| Final - 11.6.2009 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Memphis Grizzlies
|
22 | 29 | 24 | 23 | 98 |
|
Los Angeles Lakers
|
25 | 24 | 38 | 27 | 114 |
Kobe Disembowels Mayo, Lakers Roll
by DexterFishmore on Nov 6, 2009 10:35 PM PST
in Game Recaps
15 comments
The Memphis Grizzlies aren't good, so we shouldn't get carried away here. They're young, and their roster has been put together without a coherent blueprint. Playing at home, the Lakers should beat these guys, even with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in dry-dock.
All that said, the Lakers put on a splendid all-around show tonight. After a sputtery first half that ended with the Grizz up 2, the L.A. offense roared into high gear to win going away. Ron Artest (14 points 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) continued his All Star-caliber play, DJ Mbenga (a career-high 13 rebounds) and Josh Powell filled in ably for the missing frontcourt starters, and Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar tag-teamed the point position as well as they have in ages.
What everyone will be talking about, though, is Adam Morrison, who lit up the scoreb-... no, sorry. I'm misreading my notes. Kobe Bryant, I meant to say, is what everyone will be talking about tomorrow. Working almost exclusively from the post, he kneecapped the Grizzly defense with 41 points on 65% True Shooting. Just as remarkably, he committed zero turnovers. OJ Mayo spent most of the night guarding Kobe one-on-one and basically got vaporized.
The box score is here, and the tempo-free numbers are below. Enjoy your evening. The Lakers are 5-1.
|
|
Poss. |
TO% |
FTA/ |
FT% |
EFG% |
TS% |
Off Reb% |
Def Reb% |
PPP |
|
Lakers |
89 |
9 |
0.12 |
82 |
55 |
57 |
40 |
72 |
1.28 |
|
Grizz |
88 |
14 |
0.37 |
76 |
48 |
53 |
28 |
60 |
1.11 |
15 comments | 0 recs |
Lakers-Grizzlies Open Thread
by DexterFishmore on Nov 6, 2009 7:00 PM PST
263 comments
I wish the Lakers could play Memphis every night. Image-searching grizzly bears is way too fun for me... I could post these things all day long.
Also, if the Lakers played Memphis every night they'd probably go something like 75-7. Of course, it would mean the premature end of Andrew Bynum's career and we don't want that, obviously, so I guess we'll just stick with the schedule the NBA drew up.
Welcome to your Friday night open thread. Please don't feed the bears.
263 comments | 0 recs
Lakers-Grizzlies Preview
by DexterFishmore on Nov 6, 2009 10:00 AM PST
in Game Previews
25 comments
The Memphis Grizzlies are, in some structural sense, the opposite of the Houston Rockets franchise the Lakers just faced. The Rockets have a widely admired basketball organization but a shortage of ability on the floor. They've got a smart young GM and a successful head coach but no elite players. They're all system, little talent.
The Grizzlies are all talent, zero system. Maybe negative system, if that makes any sense (obviously no, it doesn't). Their roster is littered with high lottery picks, famous names and even a former league MVP, and yet they still blow. The problem, basically, is meddlesome tightwad Michael Heisley, whom SI recently dubbed the third-worst owner in the NBA. Under Heisley's stewardship, the Grizzlies have become really young and really cheap, and although that strategy might result in a winning product a couple years from now, they're not there yet.
Of course, Laker fans do have Heisley to thank for Pau Gasol, so let's keep him in our hearts as we preview Friday night's game.
25 comments | 0 recs |
The Credits
by wondahbap on Nov 6, 2009 7:16 AM PST
in Opening Credits: Early Links
3 comments
The Los Angeles Times:
- Up next for Lakers: Friday vs. Memphis
- Lakers' Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol are expected to miss Friday's game
The OC Register:
LA Daily News:
Press-Enterprise:
(I'm betting Kobe has a big night. At home. No Pau. No Drew. Playing against OJ Mayo. Allen Iverson will be somewhere on the bench watching. AND LeBron's playing in MSG tonight. I predict a big night for Kobe. At least 30+ FGA.)
Click on through for MORE Lakers and NBA related Links after the Jump...
3 comments | 0 recs
Reading the Tea Leaves: Andrew Bynum Wisely Avoiding Memphis
by Josh Tucker on Nov 5, 2009 7:00 PM PST
in Editorial
33 comments
By now, if you didn't watch it happen in person or on TV, you've all heard the news: On the final Lakers' final offensive play of the fifth game of the year, in overtime, Andrew Bynum took a hard foul and injured his right arm. Collectively, of course, Laker Nation held its breath, and slowly began to lose its mind.
