a whopping $135 million.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 15, 2009 - Post a comment

Derek Fisher Leads Lakers to Overtime Victory

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher made three-pointers in regulation and overtime to lead the Lakers to victory in Game 4, putting them one win from the NBA championship. One of Fisher’s game-turning three-pointers was in the final minute of regulation while the other was in the final minute of overtime as the Lakers won Game 4 of the NBA Finals Thursday (June 11). Fisher made the history books due to his turnaround fling with 0.4 seconds left against San Antonio in the 2004 conference semifinals and that play had nothing on his performance last night. Fisher finished with 12 points in 42 minutes while Kobe Bryant had 32 points on 11-for-31 shooting and Trevor Ariza had 16 points after none in the first half. Kobe and Derek are both 13-year veterans and after the game Bryant said, “That’s Derek. He just has supreme confidence.”

The Lakers lead the Magic, 3-1, and will play Game 5 in Orlando on Sunday (June 14). Should they happen, Games 6 and 7 would be held at Staples Center, although it doesn’t look good for the Magic after last night. The Lakers haven’t lost three straight games since acquiring Pau Gasol in February 2008 and no team has ever comeback from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Finals.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 12, 2009 - Post a comment

Will This Series Set Kobe Bryant Apart?

L.A. Times staff writer Mark Heisler has seen the highs and lows of Kobe Bryant’s career in covering the Lakers most valuable player for over 13 years and is now posing the question, is this his time? Says Heisler, “If Michael Jordan was the best ever, it was because of his consistency at a level no one had ever reached. Bryant goes to Jordan’s level all the time–and beyond, where no one ever went before–between dips. If Jordan was a straight line across the top of the graph, Bryant is a wavy line, with the highs going off the chart, as in Tuesday’s first quarter, in one of the great 12-minute bursts anyone has ever played.” Said ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy called Kobe’s first quarter, in which he had 17 points with three assists, making seven of 10 shots, “The greatest first quarter I ever saw.”

On Wednesday Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson said, “He’s going to have to take his time and weigh that out and trust his teammates, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve told him, one guy’s not going to beat five. That’s something that doesn’t happen in these things. And he can’t always be the first initial option. He also has to be a guy that baits the defense and moves the ball ahead, as he did in the Denver series.” The obvious comparison in this year’s NBA Finals has been between Bryant and Orlando’s Dwight Howard. Howard is younger and plays inside, where his teammates get him the ball, while Bryant is older and wiser and plays on the perimeter.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 11, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Lose Game 3

The Orlando Magic is back in the series after winning its first-ever victory, 108-104, in the NBA Finals at Amway Arena last night (June 9). The Lakers entered into Magic territory and Orlando did their fans proud with 62.5% shooting. Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis each shot 21 points while Rafer Alston was untacked for 20. Although the Lakers still lead the series, 2-1, Kobe Bryant only made 11 of 25 shots and only five of 10 free throws on his way to 31 points; Bryant made eight of his first 11 shots but seemed fatigued after a three-pointer a few minuted into the second quarter.

“We lost this game in the defensive end,” said Byrant after the game, and he was right, as Howard made five of six shots, Lewis made eight of 14 and Hedo Turkoglu made seven of 12. Despite their loss, none of the Lakers thought it was for lack of effort, with forward Trevor Ariza saying, “Nothing was wrong. They were just making shots. They were hitting tough shots and they played really well in the first half.” And they did: Orlando shot 75% in the first half, making 24 of 32 shots as they made their way to a 59-54 halftime lead. Although the Magic led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter, the Lakers tied it at 99-99 when Pau Gasol made two free throws with 2:41 to play. Bryant lost control of the ball with the Lakers down 104-102 and then Gasol fell when trying to pass the ball to Bryant, and you know the rest. The Lakers missed four three-point attempts but still hold a one-game lead in the series.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 10, 2009 - Post a comment

Magic Trying to Overcome 2-0 Deficit

Even though Orlando has come back from behind two times to win playoff series this spring, the Magic knows they must win Game 3 tonight. Before winning an Eastern Conference simifinal in seven games the Magic trailed the Celtics, 2-3, and Philadelphia had a 2-1 lead on the Magic in the first round but went on to lose the rest. Despite these instances, the stakes are undoubtedly higher now as the Magic face the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Orlando’s Coach Stan Van Gundy doesn’t seem all that worried though, with forward Rashard Lewis telling reporters, “Coach talked about that in the locker room. This is nothing new for us.”

