Four Down - Twelve To Go!

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Bring on the Warriors! Or the Nuggets if it has to be that way. If you still think the Nuggets are gonna win that series, you must not be watchin'! Nevertheless, nothing from here on out is gonna be as easy as it's been so far!

LA People never Seem to Cease to Riot

Source

Click the banner image to go to the report.

EDIT: Ok there's no evidence really that the shooter had anything to do with the Lakers. So I jumped to a conclusion that would've made a lot of sense, based on common past occurrences when sports teams get beat in (or even win) big games.. Los Angeles comes to mind first for me when considering such criteria.

Spurs Semi-Finals Update

I totally should've posted my review of game-2, which was Thursday night, on Friday night, since -duh- our game-3 was early Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, I'll just do two right here right now.

So in Thursday night's game-2 in San Antonio, the Clippers played us pretty close for most of the 1st half, or at least for the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. It was a half of runs. With the score 10-9, Clips, at around the 7:00 mark, the Spurs went on a 14-0 run, during which the "big-3" scored all 14. So with a 23-10 lead, the Spurs stretched it to 27-12, at which point LA would go on their own 9-2 run to close the 1st-Q 29-21. But this little run continued for 3 more minutes into the 2nd-Q, as it was 29-25 before Splitter finally scored for the Spurs at 9:11 mark - effectively a 13-2 Clippers run.

The 2nd-Q as a whole simply wasn't good period for the Spurs, as we shot 8 of 21 (38%) with several turnovers, while the Clippers put up another semi-solid 21 points. So we took a 46-42 lead to the break.

Similar to game-1, the Spurs came out on all cylinders to begin the 3rd-Q, and everyone was involved. The first 4½ minutes was a 16-5 Spurs' run. Yeah, 16! Our defense was fine as well, but LA shots were also starting to fall (notably Paul & Butler). But it didn't seem to matter, as Spurs felt confident enough to score almost every time down the floor. Danny Green had 10 3rd-Q points as the Spurs put up 32 to 25 from the Clips. The score going into

TP finally got going in game-2 Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

the 4th-Q was 78-67.

This is when the energy and defense were both taken up a notch. Neal, Splitter, and Diaw would lead another mini-run for most of 5 minutes, at which time the scoreboard read 92-76. Griffin and Evans were getting it done inside, but they had nothing to stop Tony & Tim in the 4th-Q pick-n-roll. Isn't that kind of a common theme this season? The combo would score 8 straight for SA during a 3-min. stretch that saw the lead increased to 19! Patty Mills closed it out for Tony, after a scary late foul Tony took. No idea why he was still in with 2:05 left in what was then a 17-point game.

Spurs beat the Clippers 105-88, after trading baskets a few times, and now lead the series 2-0. And we have now won 16-straight! Griffin had 20 points, but was held to 1 rebound. Chris Paul had another lackluster game with 10 pts. & 5 assts. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 22 on 8 of 19 shooting, with 5 boards and 5 assts. in 37 tough minutes. Timmy had 18 pts., 5 reb., 3 assts., and 2 steals in 33 minutes. Here's ESPN's boxscore..

Games 3 & 4 are Saturday 2:30 & Sunday 9:30 in a DUMB back-to-back in LA..

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Game-3 between Spurs & Clippers was at 12:30 Los Angeles local time in Staples Center, beginning a stretch of absolute craziness involving the Lakers, Kings, and themselves. Who didn't think this out clearly enough?

I knew game-3 in hostile territory was our best chance to lose, and as the game began, what I was seeing wasn't really anything I didn't expect. While the very beginning went pretty normal - Tony scores his 3rd bucket to bring the Spurs to within 4 at 13-9, with 7:00 showing on the clock. Over the next SIX minutes none of our shots went down. We had a mere 3 turnovers, but when you combine 9-striaght missed shots with the Clippers' 6 of 9 shooting, the result is a 14-0 run that no one really saw coming. But then again I think we might have. Blake Griffin was getting almost anything he wanted,

Griffin had a career-game Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

and everyone was feeding off the crazy crowd. So when a couple mid-run Pop-timeouts didn't work, the end of the quarter would have to. But by this time it was 33-11.

