The Lakers are in New York for the third game of the road trip to face the Knicks.
The thought on every Lakers fan mind right now is the health of Andrew Bynum. Kobe Bryant’s face said it all after the injury; he was sick, as the entire team, coaching staff, front office and the city of Los Angeles dropped a loud ‘F’ bomb in unison.
Everyone needs to remain optimistic, there will be adjustments, as much as it pains me to write this it has to be said the injury is potentially devastating to the Lakers.
As the Lakers await the results of the MRI exam to determine the severity; the unbelievable thing is that this recent injury to his right knee happened one year after injuring his left knee and ironically the Grizzlies were the opponent during both injuries.
What’s extremely disappointing was the fact that both injuries occurred when Andrew Bynum had elevated his game and was rapidly developing and really starting to dominate. Hopefully Andrew will only miss a few weeks, but if surgery is needed hopefully it can be done as soon as possible this time to insure that Andrew won’t miss the remainder of the season.
Injuries are unfortunate but also part of the game and a few good things that can come out of them would be providing more playing time for the reserves and a reminder to the entire team that everyone needs to step their game up.
Okay back to tonight’s game, Head Coach Mike D’Antoni has done a solid coaching job and his system has the Knicks playing good ball right now and they’re 6-1 in their last seven games. The Knicks are an undersized team with no inside presence that relies on rapidly pushing the ball up the court, an up tempo style scoring attack and several three point shots.
The Lakers defensively will need to slow David Lee who will use a variety of low post moves and mid-range jumpers to get his points, chase the other Knicks shooters off of the 3-point line and get back & play solid transition defense to eliminate the easy baskets.
Despite the loss of Andrew Bynum, the Lakers need to throw the ball into the low post and allow Pau Gasol to go to work. The second unit has to provide a spark. Another key player tonight has to be Josh Powell, his solid defense and tenacious rebounding is needed.
The team has a size advantage with their front line and will win by controlling the tempo, glass, stopping dribble penetration and rotating out to three point shooters.
Tipoff: 7:30 PM PST
Television -
- Los Angeles: KCAL TV Channel 9 (Joel Myers & Stu Lanz)
- New York: MSG (John Andariese)
Radio -
- Los Angeles: AM570 KLAC (Spero Dedes & Mychal Thompson)
- New York: ESPN 1050 AM(Gus Johnson & Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier)
Injuries -
Lakers:
- Andrew Bynum (Knee)
Knicks:
- Jared Jeffries (Bruised Thigh)
- Eddie Curry (Leave of Absence)
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