‘Twas a busy week of Lakers basketball, but after last week it was great to get back into the routine. Let’s wrap it up with the first ever installment of TLN’s Week in Review.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
- The Lakers kicked off the week with 100-86 win over Portland at home. Kobe Bryant scored 26 on 11-19 from the field and Pau Gasol chimed in with 19. Andrew Bynum’s four points led to comments on is energy level following the game: “I don’t think I’m taking advantage of the opportunities I’m getting,”“I just need to go out there and put more energy to it. When I watched last year’s tapes and this year’s tapes, there’s a difference you can see pretty clearly.”
- Following the game, Kobe talked about team goals as well as his personal level of play : “It’s obviously important to have homecourt advantage, so we look at it as a challenge to achieve that goal,” Bryant said. “Obviously we have a long way to go. It’s a great opportunity. We have quite a few home games here, so we look forward to trying to stretch this out a little bit. We have plenty more gears to go to. Plenty more. I haven’t even played in third gear yet.”
Monday, January 5, 2009
- Pau Gasol was named European Player of the Year by La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the top sports journals in the world.
- We got word on Luke Walton’s foot injury that kept him out of Sunday’s contest. Walton is reportedly suffering from sesamoiditis, which Foot.com describes as an “irritation of the sesamoid bones, which are tiny bones within the tendons that run to the big toe.” His estimated time of return was reported at at two weeks; a week and one day from today.
- The Blogger Power Rankings, featuring TLN’s own Jonathan Somers-Harris featured the Lakers in the top spot, with the Cavs, Magic, Celtics, and Spurs rounding out the top-5.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
- KLAC’s Isaac Lowenkron joined Brickley and G-Small on Episode #19 of The Voice of the Nation, ringing in the new year with a roundtable discussion on all things Lakers.
- Lakers-Fan.com released the latest video in their arsenal of lolz with Nikolov – Big and Greatest Lakers Fan. I’ll let this excerpt do the talking: “Trevor Ariza, he like to seal. Watch him take from you. Take ball from man not watching.”
- All was fine and dandy until the evening hit and the Lakers dropped their sixth game of the season. This one, in a seemingly defense-less contest with the Hornets. Lamar Odom went down in the second quarter with what was thought to be a hyper-extended right knee but was later diagnosed as a bone bruise. Pau Gasol had an rough game scoring 10 points on 3-8 from the field. This all bred life to the typical post-loss internet fervor, and fueled what felt like 200 trade rumors. Chuck Atkins, Shawn Marion, and Shaun Livingston all made for conversation.
- After the game, a frustrated Sasha Vujacic said that Chris Paul repeatedly called him names, most notably a “b—h.” Sasha also said he’d be taking his concerns with the game’s officiating to the league office.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
- The Lakers flew in to the Bay Area Tuesday night and took care of business on a streaky road leg of a back-to-back with the Warriors; 114-106. Pau bounced back with a huge outing, putting up 33 and 18. Kobe added 21, and Andrew Bynum showed some much needed intensity with 18 and 11. Sun Yue played 3:15.
Friday, January 9, 2009
- On the All-Star beat, Pau Gasol admitted to voting for himself “one or two times”.
- The Lakers squeaked out of a tight one Friday night with the Pacers, getting the win, 121-119 on a classic Kobe Bryant turnaround with three seconds on the clock. Sasha’s defense on Mike Dunleavy Jr. in final three led to Jeff Foster running out of time with the ball in his hands. That was just about the only defense played all game by either team. Let’s just say there were a lot of “real breakdowns defensively.” - Joley
Saturday, January 10, 2009
- Lamar Odom’s return status went from two weeks to “I don’t know.”: “They’ve told me to play when I feel like I’m ready,” Odom said. “I don’t know, It’s real achy at times. I want it to be 100%. I don’t want it to be reoccurring. My pain tolerance is high. But I can’t come back and be limping off.”
- Phil Jackson took a half-serious stab at Sasha Vujacic, saying “We just had to come to the conclusion that Sasha’s just an emotional player that plays by the seat of his pants, and that’s about it. He just doesn’t have a brain. He’s just out there whacking away and working really hard. He’s not using his head out there at times. We’re working with him, hoping that he will.”
Here’s a look at the upcoming week of Lakers Basketball…
Today (1/11) – Miami @ Lakers
6:30pm
TV: FSW
Radio: KLAC
Tuesday (1/13) – Lakers @ Houston
5:30pm
TV: KCAL
Radio: KLAC
Wednesday (1/14) – Lakers @ San Antonio
6:00pm
TV: KCAL/ESPN
Radio: KLAC
Friday (1/16) – Orlando @ Lakers
7:30pm
TV: FSN/ESPN
Radio: KLAC
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