When the 2nd-Q got underway, Manu & Neal would hit a few shots, but so would Mo Williams and Nick Young. The lead ballooned to 24 at 40-16 with 9:17 on the clock. So down 24 (DOH!) Pop brought in many new guys, and for us that makes things happen. In just 2 minutes the lead was down to 18. Two minutes later it was 15. Then holding the Clippers to 5 pts. in the final 3:47 of the 1st half, Spurs would get 5 from both Manu & Tony, and 5 more from Diaw & Duncan, and the Clippers' halftime lead was only 10 at 53-43.

So now that it appeared the Spurs were going to, in fact, make it a game, the crowd was much less of a factor to begin the 3rd-Q. Paul hit a jumper, and then after a nice Duncan layup, Griffin would follow it up with his own layup. With 9:38 showing on the clock, and the Clippers leading 57-45, something happened.

For the next 8:13, the Spurs would hold the Clips completely SCORELESS, while themselves netting 24 straight!   During this stretch the Spurs would shoot 10 of 15 (68%), but the Clippers went 0 for 12. And just like that, we now had a 12-pt. lead, 69-57.

Spurs 24-0 run was legendary Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

They were stuck on 57 for a long, long time. After 3-Q's it was 69-61.

So now that we've outscored them 32-20 in the 2nd-Q, and 26-8 in the 3rd-Q, the crowd wasn't about to let us run away with it. The first 3 minutes or so of the 4th-Q saw back-to-back buckets for both teams.. Leonard's 3rd three, Manu, Splitter, Neal, and for LA it was Griffin & Mo Williams. Pop would take a critical timeout with our lead cut to 7 and 9:14 on the clock. Following the timeout, both defenses were superior, as more than 3 minutes later, our lead was still 8 (scoring was 8-7 for these 3+ minutes).

Tony & Manu were pretty much scoring at will by this point, and neither team could manufacture a serious run. As is often the case late in games against these Spurs, time would simply run out on the Clippers, and five straight FTs would cement the Spurs' win 96-86.

As improbable as it seemed at the time, now that I'm looking back at the stats & play-by-play, it's no surprise that Vinny Del Negro just apparently didn't have any changes to make during his team's 8 minute 3rd-Q drought. He did call one timeout, and there were two substitutions (KMart for DJordan, and later Foye for Butler), but neither of these are moves to initiate an offensive spark for your team. Similar numbers as game-2 for San Antonio, as Tony, Tim & Manu led us again, but this time Kawhi Leonard also had a great game with 14 pts. & 9 reb.

Blake Griffin possibly put together the best game of his short career on this night - he had 28 & 16 on 13 of 24 shooting in 43 long minutes - most of it early on. Chris Paul had 12 pts. & 11 assts., and Mo Williams had a very nice 19. Here's ESPN's full boxscore..

Spurs can end the misery later tonight in game-4 at 9:30 CDT. That would be 17-straight!!

Spurs Semi-Finals Update

Tuesday night the second round series between the Spurs and Clippers finally got underway. I only say finally because we've been resting for 7 days now. And now I find out we have a back-to-back this weekend? Such a crock! Its like "Way to go Spurs & Thunder! For sweeping your 1st-round series, we're going to reward you with back-to-back games. But wait.. there's more! It's going to take place on the home court of the team who doesn't have home court advantage!"

So game-1 began, and it was obvious that we were a little rusty. We missed several layups, and were allowing way too many points in the paint early on. But with all the shots we were missing, the 1st-Q score of 29-29 was actually acceptable. K-Mart would hit a few jumpers, which he doesn't usually do, and Eric Bledsoe was beginning to make a mark as well. Then Manu & Neal would hit back-to-back threes. After the game had been pretty tight throughout, the Spurs finished off the half with a 16-7 run: Our halftime lead was 57-49.

Two quick Caron Butler jumpers opened the 2nd half, but right after we would respond with 7 of our own, the Clippers took a timeout (65-53). Spurs would

Timmy dominated.. Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

proceed to score almost every time down the floor - responding to Caron Butler's 13-pt. 3rd-Q, but by the 1:54 mark, our lead had ballooned to 19.. 83-64, thanks to Manu & Diaw. Manu's 9-pt. 3rd-Q led us to the 87-72 3rd-Q lead.

