(Photo: Chris Chambers/Getty Images)

The Lakers led 2-0, then 4-3 to start the game. Then they fell behind by as many as 14 and then scraped their way back up to get within 3 in the fourth quarter. That’s as close as they got after then giving up six straight points to the Knicks en route to another loss on the road. So much for a 4-2 trip.

For all that Kobe Bryant tried to do last night in saying he didn’t know who Jeremy Lin was, or what “Linsanity” meant, he knows full well now. It may have only been a week since the Harvard alum started catching New York’s – heck, the NBA’s attention, but based on this small sample of play, the Knicks appear to have been revived by the unlikeliest of characters. Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire would do well to get behind this kid when they get back on the floor, because unlike them, Lin has been able to do something to the Knicks that they haven’t been able to do since they arrived late last season – lead.

There would be no 61-point games for Bryant. No epic comebacks for the Lakers who have beaten this Knicks team in nine previous contests. None of those shenanigans would rock Madison Square Garden tonight, not on Lin’s watch, and certainly not when the Lakers left their momentum from a hard-fought game against the Celtics back in Boston. There was no sign of that team tonight. No movement in their offense, no grit in their defense. They arrived in the Big Apple at 3 am and they played like it, which is absolutely no excuse for a poor effort but it was what it was and they paid for it with yet another loss.

(Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

It’s February 10, 2012 and the (15-11) Los Angeles Lakers are ready to take a bite out of the big apple in a back-to-back game against the (11-15) New York Knicks. The Lakers were able to outlast the Celtics in Boston, force them to deal with rejection, put an end to their five-game winning streak and snap their own two-game losing skid.

The Lakers big three of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol came up huge combining for 68 points and 36 rebounds. The Lakers defense was solid and the game possessed playoff intensity. The Celtics went to the free throw line five times in the first half and did not get back to the line the remainder of the game.

A poor shooting performance, eight bench players combining for 18-points was not enough to stop the Lakers from wrestling away their fourth straight win in bean town. After notching their fourth road win of the season, taking the 187-mile flight to New York City the purple and gold will face a depleted Knicks team.

The Lakers lead the current season series (1-0 after a 99-82 win on 12/29/11), after sweeping last season’s series (2-0) for the fourth consecutive year. The Lakers have gone 9-1 against the Knicks in their last 10 games. The Lakers are 8-2 in their last 10 games at Madison Square Garden. In 29 games, (25 starts), Kobe Bryant has averaged 26.6 points per game against the Knicks. Kobe Bryant set the Madison Square Garden scoring record with a 61-point performance on 2/2/2009. The Knicks are riding a three-game winning streak.

Jeremy Lin has been a catalyst for the Knicks win streak and some have even asked the question has Jeremy Lin saved Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni? The fact of the matter is that D’Antoni’s offense designed to flourish with solid point guard play an entity that the Knicks have not had consistently. It is nice to see an undrafted player from Harvard who went to the D-league, spent a summer in Dallas had a cup of coffee in Houston & Oakland do well; It is what dreams are made of.

Getty Images | Stephen Dunn

The Lakers and the Celtics may be rivals. They may hate each other for as long as the NBA has existed, to eons into the future. This season, however, they have more in common than any two adversaries in the league could be. Their records are almost identical, with the Lakers at 15-11 and the Celtics with14-11. They both dominate the league in unsexier categories like points allowed (Boston in first and the Lakers in 4th) instead of blowing up the box score with explosive offense. They are both constantly written off for being too old and too slow against the new forefront of younger, more exciting teams like the Thunder, Clippers and Bulls. But the one thing that sets these two teams apart the most from the younger packs is their ability to make even a sub-40% shooting night into a nail-biting, hair-pulling thriller of a game merely due to the colors of their jerseys.

The longer the clock ran at TD North, the uglier the game got. And the uglier the game got, the harder the two teams worked. Boy did they both work…and work…until the literal last nanosecond of the entire game. And in that last nanosecond, Pau Gasol blocked the living daylights out of Ray Allen’s attempt to hit the winning shot, and the Lakers recorded their fourth regular season win in a row in Beantown.

There were nine lead changes and nine ties in 53 minutes of game time. The largest lead was Boston’s nine-point advantage in the first half, and the highest shooting percentage for either team was the Celtics’ 48% in the first quarter. None of it mattered, however, because Boston, as excellent defensively as they are, cannot compete with the Lakers’ 14-foot tandem. They tried taking Kobe Bryant out of commission, doubling him in the first half, sometimes with the ball still en route to his hands, but it only left Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum open to do their own damage, and damage they wreaked on Boston’s front court. Kobe Bryant may have scored the most, but make no mistake – this game in Boston was won on the shoulders of the Laker big men.

(Photo: Ezra O. Shaw/Allsport)

The Big Fella is about to get some big recognition.

On the heels of Shaquille O’Neal’s retirement last season, the Lakers had announced that the team would in fact raise the #34 jersey… at some point. We now have a better idea of when that will take place.

NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper reports that the team will retire Shaq’s number next season (2012-2013).

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

It’s Thursday February 9, 2012 and the (14-11) Los Angeles Lakers have traveled to Boston to square off against the (14-10) Celtics in basketball’s best rivalry. Tonight’s match up is a historic rivalry renewed at the TD Banknorth Garden.

There is never a shortage of storylines when the Celtics and Lakers collide. These two storied franchises are synonymous with NBA history seeing as both franchises have combined to win more than half of all the NBA championships.

