Los Angeles Lakers

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 1. Your comeback from open heart surgery to not only be fully healthy but also to be a productive NBA player has inspired many people. Describe what you are trying to accomplish with your Ronny Turiaf Heart to Heart Foundation. 5. What are some of the similarities and differences between Phil Jackson and Don Nelson as coaches? a. You can’t compare the two players. Kobe is simply the best player on the planet! LeBron is trying to get there with his body, his game, his style and his arsenal—and he will. But Kobe will still have been there first. Both LeBron and Kobe as players and you all in the media comparing the two--make the game of basketball the greatest game there is.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) It may surprise some people that Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson averaged 7.6 ppg and 3.5 ppg less respectively in the postseason than in the regular season. Chamberlain averaged a record 50.4 ppg in the 1961-62 regular season, so his 35.0 ppg in that year's playoffs represents a decline, even though there are only a few players in basketball history who have ever averaged that much in a playoff season. Also, while Chamberlain played 14 NBA seasons, exactly half of his playoff games came in his five years with the Lakers, when he concentrated more exclusively on rebounding, passing and defense. Chamberlain averaged 29.3 ppg in his first 80 playoff games (29.4 points per 48 minutes) and 15.8 ppg (16.2 points per 48 minutes) as a Laker (note that...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 6) Kobe Bryant inspires a lot of strong responses from the media and fans. You were his teammate for the first three seasons of your NBA career. Describe Kobe 's leadership style as you experienced it as a young player. The whole situation is both amusing--conjuring up images of an overbooked Turiaf fighting off media hordes who are ignoring Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in order to besiege him with questions--and pathetic. Is Ronny Turiaf really so busy that he cannot answer a few questions? If so, why is his representative soliciting interviews on his behalf? Does Turiaf understand that when he hires people who are incompetent and/or inconsiderate ultimately this reflects badly on him?   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) One of five NCAA Division I players with career averages of 20+ ppg and 20+ rpg 1972 ABA MVP and Rookie of the Year ABA regular season single game record 40 rebounds versus New York, 2/3/74 Four-time ABA rebounding champion (1972-74, 76) 1974 ABA All-Star Game MVP 1975 ABA Playoff MVP Appeared in 670 consecutive ABA/NBA games 11 All-Star selections in 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranked in the top ten in rebounding in 12 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranked in the top ten in blocked shots in 13 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranks fifth in career ABA/NBA regular season rebounds (16,330) Ranks 18th in career ABA/NBA regular season points (24,941)   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) About a minute and a half after the Detroit Pistons acquired Allen Iverson from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess (the Pistons later re-signed McDyess after the Nuggets released him), Dave Berri--of Wages of Wins/True Hoop fame--blamed every ill in the Detroit metro area on Iverson. When I posted some comments on Berri's site pointing out that it was not fair or logical to hold Iverson entirely responsible for the Pistons' record considering that the Pistons were without McDyess' services for a month, that they had a new coach and that they foolishly decided to bench either Iverson or Richard Hamilton so that Rodney Stuckey could start, Berri's dittohead idiot followers came out of the woodwork...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) When Thomas and his childhood friend Mark Aguirre were young NBA players they spent a lot of time with Johnson and frequently went to the NBA Finals when Johnson's L.A. Lakers battled Bird's Boston Celtics; Thomas and Aguirre wanted to see up close exactly what the Finals were all about and they learned their lessons well, eventually leading the Detroit Pistons to NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, beating both the Celtics and the Lakers during that first championship run. I have always respected the studious--and relentless--approach that Thomas took when guiding the Pistons from being a laughingstock to a contender to a repeat champion during one of the NBA's most competitive eras, a period when he and the Pistons had to fight for sup...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Reasons to mope: The Lakers do not have much to mope about--particularly if they stay healthy--but it should be emphasized that they are not as deep as some people think. The Lakers regular starting five is talented--though not more so than Boston's Hall of Fame-stacked crew or San Antonio's trio of All-Star regulars (Manu Ginobili may not start but he is certainly part of their crunchtime lineup)--but Andrew Bynum is injury prone and inconsistent and Derek Fisher is slowing down. Also, the Lakers' bench--specifically Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton--did not perform well last year; in the playoffs, Jackson often had to go with a six man rotation with Bynum starting but only playing nominal minutes before Odom took his pl...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 2) Boston Celtics: Reasons for hope: Kevin Garnett is back in the fold and the Celtics improved their frontcourt depth by acquiring Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams. Before injuries derailed their title hopes, the Celtics started out 27-2 in 2008-09. Point guard Rajon Rondo has improved during each of his first three seasons, while future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are healthy enough and productive enough to continue to play at an All-Star level. The Detroit Pistons added Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva but they lost Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Allen Iverson; I understand that part of Joe Dumars' plan was to rebuild by letting Wallace, McDyess and Iverson go in order to create enough salary cap room to sign y...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Steve Nash has not won a championship and, at 6-3, 195, is not nearly as physically imposing as the previously mentioned players—but he won the regular season MVP in 2005 and 2006, joining Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan as the only players in NBA history to win the honor in consecutive years. Nash is a wondrous player who uses his tremendous ball handling skills and court vision to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. He is also an excellent shooter. While his impact at the offensive end of the court is unquestioned, Nash is a defensive liability. Also, although he does not miss a lot of games, Nash's durability—particularly after the grind of a long...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Del Harris, the NBA Coach of the Year in 1994-95, won 556 games in 14 seasons as an NBA head coach. He guided the Houston Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, his second season as an NBA head coach. Harris later led the Milwaukee Bucks to the playoffs for four straight seasons (1988-1991) even though the Bucks were decimated by injuries during that time. Harris worked as a consultant for the Sacramento Kings before becoming head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1994-95. He is the second Los Angeles Lakers' coach (Pat Riley was the first) to win 50 games in three consecutive seasons, including a 61-21 mark in 1997-98, his last full season with the team.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Using speed and passing to relentlessly attack the defense is not a new idea. In the 1950s and 1960s the Boston Celtics won championships with a wide open style that encouraged players to adjust to situations on the fly. Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy, the maestro conductor of the Celtic fast break, declares, "Basketball is more of a free-flowing game of instinct and reaction to an action...Normally people associate basketball players with height, but in my judgment speed and quickness are what separate the men from the boys...Every time down the floor is a different situation. Your action is a reaction to what the defender is doing. We (the Celtics) relied primarily on transition rather than set plays. There was always constant movement. We we...