Boston Celtics at Los Angeles 2007: Lakers will win it

For the last 20 years or so, this match-up has been a non-event in the league-- the Boston Celtics had sunk to mediocrity after the Bird-McHale-Parish era while the Lakers were able rise to the NBA elite.

This year however is a different matter. The Celtics, thanks to a lucky strike by GM Danny Ainge, are now back to the NBA headlines. Kevin Garnett has fit very well with Boston stalwart Paul Pierce and All-Star Ray Allen and a new trinity is in town: the Garnett-Pierce-Allen era has just begun. A match between the Lakers and the Celtics are again a marquee event.

The Lakers also found ways to win this early in the season and they will bring what made them darkhorses in the Western Conference to the Boston at L.A. game today, December 30. I see a Laker win.


Tags: Lakers

The Lakers Gift to the NBA this Holiday Season: Ass-Whooping

Stretching to one week ago, the Lakers have won three straight and spreading some mighty fine butt-kicking in the League. Sprawling from path the Lakers have taken in the winning streak were the Philadelphia 76ers, the New York Knicks and, of course, the Phoenix Suns.

The Phonix Suns game was the Laker's ninth consecutive Christmas day game, dating back to 1999 and the game was full of holiday cheer. I say that because Trevor Ariza gave Grant Hill something to ponder about in the Christmas dinner: A nice serving of slam dunk facial. Here's a video:


That dunk reminded me of this one:

A perfect holiday stretch for the Lakers so far.



Tags: Lakers

Lakers on the Eastern Road Trip: Up and Down

The Los Angeles Lakers are definitely giving the fans a roller coaster season to follow. The latest Eastern Conference road trip which has the Lakers facing the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadephia 76ers and the New York Knicks is proof of the up and down cycles.

Against the disappointing Chicago Bulls, the Lakers won the opener of the 4-game trip with a balanced attack with Sasha Vujacic leading the scoring line with 19 points. Sasha has done this before and it seems he's more confident with his shot and making most of the PT Phil Jackson is giving him. Six Lakers were in double figures in that game and that shows some great deal of talent in the bench.

However, the much hyped game against the Cleveland Cavaliers was a different story. The Lakers were clamped to 12 points in the last quarter. 12 points! If you read the news articles on the 94-90 loss, most of them would read "LeBron put put the stops on Kobe" or "LBJ is the Kobe Stopper." I'll refer to Kobe's old quote: The Cavs game was just slap boxing.

Now onto the Philadelphia stop. My general comment on that game is that it was a nice game to watch from a visual perspective. Both the 76ers and the Lakers were wearing 1980's throwback uniforms and it was homage to the 1982 Philadelphia team that won the NBA championship. The Lakers won the game behind Andrew Bynum's career scoring night: 24 points. The game perhaps is a harbinger of how Bynum will dominate the NBA in years to come.

The final game of the trip is against the dysfuntional New York Knicks. If the Up and Down theory holds, expect a Laker disappointment.

Tags: Lakers

Everybody Wants to Beat L.A.

I was reading a sports news article on the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Golden State Warriors and one paragraph struck me. The writer of the article described how the Warriors were inspired by the crowd at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The crowd was, according to the writer:

a playoff-worthy sellout crowd of more than 20,000 fans in yellow T-shirts to beat Los Angeles for just the second time in 16 meetings.

The game notes also in the article stated:

The Warriors claimed the Oracle Arena crowd of 20,705 was the largest ever to watch a basketball game in California, surpassing a Warriors playoff crowd last spring.

What I got from this article was a question: How many teams get sellouts because the Lakers are visiting? I'm imagining 80% of the other NBA teams sellouts are Lakers games.

Does that mean everybody want's to beat L.A.? Chances are, yes.


Tags: Lakers

Lakers Kick the Spurs' Butt

Yeah, it feels good to say that the Los Angeles Lakers kicked the San Antonio Spurs' collective asses.

However these days, the only time the Lakers can probably kick some serious butt is when the top two players of a team is out.

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker missed the matchup against their Western Conference rival and the result is a Laker win, 102-97. The Lakers were led by (suprise!) Kobe Bryant with 30 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Despite having a double digit scoring fest the last few games, the Lakers' bench had no one scoring in double digits, but had solid contributions from Jordan Farmar and Vladimir Radmanovic.

There was some tension in the third quarter when Lakers center Andrew Bynum got tangled up with the Spurs' Fabricio Oberto and Bynum was ejected with two technicals. Too bad, he already had 6 points and 11 rebounds by that time. Bynum is really showing potential, but he has been demonstrating immaturity as well. Has he been hanging out with Kwame Brown lately?


Tags: Lakers

Three's a Charm: A 3-Game Winning Streak

The Lakers have been performing great the last week and the outcome has been a nice trifecta of wins against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors.

The Lakers had some little drama on the game the Lakers won against the T-wolves, 116-95. Kobe and Andrew Bynum both suffered from a stomach virus infection. Bynum did not suit up, but Kobe summoned his Jordan-like spirit and played through the flu. The result was a 20-point, 4-steal performance. This game also marked Trevor Ariza's first good game for the Lakers (Hint to fantasy owners!)

