I don't bet on sports...that's for suckers.
If Dirk plays, then the Mavs probably will win. If Dirk does not play, then the Mavs most likely will lose.
I'm late to the party so I'll just say good win for Spurs. I picked them to lose tonight so I'm glad I was wrong for a change.
That schedule is getting much tougher-just be prepared that Spurs may not have the luxury of having the best record in the league for long. Still, I like the way this team is playing & winning-hope they can just keep it up and have enough energy to compete for another NBA le.
is SA council going to kick out the lakers bandwagon who settled in SA post GFC?
Great win. Great team D and effort throughout and props to Parker. Props to the classy Laker fans here too. The trolls are hiding of course.
Wow - awesome win.
Lakers continue to underwhelm the whole league as their record against teams with winning records indicates (1-5). I'm glad the Spurs aren't their label win.
For arguments sake the Spurs are 10-3 against teams with winning records.
Nice win. Great job. the king TP
I managed to avoid the result of this game for the whole day and sat down and watched it a few hours back - I really wasn't expecting that.
Everybody played their part, very impressed with Bonner's effort defensively and on the boards. Neal showed he wasn't scared of the big stage, 3/9 isn't great, but it was really 4/10 with that 3 that just didn't count (and the foul). George seems to always play well against LA and I haven't seen Manu play defense like that for a very long time.
That's not even mentioning DeJuan, Tony and RJ.
Kobe Takes Blame For Loss To San Antonio
Dec 29, 2010 7:50 AM EST
Kobe Bryant's shot was off on Tuesday night and he took the blame for the Lakers' loss to the Spurs.
"I couldn't put the ball in the basket and it snowballed from there," Bryant said. "It's my responsibility to make them."
He was 8-for-27 from the field, including a stretch of 13 straight missed field goals.
"I just have to put the ball in the damn hole," Bryant said. "It's my responsibility, it's my job."
Before Tuesday's game between Los Angeles and San Antonio, Bryant said he was ready for the showdown but that he wasn't sure if the "rest of the guys" were up for it.
Read more: http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar...#ixzz19VZg7Fyj
Wow, Kobe has a way of always sounding and acting like a little .
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/...-at-the-buzzer
Spurs 97, Lakers 82: At the buzzer
By Brian Kamenetzky
Apparently, whatever motivational tactics Kobe Bryant had in mind following the Miami game didn't take.
On a night far more important when it comes to practical, how-the-West-will-eventually-be-won implications, the Lakers once again laid an egg, squandering a nice second-quarter run to once again lose by double digits. The Lakers are now six games behind San Antonio for the top seeding in the Western Conference but have far more to worry about. Their offense, so potent at the start of the season, has fallen off a serious cliff. Meanwhile, their defense couldn't pull them through.
The Lakers lost going away, despite quiet nights from both Manu Ginobili (nine points), and Tim Duncan (one field goal). Why? They shot 35 percent as a team, had critical turnovers, and couldn't control guys like DeJuan Blair (17 points, 15 boards). Still, San Antonio shot a manageable 42.5 percent, and left the door open. The Lakers just kicked the door jamb -- repeatedly -- as they tried to go through.
As it stands, the Lakers, facing another tough game Wednesday in New Orleans, will either need to play dramatically better basketball over their final 50 games in the face of a brutal schedule, or hope San Antonio comes back to the pack. Credit the Spurs -- they played a strong team game and don't look the slightest bit ready to backslide. The Lakers will improve as the season goes along (it'll take some time, though, because what ails them is far more than simple boredom), but the context of this season has very likely shifted for good.
Here's how it broke down, bad news first...
Three Down:
1. Kobe Bryant. He came out hot early, going glass on Ginobili on his first shot of the game, popping to the free throw line away from the ball to hit another jumper, and finishing another possession with a brutally tough, fadeaway jumper over Manu. All told, it was a 4-for-5 start for 24, and it looked as if he was going to roll. Or maybe not. He'd finish the first quarter 4-of-10, and go to the half 4-for-14. In the third, he managed to hit a shot. Singular, ending a streak of 13 straight misses (a personal single-game record, no surprise). Heading into the fourth, Bryant had missed 14 of 19. A brief flurry in the fourth brought up his point total, but in the end he finished 8-of-27.
For those keeping score at home, that's 16 more attempts than any of his teammates. Nineteen more than Pau Gasol, 18 more than Lamar Odom. And, as Bryant will often do after going cold, he spent much of the game trying to shoot his way back into form, despite ample evidence ball movement and inside touches were an effective strategy for the Lakers. Bryant grew, rightly at times, frustrated with his inability to get a whistle -- he went to the line only twice -- but too often left the context of the offense to try to do the Superman thing even as San Antonio defended him aggressively. Even at the start, when he was hot, it was a bad tone.
Too much Kobe early threatens to take everyone else out of the game, unless he can reverse course and take less upon himself as a shooter. 10 shots in the first quarter -- and he didn't play all 12 minutes -- doesn't qualify.