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) All of the recent talk about Bryant learning to "trust his teammates" completely misses the point; in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons, Bryant's teammates were not "trustworthy" and in most cases the Lakers were better off with Bryant shooting the ball instead of passing it: in fact, over the entire course of Bryant's career, the Lakers have a better winning percentage when Bryant scores more than 40 points (.677) than when he scores fewer than 40 points (.656)--and that was especially true in 2006, when the Lakers went 45-37 overall (.549) but 18-9 (.667) when Bryant scored at least 40 points. Lakers' Coach Phil Jackson publicly said at that time that the Lakers needed for Bryant to score a lot of points just for the team to remain competitive,...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) 1) Ariza proved that he could accept his limited role, while Artest has often tried to be his team's number one offensive option even when he had teammates who were better suited to do so. Clearly, Bryant should be the Lakers' number one offensive option and Pau Gasol should be the number two offensive option. Lamar Odom has flourished as the third option but the shot distribution dynamic will be interesting to watch in 2009-10; will Odom accept possibly dropping to the fourth option and will Artest be content as either the third or fourth option? This was not an issue with Ariza because he knew that he could not create shots, but Artest likes to have the ball in his hands even though his shot selection can be highly questionable at times. Ideall...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) This article was originally published in the October 2005 issue of Tar Heel Monthly; since that time, L.A. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game versus the Toronto Raptors. Larry Miller won both the ACC Player of the Year Award and the ACC Tournament MVP in 1967 and 1968 as a Tar Heel, an accomplishment that not even Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo or Michael Jordan matched. North Carolina won most of its games by comfortable margins in 1968, but South Carolina took the Tar Heels to overtime in the ACC Semifinals. Miller played all 45 minutes, scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in an 82-79 North Carolina victory.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) My "feud" with the blog Basketbawful consisted of my attempts to politely correct his/their mistaken impression that Steve Nash is a more valuable player than Kobe Bryant. You can read my post on that subject here. Basketbawful responded by making fun of my physical appearance. I replied with a post in which I chided Basketbawful for veering off topic and attempted to steer the conversation back to the subject at hand. That exchange took place several years ago and the passage of time has not made Basketbawful's case for Nash versus Bryant any more compelling. Like Krolik, the Basketbawful crew are unabashed fans who do not pretend to be unbiased; the Basketbawful crew make it quite clear that they despise Kobe Bryant--and yet they assert t...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Walt Frazier was the soul and the spirit of the New York Knicks in the early 1970s—unflappable, unselfish, versatile and smooth, he embodied the essence of what made those teams special. In game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals, Willis Reed famously overcame a painful leg injury and nailed his first two shots, inspiring his teammates—but Frazier provided impact, producing 36 points, 19 assists and seven rebounds in the Knicks’ 113-99 victory over the Chamberlain-West-Baylor L.A. Lakers. Asked who in today’s game plays power forward like DeBusschere or Johnson, Frazier replies, “They were Karl Malone types—dominant low post guys. There are very few of those guys around anymore. They had the omnipotence of a Karl Malone—very powerful insid...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) People often speak of someone "making his teammates better" but it is not clear what this actually means or how one would go about doing this in the first place. I have declared that instead of that vague phrase I prefer to say, "Great players create openings and opportunities for their lesser talented teammates to do what they do well." However, an excellent article by Kevin Ding discusses how Bryant literally made his teammates better by coaching them and even sharing with them detailed workout programs/practice regimens. Ding's article is not about Bryant drawing double teams and creating shot opportunities, though Bryant obviously does that on a regular basis; Ding reports that Trevor Ariza traces his dramatic improvement as a th...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Bryant's Finals MVP caps off an extraordinary season in a special career: last summer, Bryant's clutch fourth quarter scoring carried Team USA to an Olympic gold medal, in February he shared the All-Star MVP with Shaquille O'Neal and then Bryant finished second to James in regular season MVP voting after leading the Lakers to the best record in the West for the second year in a row. Only Willis Reed (1970), Michael Jordan (1996, 1998) and Shaquille O'Neal (2000) won the regular season MVP, the All-Star MVP and the Finals MVP in the same season, so Bryant's second place finish and two first place finishes in voting for those three awards in 2009 are impressive. Bryant is also on a very short and distinguished list of NBA players who have won at...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Lewis opened the overtime by hitting a three pointer but Bryant answered with two jumpers. Neither team scored for more than two minutes until Howard split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 91. Ariza missed a layup but controlled the rebound and then Bryant missed a jumper but the Lakers once again retained possession. This time, the Lakers went back to Bryant in the post, Nelson doubled Bryant and Bryant passed to Fisher for what proved to be the game-winning three pointer. Throughout the playoffs some people have questioned why Coach Jackson did not replace Fisher with Jordan Farmar or Shannon Brown. Does anyone really think that Farmar or Brown would have made the two pressure three pointers that Fisher hit in this game? As Mark Jackso...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Pau Gasol had 23 points on 9-11 field goal shooting but grabbed just three rebounds in 39:47. Trevor Ariza scored 13 points and had a team-high seven rebounds but shot just 5-13 from the field. Lamar Odom had just 11 points and two rebounds in 32:23, while Jordan Farmar chipped in 11 points in 15:56 off of the bench. Derek Fisher had solid numbers (nine points, two assists, no turnovers) but was burned repeatedly by Alston. If the Lakers truly are a deep team, nine-time champion Coach Phil Jackson apparently does not realize it because other than Odom and Farmar only three other reserves saw action and that trio combined to play fewer than 15 minutes--and listing Odom as a bench player is really just a matter of semantics because he plays starter...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) It was neither easy nor pretty but the Lakers displayed just enough grit, savvy and clutch play to defeat the Orlando Magic 101-96 in overtime to take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points and eight assists, adding four rebounds and two steals, but he also had seven turnovers in a game-high 48:30. Pau Gasol contributed 24 points and 10 rebounds; he scored seven of the Lakers' 13 overtime points, including a key three point play on a feed from Bryant to put the Lakers up 97-91 with 1:14 remaining. Lamar Odom made his presence felt with 19 points on 8-9 field goal shooting, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Foul trouble limited starter Andrew Bynum to 16:24, so Odom played 45:43. Derek Fisher also did a solid job w...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Nelson and the Magic built their five point cushion with Bryant on the bench but when Bryant returned to action at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter the tide immediately turned: in less than five minutes, Bryant scored 10 points and had three assists as the Lakers went on a 19-6 run. Bryant t...

