The Association

Lakers Front Office Dropped the Ball in the Return to the Forum

By Craig Kwasniewski

The Lakers flat out dropped the ball in their return visit to the Fabulous Forum. Did you even know they played last Friday at the Forum? Turns out, not many people did as the old lady sat half full as the Lakers got rolled by Golden State in an early preseason game.

Look at that pic, there are waaay too many empty seats for a return to the Forum.  And this was far into the third quarter, beyond the typical late arriving LA fans factor.  So what went wrong?  Where was everyone?  Where was the hype, the celebs or even the Laker legends?  How is it that the Dodgers sold 100,000 tickets in their return to the LA Coliseum just 18 months ago and only about 10,000 fans show up to the OG home of Showtime and more importantly the birthplace of the Laker Girls.  How is this not a slam dunk?

It had a very promising start with Derek Fisher welcoming everyone back to the Forum to a warm reception. Jeffrey Osborne (who opens every Lakers regular and postseason) belted out his typical magical rendition of the National Anthem...  and that was it.  From that point on it was a typical preseason game.  The Lakers came out as flat as the crowd and wilted in a 100-91 blow out loss. The only thing of note was Steven Jackson getting FIVE fouls in the first quarter and being sent to the showers by Nellie late in the first quarter. 

The Dodgers spent an entire offseason promoting the Coliseum game, offering relatively affordable tickets with all proceeds going to charity. I didn't go to the game, but it was fascinating to watch on TV.

The Lakers put up a few ads in the local newspapers and charged regular season prices with all proceeds going to the Lakers coffers.  I know they are desperate to make up as much $$ for the luxury tax, but would it hurt to lower prices just a tad in these economic times?  What about making it a charitable event and give away tickets in the upper Colonnade Section to local schools or at least lower those seats to $10 each?  Would it hurt to honor the 80's Lakers teams before the game?  Roll out Magic, Worthy, (soon to be fired) Byron Scott, (should be fired) Michael Cooper, (soon to be unemployed) Kareem and (should be deported) Mychal Thompson for a celebration.

The box score showed a sell out of 17,505 for the game but TRUST ME the place was 60% full at best.  It was still fun to return and catch a Lakers game in the arena where I first started watching the NBA (and rooting against the 80's Lakers by the way), but the whole experience left me wanting a little bit more.  Maybe in another 10 years the Lakers front office will have more respect for their history and their fans and make the return more of an event. 

I sat baseline 8th row (BTW - a great deal for preseason games if you don't mind the angle, usually baseline seats are 30% of the sideline seats).  In 10 minutes Kobe Bryant gets under Steven Jackson's skin, leading to his early departure and eventual 2 game suspension. 

And finally, walking up for probably the last Lakers game ever at the Fabulous Forum.

LeBron Let's His Tee Shirt (Not His Game) Do the Talking

By Craig Kwasniewski

Imagine the outrage if Kobe did this.  Instead of having his game do the talking, LeBron decides again to let his shirt do all the talking instead (from TMZ.com)...

This is the second time this week that LeBron is wearing his insecurities on a tee shirt.  Is LeBron having a ego melt-down?  Did LeBron realize that Cleveland has no chance as long as Mike Brown is their coach?  Is he feeling inferior to the likes of Kobe, Duh-white Howard, Paul Pierce... all on more talented teams?

But more importantly, just imagine the outrage if Kobe Bryant was caught with the same shirt.  Boston Sports Guy Bill Simmon's head would explode at the sight of it... leading to another 10,000 word crapfest about how KG is a great guy and Kobe is the devil.  Kobe would be nailed to the cross in "I knew he was selfish!!!" articles all over the place.

But since we live in LeBron's world, just to make King James happy, let's to do exactly what he's asking us to do...

2009 NBA Most Valuable Player
2007 NBA Eastern Conference Champion with the Cavaliers
2006 & 2008 NBA All-Star Game MVP
5-time NBA All-Star (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
5-time All-NBA (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
1-time NBA All-Defensive (2009)

And ZERO rings!!!