After Jack extended the lead to 18 again, the Clips would go on a 10-0 run to close within 8 (90-82). Then our defense tightened-down like always for a 4th quarter playoff game. An 11-3 run combined with solid defense on Chris Paul resulted in a 101-85 lead with just 2:33 left. And the Spurs would close out the 108-92 WIN with perfect execution down the stretch.

1-0. I don't think they knew what hit them. Here is ESPN's boxscore..

Manu came through with 22 in 27 minutes. Kawhi & Danny combined for 31 and 12 boards, too! Boris Diaw is so important to us: 7 pts. 12 reb. 5 assts. and a +/- rating of (gulp) +24. Tony's was +26 even though he had a bad game - that goes to show you his stats don't have to be good for us to win. Then there's Timmy, who turned the clock back yet again with 26 & 10 on 12 of 20 shooting in 35 minutes.

That's 15-straight wins - and counting. We haven't lost since April 11th! APRIL 11.

Game-2 is Thursday night - again in San Antonio.

Spurs Update

Wednesday night, the Spurs wrapped-up their second B2B2B of the season vs. the Kings in Sacramento, but they would do it without Tim Duncan (resting). I'm a little surprised at this decision by Pop, but I'm also happy that he's allowing Tony & Manu to go. So rather than Timmy & Tiago, DeJuan Blair would reclaim his usual starting slot back, along with Boris Diaw. As one would expect out of a team who has been playing SO many games lately, we came out a little flat & lazy. But the defense was there, and the shots started to fall. As soon as Manu entered the game at about the 7 minute mark, his impact was instant. We would go from down-4 to up-1 during his 5 minutes on the floor, and it was a tight 29-28 game after 1-Q.

The contest would stay pretty tight throughout the 2nd-Q, as our bench was shooting well, and the Kings' crowd was feeding their high intensity. It's hard to believe this team hasn't won more than 20 games, actually. Both teams were seeminlgy scoring at will near the end of the half, as Tiago, Jack, and Mills were leading our charge, but Isaiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins were surely responding. Halftime: 58-57, Spurs.

Thankfully, our hot shooting continued out of the halftime break. Not 4 minutes went by and we had already strung together a 12-4 run, thanks to points by all-5 starters! The back-to-back scoring-fest returned with Manu now in the lineup. Our growing advantage at the free throw line was starting to pay off, as we would close out
Neal dominated -Image Source (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

the 3rd-Q 97-86, with eight different Spurs scoring. The bad news is Manu would collide with Tyreke Evans, not to return. As terrible as it looked (Source), Manu would only suffer a laceration.

The Spurs opened the 4th-Q extending the 3-0 run they were on, to a 16-4 run that blew the game wide open. With the lead now 21, and Gary Neal hitting everything he's putting up, we look unstoppable, yet again. After a Kings bucket, we had another 5-straight (115-91), and from then on, all we had to do was not turn it over. It was a close one for a half, but our shots continued to fall - even through the final seconds. The 127-102 WIN was simply a second-half domination 69-45 that was too much for Sacramento (or most teams, for that matter) to overcome. Spurs had SEVEN guys in double figures, and no one had more than 17. Here is the boxscore..

We just went 6-0 in two separate B2B2B's - something no other team has done this season.. Not to mention it's 5 wins in 7 nights.

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Friday night the Spurs played the LA Lakers for the 3rd time in 10 days. This time it was back in San Antonio, where we were dismantled inside by Bynum's 30 boards, (60-33 overall) a week ago Wednesday in a 98-84 loss. Of course we countered with revenge this past Tuesday 112-91 in LA. But the "best 2 outa 3" would feature Kobe Bryant's return from a 7-game shin injury. Once again Timmy would have Tiago starting along with him, and yes - we like this very much.

Spurs' starters were solid to begin - especially in defense as we were up 15-7 half way through the 1st-Q. Kawhi was super on D, holding Kobe to just 5 1st-Q pts. on 2 of 4 shooting. Meanwhile Manu would come off the bench to score 7. But it was old-school Tim Duncan whose strong early 10 led us. Our 1st-Q lead was 32-25.

Not 3½ minutes were gone and the score was tied, however. Gasol & Barnes led their initial charge, but just as soon as we were down 3, our defense would tighten down. Already exhausted chasing Kobe around, Kawhi would hit a huge 3 to spark us on 9-5 run that included a sweet steal and
Bynum frustrated all night long -Image Source (AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)

following assist to Manu for a crowd-rearing three. The half would end with a lot of good defense, and a 56-52 Spurs lead.