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Other things to consider: Last year I picked the Lakers to beat the Celtics in the Finals not because I bought into all of the hype about how deep the Lakers supposedly were but because I did not think that the Celtics would have an effective answer for the Bryant-Gasol screen/roll play; tha...

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant is about to make his sixth NBA Finals appearance in the past decade, more than Shaquille O'Neal (five) or Tim Duncan (three since 2000, four overall). If Bryant's L.A. Lakers win the championship he will own more rings (four) than Larry Bird (three) and only trail Magic Johnson (five) by one. Here is a look at Bryant's NBA Finals resume: 2000 NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers defeat Indiana Pacers, 4-2 2001 NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers defeat Philadelphia 76ers, 4-1 2002 NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers defeat New Jersey Nets, 4-0 2004 NBA Finals: Detroit Pistons defeat L.A. Lakers, 4-1 2008 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics defeat L.A. Lakers, 4-2   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) If you watch the ESPN/ABC NBA pregame shows with any regularity then you know that Mike Wilbon and Jon Barry have repeatedly cited statistics that they say prove that the Lakers are better off when Kobe Bryant shoots less frequently. Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a brief item headl...

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) While the Nuggets' future is uncertain, it is certain that Bryant kept the Lakers very competitive after the team traded Shaquille O'Neal--pushing the stacked Phoenix Suns to seven games in the 2006 playoffs while playing alongside Kwame Brown and Smush Parker--and as soon as Mitch Kupchak replaced "butter knives" with "guns" Bryant promptly led the Lakers to back to back Finals appearances; if Bryant takes this group to a championship in spite of its noticeably shortened bench and oft-discussed defensive inconsistencies then the last vestige of hope for Bryant haters--that he will fail to win a title without O'Neal--will be destroyed.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Though this apparently has not received nearly as much coverage as his original comment did, Lakers legend Jerry West has backed off of his statement that James has passed Bryant as the best player in the NBA; West told interviewer Jim Rome, "I said something that I wish I wouldn't have said, to be honest with you, because it was in no way demeaning to Kobe Bryant. I love his passion. I want him to win a championship without Shaquille O'Neal because I think it would vindicate him in some respect. If I had to watch a player play, there's about four players I would pay to see play on a regular basis, and Kobe Bryant certainly would be at the top of that list. Late in the game, who are you going to take to make a shot, who are you going to take in the last quarter o...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The L.A. Lakers had an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals but the Nuggets played what Lakers Coach Phil Jackson termed "crash ball" and the Lakers simply crashed, losing 120-101, their worst defeat in this year's playoffs. The Nuggets drove the ball to the hoop aggressively and when they missed shots they either scooped up the offensive rebounds and/or they drew fouls. The final margin is a bit artificial--the Nuggets led by 11 with 2:25 remaining and then poured on some meaningless points in the last couple minutes--but there is nothing fake about Denver's rebounding dominance in this game: the Nuggets outrebounded the Lakers 58-40 and became the first team in 15 years to ha...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) It will be interesting to see how the rest of this series plays out. The Nuggets only won four more regular season games this season than they did last season but they moved up from the eighth seed to the second seed as injuries brought down teams like the Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, Suns and Mavericks; that enabled the Nuggets to earn homecourt advantage and have the opportunity to avoid playing the Lakers until the Conference Finals after being swept by the Lakers in the first round last year. It is evident that the Lakers are not as deep this year as they were last year--bench players Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton have all been noticeably less productive. Perhaps the Nuggets will win game four and extend this series to at least six gam...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) According to a feature in the July 6, 2009 issue of the Sporting News called "SN's 2009-10 Power Poll," the Washington Wizards rank third in the NBA, just behind the reigning champion L.A. Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The reason given for that ranking is even more hilarious than the ranking itself: "The Wizards picked up Miller Miller and Randy Foye for a draft pick, girding them against the injuries that tore them down last season." Miller and Foye? That duo vaults the Wizards ahead of the Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics? I don't know what they are smoking/injecting over at SN, but whatever it is has very strong hallucinogenic properties. If things break right then the Wizards have a good shot at making the playoffs...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Although homecourt advantage is important, the Nuggets have been in similar situations before and failed to deliver: in both 2005 and 2007 the Nuggets split the first two games in San Antonio only to lose the next three games. Also, in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Detroit Pistons won game two in Boston and still lost the series in six games. Similarly, in the 2006 Western Conference Finals the Phoenix Suns took game one in Dallas but lost the series in six games. The Nuggets are a good home team but the Lakers are a good road team that is certainly capable of winning one or both games in Denver.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant scored 40 points--including 18 in the fourth quarter--and alternated between guarding All-NBA players Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony as the L.A. Lakers rallied from a 13 point deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets 105-103 in game one of the Western Conference Finals. Bryant shot 13-28 from the field and 12-13 from the free throw line but in the fourth quarter--during which the Lakers trailed by as many as seven points--Bryant shot 4-5 from the field and made all nine of his free throws, including six pressure-packed free throws in the final :30.5. Bryant played a game-high 43 minutes--including all 24 minutes in the second half--and he also contributed six rebounds and four assists, two of which resulted in big Derek Fishe...