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Lakers - Warriors: Running Diary

Published

Mike Trudell

on January 7, 2009

in In-Game, Lamar Odom and Running Diary

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As always, feel free to refresh your browser for live updates throughout the game … On second thought, I guess they wouldn’t technically be “live” updates since you have to press refresh. But whatever.

Previous L.A. - Golden State Running Diaries/Postgames
Lakers - Warriors Running Diary 12-28-2008
Lakers 130, Warriors 113: Postgame

Inactives
Lakers: Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom
Warriors: Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Morrow

Instead of focusing on the game at hand, I spent the pregame talking to Andrew Bynum about his five favorite movies, TV shows, actors and musical artists. I figured that would put him in a better mood than asking him why he hasn’t been particularly effective of late. Talking about Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, Denzel Washington, “True Blood” and more, Bynum’s sure to do more damage than he did against New Orleans last night (I set my self up for success with that comment, if you check that box score).

In other news, assistant coach Jim Cleamons and I ranked the top nine in the Western Conference. We’ll get to that soon. Until then…

Your starters:

Lakers Fish, Kobe, Vladi, Pau and Bynum
Warriors Marco Belinelli, Jamal Crawford, Corey Maggette, Brandan Wright and Andris Biedrins

First Quarter
11:00 Bynum scores on a nice move on the baseline, dropping in the deuce with a short hook. I’m now starting to think of top five lists for next pregame.

10:01 The Warriors hit their third straight shot, a jumper from Crawford, to take an early 6-2 lead.

8:52 Bynum 17-foot jumper from the elbow. Swish. However, Golden State stayed hot, making 6-of-9 to start the game in taking a 12-6 lead. The crowd at Oracle was still filing in, but the noise level was rising steadily.

6:18 Radmanovic is unable to corral a relatively easy outlet pass from Bryant in the open court. Maybe he needs to talk about his five favorite bands…

5:04 Gasol’s dunk from Vladi gave him six points, plus four from Bynum in the quarter’s first seven minutes. Remember, the two bigs combined for only 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting last night. They’ve already converted 4-of-9 tonight, plus five total rebounds. Corey Maggette carried the load for Golden State by scoring eight points on 4-of-5 shooting to give the home team a 16-14 edge into the first timeout, but L.A.’s bigs have been the story.

4:29 Kobe’s first triple of the night gives the Lakers their first lead, after he put six threes in against the Hornets on Tuesday.

3:06 Huge block from Bynum on Belinelli. ‘Drew also likes R Kelly and Jeremy Piven. He likes Piven so much that the terrible movie “Smoking Aces” somehow made his top five movies list. That’s like putting Soldier Boy in your top five musical artists. Warriors 20, Lakers 19 at this point. Meanwhile, out of the timeout, Jackson came in with Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujacic and Josh Powell off the bench.

1:20 A sneaky drive from Bryant, plus the harm, gave him eight points and the Lakers a 24-20 lead. More importantly, Gasol already had eight points and seven boards for the purple and gold, though to be fair, he wasn’t facing the toughest low-post defensive team in the NBA … All the more important to keep feeding the Spaniard.

7.7 STUFF. Kobe went fierce with his left hand all the way to the goal, taking the space afforded by his defender, and continuing to rise over Ronny Turiaf and Co. in the paint. That was dirty, and illegal in some states.

Bryant’s jam completed a 9-0 run to close the quarter in taking a 28-20 lead as the Warriors failed to score in the final 3:46 of play. After starting out hot, the Warriors missed their final seven shots (the first of which Bynum swatted) to go 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) for the quarter.
Continue reading ‘Lakers - Warriors: Running Diary’

Lamar Odom Injury Update

Published

Ty Nowell

on January 7, 2009

in Injury News and Lamar Odom

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Lamar Odom
From the Lakers PR department:

Lakers forward Lamar Odom was examined today by team physician Dr. Steve Lombardo and MRI results show that Odom has a bone bruise in his right knee. Odom will not play in tonight’s game in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors, and his status beyond that is listed as day-to-day.

