Lakers trade centers for wins, beat Grizzlies
There are a few NBA teams who don't have a single player over 7 feet tall. Most teams have one, but that's it. Why? Because the Lakers are hoarders. The Lakers have 3 7 footers, and that makes them the tallest team in the league by virtue of a stat I just made up. For last night's match-up with the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers were without Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. That brought their league leading 7 footer quota down to just 2, DJ Mbenga, and Kobe Bryant, who grew 6 inches for last night's game. How else could he have scored 41 points (mainly from the post) without even having to try hard?
Seriously though, last night's game, and last night in general, went about as perfectly as is possible for a fan of the purple and gold. Let's take a look at all of it shall we?.
- If you were wondering what it would look like if Kobe Bryant played at your high school, that was about as close as you will see. Poor O.J. Mayo was left to defend Kobe one v one, and it didn't go very well. Kobe took Mayo down to the block, and told him to stand in one spot so that Kobe could test a large array of post moves, including fade aways to either corner, spin moves to either side, resulting in dunks, up and under moves. Everything in Kobe's and the Dream's arsenal was on full display last night. And Mayo may still be rooted to that spot as we speak, because he sure as hell wasn't moving with Kobe on defense. 41 points on 32 posesssions for the Mamba, in 34 easy minutes. That's NOIIIIIICE.
- Ron Artest is looking better and better in a Lakers uniform by the game. His defense has been strong throughout, and for the 3rd straight game his offense carried the Lakers at times. 19 points on 50% shooting, including 60% shooting from 3 pt range. Plus he provided the comedy on the night, following a missed dunk right under the basket with a reverse dunk on the next possession. See, he's still got ups
- If you read our pre-game analysis, Dexter presented a fairly simple equation for why you should be troubled by this game. Memphis league leading offensive rebounding + Lakers league worst defensive rebounding + 2 missing 7 footers = concern. So of course, it was the Lakers who got offensive rebounds all night long, en route to 40% Off Reb, and a 12 board advantage overall.
- The Lakers won a game by double digits for the first time this season. After throwing away big leads twice so far, the bench finally banded together to have a positive influence on the game. Led by Josh Powell's strong shooting, the Lakers bench scored 35 points on it's way to an average night of + 5 off the bench
- Derek Fisher dusted off his jumpshot, and found that it had not been eaten by moths, as was previously reported. 4-7, 1-2 from long range.
- Andrew Bynum found a creative way to avoid having to play the team that owns his voodoo doll. Bynum has been injured badly against Memphis each of the last two seasons, and he is clearly not tempting fate with a 3rd
- Gasol found a creative way to avoid having to make his brother feel bad. For the record, Pau, take a lesson from Andrew on this one. You don't have to miss the 10 games before this one just to make the injury look real. Next time just get the flu or something.
- Outside of Staples, the Celtics and the Nuggets both lost, bringing the grand total of undefeated NBA teams to zero. The only teams ahead of L.A. in the standings are there only by virtue of having played more games than the Lakers.
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Comments
How will Bynum get out of the game in Memphis Feb 1st?
That’s the one to bet scared about. Just about the same time of year too.
Nice write up, C.A.
I think the past couple of wins over sub-par teams meant more than they normally would. It showed that the bench CAN play well, that we can win games without Pau or Drew, and it showed the media that Kobe;s not getting any older
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan. I only want to be Kobe Bryant,"
-Kobe Bryant
Oh, Kobe is getting older
But his impact is not diminishing
"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson
by Gils_Keloids on Nov 7, 2009 10:31 AM PST up reply actions
Is Mayo questioning the Coach? Not a good sign in Memphis
“He hits them on a lot of people,” Mayo said. "I just happened to be that victim, that guy tonight.
“As a team we have to see that if one guy gets rolling, we have to bring that double-team and get it out of his hand. We weren’t told to double-team. Hopefully that’s a scheme we put in when we face them again.”
"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson
He's right.
Why let Kobe roast you with absolutely no desire to stop it?
This team has too much talent to be as bad as they are.
because they heard from the media
that the Lakers lose when kobe attempts more than 27 shots per game.
so they though if they let kobe take all the shots he wanted, the lakers will lose…
you know, superstitious stuff like that. how else did they get their hands on an andrew bynum voodoo doll?
I didn't get to watch the game,
but Lamar looks like he had a meh game. Maybe his play was better than the numbers indicate? Either way, I feel that as usual Lamar will be one of those who benefits the most from Pau’s return. Pau obviously makes everyone better, but it just seems that Lamar always play absurdly better with Gasol.
yup
why not put luke as the starter and let Artest come off the bench? what about starting Powell his shot looks pretty sweet. I think he even hit a three.
"When I walked into the locker room on my first day as a Laker and saw my gold uniform hanging there, I cried." - Magic Johnson (Best Laker Ever)
by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Nov 7, 2009 4:58 PM PST up reply actions
Why would the Lakers start Powell? All Powell does is shoot, he doesn’t bring much else to the plate. Besides, moving Lamar to the 5 is just a disaster waiting to happen.
And I don’t think bringing Artest off the bench would be a good idea. Luke is mediocre with the starters, and mediocre off the bench. Plus the Lakers would probably want Artest to be defending the opposition’s starting small forward to start the game, not guarding the oppositions bench small forward. Luke’s defense much like the rest of his game is mediocre – it isn’t great, but its not horrible.
Well Powell
I think brings more than just shooting. He is a solid Kwame type physical player. But you are probably right about luke and Artest. Thank god i’m not the coach right?
"When I walked into the locker room on my first day as a Laker and saw my gold uniform hanging there, I cried." - Magic Johnson (Best Laker Ever)
by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Nov 7, 2009 8:17 PM PST up reply actions

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