The return to action saw Kobe come to form, somewhat, as he would score 9 in just over 4-min., but our offense was just getting warmed-up. Spurs would score almost every trip down the floor: Tony, Timmy, Tony, Diaw, and then Manu would score 10 3rd-Q points, while guarding Kobe for this stretch. After the opening 3rd-Q bucket Kobe hit, the 14 of 18 Spurs 3rd-Q shooting (78%) brought the score to 91-73. And just as Sean Elliott was beginning to point out how the Lakers' players were reacting to our domination by not getting back on defense, hanging their heads, and a flat-out folding with their attitudes, Matt Bonner and Gary would open the 4th-Q with 7-straight to open up a 98-73 lead.

Just one of our many pieces, Gary Neal, always seems to find a way to shoot late nails in coffins with his play. He would score 6 in the 4th. But halfway through the 4th, the Lakers would wave the white flag, and put in Jordan Hill & Andrew Goudelock. DeJuan Blair, with 6 4th-Q pts., Jack, and Mills would bring it home, with our stars resting. For the 4th straight game, we win by 21+. The 121-97 Spurs WIN effectively proved to the national media, and more importantly to the Lakers themselves, that the road to the 2012 Championship certainly goes through San Antonio! For the first time in almost a year, the Spurs' big-3 all scored 20+! San Antonio's pts. differential in our last NINETEEN games is +12.6, and that includes our 7 and 14 point back-to-back losses at Utah and at home in that terrible Lakers game, respectively! Here is the Spurs/Lakers III boxscore..

Spurs have 4 games remaining, and of course, they are two back-to-backs with a day of rest in between: Home games vs. Cleveland & Portland Sunday & Monday, followed by road games at Phoenix & Golden State. Yeah we can still win 50 - in a season with 16 fewer games than usual.

Here are the west standings through all games of April 21, 2012:

Click to enlarge! Source: ESPN

Spurs update

Home & home with the Utah Jazz Sunday & Monday. First one here, second one in Salt Lake City. Both games were terribly officiated. Here are the boxscores: Sunday 4/8: @SA-114 Uta-104 F -- Monday 4/9: @Uta-91 SA-84 F.

Pop chose to leave Tony, Manu, & Timmy at home for that second one. And we still almost won, despite the huge disparity at the free throw line. The night before we got the better end of the calls to the FT line, but they also missed tons of calls, and made so many bad calls, I was ready to scream.

I was also prepared for the previous limited post for those two games - but based upon the LA Lakers coming to town Wednesday. No doubt we'd have a great game hosting them for the first time this season, right? Not the case. Even without Kobe playing, we came out
Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

sluggish, worried, and as Sean Elliott said, "over-respecting" this team. Gary Neal didn't play due to a stomach issue, and Tony Parker seemed like he was either thinking abut his new French hottie, or dreaming about memories with Eva.

Bynum was huge in this game. Absolutely huge. 16 points & 30 rebounds. He had 19 at the half. Crazy stat #2: Metta World Peace led the Lakers in scoring with 26, including 5 of 8 from three. So as we were out-rebounded 60-33, and dominated inside most of the game, we still kept it reasonable for the most part - chipping away at the lead throughout. But it was the 3rd-Q that was our downfall. LA quickly increased the 5-pt. halftime lead to 13 in just over 3 minutes. We would close to within 9, but then go completely cold from the field, and fall to a 20-pt. deficit. Wow! Then later, down by 26 with 7+ left, the Spurs went on a 16-1 run to come within 11... but by that time, it was clear Pop was going to concede the loss with only 2 minutes to go. Lakers win 98-84.

In 24 minutes Duncan had 14 pts. 3 blocks, but 2 rebounds. In 26 minutes Manu had 9 pts., 4 reb., and 5 assists on 3 of 8 shooting. Most importantly, Tony had only 4 pts. on 2 of 12 shooting, with 8 assists. We simply got out-played, but I can guarantee it won't happen again. Every now & then the whole team is gonna have a bad game against a good team. This was one of those nights. Here is the boxscore.

Spurs/Lakers Score by quarters and all stats via ESPN.