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) L.A. will win because…the Nuggets have no answer for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers have homecourt advantage. Bryant averaged 33.5 ppg, 6.3 apg and 5.3 rpg versus Denver in last year's playoffs, shooting .500 from the field; in four regular season games versus Denver this season, Bryant averaged 31.0 ppg, 2.3 apg and 4.8 rpg while shooting .478 from the field. Based on what we have seen in the playoffs so far, the Nuggets' bigs may very well get the better of the Lakers' bigs in one or two games, particularly in Denver, but overall the Lakers match up pretty well with the Nuggets; the Lakers swept the Nuggets in the first round last year and while the Nuggets are unquestionably better now than they were a year ago they are not so much better that they will go from b...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The most important thing to understand about this game seven and this series in general is that the Lakers won for two reasons: Kobe Bryant and homecourt advantage--and those reasons actually go hand in hand, because without Bryant's regular season play the Lakers would not have had homecourt advantage in the first place. As discussed above, Bryant's play created opportunities for his teammates to excel. Without Bryant's presence, Gasol does not put up 21-18, nor does Bynum play as solidly as he did; in fact, if this game seven had taken place in Houston, those guys may very well have not come through even with Bryant leading the way (and that is an ominous thought for Lakers fans considering that the Cavaliers will enjoy homecourt advan...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Lee used 30 cameras to track a day in the life of the 2008 NBA MVP--specifically, April 13, 2008, when Bryant's Lakers defeated the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 106-85, the third of four straight victories to close out the season and clinch the top overall record in the Western Conference. Despite not playing in the fourth quarter due to the comfortable lead, Bryant tied Tony Parker for game-high honors in points (20) and assists (five)--and you can rest assured that if the Lakers had lost this game or the preceding game (versus Chris Paul's New Orleans Hornets, a contest that was billed as a battle not only for the best record in the West but also for league MVP honors) then plenty of people would have decided that those were the "...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The fully loaded Celtics--with a healthy Kevin Garnett, plus James Posey and P.J. Brown coming off of the bench--were pushed to seventh games twice last season and still won a championship. NBA history shows--and we have already seen in this series--that momentum does not carry over from game to game, particularly when there is a shift in venue. The likelihood is that the Lakers will win on Sunday, quite possibly by double digits, but the way that the Lakers are playing does not bode well for their championship ambitions, even if they do eliminate the Rockets and move on to face the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) In game four, the Rockets jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. The Rockets started off game five in very strong fashion with an 11-4 run but then the Lakers clamped down defensively and they forced some turnovers that led to easy scores in transition. Bryant set the tone by scoring 12 first quarter points on 5-7 shooting and the Lakers led 35-24 after the first 12 minutes. The Lakers' bench has not been a strength for this team recently but with Gasol and Odom serving as anchors playing alongside three reserves, the Lakers pushed the margin to 47-33 while Bryant rested for just over four minutes. When Bryant returned to action, the Lakers' attack at both ends of the court kicked into overdrive and by halftime he had scored 20 points and th...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Here is Van Gundy's assessment of the first quarter: "The Lakers are not playing hard enough." Jackson added that while the Lakers "certainly" are capable of winning a championship, right now they are performing like the third best team in this year's playoffs, behind Cleveland and Denver. Van Gundy responded to Jackson's statement by saying, "Denver is a more committed team defensively than L.A. at this point in time but L.A. has much more offensive talent." I wholeheartedly agree with his first point but the second point is debatable; the Lakers have Kobe Bryant, who is obviously better than any single Denver player, but the Nuggets have a prime wing scoring threat in Carmelo Anthony, a point guard whose postseason play this year has been o...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant has apparently heard more than enough about Shane Battier's defensive prowess; Battier played good defense against Bryant in Houston's game one win over the Lakers and Bryant still scored 32 points with a solid .452 field goal percentage. In game two, Bryant's actions and words both spoke loudly as he poured in 40 points on 16-27 (.593) field goal shooting in a 111-98 Lakers victory; on several occasions, Bryant loudly proclaimed, "He can't guard me," eventually receiving a technical foul for taunting. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bryant became just the fifth player in NBA history to have at least one 40 point game in four straight postseasons; Michael Jordan had eight year (1985-92) and four year (1994-97) streaks...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant had 32 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, tying Gasol by playing a game-high 44 minutes. The Lakers trailed for the vast majority of the game, so Bryant played all 24 minutes in the second half; Lakers' Coach Phil Jackson would normally rest Bryant from the last few minutes of the third quarter through the first few minutes of the fourth quarter but Jackson found out the hard way during this season that if he follows that type of substitution pattern when the other Lakers are floundering then the Lakers will lose--but the flip side of that is when the Lakers depend on Bryant to carry the bulk of the scoring load while also grabbing the second most rebounds and tying for the team lead in assists there is a danger that...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Odom played consistently well in the first round but that most likely means that he is due to have a five point, two rebound disappearing act soon. You will probably hear a lot about the Lakers' supposedly superior depth. Even if Bynum plays well--which I expect him to do but this is far from certain--the Lakers' current rotation is hardly deep: based on minutes played versus the Jazz, their sixth man is Shannon Brown. While Brown played well in that series, the Lakers got very little production out of players seven through 11--and Luke Walton may be out for the rest of the postseason. The Rockets used a solid eight man rotation in their first round series versus Portland, though Kyle Lowery did not shoot very well. The Lakers' advantage in this s...