The first game of their Florida tour didn't pan out the way they had hoped yesterday against the Miami Heat, but the Lakers (10-6) will try to rectify their uninspiring turnout with a "W" against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic (10-4). For that to happen, however, the Lakers have to put last night's game out of their collective heads and start anew with better execution on offense and more grit on defense.
The Lakers are facing a Magic team that has only lost just once in their last 6 games and are also looking to get back to winning after losing against Oklahoma City. Orlando have the 7th highest scoring offense (97.3 PPG) and 10th best defense (92.4 PPG) in the NBA right now due mostly to a guy who calls himself "Superman".
Howard leads all centers in scoring at 20.1 points per game and the entire league in rebounding with a 15.6 rebounds per game average. However, he's only 4th on the shot-blocking list averaging 2.43 swats per outing. Andrew Bynum better bring his "A" game tonight and match Howard's level of intensity and production or the Lakers could see another slide on the road.
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Faulty offense and lackadaisic perimeter defense turned another road trip, this time against the Miami Heat (10-4), into a disaster for the Lakers (10-6), who are now 1-6 away from Staples Center this season. The purple and gold had a rare 2-day off after defeating the defending champs Dallas Mavericks at home. The Heat were still without Dwyane Wade for the 5th time but had yet to lose thanks to the more intense play of Lebron James.
Lebron is second in the NBA in scoring averaging 29.8 coming in and looked eager to have some one-on-one time with the league's leading scorer Kobe Bryant (30.8 PPG). James showed off some of his new moves this season but not as often and successful as two floaters over Andrew Bynum.
Kobe didn't start off well offensively, but the Lakers went to their bigs early and often. Both Pau Gasol and Bynum came out aggressive, especially Pau, and were slowly wearing down Miami's frountcourt until Andrew sat down with 2 personal fouls in the 1st quarter.
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The compressed season is supposed to be kind to the young and harsh for the old. But here's 15-year veteran Kobe Bryant leading all scorers in the NBA with a 30.8 points per game average, exactly a point above the younger second-runner Lebron James. Bryant will try to lead the Lakers (10-5) to their second win on the road of the season against last year's Eastern Conference Champions, the Miami Heat (9-4).
The Heat will most likely not have Dwyane Wade (sprained right ankle) and, just reported, Lebron who was sent home after their morning shootaround complaining of flulike symptoms. His availability will be a gametime decision.
Nonetheless, the Lakers will use this game as a gauge on how far they've come as a team early this season, especially on the defensive end. Miami is the NBA's highest scoring team averaging 107.2 points per game. The purple and gold are a perfect 0-3 when allowing their opponents score at least 100, so it's in their best interest to be focused defensively tonight.
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CONGRATULATIONS to Michael Yarin! Michael is the winner of our T-shirt giveaway contest and will sport this brand new "Los Angeles" T-shirt courtesy of True Rivalry. We'll have another contest later in the season, so keep an eye out for that (and try your luck)! |
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Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water, here comes Derek Fisher shattering the hearts of the opposition...again!
With the scores tied at 70 and with only 9.9 seconds left in the game, Fish inbounded the ball to Kobe Bryant coming out of a high screen from Andrew Bynum at the free-throw line. Kobe pretends to survey the floor and walks the ball towards the top of the key behind the 3-point arc. He then glanced at Pau Gasol awaiting on the corner for a trey and throws the defense off a bit by pointing at Jason Terry who was coming in to double for a pick from Gasol. Dirk Nowitzki, who was hanging around near Bynum to help negate any lob passes, reacted to Kobe's call for a screen by moving up towards Bryant. But he noticed that Fisher was left wide open behind the arc so he redirected towards Derek. Dirk then realized that Pau is now open to make a B-line to the hoop and anticipated a pass from Fisher to Gasol as soon as Derek got the pass from Bryant. That little indecision was enough to give Fisher the window to take the game-winning shot. He did and without regard whatsoever to what it will do to the Dallas Mavericks (8-6). Chalk another 3-pt. dagger for Fish!