Odom suffered the injury in the 2nd quarter of last night’s game against the New Orleans Hornets at STAPLES Center.

Odom, Phil and Kobe’s Shoes

Published

Mike Trudell

on December 19, 2008

in Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Phil Jackson and Pre-Game

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An hour before tipoff here in Miami, here are three quick topics for you to nibble on leading into the running diary:

A) Lamar on Miami.
B) Phil on low tops and the game.

Lamar Talk
Business first - Odom said he’s feeling better than he was last game (when he threw up during the win over the Knicks) but is still a little bit stuffed up.

Odom’s a big fan of the MIA: “It was my transformation from a boy to a man when I was in Miami, so for that reason (my year here) was special to me.” Lamar, who keeps an offseason home in Pinecrest, loves coming to Miami as he gets a relaxing reprise in his place of living.

Back in 2003-04, Odom spent his only season with the Heat and averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 boards and 4.1 assists plus 1.1 steals in one of his best statistical seasons as a pro. The next season, of course, he came over (with Caron Butler and Brian Grant) to the Lakers for Shaquille O’Neal. He kept it pretty simple when asked about this year’s Heat team: “They’ve played well this year, and they’re definitely playing hard,” he said. “They have a tremendous player in Dwyane Wade, some people who really understand their roles and a player in Michael Beasley who’s going to be one of the top scorers in the game in three or four years.”

Phil Jackson Pregame

On Pau Gasol’s availability: “Yes, (he’s going to play). I think he’s OK. I don’t think he’s restricted at all. He worked out last night after a long trip across the country.”

On wearing low tops, as Kobe will tonight: “I played most of my career in low tops. I think the reason low tops went out (of style) is because when you got your shoe or heel stepped on, your foot came out of the shoe … Now a lot of low tops have velcro straps to try and keep them on your feet.”

Jackson added that he doesn’t think low tops - or high tops - really prevent ankle injuries, though taping might help “somewhat.”

Jackson said he’s wary of Miami’s speed, in particular as it applies to their pressure defense and attention to the passing lanes. Both Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers rank among league steal leaders, with Wade in fourth (2.17) and Chalmers in eighth (1.96).

On the Wade - Kobe matchup: “It’s a tough match up for both guys. Kobe is locked in on guarding him, but they cross match a lot of times (like) in transition.” Basically, when players have to switch defensive assignments due to screens or pick and rolls, they’ll see each other.

More on Kobe’s Shoes
Finally, it’s not just Kobe who’s going to be wearing his new Nike Zoom Kobe IVs; you can expect his teammate like Trevor Ariza to be sporting them as well.

Kobe Leads West On First All-Star Ballot

Published

Mike Trudell

on December 11, 2008

in All-Star 2009, Andrew Bynum, Around the NBA, Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol

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CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR LAKERS ALL-STARS

The NBA’s 58th All-Star Game is all set to be played in Phoenix on Sunday, Feb. 15. All it needs is some players.

One will surely be Kobe Bryant, who after the first ballot returns leads all Western Conference players with 719,252 votes, followed by Yao Ming’s 529,290. That’s not close. Chris Paul follows Bryant at the guard position with 406,220 votes, while Tim Duncan (442,203) and Amar’e Stoudemire (370,470) lead Western Conference forwards. Pau Gasol ranks fifth among forwards with 260,374 votes. At center, Shaquille O’Neal (227,273) trails Yao, and is followed by Mehmet Okur (162,139) and then Andrew Bynum (155,689).

Let’s take a look at the whole ballot, and then summarize the positioning of each Lakers player:

2009 Western Conference All-Star Balloting - No. 1
Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 442,203; Amar’e Stoudemire (Pho) 370,470; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 327,233; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 261,952; Pau Gasol (LAL) 260,374; Ron Artest (Hou) 214,063; Bruce Bowen (SA) 121,739; Shane Battier (Hou) 115,981; Josh Howard (Dal) 113,456; Luis Scola (Hou) 82,344; Lamar Odom (LAL) 78,422.