Not me. I know what's going on here.
The good news was that Bynum's arm was functional enough to make one of two free throws for him, effectively winning the game for L.A. The bad news was that after the game, Bynum couldn't use the arm to get dressed.
Of course, by now we have "more information" — or at least, that's what they're calling it — on this so-called injury. While it was originally thought to be a sprained elbow, they are now calling it a strained elbow, and he appears to be day-to-day. The word, passed along by the L.A. Times' Mike Bresnahan (via Twitter), is that an MRI revealed nothing serious, though Bynum won't play for the Lakers on Friday, and may or may not be back on Sunday.
For his part, according to the L.A. Times, Bynum is said to be "relieved that the injury wasn't 'too serious.' He had better range of motion this afternoon after being unable to use his right arm while getting dressed after Wednesday night's game." Lakers fans can breathe a sigh of relief; no big deal.
That's the official story. Of course, I know the truth: This is all about Memphis.
33 comments | 0 recs |
The Lakers Have Signed Kermit Washington 2.0
by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Nov 5, 2009 4:05 PM PST
5 comments
As the season was starting, user PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE put together a FanPost in which he compared Ron Artest to Kermit Washington. He put a lot of effort into it, and we felt like it deserved front page placement. However, the beginning of the season was very busy for us, so we decided to hold onto it, and promote it at a later date. That later date is here.
After the jump, PAGFL explains to us what he sees in Artest, why he sees a parallel with Kermit Washington, and what that means to him for this Lakers' season, and for Artest's tenure as a Laker.
5 comments | 1 recs
Lakeshow Episode 05: The View from Houston
by timbo on Nov 5, 2009 12:00 PM PST
5 comments
Wednesday, 3:07 pm.
Dammit, I think I'm stuck...
My buddy from Portland, Go-Go, found out that Southern Culture on the Skids was gonna be playing a show on a Wednesday night in little ol' Corvallis, Oregon — where I live — and he was reserving a room at a motel downtown first and calling me to get tickets second. This wasn't a "Can you go?" or a "Would you like to go?", this was a "We are going to go" deal. Nicely played, might I add...
Well, I've done my best for several years to maintain a real Ted Kaczynski vibe, with surprisingly good effectiveness. Too bad for me that Go-Go is one of a handful of people able to call my bluff. So we are, indeed, going to go.
The show starts at 10 pm, an hour earlier if you wanna catch the opening band and drink some beer, which we do. No problems so far, right? Ah, but here comes the issue...
(whispering now) Go-Go is a baseball fan.
I've been a baseball fan in the past, I'm man enough to admit: collected baseball cards as a kid, went to dozens of games in exotic locales like Oakland and Seattle, ingested thousands of hours of sports entertainment programming... Yep, I know a curveball from a slider from a straight change, I understand the strategy, I'm encyclopedically versed in the rules...
I also haven't watched a complete baseball game since opening day of the 2008 season and I hate the god damned Yankees and their fans for being the nauseating plague upon professional sports which they are. Go-Go is a Red Sox guy, so we've got that in common — but I just know that smug little git Pay-Rod (recognized and correctly identified as Satan's little brother by sports fans in the Pacific Northwest) is gonna win tonight. And I really double extra don't want to see it.
Thus my dilemma...
Click through to find out whether Krazee Kaczynski will blow off his pal or cave in to peer pressure...
5 comments | 0 recs |
Kobe Enjoys Shanking the Rockets
by DexterFishmore on Nov 5, 2009 8:15 AM PST
in Game Recaps
19 comments
There was never any hope that last night's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets was going to be pretty. For the Lakers it was part two of a back-to-back on the road. Their best player was ill and had played 46 minutes the night before. Their second best player had played zero minutes the night before, not to mention the nine games before that, because of a hamstring requiring attention from a multinational team of doctors. The Lakers entered the game tired, shorthanded and far from the comforts of home.
And the Rockets... well, unpretty is just how they play. They stretched LA to seven games in last year's playoffs with punishing defense and a grinding pace, and for all the talk of their up-tempo, post-Yao persona, slow and grinding is still their best shot at competing with talent-rich NBA superpowers. Throw in the weird, ambient bitterness on both sides over the Ariza-Artest thing, and the Magic 8-Ball clearly pointed to Slow-Motion Hammer Fight as the likely outcome.
But who says hammer fights can't be fun! They're especially good times* when you're not the one getting the final crack across the face.
(* = SS&R doesn't actually endorse literal hammer fights. Please, kids, stick with your fists.)
19 comments | 0 recs |
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