However, tonight’s contest does not seem to possess its normal buzz. The Celtics stumbled out of the starting gate posting a 5-9 mark, but have righted the ship; Boston has gone 10-2 since their slow start. Boston currently ranks as the best defensive team in the league allowing 86.5 points per game.

The Lakers split their last two season series (1-1) after sweeping the 2008-2009 series. The Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 regular season games in Boston, have won their last three straight at TD Banknorth Garden and are 5-1 in their last six meetings in Boston. The Celtics are playing their best basketball of the season and have put together a five-game winning streak.

The Lakers are close to a turnaround, but have not played a complete game and now have a 3-9 road record. The Lakers are looking to snap a two-game losing skid.  This game will be an emotionally charged event.

Although the Lakers have to keep their emotions in check, live in the moment, play smart basketball, get a solid contribution from everyone in a purple and gold jersey and execute. The Lakers have to do a better job of moving the basketball and moving bodies to avoid scoring draughts, like the one that occurred in the late game collapse in Philadelphia when the Lakers found a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

This is essentially a playoff game that will come down to half court execution and defensive stops. The Celtics will try to be physical with the Lakers and take them out of their offense and force the big players to be jump shooters. The Lakers front line Andrew Bynum & Pau Gasol, have to be play big be physical, aggressive and attack the basket and finish whenever receiving the ball in the post.

The Lakers will once again see a zone defense and need to analyze it to decipher what type of zone it is, be patient, and get the ball to one of their big players to break the zone, but take the first open good percentage shot. The Lakers still have to get the ball inside and attack said zone and then crash the offensive boards. The Lakers need to treat every shot as a miss and collectively attack the boards.

The Lakers have to avoid the temptation of shooting jump shots and continue to move the ball to find a high percentage shot going to the basket. The Lakers have to run their offense through the post. Don’t be surprised to see Kobe Bryant in the post tonight. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol need multiple touches in the painted area to affect the outcome of this game.

Getty Images | Doug Pensinger

The Lakers sure know how to set themselves up for a victory…and still lose in the end. It was Saturday against Utah all over again, with the visiting team keeping it close through three quarters and then failing to close it out in the fourth. The Lakers and Jazz were tied after the third quarter at 67 points a piece, then Utah went off for 29 points versus the Lakers’ 20 in the last 12 minutes. After the Lakers had beaten them twice this season, the Jazz finally exacted some revenge.

The same could be said for Philadelphia. Season after season of losing to the purple and gold on their own home court, the young, talented, energetic Sixers, led by inspiring coach, Doug Collins, exploited the Lakers’ inability to close games on the road and finally broke a losing streak that dates back through more a few seasons ago.

Tonight, with Coach Mike Brown suspended for making contact with an official in Saturday’s game, the Lakers were up by four points after a close first half, led by a spectacular Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately for the visiting team, spectacular from their leader only lasted the 19:53 minutes that he played in those first two quarters, because in the next 24 minutes (all of which Bryant played), he scored just four more points. Lucky the Lakers still had Andrew Bynum, who only had seven points in the first half then went off for 13 in the second. If not for him, this game wouldn’t have been as close as it was.

Bynum was huge factor in the 20 minutes he played in the second half. But after going into the final quarter down by just one, the Lakers took an 86-79 lead with just over four minutes to go, and couldn’t prevent the Sixers from going on a 16-4 run to win the game. 16-4 run! In the final four minutes of the game, the Lakers could only muster four points from two free throws from Bynum and one fadeaway from Bryant. Against an up and coming team like the Sixers, that just wasn’t good enough.

Move Over, Shaq. Photo Credit: Kam Pashai

In a first half marked by a vintage Kobe Bryant performance, the Black Mamba has moved past Shaq and stands all alone at #5 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Congrats, Kobe!

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

It’s Monday February 6, 2012 the (14-10) Los Angeles Lakers are on the third stop of their season-long six-game Grammy road trip in the city of brotherly love, Kobe Bryant’s hometown, for a meeting with the (17-7) 76ers. The Lakers fell apart and lost the second game of the road trip to the Utah Jazz.

Head coach Mike Brown is out for tonight’s game. Brown, tossed for arguing a non-call and bumping an official. The league suspended Brown for one game without pay and hit him with a $25,000 fine for making contact with an official and not leaving the court in a timely manner once ejected. A big question is how will his absence affect the outcome of tonight’s game?

The Lakers should be in good shape with a veteran coaching staff and veteran players. The Lakers also possess veteran leadership on the court with Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher. Tonight’s game will be the only Lakers vs. 76ers match up this season after sweeping last year’s season series (2-0) for the second straight year.

The Lakers have won four straight games in Philadelphia. The purple and gold are only 4-6 in their last 10 games at the Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers lost two of their first three games this season, and then won 16 of their next 21 games. Tonight’s game appears to be a match up of size, age and experience versus youth, depth and athleticism.  Kobe Bryant is all business when he returns to Philly.

Bryant is 24 points away from passing Shaquille O’Neal to move into 5^th place on the NBA all-time scoring list. Bryant has played 28 games (24 starts) against the 76ers and has averaged 22.6 points. The only other Laker averaging 20+ points is Pau Gasol who has posted on average 21.8 points in 18 games.

Do not be surprised to see Kobe Bryant score 24-points and pass Shaquille O’Neal by the middle of the second quarter. The 76ers are a young, athletic and very energetic team. A superstar player leads the majority of teams in the NBA; Andre Igoudala is the best player on the 76ers, but not considered a superstar.