The Lakers will not be having away game viewing at STAPLES Center (called Home Court Advantage in the past) during the 1st Round of the playoffs.
Please check back to Lakers.com for updates on Home Court Advantage should the Lakers progress in the playoffs.
You can find the playoff schedule here. The schedule will update with specific game times for Round 1 when the information is released.
Sunday’s game at Houston has been changed to a 12:30pm PDT start. The game will be televised nationally by ABC, but is still available in high definition in the LA area on KCAL/9.
Thanks to Kevin Pelton of Supersonics.com for the Post-Game Notes
Guard Jordan Farmar and Forward Lamar Odom took some time during yesterday’s off-day to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans during their visit to the NBA store on 5th Ave. in New York City.
Click below to see more pictures.
After taking the first couple months of the season off, Flea is back blogging for NBA.com.
Flea’s open letter to other Lakers fans touches on Thursday’s booing of Kwame Brown and the differences between LA fans and other fan bases.
anyone who is a real laker fan and actually follows the team and is not a bandwagon jumping johnny-come-lately
knows that kwame is a sensitive man who can get down on himself when he makes a mistake and potentially spiral into much less quality play than he is capable of
he can be hard enough on himself without supposed laker fans insulting him
the more we support him the better he will do, the better the team will do, and maybe the lakers will get through this rough patch without our wunderkind a little bit better
kwame can do it kwame can do it kwame can do it kwame can do it
The Chili Peppers bass player takes a look back at the showtime days to illustrate his point. Give it a read here.
A couple of great Laker related items on the web today that should be enough to hold you over until tonight’s 7:30 tip.
The Yahoo! Experts Blog (which has been pretty awesome so far in thanks to the work of Kelly Dwyer) has a feature called YouTube of the Day, which usually spawns into two or three entries a day. The second version of today’s YToD features some great interactions between the legendary Chick Hearn and former Laker/current radio play-by-play man Mychal Thompson. Both videos are hilarious. Check them out here.
Henry Abbott over at TrueHoop goes in-depth with Assistant Coach Kurt Rambis on a myriad of topics as part of his Playbook series. Read it and you’ll be a better Laker fan.
Kevin Pelton does as good a job as anyone of covering the Sonics for Supersonics.com. Before each game he talks to someone in the know to get the Opposing View on the game that night. Today we talked about the Lakers on their site and got Kevin to talk about the Sonics for us. Here’s what he had to say.
As we near the halfway point of the season, what have rookies Kevin Durant and Jeff Green shown you that you didn’t expect to see when the season began?
I would say their poise and maturity, but honestly that wasn’t a surprise. That was how these rookies 
were advertised to us coming into the season, and during summer league it was evident that they are beyond their years on and off the court. With Durant, I think maybe the biggest surprise is how much he has improved defensively over the course of the season. I think his potential to be an impact defender has been underrated, and he’s done a tremendous job this year considering he’s being asked to play on the perimeter for the first time in his career. In Green’s case, I’ve been surprised by his ability to translate his post-up game to the NBA despite playing against bigger defenders, including power forwards when the Sonics play in small lineups. As he develops this aspect of the game, it figures to become a weapon for the Sonics.
How do you see the Point Guard position shaking out between Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour, & Delonte West?
Because the Sonics have three players who can start at the point, this was an important position to evaluate going into the season, with Head Coach P.J. Carlesimo wanting to give each guy a chance to start and back up on a regular basis. Unfortunately, injuries have made it difficult to accomplish that, with Watson starting the majority of the season. We still haven’t gotten a good look at West as a starter and the new coaching staff hasn’t seen Ridnour in that role. Until all three guys get that opportunity, it’s tough to say who will emerge a the position.
Tonight’s game against the Celtics will be simulcast (whoa not like that Chick fans) on both Fox Sports West HD & Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
You’ll get your normal coverage on FSN West, with Joel & Stu calling the action, highlights, replays, and everything you’ve come to expect from the crew at Fox.
On Prime Ticket you’ll be getting the special “Courtside View” angle that includes cameras above each basket and five handheld cameras courtside. The low viewing angle gives you a unique view of the action apart from the traditional camera locations.
Another added bonus of the Courtside View is the limited commercial interruptions. Aside from a few local commercials you won’t have any breaks in the action. During timeouts you’ll see the players in the huddle & the Laker Girls performing on the court–just like you would if you were sitting courtside.
Watching the courtside view will give you a complete perspective on the ebb & flow of an NBA game. Besides, how many of us will ever get a chance to sit courtside? This is the next best thing.
Coverage starts at 7pm with Bill Macdonald on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
Check out Lakers Courtside Connection before every game for the scouting report straight from the coaching staff.
Offensively, Denver wants to play fast and loose, averaging 15 fast break points per game (7th in the NBA), scoring 106.6 points per game (4th in the NBA). Coach Karl wants his players to attack the paint for lay-ups, free throw opportunities, quick Iso’s and post-ups or penetrate and pitches. Note: Denver 30-30-30 code equals 30 lay-ups, 30 free throws and 30 assists.
The Nuggets have good pushers and lane runners. Coach Karl talks about how A. Carter has added a play-making dimension to his team, allowing Iverson to work without the ball. We must find a comfortable road tempo, making good decisions with the ball, passing and have good shot selection with formation of our rebound/defensive balance pattern -get to the elbows for long rebounds. Denver will run out, throw ahead, use random screens. We need to contain the ball, building walls and closing down lanes.
Click here to read the full Scouting Report
UPDATE: Midnight and the NBA is back in action so everything should be up on the main site
Technical difficulties with the NBA.com content management system isn’t going to derail us completely tonight.
Here’s Phil’s pregame video where he talks about his shiny new contract extension.
Post-Game Locker Talk video should be up in a bit.
FROM LAKERS.com