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The Denver Nuggets only added four wins to their 2008 total but they vaulted from the eighth seed to the second seed largely because so many of their injury-hit rivals lurched into reverse, including the Jazz, the Spurs, the Mavericks, the Hornets and even the Suns, an underachieving team to be sure but one that was still obviously damaged by the season-ending injury suffered by All-Star Amare Stoudemire. The Nuggets just completed a five game massacre of the Hornets, a team that last year finished second in the West and pushed the defending champion Spurs to seven games in the second round of the playoffs; with Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic hobbling, the Hornets simply could not keep up with the Nuggets, though the Horn...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) 1) The Cavs have at least 12 players who are fully capable of competently playing at least 15 minutes; their 12th man (in terms of minutes played in the first round sweep of Detroit) is Sasha Pavlovic, who started for the Cavs in the 2007 NBA Finals; the Lakers did not even use 12 players in the first round but their 11th man (Jordan Farmar) has been very inconsistent this season, their 10th man (Josh Powell) is a career journeyman, their ninth man (Luke Walton) may miss the rest of the playoffs due to a foot injury, their eighth man (Andrew Bynum) is struggling to regain his form after coming back from a knee injury and their seventh man (Sasha Vujacic) shot .207 from the field (that is not a misprint) versus Utah. Yes, that's right, the so-called d...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) 1) While discussing the Lakers' toughness (or lack thereof), Jeff Van Gundy mentioned the recent Sports Illustrated article about Dwight Howard. Someone asked Kobe Bryant if he would have let Nate Robinson jump over him in the Slam Dunk Contest the way that Howard did; Van Gundy cleaned up the language while noting that Bryant responded very firmly that he would not have done that. Some people question if Howard is too nice to lead a team to a championship. No one harbors such doubts about Bryant, though Bryant is not certain that the Lakers are mean enough or angry enough to win the title. Is it really necessary to be mean and/or angry to be a champion? What do those traits represent in the context of winning basketball games?   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The L.A. Lakers built a 62-40 halftime lead en route to a 113-100 game one victory over the Utah Jazz but L.A. Coach Phil Jackson was not impressed by his team's performance. According to Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times, "15? Not like that" is what Jackson wrote on the whiteboard in the locker room after the game, referring to the number of additional wins the team needs to capture the NBA title. Utah's 46-38 rebounding advantage--including a 20-7 margin on the offensive glass--and the fact that the Jazz pulled within 72-63 less than nine minutes into the third quarter were the two main reasons for Jackson's displeasure.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant: Pro: Con: Pro: Con: Pro: Con: In contrast, consider the two most common starting lineups for Bryant's L.A. Lakers in 2005-06: Bryant, Brian Cook, Chris Mihm, Lamar Odom and Smush Parker (14-11) and Bryant, Kwame Brown, Mihm, Odom and Parker (13-9). Parker started all 82 games that season but even though he is 27 now and should be in his prime he is not even in the league; Brown, Cook and Mihm are career journeymen, while Odom is a talented enigma who has not made the All-Star team even once. Bryant carried that ragtag group to a 45-37 record and the seventh seed in the West; they pushed the Phoenix Suns to seven games in the first round.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) I get the sense that people do not really fully comprehend that we are watching some of the most dominant regular season teams in NBA history, particularly when you consider that if Kevin Garnett had been healthier the defending champion Celtics likely would have also won at least 65 games and may have made a run at 70--do you remember that the Celtics opened the season with a 27-2 mark, including a 19 game winning streak that was ended by the powerful Lakers in Los Angeles? The Celtics are led by three future Hall of Famers, while the Lakers and Cavaliers are each led by a player who could very well ultimately be considered one of the top 15 players of all-time. This has been a very special, historic season both in terms of team accomplishments a...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Kobe Bryant made some very interesting statements in recent interviews with Sole Collector magazine and USA TODAY. Bryant has long been weary of answering questions about the time that he spent playing alongside Shaquille O'Neal but this is what he told USA TODAY's Chris Colston: "I hear people say, 'Kobe has to prove he can win a title without Shaq.' Personally, I don't think that's true. The people who say Shaq would've won (the three championships from 2000 to 2002) without me, they're crazy. Those who think I would've won without him are crazy. That we both would've won without Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Horace Grant? Those people are crazy...I just want to just win it again. That's all I want. We were so close last year."   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) During the '70s, the Milwaukee Bucks won the most games (492), followed by the Los Angeles Lakers (485), Baltimore/Washington Bullets (483), Boston Celtics (477) and New York Knicks (458). In 1976, the ABA's Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs joined the NBA, while the players from the remaining ABA teams went into a dispersal draft. Of the four ABA teams that survived the decade, the Nuggets won the most games (469; the Nuggets played in seven 84 game ABA seasons and three 82 game NBA seasons, so their actual winning percentage is virtually identical with the Knicks).   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Dwyane Wade has forced his way into the MVP conversation with his scoring, passing and defensive exploits since the All-Star Game. Assuming that Wade's scoring average does not drop, LeBron James will need to average about 33 ppg in the last 15 games to pass him; Wade has obviously not clinched the crown just yet, but he is in pretty good shape unless he closes out the season with 10 or 15 point outings. Kobe Bryant has been averaging more than 31 ppg since Andrew Bynum got hurt but he only had 11 points in the Lakers' loss to the 76ers and it does not look like he is poised to score the 33-34 ppg he would need to score down the stretch to pass Wade, particularly since Lakers' Coach Phil Jackson has spoken openly of possibly resting Bryant and Pau Gasol...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) After Michael Jordan announced "I'm Back" and led the Chicago Bulls to three straight championships, many observers proclaimed the Bulls the greatest team ever. Other experts preferred Russell's Celtics, the 1967 76ers, the 1972 Lakers, the Magic-Kareem Lakers, the Bird-McHale-Parish Celtics or the Malone-Erving 76ers. While it is fun to imagine certain matchups, there is no objective way to determine how these teams would fare against each other. It is obvious that any comparison of teams that played in different decades is pure speculation but even sizing up teams from the same era is an inexact science. Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics tweaked their rosters as players emerged (James Worthy, Kevin McHale) and declined (Kareem...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Some people seem to believe/hope that 2008 NBA MVP Kobe Bryant is a lion in winter but during the Lakers' 102-96 win in Houston on Wednesday night Bryant reaffirmed what he declared during last year's playoffs: "Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard's gonna fall out." Bryant had six first half points on 3-6 field goal shooting but Ron Artest figuratively shook the tree in the second half by verbally and physically jousting with Bryant and Bryant responded with 31 second half points on 11-17 field goal shooting. Bryant's efficient scoring explosion carried the Lakers to an important road victory despite the absences of suspended forward Lamar Odom and injured center Andrew Bynum; Bryant also had a game-high six assi...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) committed a Flagrant Foul that collapsed Gerald Wallace's left lung and fractured one of his ribs. The referees in that game only cited Bynum for a Type 1 Flagrant Foul but the league office subsequently upgraded that to a Type 2 Flagrant Foul, though they did not suspend him. I called Bynum's action "dirty" even though I made it clear that I don't believe that he is a dirty player. The difference between the Bynum play and the Ariza play is that what Bynum did is not a natural basketball move; he delivered a high elbow/forearm shiver into Wallace's chest, as opposed to swinging down to try to block the shot (or commit a regular foul) with his hand. I said at that time that the NBA was right to upgrade Bynum's foul and I thought that the only reason that...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) The Lakers lost their previous game 90-79 in Denver on Friday but they still own the best record in the NBA (48-12) and are eight games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the number one seed in the Western Conference, so it is not like the sky is falling for them. This is only the third time this season that the Lakers have lost two games in a row and they have not lost three games in a row since January 23-27, 2008. Still, it should be noted that even though commentators often lavish praise on the Lakers' depth, the struggles of their bench players are not a new development. I wrote about this on December 21 after the Lakers lost back to back games in Miami and Orlando; even at that relatively early stage of the season, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 1) L.A. Lakers, 48-10 2) Cleveland Cavaliers, 44-12 3) Boston Celtics, 46-13 4) Orlando Magic, 42-15 5) San Antonio Spurs, 39-17 The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA's Rasputin; every year, they are declared DOA and yet when playoff time rolls around they either win a championship or prove to be a very tough out. Coach Gregg Popovich is just trying to keep his key players healthy for the postseason and I expect that by May the Spurs will be the biggest threat to the Lakers in the West (though the Utah Jazz, winners of six straight and nine of their last 10, certainly bear watching). 22) Paul Pierce, BOS 20.1 ppg 32) Ray Allen, BOS 18.2 ppg 14) Kevin Garnett, BOS 8.8 rpg 15) Shaquille O'Neal, PHX 8.8 rpg 26) Lamar Odom, LAL 7.7 rpg 27) Rasheed Wallace, DET 7.6 rpg   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 1) L.A. Lakers (44-10): The Lakers own the best record in the NBA and have kept rolling along even after starting center Andrew Bynum suffered a knee injury that may end his season. Kobe Bryant leads the Lakers in scoring (27.4 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg) while averaging 5.5 rpg and is thus on track to post his seventh "25-5-5" season, which would tie him with Michael Jordan for second on the all-time list behind Oscar Robertson, who had nine "25-5-5" campaigns. Perhaps the most overlooked aspect about the Lakers' success last season and so far this season is how much Pau Gasol has benefited from playing alongside Bryant. In Memphis, Gasol was the primary offensive option and thus had to deal with double teams on a nightly basis but in L.A. he often gets t...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Early in the season, I offered readers A Closer Look at the Lakers' Defense Through the Eyes of Jim Cleamons, Frank Hamblen and Stu Lantz. Prior to the Lakers' 101-91 win at Cleveland, I caught up with Lakers assistant coach Cleamons and asked him a few questions about what he thinks of the Lakers' defense overall midway through this season; we also talked about the hot topic on everyone's minds, Kobe Bryant versus LeBron James. Here is the interview: Friedman: "Of course, everybody is making LeBron-Kobe comparisons and you understandably have a bias because Kobe is on your team. Strictly from a coaching or scouting standpoint, what are some of the similarities and differences between those two players? If you look at them on film, what ar...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Lamar Odom produced season-highs in points (28) and rebounds (17) as the L.A. Lakers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-91. The Lakers finished their East Coast road trip with a 6-0 record and handed the Cavs their first home loss this season after a franchise-record 23 straight home wins. Kobe Bryant added 19 points, three rebounds and two assists but he was noticeably slowed by what John Black (Lakers Vice President of Public Relations) told me is "gastroenteritis," a stomach virus that caused Bryant to vomit and become dehydrated; the 2008 MVP needed IV fluids at halftime and after the game. Pau Gasol struggled a bit with his shot against the taller Zydrunas Ilgauskas (connecting on just 6 of 15 field goal attempts) but he contributed...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) On the other hand, Pau Gasol has played the most efficient basketball of his career in L.A., Bynum's game has grown by leaps and bounds, Trevor Ariza's play has stepped up since becoming a Laker, Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar have markedly improved and you can go straight down the line: Bryant sets an example in terms of work ethic and his leadership has rubbed off on his team, particularly after the Lakers wisely got rid of some players who did not have the right attitude, work ethic or skill set to be rotation players on a good team, let alone starters (yes, that is a Kwame Brown/Smush Parker reference). Just this past summer we saw Bryant set the tone for a U.S. Olympic Team filled with All-Stars and All-NBA players--and we saw that when the gold...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) The Cavs jumped out to an 18-11 lead but then Gasol and Andrew Bynum each scored and Bryant made his first field goal, a turnaround jumper over Pavlovic, who fouled him. Bryant's free throw cut the margin to 20-17 and the Lakers captured the lead at the end of the first quarter after Bryant fed Sasha Vujacic for a three point shot that made the score 26-24. James opened the second half by nailing a jumper over Bryant but Bryant and the Lakers soon took command. Bryant snared a defensive rebound with his left hand, dribbled down court, went behind his back to shake James and snaked his way to the hoop for a tough layup to put the Lakers up 58-54. By the end of the quarter, the Lakers led 75-66.