One of the greatest rivalries in the NBA will be renewed tonight as our beloved Los Angeles Lakers visit the Boston Celtics. Both squads entered the season with more questions than answers, and both have struggled in games. Recently, however, Boston appears to have found some answers en route to five straight wins, and a 10-2 record since starting 5-9.

The Lakers' struggles are well documented, and it goes without saying that a win tonight means more contribution from anyone outside of our Big 3. Much needed practice time was welcomed yesterday, as Coach Mike Brown used the time to go over defensive adjustments.

He was a little chippy today," said Kobe Bryant. "He’s such a defensive-oriented coach, there were a lot of things that he saw that we needed to go over, because this was only really our third practice of the season.

A Kobe quote! Guess what that leads to? A Kobe article, where he thinks the Lakers are not done changing, and some tweaks will be made. May I suggest, Kobe, Adam Morrison?

Some names might have come and gone and these teams may not be clear Contenders, but dammit it's still L.A vs Boston, no matter what people think.

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The Los Angeles Lakers are in Boston and eager for a road win, at least we hope they are. With another off day before the big showdown tomorrow against the Celtics, the Lakers are surely running through some offensive sets and fine-tuning some plays. The short travel between Philly and Boston should benefit the Lakers, and they should be somewhat fresh and rested for tomorrow's TNT clash.

One Laker, well ex-Laker, player who probably didn't get much rest is Derrick Caracter. Caracter was waived yesterday by the Lakers, and it seems the reason was monetary. What's that, you're not buying that? We tracked down Caracter and asked him for his thoughts:

"Chaovalkhaohfeaa, Im aakdaGULP, lakers, fanx" - DC while struggling through syrup laden 'cakes.

After that, I was able to track down another source who said that contracts not waived by the 10th would have become fully guaranteed. Good move, Lakers. So that leaves the Lakers with 14 out of 15 roster spots filled. Where does that take us? Sessions? Arenas? J.R Smith? Nope, apparently the other big "story" was Rondo for Pau.

Things just keep getting better and better.

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The Lakers received bad news several hours before their game against the Philadelphia 76ers: Coach Mike Brown was to be suspended one game as punishment for his tantrum during Saturday's Utah Jazz game, and Assistant Coach John Kuester would be in charge for the night. Happy Monday, Lakers! Then the game happened, a 95-90 loss, leaving the Lakers at 1-2 halfway through their road trip.

All was not lost, however, as there were a couple of bright spots in the meltdown. First, Kobe Bryant passed Shaquille O'Neal to reach #5 on the NBA's all time scorers list, behind only Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Kobe now has 28,601 points, and he did it in his hometown, something he really wanted to do. Even former teammate/frenemy Shaq offered his congratulations on such an accomplishment. No doubt Kobe has had a career for the ages, and he's still not done. We are all witnesses. The other bright spot? Andrew Bynum's second career 20/20 game. Other than that, I got nothin'.

The Lakers' current Grammys road trip is far from their longest at six games. They played nine games away from home in '07-'08 and went 7-2; in '09-'10, they played eight and went 5-3. By any measure, the 2008 trip was their most successful, not just by record, but because they left pregnant with Kwame Brown and came home with a baby brother for Kobe named Pau Gasol. That said, don't expect this trip to end on the same high, even if the Lakers end up going 3-3. Even Pau Gasol acknowledges that change could be a'comin' sometime soon with the trade deadline set for March 15, a short five weeks away.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Next up: the 13-10 Boston Celtics. Maybe we can arrange for Tom Brady and Wes Welker to suit up for them and spot us two points to start the game.


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The Los Angeles Lakers are in Philadelphia to take on the surprisingly good 76ers. How surprising? 3rd in the East, 17-7 overall with a 12-3 record at home. The LakeShow look to put their past game behind them as they face Iguodala and company.

It will be interesting to see how Mike Brown's demeanor is on the sideline following the out-of-nowhere blowout he had last game. Kobe makes a return back home, and is only 23 points away from passing Shaq on the All-Time scoring list, good for 5th place. In other words, a milestone game. Hooray!