The Lakers will have to face a city infected with “Magic fever” at Amway Arena in Orlando tonight and the Magic like playing at home, with center Dwight Howard saying, “We play better at home. We tend to run more. Shots fall more. I expect us to play better.” Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson predicted, “You’re going to see a wide-open game. It’s going to be a much more free-flowing game, up-tempo.” No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series so the Magic knows that tonight might be its last chance.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 9, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Win Game 2 in Overtime

In a 101-96 overtime victory Sunday night, June 7, the Lakers won Game 1 of the NBA Finals despite a slow start and unimpressive game by Kobe Bryant. The Lakers now lead the series 2-0 but if Courtney Lee’s layup attempt off a lob pass from Hedo Turkoglu had made the inside of the rim and fallen through, instead of bouncing off the outer part of the rim as the buzzer went off, the series could have been tied at 1-1.

“What’s there to be happy about? The job is not finished. Is the job finished? I don’t think so,” said Kobe Bryant to reporters after the game, although if statistics ring true the Lakers are in a good position. Only 14 NBA teams in 222 tries have ever come back from a 2-0 defecit to win a best-of-seven series so the Magic is up against a meager 6.3% success rate. Assuming they are all necessary, the next three games will be held in Orlando starting tomorrow (June 9) with Game 3. Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters optimisitcally, “I’ve seen series turn,” referring to when Miami came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the NBA Finals against Dallas three years ago. “Right now [it's] extremely frustrating not to have gotten [Game 2]. We had chances to win.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 8, 2009 - Post a comment

Kobe Bryant Leads the Lakers to Win Game 1

With 40 points, eight-rebounds and eight-assists, Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a 100-75 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game One of the NBA Finals at Staples Center last night (June 4). When Bryant said, “I just want it so bad. I just want it really bad,” about the NBA Title, he meant it. Teammate Sasha Vujacic told reporters of Byrant, “We’ve seen that before. He does that when he really wants to get going.” When the Magic briefly held a one-point lead midway through the second quarter, it was clear that Kobe was coursing with emotion. As he said earlier, “You just put everything you have into the game and your emotions kind of flow out of you.” At that point it was on, said the Magic’s Rashard Lewis, “Then Kobe started making his shots, and it was like there was nothing we could do about it.”

Bryant made two jumpers, found Derek Fisher for a three-pointer, made another jumper, found Lamar Odom for a layup, found Pau Gasol for a jumper and made a spinning layup with four second left in the half. Magic rookie Courtney Lee said later, “We did everything we could to stop him. But he would make a shot. And make a shot. And make a shot.” Bryant was unstoppable but was weary of getting cocky too early in the best-of-seven series saying, “We haven’t found anything. It’s one game. No big deal.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 5, 2009 - Post a comment

Lakers Seeking Redemption

The Lakers aren’t just trying to beat the Orlando Magic to win the NBA title, they are trying to get redemption for losing the Finals to the Boston Celtics last season. The Lakers lost Game 6 with a 39-point differential, the largest in a clinching game in NBA Finals history and the second-largest margin overall for any finals game, last season and the memory is still fresh. The loss has served as motivation this season, driving the Lakers through 82 regular-season games and 18 playoff games.

Starting with Game 1 tonight at Staples Center, the Lakers have to beat the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals, and they are set on winning. After practice Wednesday (June 3) Pau Gasol said, “I think it definitely made us hungry. Obviously we’re mad. We’re upset about losing in the Finals, especially the way we lost. Also, the last game, we just felt that we could have given it a better shot than we did. But it didn’t happen, and now we’re here again and we can give it a much better shot and really get it done. We’ve got to live in the present and remember what happened in the past and learn from it.” The Lakers’ biggest challenge in securing their 15th NBA title (it’s their 30th time in the running for the championship) against the Magic will be their center Dwight Howard. Read the full article at LATimes.com.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 4, 2009 - Post a comment

Asking A Lot of Lamar Odom

Lamar Odom averaged 19.5 points, 11 rebounds and shot 51.8% in 32 minutes in Games 5 and 6 against the Denver Nuggets and is back in the NBA Finals as the Lakers face off against Orlando Magic in Game 1 at Staples Center on Thursday, with high expectations weighing on him. Said Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, also an NBA analyst for ESPN and a minority owner of the Lakers, of Odom, “They expect more, they want more from Lamar. When people look at Lamar, they see so much more in him. They see all that talent he has there and they are begging for more. That’s a good thing.” Johnson continued to describe Odom as “one of the nicest guys in the league” saying, “Guys like him don’t come around much. That’s what I love about him.”

When asked about other’s expectations of him after practice on Tuesday Odom shrugged and said, “It’s motivation. It’s a compliment at the end of the day. People like the way that I play. They want to see it at a high level all the time because it’s enjoying to them.” Odom will be coming off the bench to defend Rashard Lewis, the Orlando’s 6-foot-10 power forward, in Game 1 on Thursday and knows the importance of the game saying, “The biggest matchup is the Magic versus the Lakers.” Odom has played through his pain since bruising his back in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against Houston and is in the final year of a $14.1 million contract with the Lakers.

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Permalink - Posted in General on June 3, 2009 - Post a comment


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