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 2: Derek Fisher three pointer, 10:16 3rd q: Correct; catch and shoot. 3: Derek Fisher three pointer, 3:18 3rd q: Correct; catch and shoot. Bryant made his first seven field goal attempts of the third quarter, so the Hornets began running a second defender at him no matter where he was on the court. In this case, Bryant was behind the three point line, but Paul just left Fisher wide open in order to trap Bryant and try to prevent him from shooting. 4: Pau Gasol slam dunk, 1:33 3rd q: Correct; Bryant elevated as if he was going to shoot a three pointer and then fired a pass to Gasol for an easy, uncontested dunk. 6: Derek Fisher three pointer, 4:36 4th q: Correct; catch and shoot. 7: Derek Fisher three pointer, :36 4th q: Correct; catch and shoot.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Trevor Ariza forced a turnover and received a nice return pass from Odom for a fast break layup that put the Lakers up, 107-103. The Knicks answered with jumpers by Wilson Chandler and David Lee sandwiched around a Lakers turnover. After a timeout, the Lakers ran another Bryant-Bynum screen/roll and Bynum was fouled after Bryant drew the double-team and fed him the ball in the paint. This was a non-shooting foul--though it did put New York into the penalty--and after the inbounds pass the Lakers went back to the Bryant-Bynum screen/roll. Bryant passed to Odom at the foul line but Bynum fumbled Odom's feed and the Knicks stole the ball. Fisher stole the ball from Robinson and drove coast to coast, drawing a foul. Fisher sank both free throws but L...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) One of the biggest stories in the NBA this season has been the Lakers' improved defense but you wouldn't believe that if this was the only Lakers' game you've seen; during Laker Coach Phil Jackson's postgame standup, someone asked him what he did not like about the Lakers' defense versus Indiana and Jackson replied, "Everything." The Lakers led 88-86 when Bryant went to the bench with 2:07 remaining in the quarter. This time, the bench player performed well without him: Jordan Farmar scored on a drive to the hoop, then penetrated to the hoop and delivered a behind the back feed to Bynum for a dunk. Inspector Gadget--I mean Ariza--got a steal and a slam, Sasha Vujacic drilled a three pointer and Bynum scored a reverse dunk on an alley oop feed fr...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The Lakers' bench played with a lot of energy at the start of the second quarter and then Bryant, Gasol and Bynum carried the scoring load down the stretch as the Lakers pulled to within 60-54 by halftime. However, whatever momentum the Lakers seemed to have built did not carry over to the third quarter, as the Mavericks soon pushed their lead to 72-61. Just when it looked like Dallas might really pull away, the Lakers closed the quarter with an 11-4 run thanks to baskets by Sasha Vujacic, Bynum, Odom and Farmar and capped off by an Odom three pointer with two seconds left to make the score 79-76 Dallas.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) The Celtics finished with the best record in the NBA (66-16), while the Lakers had the best record in perhaps the most competitive Western Conference race ever (57-25). The top two seeds have generally not both made it to the Finals in recent seasons but the Celtics and Lakers each vanquished tough foes to advance to the championship round, where Boston earned the right to hoist a 17th championship banner, denying Phil Jackson his 10th coaching title and Bryant his fourth ring as a player and in the process completing the one blank space on the Hall of Fame resumes of Garnett, Allen and 2008 Finals MVP Paul Pierce.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(noreply@blogger.com) Coach Jackson made what turned out to be the key strategic move in the series so far, switching the defensive assignments of his starting backcourt; he put Bryant on point guard Rajon Rondo and Derek Fisher on Allen. The Fisher-Allen matchup is not a great one for the Lakers and Allen is the only player who was really productive for the Celtics offensively but the brilliance of Jackson's decision is that it had a great impact at both ends of the court; Rondo is not a great outside shooter, so Bryant was free to roam around and disrupt whoever had the ball and this contributed to the slow starts that Garnett and Pierce had. Meanwhile, this crossmatch situation meant that whenever the Lakers got a stop and pushed the ball in transition Rondo had to...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(noreply@blogger.com) NBA Finals The first meeting was a 107-94 home win for Boston on November 23, 2007. That was the 12th game of the season for the Lakers (7-5) and the 11th game for the Celtics (10-1). Andrew Bynum--who is course out of action now due to a knee injury--had just moved into the starting lineup for the Lakers and he finished with four points on 2-7 shooting plus nine rebounds. Lamar Odom also shot 2-7 from the field. The Lakers were still putting their rotation together, as Ronny Turiaf started while Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic came off of the bench. Bryant had a slightly subpar game, 28 points on 9-21 shooting plus four rebounds and three assists. This was the third game in four nights for the Lakers, all on the road. The Celtics had been home since a...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(noreply@blogger.com) The Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 91-86 on Tuesday to win that series four games to one and thus advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth straight season. The Showtime Lakers from the 1980s are the most recent team to make it to the Conference Finals at least six years in a row (they did it from 1982-89), so this is quite an accomplishment for the Pistons. On the other hand, the Lakers did a much better job of taking advantage of those opportunities than the Pistons have: the Lakers made it to the Finals seven times and won four championships during their run while the Pistons have only made two Finals appearances and won just one title during their streak. Basically, the Pistons of the 2000s are like the Atlanta Braves of the...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Of course, as I always stress, there are a lot of things that the numbers simply can't quantify. For instance, consider a play that happened at the 7:29 mark in the second quarter. Bryant drove to the hoop but was cut off by his defender. He faked a shot, pivoted, attracted more defenders and then dropped off a perfect pass to D.J. Mbenga for an easy dunk to put the Lakers up 45-34. Mbenga had four career playoff points prior to this season. After Mbenga's dunk, Reggie Miller said of Bryant, "See what happens when you are the best player on the planet? You draw so much attention to yourself--three players came over." Marv Albert added, "Those are the kind of plays that Kobe was able to (do) with (Andrew) Bynum." There is a reason that Bryant can complete suc...