Lakers: 8-0 Perfection

The Lakers are winning basketball games. That's all you really need to know.

Win vs. Rockets by 2
Win @ Suns by 8
Win vs. Warriors by 24
Win vs. Grizzlies by 19
Win @ Kings by 12
Win vs. Raptors by 5
Win vs. Blazers by 25
Win vs. Timberwolves by 5

So half their wins were by double-digits and three of them were last-minute competitions. What's good about that is the fact that every significant contributor on the roster besides Bynum is healthy and we've been able to see the situational line-ups for the squad.

For the last 6 minutes against the Rockets: Blake/Brown/Bryant/Odom/Gasol.
For the last 6 minutes against the Raptors: Fisher/Brown/Bryant/Odom/Gasol.
For the last 6 minutes against the Wolves: Fisher/Bryant/Artest/Odom/Gasol.

I think it's pretty much all mind games for PJ at this point. He knows he can't hurt Derek Fisher's psyche, so he gave Blake the ultimate confidence boost by putting him in a position to make a big play at the end of his very first Laker game ... which he perfectly did by sealing the game with a three off a Kobe kick-out. And then Phil knows he has complete mental dominance over Ron-Ron, so he's not afraid to play the hot hand and stroke Shannon Brown's ego when he's having a productive night. Not many people thought Brown would be logging heavy minutes with the Blake and Barnes additions, but he's proven to be far too valuable to ride the pine in the early going.

And it's only up from here. When Bynum gets in game shape, the NBA collectively goes on big-man-potential watch. He's strickly a role whenever he's hobbled by a knee injury, but he's still got the skill set, size, and intelligence to be an All-Star center. I still believe it, at least. Regardless, he'll instantly bring the team defense up a significant notch with his interior rotations and intimidating shot-blocking presence. Pau and him haven't seen many days where their offensive games clicked perfectly on the same night, but as long as the two of them add up to around 1.5, the Lakers are sitting pretty. Lamar seems more focused than at any point in his entire career, so a soft 6th man demotion should do none to deter his stellar production so far this year. It's crazy how those World Championship games seemed to prime him perfectly in a strange pre-training camp way to get him in amazing shape with a clear mind. His minutes won't even see a real drop with Bynum back since Ratliff/Caracter's collective floor time and a little bit of Matt Barnes' clock will make up the difference.

I got a great feeling about this team. Screw all the pre-season commentators trying to make Kobe's knee and age the non-LeBron headline as a reason why the Lakers weren't going to be able to three-peat. Maybe the stats simply don't compute as pretty for the squad with a top-two shooting guard of all-time, the best post player in the world, the most versatile 6'10" big ever seen, three of the grittiest perimeter defenders in NBA today, and a flurry of outside threats and veteran leaders that are collectively headed by the greatest coach in any professional sport ... ever. Maybe. But who cares? Does the computer get sad when it gets its calcumatated numbers wrong (just go with me on that one word)? The answer to that question is "no." Unless they wire those kinds of computers to have emotions now. Which is entirely possible with John Hollinger and Kevin Arnovitz' conniving asses. I don't even know. But even if that reference is rendered completely superfluous, the Lakers are a band of killers. No Brandon Flowers. Get ready for #17.

Team Highlights:
Scoring - 1st in the league at 112.1 points per game
Rebounding - 4th in the league at 46.1 rebounds per game
Assists - 4th in the league at 24 assists per game
Points Allowed - 11th in the league at 99.6 points given up per game

Individual highlights:
Kobe Bryant
Averages: 24.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1 steal
Best Game: 30/10/12 triple-double with 3 threes against Sacramento
Pau Gasol
Averages: 23.4 points on 55.1% shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 blocks
Best Game: 20/14/10 triple-double on 9-13 shooting with 3 steals against Portland
Lamar Odom
Averages: 15.8 points on 62.1% shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 3PM on 66.7% shooting
Best Game: 18/17/5 double-double on 8-12 shooting with a steal against Phoenix
Ron Artest
Averages: 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Best Game: 17/1/4 on 7-11 shooting with 3 threes and 2 steals against Sacramento
Derek Fisher
Averages: 8.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.38 steals, 1.0 3PM on 57.1% shooting
Best Game: 14/1/3 on 5-6 shooting with a three against Golden State
Steve Blake
Averages: 6.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.8 3PM on 50% shooting
Best Game: 14/1/2 on 4-6 three-point shooting against Toronto
Matt Barnes
Averages: 9.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists
Best Game: 16/14/2 double-double with a block and steal against Memphis
Shannon Brown
Averages: 9 points, 1.6 rebounds, .9 assists, 1.13 steals, 1.5 3PM on 50% shooting
Best Game: 16/1/1 on 6-9 shooting with 4 threes and 4 steals against Houston

... and Free Enes.

