Stay up to day with the latest news, updates, and press conferences from your Los Angeles Lakers.
Former UCLA Bruin standout Kevin Love returned to Los Angeles for the first time this season, and spent several minutes addressing assembled media members on the court before the game.
Love talked about his adjustment to the NBA, college days at UCLA and more, which you can listen to by clicking below:
The Western Conference just got a bit more interesting.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Phoenix Suns traded Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Sean Singletary to the Charlotte Bobcats for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley, immediately giving the Suns an athletic, three-point shooting, former back-to-back Slam Dunk champ to play alongside Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shaquille O’Neal and Grant Hill.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Hornets acquired a much-needed backup guard in Antonio Daniels, while sending Mike James to the Wizards; Washington also acquired former Lakers first round pick Javaris Crittenton in the deal from Memphis, and the Grizzlies received the first-round pick they’d previously sent to Washington.
At first glance, I thought the Charlotte trade might have been made for salary purposes, with Charlotte trying to get Richardson’s contract off the books heading into the 2010 free agent craze. But Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak told me that Diaw actually has four years on his deal, and Richardson three, meaning that the trade was strictly a basketball decision. Likewise, the three-team trade was about basketball, not cap clearing as we’ve seen in other situations this season.
Kupchak went on to share his opinion about both deals, explain how the trades might affect the Lakers and added his take on the Lakers 17-3 start:
There might be a few things that didn’t get discussed in our interview with Steve Koek of Suns.com, but Phoenix’s web and multimedia manager covered everything I could think to throw at him: How the team adjusts to being without Shaq; where Steve Nash is with his game; how Amare’s really feeling after his interesting comments last week; the return of Barbosa from Brazil…And so on.
The game tips off at 7:30 at STAPLES, and as always, you can check us out on the live running diary.
Sam Amick, Kings beat writer for the Sacramento Bee, joined us to detail the 5-16 Kings, losers of eight straight games. Amick explains what’s troubling the Kings, talks about the emergence of youngsters Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson and figures out that Beno Udrih looks kind of like Paul Rudd…and himself.
Click below to hear what Sam had to say and check out Lakers Gameday for everything else you need to know about the game.
*UPDATE: One important note: Kings guard Kevin Martin, Sacramento’s leading scorer, is not expected to play after aggravating his injured ankle against Denver. Here’s what the Kings’ website has posted:
“A precautionary MRI taken today on Kevin Martin’s left ankle revealed no new injury and continued healing. He will receive daily treatment and there presently is not a timetable for his return.”
The headlines in tomorrow’s papers almost read: “Deja Vu all over again” after Caron Butler’s potential game-winning three pointer juuuuust rimmed out Friday night in Washington. With the miss, the Lakers were able to slip out of the nation’s capital at 16-2 with a win after almost blowing another 15-point fourth quarter lead.
Of course, just three days ago, Troy Murphy’s tip-in gave Indiana a buzzer-beating win over L.A. after the Pacers had trailed by 15 points entering the fourth quarter, where as the Wizards entered the final quarter trailing 87-72.
On to Kobe Bryant … Though he did hit one big jumper to put the Lakers up three after the Wiz had come within a single point in the final minutes, Kobe missed his first six shots of the quarter as many of his teammates stood around and watched on offense. Bryant did add a game-high seven assists and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Caron Butler was scoring with ease, going for 12 points in the fourth before just missing the game winner.
Here’s what Phil Jackson had to say after the game:
And your numbers:
50
Points in the paint for the Wizards to just 38 from L.A.
19
Points scored by the Lakers in the fourth quarter, 16 points fewer than they scored in the first period.
16
Offensive boards ceded to the Wizards, again a too-high number, as has characterized the Lakers’ 2-1 road trip.
10
Boards each for Andrew Bynum and Pao Gasol, though the Lakers as a team totaled just 38 rebounds to 47 for Washington. Also the number of three pointers made by L.A., led by four from Vladi.
6
Lakers in double-figures: Fisher (10); Farmar (11); Radmanovic (14); Gasol (17); Bynum (19) and Bryant (23).
3
Blocks by Bynum after his shot-blocking had slipped in L.A.’s first two games of the trip.
Let’s go with Chris Mihm, Pau Gasol, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar as our first unit, with Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza and Vladimir Radmanovic coming off the bench. Kobe, obviously, would be playing in crunch time, and probably demand to be set for the game-winning spike.
Mihm personally selected the starters, which I allowed because his sister played volleyball at USC and his father at Marquette (plus he’s seven feet tall). Now, the conversation started in the first place after Gasol and I observed Vujacic hitting a volleyball around after Thursday’s practice with Kurt Rambis.
The key to this squad is that Mihm, Gasol, Vujacic, Walton and Farmar have actually played (to varying degrees) volleyball before, let alone their freakish collective athleticism. But seriously, could a very well-organized actual volleyball team beat the Lakers? I mean, how much money would you pay to watch that?
Can we set this up? Here’s the chat with Mihm and Farmar:
Chris Bosh. Andrea Bargnani. David West. Rasheed Wallace. Dirk Nowitzki. And now Antawn Jamison.
Some of the league’s better offensive players (and Bargnani … just kidding) have each brought something a little different to Pau Gasol, a seven-footer who’s often found himself guarding smaller bigs on the perimeter.