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Kobe Bryant passed early (six first quarter assists) and scored late (11 third quarter points) as the L.A. Lakers dismantled the Denver Nuggets 102-84 to take a 3-0 series lead. Bryant finished with game-high totals in points (22), assists (eight) and plus/minus (+21, tied with Derek Fisher) while tying for the team lead in rebounds (seven). He shot 9-19 from the field. Even more significant than Bryant's impressive numbers is the way that he controlled the game--and has controlled the entire series so far--with his scoring and passing; the Nuggets have tried several different defensive schemes but nothing they have done has stopped him individually or slowed down the Lakers collectively. Bryant simply reads the situation, shoots whe...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman One victory against a mediocre Nets team is not enough to convince me that the Lakers are the favorites to win the Western Conference--but considering how dangerous the Lakers could be at times even when they consisted of little more than Bryant and four bystanders, it is obvious that this upgraded squad has the potential to do a lot of damage once the key players have an opportunity to jell as a unit. Maybe that will happen this season, maybe it will take an offseason and a full training camp to enable this team to reach its full potential but the days of Bryant trying to go big game hunting with butter knives are over--and that is not a pleasant thought for the other teams in the Western Conference.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Here is what Triangle Offense architect Tex Winter told the L.A. Times : "The ball has to move, the players have to move. And when they don't, they start standing and watching Kobe. Kobe might get 50, but we still ain't going to win, or we'll have a tough time of it. It's a team concept. It's based on ball and player movement with a purpose. It's predicated on that, and if we don't have that, then we're not a very good team. Lamar (Odom) and Luke (Walton) really might be the key to this. They're going to have to hit the open shots. They're going to have to hit a good percentage of their shots, which they're not doing right now. They'll get better and more open shots if we play a team concept and move the basketball and go through with our cuts." Uninformed people try to...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Paul Westhead, sometimes called the "guru of go" because of his love for fast break basketball, is the only person who has coached a championship team in the NBA (1980 Lakers) and the WNBA (2007 Mercury). I spoke with Westhead, who is currently an assistant coach with the Seattle Supersonics, prior to Seattle's 95-79 loss at Cleveland, after which I posted some of his thoughts about the WNBA and the development of Seattle rookie Kevin Durant. Westhead coached for nine years at LaSalle before becoming an assistant coach with the L.A. Lakers. After Coach Jack McKinney suffered a serious head injury, Westhead took over and guided the team to the 1980 title. Later, Westhead turned Loyola Marymount into a national power and made a brief return to t...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The big difference that everyone can see with this year's team is that young center Andrew Bynum has turned into a legitimate double-double threat. A difference that is perhaps not as noticed by the casual fan but is also very important is the switch at starting point guard from the unreliable Smush Parker to the steady Derek Fisher, who played on three championship teams with Bryant. The Lakers' bench has played very well so far and was strengthened by the acquisition of Trevor Ariza, who adds length, athletic ability and defense. Will the bench maintain this level of play throughout the season? When--not if--injuries hit, can one or more of the bench players temporarily move into the starting lineup without the team suffering a drop in p...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Kobe Bryant had 39 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals as the L.A. Lakers built a 25 point lead and held on to post a 95-90 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Early in the third quarter, Bryant scored the 20,000th point of his career, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to reach that milestone, beating Wilt Chamberlain by 12 days. Of course, Bryant got a head start by jumping straight from high school to the NBA, so Chamberlain still easily holds the record for reaching 20,000 points in the fewest number of games (499; it took Bryant 811 games). The Lakers finished their road trip with a 3-1 record, with the only loss coming Thursday night in Cleveland. After that game, Bryant vowed to go back to the gym and...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Lakers led 49-45 at halftime. Bryant and Vujacic each had 10 points. NBA TV's Frank Isola commented, "Kobe is not 100% yet with that groin injury. He's playing--and I think that a lot of other guys would take a week off--but this is Kobe Bryant, who loves to be out there." Despite Bryant's brief scoring burst early in the third quarter, the Bulls made a little run to tie the score at 58 before a Bryant turnaround jumper at the 7:26 mark put the Lakers up, 60-58. Those would be the last points that Bryant scored (he sat out the start of the fourth quarter, like he does in most games) but he found other ways to contribute: he got all three of his steals in the fourth quarter and the Lakers scored on the ensuing possession each time, including one sequence...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman There were many interesting storylines and subplots in this game. The Nuggets came in averaging 106.6 ppg (fourth in the NBA) and the Lakers were right behind them (106.1 ppg, fifth in the NBA), so the resulting shootout is hardly a surprise. However, as ESPN's Jon Barry noted, Denver should clearly be the superior team: "I don't think there's a more talented roster in the NBA." The Nuggets have a former MVP (Iverson), a perennial All-Star (Anthony), the reigning Defensive Player of the Year (Marcus Camby), a former number one overall draft pick (Kenyon Martin) and several other talented role players, yet something is clearly missing with this group. Even granting that Bryant is the best player in the league, the Nuggets have the deeper and m...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Bryant sat out the first 6:09 of the second quarter and Denver pushed the lead to as much as 38-21. TNT's Doug Collins talked about how Kwame Brown's injury has had a domino effect, moving Andrew Bynum (12 points, 13 rebounds) into the starting lineup and upsetting the chemistry of the bench. Collins has a point but would a truly good team be that dependent on the contributions of a career journeyman like Brown? The answer to that question is obviously, "No." Bynum is an improving player but he is still inconsistent. Take a good look at the Lakers' top six players other than Bryant in terms of minutes played per game: Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Vladimir Radmanovic. How many of those guys would be a top seven...   [read the full post]