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NBA 2011 Opening Night Notes

Hand gesture ... TECHNICAL!!!

The Heat lost and the Lakers won. Get used to hearing that once the playoffs roll around.

With all eyes on LeBron for his Miami Heat debut, he proved the old adage that you can take the King out of Cleveland, but you can't take the underachievement out of his teammates. I've heard that since I was a kid and never quite understood it until last night. James attempted to carry the team with his shooting touch in the second half and wound up with 31 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 8 turnovers in a loss to the defending Eastern Conference champs. Those were the kind of stat lines that Kobe initially got killed for in his early post-Shaq seasons. But oh well, it was just one game against a tough defense and Miami's got 81 more games to figure out how to creatively come up short before the postseason begins. Having the rest of his team shoot a collective 38% from the field? That's just unoriginal. Props to Chris Bosh for being scared to death by his twin Predator KG (8 points on 3-11 shooting) and Dwyane Wade for having a rusty hamstring (4-16 shooting and 6 turnovers). With James Jones slated to get all of Mike Miller's shots, it's going to be a long road to recovery hinging on that thumb.

Two Celtics notes: Shaq gained 100 pounds since his Cavalier postseason debut and Paul Pierce pulled off a day one version of his oh-my-God-I'm-injured-and-embarrassed-in-a-heap-on-the-ground-so-I-better-be-dragged-back-to-the-locker-room-so-I-can-make-my-triumphant-reentrance-two-minutes-later-with-no-ill-effects-of-my-potential-career-ending-injury shtick. It's pretty much what he's known for now.

Now onto the Lakers-Rockets! Yao is gonna be good, even in his limited minutes. He managed to foul out in his short stay, but he did all of the incredibly Ming-y things last night that made him such a pivotal force before his foot collapsed. Kevin Martin will effortlessly thrive as mass point producer as long as he has Yao and Brad Miller at the high post looking for him on cuts. He's always been a great scorer, but now he'll prolly finally be efficient. Aaron Brooks resumed his role as a Laker killer with 24 points and 9 assists, so that was refreshingly painful.

But the Lakers found a way to prevail. Shannon Brown pulled off his best Kobe impression in the fourth and notched 4 threes to finish with 16 late points. Thankfully, Kobe also pulled off his best Kobe impersonation throughout the first three quarters and managed 27 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and only 1 turnover. I was gonna write a column about how stupid it was for everyone and their mom acting like KB's crappy preseason shooting was an actual issue that proved his decline with age, but Kobe replied last night with his game and a win so I wouldn't have to. They're the two-time defending world champions, three-time defending western conference champions, and now they've upgraded their roster. Steve Blake surprisingly took over for Derek Fisher in crunch time and knocked in the dagger to add to the last of his three triples on the night. Matt Barnes worked his butt off and forced some action while he was in there, pulling down 5 boards and finishing with a +12 plus/minus score in his 16 minutes of playing time. Theo Ratliff notched two blocks in his limited time and will continue to do that every night in relieving Pau until Bynum makes his way back. The Lakers have their eyes past the Heat already. Get ready for the three-peat.

Oh, and Gasol had 29 points and 11 rebounds. That's pretty good too. And nobody cares about the Suns-Blazers.

... and Free Enes.

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2010-2011 Los Angeles Lakers

It's crazy that the Lakers just competed another three-peat. Now Kobe just gets to spend the rest of his career attempting to be better than Michael Jordan since he's already matched him. I'm just blown away. It's frickin' unbelievable!!!

That's gonna be my opening paragraph in a post about nine months from now.

2010-2011 Los Angeles Lakers

Point Guard: Derek Fisher/Steve Blake
Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant/Shannon Brown/Sasha Vujacic
Small Forward: Ron Artest/Matt Barnes/Luke Walton
Power Forward: Pau Gasol/Lamar Odom/Derrick Caracter
Center: Andrew Bynum/Theo Ratliff

You think the Lakers got rougher last year when they signed Ron-Ron? Please. Matt Barnes and Steve Blake are twice as nasty as the Tru Warrior. I've always thought Barnes was simply a punk. That's all. But he did regularly seem to get under Kobe's skin in a way that made him take terribly forced shots to try to prove a point. I'll just be glad that he'll be implementing his crap tactics on other players this year, spelling Artest as his bench mob counterpart. And in the weirdest of all weirdness, Blake seemed to contain Kobe somehow even better. I, no joke, think he was the best one-on-one defender specifically on KB24 last year. I don't know what it is about the diminutive white guy besides the fact that he isn't intimidated by anyone. Ever.

