Bynum Suspended

Bynum awaiting the referee's decision.
Courtesy of L.A. Times

Andrew Bynum was suspended Friday for his Flagrant 2 against Minnesota Timberwolve, Michael Beasley. Late in the fourth quarter Beasley made a move to the basket across the baseline. The mild tempered Andrew Bynum then sent Beasley a message with a flagrant 2 foul. He clearly came up without making a basketball move and seemlessly throwing an elbow which ended in Beasley hitting the floor. Beasley was able to get up due to his adrenaline but soon left the game with a bruised hip. The NBA gave Bynum a two game suspension without pay, he was set to make about 250,000 dollars in salary over the stretch. Lakers play the Trail Blazers and Suns in his absence. A Laker fan should look at it in a different sense, taking that it will give Bynum a rest, taking he recently stated he had felt fluid in his knee. He will continue play Friday against their in city rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers.

Post All-Star Break Equals Good Vibes

With Andrew Bynum's inproved play, the Lakers have been
able to go (9-1) since the All-Star break.
Courtesy of L.A. Times


 

Kobe after rolling his ankle. Lakers

fans were left holding their breath.

Courtesy of L.A. Times

The Los Angeles Lakers had themselves a trying week as they played teams like, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami, and Dallas but coming out with only one loss is impressive. The Lakers have been on a tear as of lately winning nine of the last ten games after the All-Star break with their only loss to the hands of the Heat on the road. The Lakers had won eight in a row until Thursday's loss, but with a quick turn-around in Dallas, the Lakers were able to win against the Mavericks in a crucial game for seeding in the Western Confernce. After the win the Lakers are now a half game behind Dallas and seven and a half  behind San Antonio for first place. Los Angeles (47-20) have a game at Staples Center Monday night against the Orlando Magic who beat them a couple weeks ago.

 Questions concerning a "human" Kobe Bryant as of late have risen. After his post-game workout in Miami shooting the ball, the media has jumped in on trying to get inside and see his "human factor." But the next game against Dallas he proved again as some kind of basketball god rolling his ankle horribly in the third quarter, and returning in the fourth to knock down a big turn-around jumper.




Second Half Push has Started...Can it last?

Ron Artest distrupting Kevin Durant.
Courtesy of L.A. Times

Andrew Bynum blocking Serge Ibaka's drive to the Hoop.
He finished with five blocks for the game.
Courtesy of L.A. Times

With the second half of the season in full affect, the Lakers (42-19) have been able to go on a nice four game run to start it off. In their latest win against the Oklahoma City Thunder 90-87, the Lakers now have a new found confidence in themselves. On the road in arguablly one of the toughest arenas to play at, they were able to steal a win. Kobe Bryant finished with only 17 points but he was able to move up once again on the All-Time scoring list to number seven passing Moses Malone. Andrew Bynum finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds while also contributing five blocks. The biggest story for the Lakers Sunday was the play of Ron Artest against Kevin Durant. Durant had 21 points while shooting (8-20) for the game. Next up for the Lake Show on the road is the Minnesota Timberwolves (14-46). The Lakers are 2-0 against them on the season so far and looking for another win Tuesday night as they gear up for some tough competition soon. Friday night the Lakers play 

Tony Parker will be out
for 2-4 weeks.
Courtesy of Inflexwetrust.com



host to the Chalotte Bobcats (26-34), then Sunday afternoon against the best team in the league record-wise, the Spurs (49-10). So Tuesday night's game is crucial for some fine tuning.The Spurs will be with out their starting point guard Tony Parker for a few weeks as he's suffering from a calf injury. This could be a good sign for the Lakers as he has always been a torn in the side.

First Three Down..All in a Good Way!

Kobe pulls up for the game tying shot with
4.7 seconds remaining against Portland
sending it into overtime.



Andrew Bynum coming up big Defensively,
he had 16 and 11 on the night against the
Clippers



As the season comes to its critical second half, teams in the NBA with a chance for the playoffs are all in and ready for the final push. The Los Angeles Lakers who went into the All-Star struggling and losing to a team the likes of the Cavaliers, is in the same boat pushing towards the playoffs. The first week for the Lakers looked tough on paper with teams such as, the Hawks, Trail Blazers, Clippers, and Thunder. The Lakers though seem to of had one hell of a break winning the first three games of the second half. A commanding 24 points win against Atlanta seem to of sparked interest in the team. Then traveling to Portland where the Lakers had lost eight of their last nine games, they would win in a comeback fashion 106-101 as Kobe Bryant scored 28 of his 37 points in the second half (eight in overtime). Ron Artest also had his best night of the year scoring 24 points. Winning in Portland meant a lot to the team and the fans and would hopefully go a long way in gaining some confidence. Next for the Lakers, they would play their fellow Staples Center friends, the Clippers in a Thursday night showdown of L.A. In a game where the scarest moment that could happen, happened. Kobe Byrant left the game in the second quarter. The funny thing was, he was hit on his funny bone. Bryant was able to come out in the second half scoring 18 of his 24 points in the third quarter alone as the Lakers cruised past the Clippers 108-95. With a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday, the Lakers hope to make it a clean sweep for the first week of the second half. The Lakers are now (41-19) for the season with a 10 game lead in the Pacific Division and a game and a half behind Dallas for second place.