Kobe Has a Lakers Flag on His Car?!?!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Awww man... just when I thought getting a fourth title put him clear of all the critics and haters, Kobe puts a one of those damn Lakers flags on his ride.  Dude, I'm a 10-year Lakers season ticket holder and I've NEVER put one of those silly things on my car!  All they do is add fuel to the fire for every smart-ass Lakers hater.  I'd just rather we stick to the normal NBA Championship things like greeting the team at the airport, a downtown parade and celebratory riots.   And who doesn't love the occasional run in with the riot squad?

Anyway, I'll give Kobe a pass... after all he did just win the 2009 Finals MVP Award, but the flag better be in the attic next week!

Next thing you'll tell me that the Lakers charter flight has a flag on it!

Awww man!!!

Five Adjustments the Magic Need to Win Game 3

By Craig Kwasniewski 

Leaving Staples Center last night Lakers fans all around me had the feeling that this was the last Lakers game they would see in the 2008-09 season. All that was left is the trophy, the parade and the ring ceremony. Put this series in the fridge as there's no way the Orlando Magic rally from those two games and makes this a series.... or do they??? 

Stan Van Gundy pulled out all the stops, made the right adjustments and came within a missed layup from putting a real scare in the Lakers. So who's to say he won't push the right buttons in Game 3 and direct the Magic toward their first W of the series? Well Stan, I'm gonna give you five tips/adjustments for the Magic to virtually guarantee a win tonight: 

1 - Continue to go big: The rule of thumb for most NBA teams today is to go smaller and smaller, stretch the defense, create seams and space the floor for the drive and kick game... that is unless you face the Lakers. LA is long, tall and long (did I mention that they're long?). Going small works if you have a quality point guard that can consistently break through the Lakers defense... and really even then teams like Utah, New Orleans and Houston had those guards and STILL they came up on the wrong end of the scoreboard. 

The Magic needs to go big! Play Gortat at the 4, move Lewis to the 3, Turkoglu to the 2 and rotate Alston, Nelson, Lee and Pietrus at the 1 depending on the situation. Gortat and Howard are too strong down low and their mere presence have held the Lakers low post game in check. SVG played Gortat more in Game 2 and the Lakers lost their low post rhythm. Gasol and Odom had trouble posting up Gortat and eventually gave up and stayed on the perimeter. Sure Orlando loses an outside shooter and clogs the lane a little on offense, but they'll still find points as long as Turk, 'Shard and Howard are on the floor. 

2 - Defend Kobe with Turkoglu (especially in the 4th quarter): Kobe's biggest weakness is long and strong defenders. James Posey last year and Tayshaun Prince in 2004 were both long and strong defenders that held Kobe in check, basically shutting him down in the Finals. Turkoglu's size will counter Kobe's very effective post game and he's quick enough to stick with Kobe in the perimeter. Plus Kobe's competitiveness will cause him to scrap the Lakers offensive game plan just to prove to Turkoglu he can score on him all day. This especially happened in 2004 and we all know what happened. The risk is that the Magic's best 4th quarter option will be run ragged chasing Kobe but at this point it's worth the risk. And TRUST ME Turkoglu will get enough under Kobe's skin. 

3 - Don't worry about NOT playing your PG's down the stretch: For some reason SVG caught flak for benching BOTH Alston and Nelson late in the 4th quarter in game 2. Why? They weren't doing a damn thing offensively and Turkoglu's very capable of bringing the ball up court like Scottie Pippen or Odom. Plus it's not like Fisher's an offensive threat to force Orlando to adjust defensively. In essence SVG went Phil Jackson by playing a small forward at the point and size at the two with Lee/Pietrus... and it almost worked.  At home it WILL work.

4 - Bench J.J. Redick: This is not brain surgery, you got past Boston and Cleveland with Redick stuck in DNP-CD mode so why mess with success? Sure he hit a HUGE three late to tie Game 2, but the Lakers also doubled off him most of the time he was on the floor. Remember those key steals late by LA... all by guys leaving Redick wide open. Duke guys should do what they're best at doing, getting all the calls in the college game and having overrated NBA careers. 