The crazy thing about this Lakers squad is the roster consistency that they've been able to maintain over their last three years of NBA Finals visits. The one and only roster shift of last year was swapping Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest and the only shift this year is swapping Jordan Farmar for Steve Blake and finding out how to split the back-up wing minutes between Barnes and re-signed Shannon Brown. That's it; no other rotation player has changed at all. This extended familiarity with the triangle offense between Bryant, Fisher, Odom, Bynum, Pau, and Walton make this team more and more formidable and well-oiled on a yearly basis. Everyone is only getting more efficient (if you excuse Derek's age and Walton's paralyzing back problems). That's why I, and every major analyst personality, have no fears in the blending of Blake and Barnes with last year's champs. All of the major ball-dominators responsible for implementing the offense every possession are already in place and understand their roles perfectly. This cuts down the burden on the new guys to a minimum of knowing where to spot up and getting out on fast break opportunities. All the off-ball movements will come naturally with time.

What I'm getting at is this team is the exact same as they were last year ... with bench upgrades. If Theo Ratliff has literally anything left in his shot-blocking tank then even he's an upgrade. The rookies aren't going to be responsible for any production as of yet and every single position has a starter-worthy back-up in case of foul trouble, style match-ups, or even extended injuries. It's that simple. This year's team will be better than any of the Laker squads that went to the Finals in the last three seasons. So why shouldn't they win it all again? I don't even think the Heat are going to make the Finals this season, so I'm definitely prematurely re-handing the Championship trophy back to the guys already holding it.

There are a few potential worries, but they're already accounted for. Fisher's age? Blake is completely capable of backing him up for extended minutes or even taking over the starting slot if the torch needs to be passed. Artest's (Laker) sophomore slump? He honestly wasn't a major key to the offense for any extended period of last season at all, so he can only get more comfortable and effective in the offense in his second year. His high this season was only 22 points in a game, doubling his average. His defense and effort are incapable of falling off, so what's going to be the on-court problem? Kobe's decline? Kobe's not declining. Did you actually watch the playoffs? 29-6-6 in the postseason after he didn't even look to intently score for most of the first round series. He's the best player in the game. Bynum's injury-plagued history? The Lakers are used to not having him for half the season now. He plays like an absolute monster whenever he's on the floor without Pau, but he regresses when paired with the Spaniard and not given all the same touches. But who really needs someone else to be effective in the post when Gasol's on the floor? Everything Bynum provides is essentially a bonus to this insanely talented Laker squad. The only thing he needs to provide consistently is defensive effort.

I don't know what else there is to say. If Sasha regains his self-proclaimed "The Machine" shooting ability ... bonus. If Shannon Brown improves enough to keep his spot in the rotation and provides regular SportsCenter highlights and the occasional three-pointer ... bonus. If Luke Walton shakes his back injury and becomes the perfect director of the second unit ... bonus. If Derrick Caracter is in crazy shape and is frickin' good as a rookie that he leaps ahead of Ratliff in the rotation ... bonus. If Lamar Odom magically becomes consistent ... well that's never gonna happen, so forget it.

Prediction
Regular Season: 62-20
Playoffs: NBA Champions

... and do the John Wall.

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Lakers x 16

So I heard that the Los Angeles Lakers won one of those championship things or something. That's pretty nice.

This season was somehow the most emotionally insane for me. Maybe it was just by default as Ron Artest's general craziness must've transferred to me since I was so elated at his signing and completely sure that he would never have a blow-up this season. That moment-by-moment tension could have done it. Or maybe it was the 17 games apiece missed by Pau and Bynum conjoined with the constant fear of Andrew's inevitable new season-ending knee injury. Or maybe it was the fact that Kobe made less than a hundred three-pointers for only the second time in the last eight seasons (with the other being the '04 trial year). Or maybe it was the fact that we needed literally 7 game winners to drop from Kobe's dislocated/fractured/crippled/arthritic fingertips that, record-wise, would have dropped us from 1st place to out of the play-offs in the West. Or maybe it was the fact that Shannon Brown actually became a 20-minute-a-night rotation player when his only reliable basketball skill is dunking on a fastbreak. Or maybe it was because we never had a single late season stretch that you could point to and proclaim as a reason that the Lakers were the best team in the 2009-2010 season. I don't know. Regardless ... I was stressed.