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 719,252; Chris Paul (NO) 406,220; Tracy McGrady (332,222); Manu Ginobili (SA) 166,981; Jason Kidd (Dal) 162,286; Tony Parker (SA) 161,638; Steve Nash (Pho) 142,410; Jason Terry (Dal) 105,345; Chauncey Billups (Den) 87,172; Brandon Roy (Por) 78,071; Rafer Alston (Hou) 73,613.

Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 529,290; Shaquille O’Neal (Pho) 227,273; Mehmet Okur (Utah) 162,139; Andrew Bynum (LAL) 155,689; Greg Oden (Por) 71,366; Andris Biedrins (GS) 65,496; Al Jefferson (Minn) 46,242; Tyson Chandler (NO) 39,467; Marcus Camby (LAC) 25,824; Chris Kaman (LAC) 9,104; Brad Miller (Sac) 6,892.

Kobe Bryant
Kobe’s huge lead in the Western Conference should only grow as the season goes on. If Kobe isn’t voted in as a starter for the 11th time in his career (every year but his rookie season and there was no game in 1999), then “The Office” is a terrible show that’s never funny and has bad actors. We don’t even need to bother discussing this.

Pau Gasol
Pau’s case is a bit more interesting. First of all, I’ll argue that he should be an All-Star. He’s very clearly been the second-best player on an 18-3 team, and has the numbers to back it up: 18.0 points (20th in the West); 9.2 rebounds (7th); 3.4 assists; 0.95 blocks; and, perhaps most impressively, 57.1 field goal shooting, which ranks fourth in the league behind three players that score mostly on dunks and layups (Nene, Shaq and Emeka Okafor). While Pau is unlikely to be voted in as a starter ahead of Duncan, Amare, ‘Melo or Dirk, one would think that the NBA’s coaches value and respect Gasol’s game enough to put him on the squad. Even if the just mentioned four players all get into the game, it’s hard to think that the coaches would rather have Artest, Bowen, Battier, Howard or Scola, who trail Gasol in votes. A few other players not yet cracking the vote minimum are Carlos Boozer (who’s been hurt); David West, who was an All-Star last season; Zach Randolph, who - no matter what you say about him - is averaging 20 and 11; LaMarcus Aldridge; and Al Jefferson, who’s actually listed as a center but is averaging 21 and 10 and could get in as a forward/center if Minnesota wins a few more games. Yet and still, do you think any of those players are more deserving than Pau? Me either.

Andrew Bynum
Unless Sun Yue makes a few calls to China on Bynum’s behalf, it’ll be quite difficult to jump Yao as the West’s starter at center. But there’s a good argument for Bynum being the West’s No. 2 center, particularly when we consider that his numbers should keep improving all the way up to the All-Star Game. Right now, he’s averaging 13.3 points, 8.9 boards (8th in the West), 1.95 blocks (7th in the NBA) and is shooting 56 percent from the floor (9th in the NBA). Andris Biedrins is putting up impressive numbers (15.2 points, 12.4 rebounds) but is on a bad team, just like Al Jefferson. Were Bynum the focal point of a team’s offense (like Al) or its only big man (like Biedrins), his numbers would probably rise to their level. As for the other two besides Yao ahead of ‘Drew, Shaq’s 15.4 and 8.4 are fine, but he doesn’t play the second side of back-to-backs. Okur’s numbers are right there with Shaq at 15.2 and 7.8, but the Turk is really more of a perimeter-oriented player on offense and doesn’t protect the rim on defense. Marcus Camby’s playing well, but Chris Kaman, Brad Miller, Tyson Chandler and Greg Oden shouldn’t threaten Bynum too much - it’ll be more about if Drew’s production continues to progress as it has in the last few weeks. If so, the kid’s first All-Star berth could be his reward.

Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher
While Odom’s currently the 11th player in terms of votes on the All-Star ballot, and certainly has All-Star caliber skills, he probably isn’t getting enough playing time on L.A.’s talent-laden squad to make as good of a case as other players. So with Lamar, let’s monitor his play (and minutes) heading into the next round of votes.