Moreover, he turned the ball over five times overall, helping fuel opportunities the other way for the Spurs. This against one assist (could have been more, in fairness, had teammates knocked down a few jumpers). Kobe is a remarkable player capable of doing great things, but when he shoots with this sort of volume, he absolutely cannot miss 19 of 27 -- eight more misses than any teammate had attempts -- and can't give the ball away. It leaves the Lakers with no other outlet.
This is a team that thrives on balance.
2. Derek Fisher. It was nice of Fisher to show some solidarity with Bryant by having a poor night, but probably not necessary. One field goal, two points, four fouls. The low point came in the third quarter, when at the 4:11 mark Fisher took an unnecessary 3 on the wing with about 12 seconds left on the shot clock, and tried to draw contact on Tony Parker in the process. The hoist missed, no whistle came, and the Spurs had a run out the other way. Parker missed the layup, and Richard Jefferson bumped Fish out of the play, grabbed the ball and scored. Frustrated at the contact (or not getting the call at the other end), Fisher trailed Jefferson to half court and got in his face, picking up a technical foul.
Bad shot leads to points, which Fish makes worse with the T. A six-point deficit swells to nine.
A couple of plays later, Fisher came off a baseline screen to take a pass from Matt Barnes at the top of the key. Slowing down because he didn't think the pass would be contested, Fisher had the ball tipped away by Parker, who went the other way for two more. All in all, a poor showing from a guy the Lakers depend on to be, well, dependable.
3. Backup Backcourt. At least Fish had company. Give Shannon Brown credit for nine rebounds, but between Brown and Steve Blake, the reserve guards shot 2-for-16, with 11 of the bricks belonging to Brown. (Again, if you're keeping score, Lakers guards were an abominable 11-of-46. Yeeps!) Blake seemed oddly tentative with his passes, and Brown's shot selection, so strong for most of this season, was periodically questionable.
Three Up:
1. The Second Quarter. After nine-ish minutes of Kobepalooza to open the game, the Lakers found balance in the second quarter with Bryant on the bench, and roared back from a nine-point deficit. It started with a patient sequence in which the ball cycled through all sorts of hands. Gasol gets a quick entry at the left elbow, and makes a quick feed to a cutting Barnes. Barnes drives and kicks to Blake in the corner, who makes the entry to Andrew Bynum. A Matt Bonner foul sends Drew to the line. More good stuff followed. Bynum with good recognition and patience in the face of a double from the right midpost, kicking to Brown for 3. Gasol with a quick flip from the elbow to Blake, delivering a nicely timed pass and simultaneously setting a screen. Moral of the story? The more the Lakers moved the ball and made sure the bigs touched it, the more success they found.
Gasol had seven points in the quarter, Odom five (jumpers off plays where the Spurs dared him to shoot), the Lakers shot nine free throws (after earning nary a freebie in the first 12 minutes) and drew eight fouls on the Spurs, many coming as San Antonio was forced to foul on entry passes.
2. Andrew Bynum. Easily the best game he has played since returning to the lineup after offseason knee surgery. He had 10 points, plus seven rebounds. More important, he was active. Seriously active, both offensively and defensively. He moved well in the post to make himself available for entry passes and offensive boards. On the other end, he made himself a major factor. Perhaps his best sequence came in the fourth quarter, when on San Antonio's first possession Bynum went from the right block all the way to the corner to alter Gary Neal's 3-point shot, and less than a minute later made a strong contest and block of Ginobili as San Antonio's star created penetration off the dribble.
He rose up to dunk in the first half, hit a couple of nice hooks, and generally was a presence. Had Drew managed to hit a few more free throws (he was a hideous 2-of-8 from the stripe), it would have been a truly great night. As it was, Bynum still played a very strong game.
3. Punt. Barnes was active, Ron Artest had moments, and I thought Gasol played a very strong first half on both sides of the floor ... but really, they don't deserve to have this slot filled.
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=5965569
Lakers really need to talk it up
By Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com
SAN ANTONIO -- As the hopes for a stellar regular season for the Los Angeles Lakers are falling from the sky like a lead zeppelin, the root of their persistent problems can be blamed on a communication breakdown.
The Lakers lost 97-82 to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. It was a third straight "L" in the right-hand column of the standings, this one standing for "lashing" after these three-peat seekers looked listless against Milwaukee and downright limp against Miami.
Kobe Bryant lit into the team after the Christmas debacle, telling a room full of reporters how he wasn't going to stand for his team's disinterest and to deliver his message he would "beat it in [his teammates'] heads until it gets through."
It was the type of rhetoric that shaped the stories written by national columnists and the scintillating sound bites that led SportsCenter, but all of Bryant's barking fell on deaf ears.
Talk is cheap if no action follows. Talk is even cheaper if the right people don't hear it.
Twice since Bryant's diatribe, Lakers coach Phil Jackson was asked about his co-captain's comments, once after practice Monday and once before the game Tuesday. And twice Jackson said he hadn't yet read what Bryant said.
Bryant was asked at the team's morning shootaround Tuesday if he spoke to the team the way he spoke to the media and he replied, "Nope."
Los Angeles has now dropped three straight games by 15-plus points for the first time since March 2007, back before L.A.'s three straight trips to the NBA Finals and two rings. Everyone on the team seems to have their own take to describe what's going wrong, but nobody seems to be sharing their thoughts with one another.