The prevailing talk before the first round was whether the Lakers could possibly be considered the underdogs while facing the eighth seed in the West. While Kobe & Co. may not have exactly dominated their way through the final two weeks of the regular season, the fact that the conversation was held at all is ridiculous. Kevin Durant is nice and all, but he's the future. Kobe is the now. And while everyone was waiting for LeBron James to claim his (apparently) inevitable first championship, Kobe was putting in work. Spanning over the course of the first three series, the Black Mamba put up six games stringing together 32, 31, 30, 35, 32, and 40 points, all in winning efforts. The Thunder were supposed to be the up-and-comers with enough firepower to surprise the champs. The Jazz were supposed to be the rough-and-tumble band of misfits led by D-Will and Booze who could have been the best team in the West if not for the injury bug. The Suns were supposed to be the revamped run-and-gun, 2-time MVP-led squad that dominated the second half of the season and were poised to break into the Finals. The Lakers knocked them all out without so much as sniffing an elimination game. Of course we needed a set of miracle game-winning rebound-putbacks by Pau and Ron Ron off of Kobe misfires to achieve that feat, but I'll take it.

And then we had to face the dumb Celtics. I'll have a soft spot for Rondo due to his UK-loyalty forever, but I still hate them. All of them. Every screen is moving, every call is b*tched at, and every conceivable level of arrogance is surpassed. The perception is that the Boston trio is a band of winners, even though they have 16 seasons of missing the playoffs between them. They're old, they're fake, and they're one hit wonders. But oh well. Even though the Lakers decided to wait until the Finals to have their first series deficit at 2-3 going back to L.A. for the final two games ... we still won. That's all that matters.

This year was a big deal for Kobe and the rest of the team. We unfortunately needed this title for affirmation. It was nice that Bryant won his first title without Shaq last season, but it wasn't as sweet as it should have been because it was against the Orlando Magic. Kobe didn't directly eliminate LeBron in the Finals and Kobe didn't exact revenge against the Celtics' defense that stifled him a year prior. If the Lake Show had lost these Finals, it would have validated the detractors who claimed that L.A. won by default of Kevin Garnett's knee injury. This championship had to be had because it was figuratively worth two of them. With the win, Kobe forcibly cemented his status in the ring of the game's all-time winners. He has more hardware than Shaq and Duncan (his modern era competitors). He matched Magic. He's one under Michael. It's his most important to date. It gives him the opportunity to step onto the same plateau as anyone not on the 1960s Celtics or named Robert Horry with one more perfect season. While LeBron James is still ringlessly fighting the expectations of his career in worst-case scenario fashion, Kobe is fighting his way into the upper echelon of all-time great and creating a resume that will eventually be inarguable.

This season was my absolute favorite in my seven years of keeping up with every microcosm of the NBA. It ended in an end-all, be-all Game 7 that was perfect for every terrible reason that a sloppily-played, nerve-inducing, highly-physical game can be played. And the Lakers won. My guys. It's the reward for all of my own personal (literal) sweat and (figurative) blood that I shed during the year-long grind of fandom. I care. Probably more than I should. But this year's Laker squad made it worth it. Sucks to be a Celtics fan. We got revenge. You all are dismantling and starting over with Rondo within the next calendar year. I got a summer to just relax.

Who am I kidding? I'm already stressed out again over the draft and free agency. Here we go again ...

... and do the John Wall.

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Random Basketball Notes, 27th Edition

So I think I've proven that my long column privileges need to be revoked. My Iverson hopes were quickly dashed and now my musings on Gilbert Arenas have been shot to Hades. Crap.

And while Allen quickly found a new home at his old home in Philly, Gilbert will probably have an even tougher road to a potential new destination. AI didn't play a "prank" on a teammate that invoked the most stereotypical assumptions of NBA athletes as well as leading to a felony charge upon further investigations. Gil shoulda known that people like you a lot more if you just inexplicably complain about everything rather than own and display hundreds of firearms. Funny how that works.

But who really cares about them, huh?

My real NBA story of the season so far, besides inglorious amounts of injuries to every single team, is the ... *drum roll* ... Lakers. These Lakers are legitimately playing the worst basketball I've seen out of them since Kwame Brown was on the roster. Since the Cleveland Christmas blowout, we've managed to get rocked by the Suns, Clippers, Blazers, and Spurs all on the road. And while some people quickly excuse road losses against any decent opponent, I say, "screw that". Trust me, I just said it. Playoff series are won by the team who can break the other's home stand. Unless you trust your guys for every Game 7. Which I don't. And then we've let the Kings (twice), Warriors, Rockets, and Mavs all hang with us before squeaking out wins with Kobe ball-dominating and often shooting a terrible percentage.