25 Games to Get it Right!



Kobe getting one of his 14
rebounds in the All-Star Game.
Courtesy of NBA.com

Joe Johnson is a pure scorer, and played
pretty good Defense on Kobe in the
All-Star game.
Courtesy of NBA.com



Surprisingly there is other talk in the NBA besides the Carmelo Anthony. There's talk in Miami about how the team is gelling, talk in Boston about how well the Celtics are playing at their age. There's even talk about how the Spurs are holding such a commanding lead in the league with their age. The Lakers are also a subject of talk these days, maybe much more than they want. The two-time defending champions seem to be acting like they don't want it anymore. The problem is not the loss to the NBA's worst team, the Cavaliers, it's more internal, there is something more going on. With 25 games remaining in the season the Lakers are sitting at third in the West and with something to prove. The second half starts off with a bang as the Atlanta Hawks (34-21) come to play tonight, and should be a test for the Lakers. Wednesday L.A. travels to play the Portland Trailblazers (32-24) and then the Clippers (21-35) and Thunder (35-19) to end the week. So the Lakeshow has to wake up and wake up fast as they play such a tough line up in the first week back. One positive sign is that Kobe Bryant looked well in the All-Star game as he scored 37 points and 14 rebounds and took home the MVP in front of the home crowd. With the trade dead-line over on Thursday of this week, coach Phil Jackson doesn't believe that the Lakers will make any moves. It will be an interesting second half for the Lakers. Matt Barnes is set to come back sometime next week and Theo Ratliff should return soon as well. In my opinion, if the Lakers are going to make a move by Thursday, it has to be at the point guard position.

Matt Barnes is set to come back
sometime next week.
Courtesy of Sportsnewscaster.com

All-Star Weekend Hosted by Staples Center

All-Star weekend in the NBA is off to a good start this week with the Celebrity All-Star and Rookie Challenge already taken place. Staples Center is playing host this year to the event. With all the best players in the league in attendence for the different events it has always been a spectacle and hopefully will continue to be.

Celebrity All-Star game MVP Justin Bieber and

West Coach Magic Johnson

Courtesy of NBA.com



In the Celebrity All-Star game the East team won 54-49 against the West with Justin Bieber taking in the MVP honors friday night. He scored 8 points on (3-11) shooting but with some big time 3-pointers made.

Blake Griffin goes up for the Dunk.

Courtesy of NBA.com



The much talked about Carmelo Anthony dressed to
 impress at the Rookie Challenge

In the Rookie Challenge on the other hand, the points were much easier to come by with the Rookies defeating the Sophmores 148-140. Rookie John Wall won MVP of the game with his 22 assists for the night breaking Chris Paul's All-Star record of 17 assists. Fellow Rookie and ex-Kentucky Wildcat teammate of Wall's, DeMarcus Cousins had 33 points and 14 rebounds, while fellow power-forward Rookie Blake Griffin contributed with 14 points. For the Sophmores Los Angeles home grown talent James Harden had 30 points while DeJuan Blair scored 28 points and had 15 rebounds.

With the weekend in full effect, the rest of the activities should be just as good as friday night. Saturday night Staples Center will host the Skills Competition, Three-Point contest, and the much publicized Slam Dunk Contest.

Grammy Road Trip goes from Gold to Bronze

Starting off 4-0 on their popular Grammy Road Trip the Los Angeles Lakers have lost two in a row. With signature road wins against the Celtics and Knicks on back-to-back nights, people were starting to believe more in the Lakers. The next two games would be more of the usual to the fans. The Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Bobcats by 20 points. To end their Grammy Road Trip the Lakers play the Cavaliers in Cleveland Ohio tonight at 7:30 eastern time. The Cavaliers are the leagues worst team with a record of (9-46) and just recently erasing their widely known 26 games losing streak. Many feel confident that the (38-18) Lakers will win the game finishing their trip with a (5-2) record. Most teams would be content with that road trip but in Los Angeles, the mind set is "what have you done for me lately?"



In other Lakers' news, starting in the 2012-2013 NBA season the Lakers will not be shown for free over the air in the Los Angeles region. A 20 year deal with Time Warner Cable will be in effect and will wipe out the free games for all Lakers fans in the area. There will be a few free games that will be aired, but they will only be the national ABC aired games that usually take place on Sunday afternoons. According to the L.A. Times, 620,000 homes in the area do not pay for TV. In my opinion that is a big chunk of fans for the Lakers, but the deal is already in place and it is kind of odd, since the Lakers grew most of their popularity from using this grass root approach to raise fan-ship.