Allen Iverson welcomed the Lakers to Denver with a 51-point monster game, but the Lakers still prevailed narrowly, with a 4-point 111-107 win. The trio of Kobe, Derek fisher and Vladimir Radmanovic lead the Lakers' offense and the defense worked in the fourth quarter, holding Iverson to 2 points.

And the most recent game, The Lakers continued their mastery of the Golden State Warriors by pulling away in the last quarter for a 123-113 win. Here's the highlight video from ESPN:



The Kobe trade talk has died down a bit (Awwww...) and I've read that Kobe actually is enjoying playing for the young and talented Lakers. ESPN has noticed and gave the Lakers a 5-place jump on its Power Rankings this week.

Tags: Lakers

The Great Run Athletics Shoes Giveaway

I'm giving away shoes!

Thanks to MTV and Run's House, I'm having a tie-up event with NBA Basketball Jerseys to give away Run Athletics shoes. I'll be giving away a two pairs of shoes-- one pair for ladies and another pair for guys.

The women's shoe is a pair of Pastry brand Fab Cookie Boots with the Chocolate Chip colorway pictured below:

The guy's shoes is a Run Athletics Arthur Ashe pair, with the Aussie Grandslam colorway:


Take note that sizes are not guaranteed.

So how do you take home either one of these fine kicks? It's very easy in three simple steps:

1. Answer the question: "What is the name of the reality show of Reverend Run and his family that is shown in MTV?"
2. Leave a comment in this blog with you name and email address. (The email address may be in the format xxx (at) domain.com to protect you from spam.) One comment entitles you to one virtual raffle entry and one person can leave one comment for himself/herself. If you are a blogger, you can create a link to this post and that will earn you 5 raffle entries. A maximum of 10 raffle entries can be earned from this method. To create a link, use the "Create a Link" link below this post to post the link of your blog.
3. At January 4, 2008 (+800 GMT), the winner will be drawn via an electronic raffle. Blog links will also be checked on that day. The winner will be notified by email and must respond within 3 days to confirm you are interested in claiming the pair of shoes. You will be contacted by MTV and they will send you the pair of shoes, where ever you are in the world.
   

Two winners will be drawn, one for Big Lakers Fan and another for NBA Basketball Jerseys. A coin toss will determine which winner will get to choose between the two pairs of shoes.

Have a new pair of shoes at the start of the new year! Join this giveaway and take home the nifty Run Athletics shoes. Also, don't forget to watch Run's House at MTV every Thursdays 10P/9C.




Tags: Run's House

Lakers Fantasy Basketball Update

Five weeks into the NBA season, there has been interesting trends in the Los Angeles Lakers line-up that are very relevant to NBA Fantasy owners. Here's a rundown of the Top 5 Lakers Fantasy Basketball studs with stats as of December 4, 2007:

1. Kobe Bryant - Stellar fantasy season. Points are lower so fat this season, but it's primarily due to the better play of other Lakers. His defensive stats have improved, particularly steals and his facilitating play has reflected in his increased assists. A must-have in your fantasy team.
2. Lamar Odom - Very disappointing. Numbers have dipped across the board. His assists have sharply declined compared to last season (4.8 last year to 1.7 this season). His numbers match his inconsistent play. Still an above-average forward, but fantasy value has never been this low.
3. Derek Fisher - The returning Laker may be argued as the vaunted "third option" but this may be limited to the fantasy basketball realm. Fish is a solid pickup with good FG and FT percentages, nice Steals, but low assists for a point guard. This likely be due to the Triangle Offense the Lakers have installed, which does not rely on the typical point guard.
4. Andrew Bynum - Drew's stats this season have been nearing the starting center's fare, but he's still far from hitting the ceiling. He's now a bona fide double-double and solid blocks contributor. He needs to stay away from foul trouble to be able to contribute more and up his FT% to at least 70% to be more solid.
5. Jordan Farmar - The sophomore is making moderate waves as the backup PG position. He hits 3's and gives Steals consistently. His production will increase with more tick.
   

Tags: Lakers

AK47 Goes for Triple-Double, Spells Doom for the Lakers

Talk about stepping up.

With All-Srar Carlos Boozer sidelined with an injury, do-it-all forward Andrei Kirilenko upped his game and ended up with a triple-double: 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. AK47 completed his wonderful stat line by adding 6 steals and 4 blocks. But more importantly, the Utah Jazz manhandled the Lakers by 24 points, 120-96.

How did the Lakers lose to a supposedly shorthanded team? Simple, the Jazz played crisper offense and defense. The Lakers were out-rebounded (48 vs. 34), shot more poorly (51% to 44%), and played had more turnovers (20 vs. 13). The game was so bad that Javaris Crittenton got some tick.

The only bright spot for the game for the Lakers was Jordan Farmar, who erupted for 21 points with three 3-pointers.


Tags: Lakers