If the Lakers plan to steal one on the road, they'll need more production out of everyone not named Bryant, Gasol or Bynum. Get a win, before a two day break and showdown with Boston on Thursday.

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The Lakers flew to Utah from Denver on Friday night (actually Saturday morning), but it wasn't the experience they were hoping for. Their flight was delayed while the plane was de-iced following a massive snowstorm in the mile high city, and this meant their arrival in Karl Malone City came somewhere around 4 AM, putting bedtime after 5 AM. Now, if you're young, that's prime party stuff and it means you had a good night. But, according to Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are "old and slow" so this was not a good thing.

That said, they still had a game to play, one that did not end well. In fact, it went so badly, the coach decided not to stick around. How many times has that been the case for the Lakers? I'm willing to bet not many. We'll see what happens with Mike Brown--there is speculation that he could be suspended; who knew?

Lakers next play the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. It would be nice to have a winning record on this road trip and not have to play from behind to get it. Hey Lakers, y'all listening?

Dwight, Dwight, Dwight, why you tryin' to make me lose my cool?

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Starring: The Lakers survive a wild fourth quarter that was beginning to spiral out of control. A controversial non-call nearly cost the Lakers the game. The Lakers won 93-89 over the Denver Nuggets in a hard fought battle:

"Our execution down the stretch wasn't good. We turned the ball over, we were sloppy, we didn't move the ball in the right spots at the right time. We made it really hard on ourselves," Brown said. "But having said that, it's good to get a win. We kind of found a way to grind it out and stick with it. We relied on our defense, and our defense got us a win in a tough environment."

Andrew Bynum led the Lakers with 24 points as Kobe played distributor after starting the game shooting poorly:

After the game on Altitude's broadcast, Kobe was asked if Karl's defensive strategy bothers him. Kobe replied that Karl's teams have never defeated him in a playoff series ... face slap.

In other news, apparently Dwight Howard says "Kobe messed it up" and he won't sign an extension if traded to the Lakers. He is also trying to force his way to the Nets now. Also, Kobe Bryant is the Western Conference's Player Of The Month.

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Starring: Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant starting for the West's All Stars. Andrew Bynum makes his first appearance in the all star game and is understandably excited:

"For me, it feels good because this year, I'm putting up the numbers that qualify me for it, and the fans voted me in," he said. "So it's not like I was picked by the coaches out there.
"I can't wait to go."

Tonight, the Lakers are in Denver to face the Nuggets. Last month, the Lakers lost a close contest to the Nuggets on a tough back to back game. The Nuggets are just coming off a blowout of the Clippers, so the Lakers should have the edge in energy this game. When asked about the upcoming road trip, Metta World Peace replied with something totally unrelated:

"I grew up around roaches," he said. "And it was bad. Too many of them. To many friends, yeah, in New York. I got a lot of roach friends.

I'd wake up, they'd wake up in my cereal. They'd wake up like, you know, just Ron what's up, good morning. One leg in my macaroni, the other leg in my corn. They just made themselves comfortable at my home."

Also, are the Lakers eyeing "Skip-2-My-Lou" Rafer Alston?

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The Lakers open up their road trip tomorrow with a game in Denver, but before any flying happens, they had a little practice yesterday. Here is Kobe, Pau and Coach Brown talking about what needs to improve in order to have a successful trip, and how more floor time (hopefully) means the Lakers shooting might improve. Here is hoping the Lakers, Kobe not included, know how to pack for the road and don't forget important items such as, I don't know, the Defense and Rebounding. We'll be needing those.

The fans we'll be visiting will definitely be needing their wallets, as will Rubio if he makes any bet with one Kobe Bryant. As always, Bryant believes the Lakers are still feared and welcomes the road games with open arms. Steve Blake has been cleared to run on the treadmill, and to no one's surprise, has already posted faster times than Fisher.

So, Lakers fans, are you ready for this trip? Don't forget to eat a farewell In-N-Out burger before you leave. No seriously, don't forget.

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