5 - What the hell am I doing?  I'm a 10-year season ticket holder and I want another damn NBA title. No more free advice for Stan Van Gundy!  

Game 2 really put a scare in all Lakers fans.  Game 1 made us all think this was an easy sweep and the parade is just a week away.  But give all the credit in the word to SVG, he made the right adjustments and all the Magic needed was just a tiny bit of production from the PG spot and this series is tied.  Playing at the O-Rena (we will not use pyramid schemes here) will definately help the Magic's slumping outside shooting.  But fare thee be warned, the Lakers are the best road team in the NBA and in each of the three previous series they were able to lock down mentally, play with extreme focus and resolve and get a clutch win.  Hopefully the mere sent of a NBA title will draw out the same efforts that we saw in Game 4 against Utah, Game 3 against Houston and Game 3 against Denver... we shall see.

Will the Lakers pattern of huge road wins continue for Game 3?

Finals Prediction

By Craig Kwasniewski

Just a very brief prediction on the NBA Finals... Lakers in 6.

But here are some other things I hope to see:

-The real hedgehog sitting courtside for the game. Just how cool would it be when the Lakers do that "Hollywood Nights" celeb montage and we see a split screen of Stan Van Gundy and Ron Jeremy!

-Kobe winning the first "Bill Russell Memorial" Finals MVP award and temporarily silencing his critics with an NBA title. I say temporarily because, let's be honest, media members outside of LA can't wait to start the LeBron era and will continue to belittle Kobe's efforts (6 NBA Finals appearance, 4 NBA Titles, 3 All Star MVP's, one league MVP.... etc, etc, etc). Yet somehow despite all those accolades, we kept hearing how LeBron has bypassed Kobe like somehow Kobe has turned into Washington Wizards Jordan. Kobe's gonna be around for awhile folks. He's too smart and too much in tune with his body to see the type of production drop-off as we've seen with Duncan and Garnett.

And by the way, can we stop naming NBA awards after dead Boston Celtics players? Not for nothing but I believe there are 29 other teams in the league.

-Phil Jackson passing angry Red Auerbach in NBA titles.  Red has said that Phil never built a team from the ground up, but Red never had to compete for NBA titles with 29 other teams.  Red never had to deal with the NBA draft.  Red never had to deal with salary caps, player entourages, media scrutiny.... basically the modern NBA.  Can a Red Auerbach deal with the likes of Dennis Rodman or the Kobe/Shaq feud and get a combined 6 NBA titles out of them?  Phil getting his 10th NBA title ends all of that discussion.

-The beginning of the Dwight Howard era!  I know he's been around for awhile but I'm giddy about him taking his game to the next level for the next 10 years.  People gasp as the prospect of LeBron's peak years, well Dwight hasn't even started his near peak years.  This guy will DOMINATE the east for a long time, and we'll start to see teams adjust their rosters to counter him much like the NBA did when Shaq was at his peak. 

Derek Fisher's Obituary and Some Other Thoughts from G2

By Craig Kwasniewski

Put him to sleep, wish him to the cornfield, call in Dr. Kevorkian, have him kiss someone with Swine Flu, push him into traffic, spike his water with female hormones so he can fail a drug test... Whatever keeps Derek Fisher from playing for the Lakers do it now! How many more games will Fisher cost the Lakers before Phil Jackson wakes up from reading Jeanie Buss's tweets and benches his ass? Three points, two turnovers, one of nine from the field and ZERO defense, Fisher needs to meet the bench NOW!

Here are a few other thoughts from the Lakers 106-103 loss to Denver my seat in section 316:

Reverse of Game 1:  The Lakers thoroughly dominated Denver for the first 22 minutes.  The Nuggets looked lost and disinterested... basically the knuckle headed Denver Nuggets that most people expected showed up at the start of this game.  Yet somehow the Lakers didn't take hold of the game and the Nuggets (behind a very impressive effort from Carmelo Anthony) got back in it, eventually stealing game 2.

