A New Lakers Season Begins

Well a new Lakers season is here and with that brings new updates, personal thoughts, and game breakdowns by Mike.

Remember to comment with your thoughts and key points.

See you on Tuesday, November 18!

The Lakers Put On The Heat For Miami Heat

The Lakers busted out of front early in the first and never looked back. With Kobe Bryants sharing of the ball and trusting in his teammates, the Lakers come out screaming victory again! So where do we stand? 6 in a row? 7,8,9? No, were at 10 wins in a row.

Sweet.

First Quarter:
I don't know about you, but to me it looked like the Lakers were experimenting with passing patterns as they approached the hoop and ran fast break plays. Maybe they were trying to give the crowd a show or get that fast passing going again. Either way I'm sure they would of have 8 or more points to end the first if they stuck to the basics and played their game.

Fisher was having a bad shooting night, missing many good look shots. It just goes to show we all have those days, no matter what you are doing.

Second Quarter:
The Second was slow as it seemed the Lakers continued their experimental passing, but managed to stay on top though the half.

Phil Jackson surprisingly played DJ Mbenga early in the game, most likely to give Gasol a rest, but more importantly and probably to boost Mbenga's confidence as a team member. Putting Mbenga in early was a good move, and should be a good self-confidence booster for Mbenga.

Third Quarter:

Sorry folks but I fell asleep, I have been working on many other projects along with this one. I apologize sincerely.

So go ahead and post your third and fourth quarter analysis as a comment! In the process provide a link to your blog or home page and well see you tonight at Portland!

Gasol got a hair cut too. =)

Lakers vs. Portland Trailblazers at Staples Center 2-26-08

The Lakers started of slow and out of sync in the first and most of the second quarter. But with the kick ass 3-point shooting of Jordan Farmar and the energy of the fans, the Lakers managed to stay in the game up until the half where the Trailblazers lead 51-44.

The Lakers engery escalated in the second half with Ronny Turiaf's dunk of the game and Farmars and Sasha Vujacic's 3-point shooting. (story continues below video)

Ronny Turiaf's monster of a dunk

And of course we can't forget Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarter!

First Quarter:
I thought Luke Walton was going to come out strong when he sunk the first hoop for the Lakers, but he quickly lost his momentum and so did the whole team. Lamar Odom and Bryant got in early foul trouble which lead to over cautious shooting and defense. Somehow I feel the early foul trouble was the Portland Trailblazers strategy, oh well, it didn't seem to work out in the long run.

When a teams first strategy is to foul out key players early in the first, you know they are intimidated by those players. Well at least Jordan Farmer came out strong late in the first and early in the second and keep the team and fans on edge. Good going Farmar!

Second Quarter:
Farmers shooting with 13 pts brought the Lakers back in the game but not until the quarter ended with the Trailblazers leading 51-44. If anyone has a clip of Ronny's HUGE block with 5:30 left in the third please post a link on the comments, this needs to be watched again, and again!

Third Quarter:
I dont know about you but I saw some b.s calls made here.

Fourth Quarter:

Well what a game this was, with some shady calls by the officials and Portland's Coach Nate McMillan getting ejected, and Gasol gettng attacked defensivly pretty good, this made for a classic game

First Post - Lakers vs. Seattle Supersonics

This is just a more of a test post.

Well the Lakers cheer victory again, defeating the Seattle Supersonics. I especially like how Phil Jackson gave DJ Mbenga and Coby Karl playing time at the end of the game.

I really want Mbenga to gain some more confidence as the season progresses and ends. He deserves it! I'm sure he will be a fine bench player once he learns some key fundamentals of the game and gains his confidence. I noticed he tends to foul and travel a lot. No worries big guy, take your time, focus, and learn from your teammates. I'm really not sure what his key role is as of now, but it seems he is just a time killer while Gasol sits out and gets some rest.

Another issue was Kobe Bryant getting ejected in the third quarter. Obviously Bryant wouldn't of have placed himself in that position if he knew his team was in jeopardy of losing the game. Bryant knows his team could handle the situation they were in, and they did just fine!

Oh, and Gasol.... Wow, what a key addition to the team. Im not sure what Phil is going to do when Bynum is back full force. Will he use Bynum as the bench player? who knows, but I think these two guys are going to be unstoppable. More to follow in later posts! please comment on your thoughts.