One down ... June to go
Who needs the World Series with the Lakers season underway.
The Lakers made a statement with a 96-76 win over the young Portland Trail Blazers in the season opener Wednesday night at Staples Center.
Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 23 points and had 11 rebounds to go along with his five assists. Pau Gasol added 15 points while Trevor Ariza scored 11 off the bench.
Andrew Bynum had only eight points and three rebounds but give the kid a chance. He showed a good stretch last season that he is more than capable of providing 18-10 each night, this of course before his knee injury (I just saw it flashed here in the office on SportsCenter and it's still hard to look at even though I saw it from my press row seat a few feet away).
Should Lamar Odom be coming off the bench? What Vladamir Radmanovic does in place of Odom is spread the defense with his outside shooting, giving Bynum and Gasol more looks inside, specifically Bynum.
It's hard to judge whether Odom played well off the bench to prove he deserves to be in the starting five or if he's more effective as the 6th man; less pressure to score.
Despite Bynum's quiet night offensively his presence was felt on the defensive end, blocking three shots including one on the overly-hyped (no substance) Greg Oden.
Jordan Farmar should be starting at the point in place of Derek Fisher. Farmar has shown a strong grasp of the triangle offense, creates a distraction for the defense with his elusiveness, but this might be a situation where Phil Jackson prefers playing veterans (though Bynum is an obvious exception).
The Lakers played near flawless last night. But they play again tonight against the Clippers so it'll be interesting to see how they respond. The Lakers play 19 back-to-back games this season.
I didn't realize how much I missed covering the Lakers until watching the game last night. I started to cover them mid-November last year all the way to the very end; the Lakers went from highly-questionable to NBA Finals-bound. It was fun covering those guys and interacting with them, too, during practice, before and after the games.
Still, it'll be fun to watch them from a fan's perspective as the Lakers get ready for Boston come June.
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About this blog
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.
I think Bush put the country into recession as his last act before leaving office.
Joe Amat...
I see your point. I guess Fred is trying to keep up with Miguel. Advantage-Fred with the SC tailgaters.
Time to step up your game Miguel.
Stang03,
Did you say *lose* by 5? Ouch!!! Only 43 pts off.
Do me a favor... don't pick the lancers in any of our upcoming games !:?)
The Lakers are looking really good right now. Let's cross our fingers that Bynum stays healthy this year. He is our only tough player in the middle, Gasol is good but pretty soft on D, and I'm not too confident in Mihm or Mbenga coming off the bench unless they are in there to hack a Shaq.
The Odom factor....I like his as a 6th man, there is no other player as dynamic as Odom, he can play 1-4. If his jump shot gets a little more consistent and he can start finishing at the basket he has 6th man of year written all over him. Granted those are big ifs.
I like Farmar playing with the 2nd team. He is a good change up from Fisher and he can take control of the game when he is in. Fisher is a good distributor which is what we need with Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Vlade, we don't need another gunner.
818,
Freddy apparently has turned over a new leaf since he came back home to the east side.
Check out this blog topic on who has the best tailgaters:
http://www.insidesocal.com/tribpreps/2008/10/who_has_the_bes_3.html
Fred never gave us pictures like this.
Bynum needs to tell his agent to stop asking for money, so he can play his a$$ off this season! I want to go back to Bean town and whip some a$$ for the title!
my apologies Miggy!
turning the other way that is....
The Laker's second stringers can be most teams starting five this year. The Lakers are STACKED!!!
It's tough to have a 'banner' year in the draft when your team makes it to the NBA Finals...stop lying to yourselves, you know for a fact that if any one of those girls walked into a room they would have your heads turning.
Looks like a Barbie clone or a Terminator 4 babe in the front.
I'm with stang03, not a banner year in the draft. Time to dive into the free agent market.
Stangs03, buddy, you have to read a little more careful. I never wrote 'highly-overrated', I said he was overly-hyped. I never said Bynum dominated him and in fact I wrote he had a quiet night.
Overly-hyped means he was hyped too much; building him too much when he hasn't proven himself (think Reggie Bush before he played for the Saints). Overrated means he's not good at all after years of playing.
I'm a fan but I keep it real. Otherwise, my previous editors would not have put me on the beat last year.
laker girls are trash BTW... well except for one all the way in the back, she is blurry and she is still fine...
Did you just call Greg Oden 'highly-overrated'??? He hasnt even played yet, how could you conclude that. Bynum by no means dominated him at all... I could see if you called him 'Injury prone'- Greg Oden, but to say he is over-rated is you just being bias, because your a Laker fan... Keep it un-biased, and keep it G. Lakers lose to Clips tonite by 5...