Props to Phil Jackson:  For benching BOTH Bynum and especially Vujacic.  Elden Campbell’s ghost took over Bynum’s body at halftime.  Inexplicably Bynum had zero energy early in the 3rd quarter and PJ just didn't have the patience to wait for Bynum shit. Vujacic shot selection was absolute gash, earning dirty looks from everyone in Staples Center not wearing powder blue.  He needs to be destroyed like a horse with a broken leg.

The WORST thing to happen in a game:  Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony had balanced scoring in game 2.  The Lakers are better off if one or the other explodes, but if both get 22-30 each then the Lakers are in serious trouble.  It gives the Nuggets two go to guys down the stretch compared to the Lakers one with Kobe.  And tonight, Chauncey's veteran moxie took over as he drew several key fouls.

The Lakers front line needs to not be intimidated by Denver’s shorter front line.  Two games into the series and the Odom, Bynum & Gasol triumvirate have 62 points compared to 61 from Martin, Nene & Anderson.  The Lakers “advantage” is supposed to be their front line yet they lead 62-61 after two HOME games…. This is a VERY disturbing stat from LA's perspective. 

Melo has REALLY impressed me.  Late in the 2^nd quarter, the Lakers were on the brink of blowing the game wide open… well Melo wouldn’t have it and he alone carried the Nuggets on his shoulder and kept the game close…. aided by Vujacic’s TERRIBLE shot selection.

Outlook for Game 3:  The Lakers need to get points from everyone not named Kobe on the road to get back into this series… and I’m not sure how they’ll do it at Denver.  Mix in that Kobe’s running out of gas, how are they going to win at altitude?  And based on the first two games, I'm not sure they can expect their bigs to rally.  So where will Kobe get the scoring help?  Things look really good for Denver!

ESPN Orders Staff to Forget About the Lakers Sweeping the Cavs

By Craig Kwasniewski

I just intercepted a very interesting memo issued my ESPN to all their writers, bloggers and blowhards...

To: ESPN Staff

Subject: LeBron James

Whatever you do, do not mention that the Lakers swept the Cleveland Cavaliers this year. Any member of the ESPN family that mentions this will be punished accordingly.

Signed,

ESPN Management

Lakers Steal Game One from Denver

By Craig Kwasniewski  

Whew! As series go, one chapter down and this feels like the makings of an epic series. The Lakers overcame their now typical lackluster start and some very questionable officiating to pull out a 105-103 victory over a very confident Denver Nuggets team in Los Angeles. Here are a few thoughts from my seat high up in Section 316 of Le Stade de Staples:  

Carmelo Anthony wanted to send a clear message... LeBron, Dwight Howard and Kobe aren't the only superstars left in the playoffs. Remember last year when Melo called out the Nuggets for quitting? That player is long gone... Melo was straight up ballin' on BOTH ends of the floor. He held his own down the stretch, hitting clutch hoops and holding his own defensively.

Kobe v. Melo... The never told story. These two superstars really haven't had the famous one-on-one battles like Wade-LeBron or Kobe-Wade. Both guys went at it at both ends of the floor tonight combining for 79 and despite the high scoring, playing impressive defense down the stretch. Melo was able to keep Kobe on the outside forcing him into difficult and deep fadeaways late in the game (see the photo below). Kobe was only able to close it out on the freethrow line after an ill-advised reach in foul by K-Mart... Melo really didn't need help on the play. Anyway, rivalries and made in the playoffs and hopefully this series brings us more of Kobe vs. Melo. 

The "only so many points to go around" theory applies to Melo and Chauncey. Unless you're completely giving up on your head coach like New Orleans, the scoring ceiling the playoffs is usually around 110 points.  So people can always argue "well... just wait until (these several guys) get hot" but no matter what, they still won't exceed 110 points... Simply there's only so many shots to go around. Anyway, this is why we'll never see a game where both Chauncey and Melo get 30 a night. It's either one or the other. Tonight Melo dominated on offense but Chauncey was held in check... Well except for those sick threes late in the game.  Denver seems more dangerous when Chauncey is hot, I think the Lakers are willing to accept the occasional Melo scoring outburst as long as it's not late in the game.