Fisher is the fifth Lakers player on the ballot, but with point guards like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Baron Davis and now Chauncey Billups out West … Well let’s just say it’ll be tough.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR LAKERS ALL-STARS

Wednesday Practice Report

Published

Mike Trudell

on November 26, 2008

in Lamar Odom, Phil Jackson and Practice News

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Lamar Odom likes stuffing the best, though he isn’t complaining about cranberry sauce.

Turkey Day aside, Odom and Phil Jackson addressed a few media members subsequent to Wednesday’s practice. Though you can watch the videos for yourself, here’s what stood out to me:

Jackson used the word “buoyant” to describe how his players looked on the court Tuesday night, which is interesting diction. The idea is that when so many guys are contributing individually to the team, the general mood is quite positive. Winning of course improves a team’s collective mood, but even more so when nine guys are contributing than five. I’m on board with that theory.

Phil explained that Kobe said he’s “Feeling the best he’s ever felt at this time of the season, so that’s a nice thing to hear him say.” Jackson went on to express concern that Bryant’s not shooting the ball with “the kind of accuracy he has in the past,” saying the team would “really (like to) get him going before the trip we take next week.”

I asked Odom if there’s anything that’s surprised him about how far along the Lakers are at this stage of the season: “Nah. In the beginning of training camp, I remember the first day we all got together and this is kinda what I had in mind … We had a long summer to sit back and think about what we did wrong, and now we’re just going out there playing hard and playing to win every game. Our chemistry has gotten that much better inside and outside the locker room.”

Now, if you’re looking for a breakdown of a Dallas Mavericks team that has won five straight after losing five straight, I spent five minutes with assistant coach Jim Cleamons, and that video will be up on Friday morning, when you’re still digesting Thursday evening’s meal.

Locker Room Lamar

Published

Mike Trudell

on November 12, 2008

in Lamar Odom, Podcast and Post-Game

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In the locker room after L.A.’s seventh win in as many tries, I caught up with Lamar Odom. We spoke for a few minutes before he got distracted since Sasha Vujacic didn’t deliver some soap to the locker room. Fair enough.

Here he is…

Locker Room Lamar [1:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Check below for Phil Jackson’s post-game audio.

Lamar Unplugged Teaser

Published

Mike Trudell

on November 5, 2008

in Lamar Odom and Video

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Check back Thursday to catch the full version of Lamar doing his thing on camera after Tuesday’s practice. Here’s a clip to whet your appetite:

Clippers Post-Game Videos

Published

Ty Nowell

on October 30, 2008

in Andrew Bynum, Lakers.com News, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza and Video

. 0 Comments

Video from the Locker Room following the Lakers 117-79 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Bynum, Ariza, Odom Post-Game

Pau Gasol 1-on-1

Postgame: Lakers Crush Clippers

Published

Mike Trudell

on October 29, 2008

in Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Post-Game

. 0 Comments

And they did it by 38 points.

Easily the most impressive part of L.A.’s second-consecutive blowout win to start the season* was that the Lakers, collectively, did not let up on the crosstown Clippers for even a minute of the 117-79 annihilation at STAPLES Center Tuesday. A few bullet points elucidate that fact:
*L.A. beat Portland 96-76 on the front end of the back-to-back.

The Lakers had seven players in double-figures, led by 16 points from Kobe Bryant.

L.A.’s vaunted bench combined for an almost silly 55 bench points. And how about a 17-point run by the second unit in the second quarter?

Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant totaled 26 boards between them to pace a 51-32 Laker rout on the glass.

The purple and gold made 11 more shots from the field in holding the Clips to 38.5 percent shooting, highlighted by ceding a total of 30 points in the second and third quarters.

Second-chance points favored the Lakers 25 to six, thanks in part to 14 offensive rebounds.

Andrew Bynum was much better on Wednesday than Tuesday, posting 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, grabbing those nine boards and totaling three more blocks, matching his swat total from the Portland win.

The Lakers canned 10-of-19 threes after making 7-of-10 yesterday. That’s a combined 58.6 percent from distance.

Stay tuned on lakers.com for a 1-on-1 video interview with Pau Gasol, plus a montage of Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum.

Later.