Pau Gasol thought the ball should have ended up in his and Andrew Bynum's hands more often.
"We have to take advantage of our size," Gasol said. "That's one of our main strengths of this team and we go away from it, we don't utilize it. It's again, not being smart."
Gasol and Bynum combined for 7-of-12 shooting, which is one less shot attempt than the 13 misses Bryant had in a row from midway through the first quarter until late in the third, the longest empty streak of his career in a single game.
"I just need to put the ball in the damn hole when I need to," Bryant said. "It's my responsibility. It's my job and I got to do it."
The 13 straight misses eclipsed Bryant's previous record for futility of 11 in a row, done twice, in December 2003 against Boston and November 2004 at Phoenix.
"If I was playing, I probably wouldn't pass him the ball the next time," Jackson said, explaining how he would have handled it as a teammate.
If Ron Artest knew the solution for getting the sputtering offense -- one that shot just 35.4 percent from the field against the Spurs -- back in gear, he wasn't sharing it.
"That's for the coaches," Artest said. "I don't want to answer and be incorrect. I'd rather not answer. I'd rather let the leaders answer that question."
Lamar Odom simply didn't know what to make of it.
"I'm a little confused," Odom said. "I really don't know what to tell you guys."
It's not about telling the media anything, it's about finding a solution with one other.
"As a collective unit out there, we're kind of starting pointing fingers a little bit so we got to really stay inside the system and look to attack teams using mismatches and look to the advantages," Bynum said.
Gasol said the team "maybe" had some discussion at practice Monday to try to get back on the same page, but admitted that it wasn't enough.
"There probably should be a little more talking because we got to figure it out as a group what's going on and what we need to do better," Gasol said. "We need to do that with each other and talking face to face, otherwise it probably will prolong itself."
The only people who were told exactly what certain players on the Lakers were thinking Tuesday were George Hill and Richard Jefferson of the Spurs. They both received technical fouls, drawing tongue lashings from Bryant and Derek Fisher, respectively.
"We're all moody," Bryant said. "Fish got a tech today, and he's the basketball version of Barack Obama."
Fisher can apply his presidential abilities to make sure that when a bunch of moody teammates start speaking about what's going on to one another, everything stays politically correct.
Everyone agreed that Bryant going 8-for-27 from the field and putting so much of the offensive responsibilities on his shoulders alone was not the way the team would turn things around, Bryant included.
When asked if it was the right move for him to be dominating the offense early in the game instead of getting everyone involved he said, "Nope."
Because you weren't hitting shots?
"Yup."
The Lakers play the Hornets in New Orleans on Wednesday -- a tough back-to-back under normal cir stances that's even tougher given the state the team is in. Bryant said he planned to play just as hard and just as determined because, "That's how you win championships, is play with that at ude."
It will be Jackson's job to harness that hard play by Bryant and make sure it doesn't lead to hoisting up a disproportionate amount of shots.
"I'll talk to him about it," Jackson said.
A conversation is the perfect place to start.
Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter. Travis Gordon of ESPN Stats & Info contributed to this report.
San Antonio Spurs 97, Los Angeles Lakers 82: Well, this was a pretty big game
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of
AT&T CENTER — San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich never said anything to give the belief that this was the team’s most important game thus far this season. No, we all did that for him.
But he sure did wear the look of a man who knew this was a big game.
“Coach Pop came in yesterday at practice and set the tone,” Spurs guard Gary Neal said after the game. “He was real to the point and direct on what he expected us to do, especially on the defensive end.”
Keep reading →
Saw this amusing post on Blue and Gold about our hometown announcers. I appreciate how Ninja's brazen allegiance annoys other fans.
Jonathan wrote on December 28, 2010 at 10:55 pm
I dunno how many of you watched the game on NBATV vs a local LA channel but the Spurs announcers only made this more frustrating. Their open bias and hatred of the Lakers was disgusting for a national broadcast. You don’t have to love us, but when you respond to a positive Laker play by saying something negative about us and you also respond to a negative Laker play by saying something negative about us it’s a joke. They reveled in every mistake and the commentary on the refs was just amazing. They acted like they really thought every single play should have been called for the Spurs. While this is what you’d expect from a 14 year old fan of the Spurs, you would expect a lot more than a group of announcers on a huge channel like NBATV.
yada..yada..yada....
Its no worse than the Kobe fellatio fest when LA's announcers are on or any of the other home team announcers. It makes me LOL when other teams fans get bent over Spurs announcers when their teams guys are just as bad...its all part of the game. It's also not a national broadcast per se...its NBA tapping into the local feeds of one of the teams playing. It happens to everyone....next time SA is on NBA TV and the other teams announcers are calling it...i'm sure some Spurs fans will .
They're just mad because Elliott loves his "Mr. Kardashian" blasts.
The Spurs announcers are pretty bad homers... great guys and Sean is especially funny... but even i find it a little over the top.
Lakers probly have the best announcers in the league.
You think they're bad. They have NOTHING on the Houston Rockets announcers. They are pathetically bad!
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