The Lakers stole this one. Denver dominted the first quarter right from the tip, taking advantage of the Lakers now typical slow start. (BTW - these slow starts are VERY disturbing!  How hard is it to get motivated for the playoffs? CLEARLY the Lakers started off like this game's on a Sunday in November, this whole "let the game come to you" crap is getting old.  It wouldn't hurt to put a mentally weak team down in the early stages instead waiting 12 minutes to finally show up.)

But I digress...

Denver blew their chances at blowing this game wide open by missing early freethrows and not riding Melo's hot hand for the rest of the first half.  Clearly the Ariza/Walton tandem were being dominated by Melo, so why not play him most of the first half and grab a big halftime lead? (BTW - Luke Walton on Carmelo Anthony?  REALLY???? Did Phil bet on Denver?) Anyway, George Karl needed to get a feel for the game and adjust his rotations accordingly. 

The Lakers bench circa November finally showed up in the second quarter and rallied the Lakers back into the game.  Early in the season, the Lakers earned the reputation of having one of the deeper teams in the NBA from the stellar and enegertic efforts of their bench in the 2nd and late 3rd quarters.  Several times this year the Lakers starting 5 didn't open with the right energy and they relied on the bench to change the pace of the game, which happened again tonight.

The starting five showed up in the second half and the Laker rode a heroic effort by Kobe to steal the W.

Moving on to Game 2.  A big if still falls on the Lakers.  If the Lakers starters open with the same effort they did against Houston in game 7, they win easily on Thurdsay.  The Nuggets feasted on weak opponents this postseason and have yet to ever show resilience when trailing.  They know they lost a great chance at stealing game 1 and I'm curious how they bounce back.  One thing I do know is that you won't get a game where Bynum, Gasol and Odom all don't show up offensively.  I see a better effort from Gasol in game 2.

But if the Lakers follow their 2009 postseason pattern, they'll take Denver lightly and lose Game 2.  And like everyone else familiar with these Lakers anything is possible...



Melo got the best of Kobe on this one.  He was right in his face and forces Kobe to come up short.

Western Conference Finals Prediction

By Craig Kwasniewski

Lakers vs. Nuggets... which wins out, the streaking team or the team with the better match-ups? The Nuggets come in as the hottest team in the playoffs, running through the first two rounds and with a growing bandwagon loaded with all the "experts" labeling them the dark horse team du jour. The Lakers roll in, bruised and battered after a very unexpected 7-game series against the thoroughly undermanned yet prideful Houston Rockets. They no longer look like a lock for the NBA Finals.

Here's a brief rundown on the series...

It's 1992 all over again: This series reminds me of the 1992 Eastern Conference Finals between Cleveland and Chicago. The Bulls just finished a very grueling 7-game series against the the New York Knicks. Before the series, people expected the Bulls to run through New York in 5 or 6 games, but they were caught off guard and somewhat intimidated  by the Knicks physical presence (Xavier McDaniel alone had Pippen in a fetal position the entire series).  Eventually Jordan pulled Chicago through in Game 7, matching the Knicks effort on both ends of the floor.  Phil Jackson even used video of Jordan blocking X-Man from behind as motivation for the Lakers in a film session earlier this week.

Anyway, the Bulls went from playing a slug-it-out possession-by-possession series into a more offensive-oriented game against Cleveland and easily dispatched them in 6.  This series plays out the exact same way.  Denver just doesn't have the right mind-set to play the brute-physical style of the Rockets.  Don't get me wrong, they'll bring it physically, but not with the same kind of defensive control like the 1992 Knicks or 2009 Rockets. 

Lakers weakness:  Quite simply, the Lakers can't defend small and quick guards and they're weak on the defensive glass.  Chauncey Billups is a lot bigger than Aaron Brooks and is more of a pull-up jump shooter than the driving/slashing Billups that killed the Lakers back in 2004.  However, the Nuggets will get theirs on the offensive glass with K-Mart and Nene.