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This rematch of last year's Western Conference Semi-Finals was supposed to be a straight-out "revenge" game for the Lakers (9-5). But with Lamar Odom getting traded to the Dallas Mavericks (8-5), there's now a sense of awkwardness for the purple and gold. This is the first of 4 meetings between these two teams and the first time the Lakers will get to see their old friend since the trade.
Word has it that none of the players for the Lakers have gotten any response back from Lamar at all this season. Not surprising considering Odom is still emotional about being part of a package that would've sent Chris Paul to the Lakers. He may not admit it, but that emotion is most likely affecting his numbers this year at 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Then again, Odom has never been consistent year-in and year-out. But we'll see what he does tonight.
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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED There will probably never be a rivalry like the Lakers and the Celtics in the NBA again. But the Dallas Mavericks have caught the attention of the Lakers and their fans. The blood between these two teams may not be considered as rivals just yet, but it's certainly brewing. To mark the first meeting between the Lakers and Mavericks of the season, The Purple And Gold Blog and True Rivalry will be giving away this T-shirt ($29.99 value) to the Laker fan who can give the closest answer to this question first: |
Send your answer and name to thepurpleandgoldblog@gmail.com BEFORE the start of tonight's game between the Mavericks and Lakers at Staples Center.
The winner will be contacted for shipping address and size of T-shirt no later than midnight the following day (1/17/2012). Only The Purple And Gold Blog will receive your e-mail entries so your info won't be sold to anybody since we also hate when people sell our info to anyone.
True Rivalry is an online apparel store for passionate fans by passionate fans. They've been seen in Fight World.TV, The Gazette, TSN, Ok! Weekly, and New York Post.
To get more info on the t-shirt itself, click here.
You can also find True Rivalry on Tweeter, Facebook and YouTube. By the way, if you Like their Facebook page, you get 20% off on your next order with them.
Good luck!
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For 5 seasons, Mike Brown guided the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-5) to a winning season year after year that included a trip to the NBA Finals in his second year in 2007 and capturing the best regular season record for 2 years straight in 2009 and 2010. But owner Dan Gilbert's impatience and inability to provide a proper star to help Lebron James win a title eventually led to Brown's firing and, eventually, "The Decision".
Two short years later, Brown is coaching against his former team for the first time. The reunion will be emotional for Mike, but don't expect him to turn the notch down when it comes to trying to find ways to beat them.
For one thing, the Cavs are no longer the team that lost its first 26 games of the season last year. They're currently at 5-5 thanks in large to this season's Rookie of the Year candidate, Kyrie Irving. This kid poses a lot of problems for any team. He's quick, can pass, shoot, and carry a team to victory. With Steve Blake likely going to be out, Brown has his work cut out for him tonight. Irving is averaging 16.6 points and 5.3 assists this season.
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Lakers color commentator Stu Lantz calls Kobe Bryant as someone being from "another planet".
I agree.
As we all know, Kobe tore a ligament on his shooting wrist against the Clippers last Dec. 21st. We also know that he's averaging 30.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game since, including a back-to-back 40+ points performance the last 2 games against Phoenix and Utah. Yes, he is also averaging 3.8 turnovers per game, but given that he is also handling the ball and setting the table for his teammates, that turnover ratio should be higher.
In fact, none of his season numbers should be as high as they are right now. According to The Hand and Wrist Institute, here are some of the symptoms of a torn ligament on the wrist:
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A lot of criticisms have been thrown at the Lakers (8-4) when it comes to their effort in the 2nd half of a road game, particularly their decision-making in crunch time and their defense. But for one night, at least, the purple and gold did something about rectifiying their shortcomings resulting in their first road win of the season in overtime against a Utah Jazz (6-4) team that was previously undefeated at home.
The supposedly decrepit Kobe Bryant put up another 40-point performance in front of a "pretty nasty" crowd (as he put it after the game) that always lights a fire under him whenever he visits Salt Lake City. Much emphasis were put on how well the Jazz have been playing of late having won 5 straight games and how their level of intensity goes way up in their own building. Well, all of that are just motivation for Kobe. And having his ol' pal Raja Bell try a futile attempt at having Bryant react to his verbal endearments halfway through the opening quarter didn't help the Jazz much, either.
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