“I like to be able to be effective in both situations,” Gasol told me after Thursday’s practice. “Be able to guard a real low post player and getting him off his shot and make sure he’s not effective, and it’s also a challenge for me to guard a guy that is more perimeter oriented, who will take me farther out of the lane and try to take me off a dribble.”
Yet and still, since Andrew Bynum will generally take the opposing team’s better back-to-the-basket offensive threat, Pau’s generally facing a smaller four that likes to try and stretch L.A.’s defense out. And he’s generally been very effective. Pau (and a sore hammy) helped limit Elton Brand to a terrible game (three points), Bargnani scored 14 points on 14 shots, Nowitzki scored 14 points (on 5-of-17 shooting) for his third-worst offensive performance this season, and West needed 44 minutes to score his 21 points, many of which came during the Hornets big fourth quarter run.
So Pau and I spent the first quarter of our conversation discussing his defending smaller guys, before we started talking about something much more interesting: volleyball. Gasol figured we’d include Sasha Vujacic, Chris Mihm, Trevor Ariza and a few other guys on our squad. Finally, Gasol talked about his new favorite band - “Kings of Leon” - and his new favorite restaurant - “The Bazaar.”
Here’s the whole conversation:
After Thursday afternoon’s practice in Washington D.C., Kobe Bryant spent a good seven minutes talking to assembled reporters from both L.A. and D.C., an interview I’ll post at the bottom of this entry.
Sometimes you’ll catch stars like Bryant in a mood to answer any and all questions, and today was one of those days … Not only that, but after he finished talking the first time, Bryant spent about 10 more minutes chatting with various reporters, including TNT’s David Aldridge. Furthermore, after seeing me in a juggling contest with Sasha Vujacic after practice (I managed to pull out a win, but only because juggling a basketball’s easier than a pumped-up-too-much volleyball), Kobe and I chatted briefly about one of his true loves: soccer. His favorite team is F.C. Barcelona, and favorite player Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who also plays for Barcelona (not surprisingly Gasol’s favorite squad as well). Messi performed in front of Bryant at the Olympics in China, though I didn’t have a chance to ask Kobe if he spent any time interacting with Messi.
I’ll try to catch Bryant soon for more on that front, but for now, here are a few bullet points leading into Thursday’s audio:
That’s my favorite time to listen to Kobe - when he’s really breaking down the hoops.
Here’s your audio:
In the locker room about an hour before Wednesday night’s game against Philadelphia, Lakers point guard Jordan Farmar spent a few minutes answering a series of questions about his game and his teammates.
Here’s what we covered: Getting a chance to redeem himself the next night after a tough loss; Picking his spots in the triangle offense; Trying to simply outplay whomever’s on the floor against him and not worrying about matchups; And how NBA players gauge where to really turn up the defensive pressure (how many minutes can players physically give maximum effort, realistically?).
Farmar, even in his youth, is already among the best interviews the league, and is someone media members know can be asked almost any question … He’ll find a way to answer it, even if it’s tough. My role isn’t so much to ask tough questions as to try to get behind the generic answer with real insight, and usually Farmar’s able to provide it. Of course, sometimes players simply can’t answer questions straight up because they’re not going to (and should not) criticize a teammate or a coach. That’s something that one should always keep in mind before criticizing comments as “vanilla”. Alas, my point is, Farmar gets all of that.
See you in a few with the running diary.
Should you ever wind up in STAPLES Center a few hours before a game (if you can sneak past security … not recommended) you’ll see each and every Lakers player warm up in his own way. Everybody shoots, but certain player more than others, and all with varying degrees of intensity. Perhaps that’s obvious, but it remains interesting to watch the subtle differences.
Kobe Bryant likes to get in early and finish up before most people even get to the building; ditto Trevor Ariza; Sun Yue and D.J. Mbenga often go really hard, especially if they’re expecting to be on the inactive list; Luke Walton always gets a three-point shooting game in with assistant coach Brian Shaw.
A better explanation: Shaw, who like the other assistants is charged with warming up each and every player, spent a few minutes with me before Sunday’s game against Toronto to detail the differences between player workouts, the role he plays and how to play the three-point shooting game that’s been around for years.
Pregame Interview Wrap
In the locker rooms and tunnels of the Lakers, we heard from Raptors forward Chris Bosh and Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. Here are a few notes:
Bosh:
There has been some chatter around the league due to comments from Bosh last week, when the NBA’s third leading scorer (27.7), fifth leading rebounder (10.5) and league leader in minutes played (42.3) said he’s shooting for the MVP. Speaking to a Fox reporter on-camera, Bosh said that he’s very conscious that an MVP doesn’t just “score lots of points,” but contributes in many other areas as well. That’s where he’s been trying to take his game this season, and it’s been a fair argument thus far.
Moments later, Phil Jackson added that Bosh’s experience in the Olympics was an obvious boon for his confidence about “what he can do and his impact on the game.”
Two other thoughts on Bosh:
1) He’s obviously very smart. By mentioning his interest in becoming the MVP so explicitly, Bosh’s name is now going to be mentioned far more often that it would have been in that discussion once talks heat up. He gets it. Being among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding and minutes may have helped him get mentions anyway, but he just made sure…
2) I talked to Kris Humphries, Toronto’s backup forward who plays against Bosh in practice every day, in more detail about the former Georgia Tech star, and will get into that in the running diary.
Phil Jackson Pregame
FROM LAKERS.com