The other VERY glaring weakness is the Lakers effort... which is VERY disturbing that the Lakers have saved their playoff efforts until they have to. 

Nuggets weakness:  Shhhhh... nobody realizes this but the Nuggets front line is kinda small.  Nene is 6-11, Anderson is 6-10 and K-Mart is 6-9 (but really he's 6-7)... they got away with being small against an even smaller New Orleans squad that game up on the coach and very slow Dallas team, but the Lakers throw out Pau Gasol at 7-0, Andrew Bynum at 7-0 and Lamar Odom at 6-11.  They'll have to be even quicker against LA to have a chance. 

Their other weakness that we have yet to see in the playoff is that they're loaded with knuckleheads from the head coach on down to the team trainer.  Winning cures everything and beating far inferior opponents makes it seam as though the Nuggets are cured of all the past indiscretions.  Let's see how they react when they're down a game or two in the series.

Coaching match-up:  Phil Jackson is 11-1 in the Conference Finals with an 11 series winning streak.  George Karl has lost in the first round of the postseason 10 out of 18 postseason appearances.  One thing the Rockets series taught me is that the 63-year old version of Phil Jackson is not the same version as the three peat era.  Clearly he's lost his fastball but he's still one of the top 5 coaches in the NBA.  With Karl, I almost feel like he's winning with Denver solely because of Chaucey Billups and his job is to just get out of the way.  Has there even been a more miss-match of coaches in the playoffs?  (Well at least until Jackson takes on Mike Brown.) 

The Big Question:  Really this series comes down to Denver's ability to play defense.  Do they have the right mentality to defend Kobe like the Rockets and Celtics?  *NO*  And this is really what this series comes down to... defending the opponents best player.  When motivated, the Lakers have shown the ability to contain players like Carmelo Anthony and the slower Chauncey Billups but Denver doesn't have the roster to contain Kobe.  Sure they can try to intimidate Gasol and Odom out of the series and they will probably succeed in a few games, but over a seven game series you're asking a high-octane offense-first team to suddenly slow down and contain a front line of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom with Kobe Bryant pulling the strings... not an easy thing to do...

The Prediction:  The big if comes down to the Lakers effort.  IF they play like they're supposed to (Games 3, 5 and 7 against Houston), the Lakers win this series in 5.  But as we've seen, the Lakers have taken the occasional playoff game off... which Lakers squad shows up determines this series... either way, I'm sticking with the Lakers in 5.

A Very Quick Prediction on the HOU-LA Series

By Craig Kwasniewski

Just 30 minutes left before I drive on out to Staples Center so let me get a very brief prediction on the Lakers-Rockets series:

Lakers win in 6... but it won't be easy... here's why:

-The Rockets defense will focus on shutting down Kobe with mixed coverage from Artest, Battier and probably a rotating guard giving D-Fish wide open jumpers... but since he officially expired on 04/01/09 and that Farmar's confidence is at UCLA football level... the Rockets will get away with rotating away from the Lakers 1-spot.

-Bynum/Gasol versus Yao/Scola in the front court is a wash.  Scola's activity will confound the Lakers, who were exposed by Utah as weak on the defensive boards but Bynum's quickness will affect Yao in the post.  Yao ain't facing the sluggish Blazers tandem of Oden-Pryzbilla this round.

-The Lakers will struggle early in the series.  The Lakers will come off very rusty in Game 1but they'll eek out a W tonight.  But they'll come in overconfident and lose Game 2 followed by a million "the playoff don;t start until the home team loses" cliches.

-The Rockets have the depth and hustle necessary to give the Lakers trouble but they don't have the offensive firepower.  The only way they stand a chance is by slowing down the pace and making it a Jeff Van Gundy-type of series with the final scores in the 80's.

-This whole series comes down to one player:

LAMAR ODOM

The Rockets can defend Kobe with a Artest/Battie platoon but they don't have a player capaable of defending BOTH Kobe and LO.  If Odom plays like he did against Utah, I can't see the Rockets stopping him.  He's too long, agile, quick and smart enough for the Rockets to defend without letting Kobe get off.