And yet even with this subpar run piled on with Pau missing 17 of 40 games, Kobe playing with a gimp shooting hand and handicapped back, our bench sucking 90% of the time, questions of Andrew being able to play effectively with Gasol, and a still mysterious Artest Christmas concussion incident ... the Lakers have the best record in all of basketball. Suck it, suck it, suck it. 31-9. Currently a game and a half in front of the Shaq-lugging Cavs. It's unbelievable. While everyone clearly isn't healthy, we now have the complete roster at our disposal for the moment with Luke Walton now in the picture. So we'll see the full starting five with its full bench mob in the coming days. Watch out, league. These sucky Lakers are the best team out of all of you.

Speaking of the Kentucky Wildcats ... (?) ... they're undefeated. 18-0. We've been tested by all our opponents this month (Louisville, Georgia, Florida, and Auburn) and had highly shaky seconds halves, but we wound up beating all of them. Our RPI seems to be decimated by the day since our opponents from our (supposed-to-be) signature wins (NC, UCONN, and UL) have all had relative floods of losses come their way. Let it be known, though, that I appreciate each and every win, because runs like these are never guaranteed to come back around. But still ... we definitely got some work to do. John Wall has tapered off noticeably in the recent games. You wouldn't ever have suspected that if you look to ESPN headlines and highlights for your information. He's easily become the face of college basketball (as well as SI and Sporting News) and a breakaway candidate for Player of the Year at this point midseason. But fans who watch him day in and day out would be more inclined to look up that he's only shot 44% from the field in the last 6 games since our Drexel beatdown for the program's signature 2000th win. And while that's still a perfectly legit and applaudable percentage for a guard or literally any freshman, it doesn't even touch the 53% that he had been shooting in the first 11 games he had played. You can chalk that up to improved competition or increased defensive attention or anything else you want, but true UK fans will notice there's just been a slight drop-off in #11's game impact. He's still easily the greatest thing to come to Lexington in a decade and the most talented baller out there, but this is just an observation. Which I believe is highly correctable, by the way.

The flip-side to that is the recent emergence of DeMarcus Cousins as potentially the best big man in the collegiate ranks. Though he's prone to a record amount of first half foul trouble, he's actually become our go-to player, as hard as that is to believe. He proved it immensely in the last four close games that when the ball is dumped down to him late in the game, he will deliver. And that's something that I never thought I would see after the Stanford overtime game where he nearly blew the W singlehandedly in regulation. On a per 40 minute scale, Cousins is averaging 31 points, 18.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks. That is monstrous, ladies and gentleman. And that's not even mentioning his magical free throw turnaround since the Cancun Challenge where he's shot 75% from the stripe in 12 games after hitting at a clip of 50% in the first 6 games. He's proven that even when the opposition's entire game plan is to get him pissed off, in foul trouble, and try to make him hit someone, he can still remain cool and be amazingly productive, regardless. He's a beast who's improved exponentially from where he was physically and mentally earlier in the season. And I believe he's the one who is going to define our continued national legitimacy with his unstoppable work in the post. Wall will continue to garner all the attention and be the next big thing, as he deservedly has earned and very well will be, but look out for Boogie. I'm telling you.

Now let's just hope my idiotic predilections are only ruthlessly disgraced when it comes to professional sports. Because I can't afford to be wrong about my University. Plus there's the fact that Wall & Cuz are right down the hall at this very moment ...

... but do take my word for it.

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Not in TN No More

I told you to call me crazy. I hope you did.

After three games, Allen Iverson has asked for a leave from the Grizzlies. Read this gorgeously and stupidly constructed column from a little earlier in the summer and see why I am unequivocally disallowed from here on to ever believe or put faith in an athlete I haven't met personally. That's why I trust John Wall. When you walk into your dorm the same time as him after his first collegiate ball game and get to break down what happened with him on the way down the stairs ... well, let's just say I believe in John Wall. Never again, though, in the artist formerly known as The Answer.

And while we're on Wildcat legends ... Jodie Meeks dropped 5 threes on the lowly Knickerbockers and was good for 19 points. Yeeeah. He got in at the end of the first quarter and proceeded to swish three perfect long shots to close out the period and drain another one to open the second. That's a way to force your coach to give you an extended run for the first time in your career. So there's my important basketball notes in the early season. And who cares that the Lakers are 5-1 (tied for the league's early lead) without Pau at all and now with Bynum temporarily down? I sure don't care. Well ... that's a lie. I was screaming bloody murder at my League Pass Broadband for the champs somehow allowing the junior high Thunder and the Chuck Hayes-lead D-League Rocket squad take them to OT on consecutive nights. Oh well.

... but do take my word for it.

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2010 Los Angeles Lakers

I'm so ready for basketball season.

... but do take my word for it.

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