Spurs Update

Friday March 9th the Spurs hosted the LA Clippers for the third time this compacted season. I was pumped-up for the game, until I heard the news that Tony Parker's quad contusion he sustained during the Knicks game was gonna keep him out of this one.

Well what can I do about it.. We've got Manu now, and we should be OK. The Clippers STILL haven't won at the AT&T Center yet (Its construction was finished before the 2002-2003 season). That's 17-straight..


Source (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

So Gary Neal started at PG. He got quickly involved with Timmy in the pick n roll, and Manu was in quickly as well. But the Clippers showed they were ready to hit the three. Matt Bonner & Kawhi Leonard responded with some of their own. After 1 Q, it was 34-33, SA. Our defense looked sketchy, and not 5 minutes into the 2nd-Q, we were down 9, 50-41. Mo Williams and Manu would alternate threes a few times, and then a cold-stretch would render us quickly behind by 13 - just before scoring a quick 5 in the last minute to trail by only 8 at the half (64-56).

Coming back out, we hung tough and came within 4 (70-66), until 4 straight Clippers' FTs (74-66). Then we would pull ahead twice briefly, but both occasions were abruptly answered by either Mo Williams or Chris Paul - both of them already having great games, and then some. Approaching the end of the 3rd-Q, the Clips made their last 7 shots to lead 94-90 going into the 4th.

Defenses would dominate during the first 4 minutes of the last Q, but we took the lead 97-96 with 7:56 remaining. The game has suddenly gotten very exciting, as the crowd has seriously come to life. This was magnified further by two straight incredible threes from Manu that countered 2 Clips buckets of their own, and we were tied 103-103, with 5:20 left.

As quickly as it got tense, Mo Williams changed everything by hitting two straight threes of his own. Suddenly we were down 109-103 .. Timeout. Rj would convert on a drive, but then a Blake Griffin dunk, and a Randy Foye layup would put us down by 8 with 2 minutes to go. And the way the pace of the game was, it seemed we started to panic wayy tooo early, as a bad shot selection was followed by a turnover, which was followed by another bad shot.
Source (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Duncan has been doing his thing well: Making sweet moves in the low post, and even getting few nice dunks. He drew several trips to the line in crunch time (which is Tony's signature when we're behind). But Timmy missed 8 of 11 FTs in this game, and as a team we shot 20 of 32. These are free shots, guys.

Anyway a Foye three and 4 more FTs was all they needed. Then again we were in foul mode for more than two minutes. It didn't seem right. Spurs LOSE 120-108.

Chris Paul had 36 & 11 asst., Mo Williams had 33, including 7 of 9 from three. We were again out-rebounded (41-35), and while we shot 12 of 30 longballs, the Clippers hit 14 of 27. Amazing. Manu had 22, followed by Neal, Duncan, Green, and Kawhi all in double-figures. The Clippers are (and have been) right on our heels, but we don't see them again, and we take the season series 2-1. Here's the boxscore.

Next up is the Wizards Monday in San Antonio.

Spurs Update

The 21-9 Spurs took the court in LA early Saturday at 2:30 (CST) to take on the 19-9 Clippers (yawn). I thought they might be half-asleep for this one, and I was right. Clips had 8 and almost 4 minutes went by before we scored. Griffin was doing whatever he wanted, and "hello, Randy Foye can shoot!" A late Gary Neal three made it seem better than it was after 1 Q: 26-15.

So we tighten-up the D, and Tony & Timmy begin to get their heads out of lala land (both scoreless so far), and we'd close to within 5. Then along with Danny Green, they'd combine for 9 in the last 2-minutes of the half to actually take the lead, 45-43, completing a 21-14 run over 6 minutes.

Blake Griffin tied it up quickly out of the gates, and then it became a scoring fest - for SA. The next 4 minutes we would run the score from 45-45 to 65-50 with four threes (Bonner, Green, RJ, Green), and 8 points from Tony! But Foye again reminded us he can shoot, and just as quick as we got it...

Image Source (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

we lost it. Up 65-50 at the 7:20 mark, the Clippers went on a 17-0 run! Gary Neal hit a three & 2 FTs, and then our second timely defensive shot-clock violation closed-out the 3rd Q 70-67. Wow.

Neal began the 4th with another three, and a steal, followed by two DeJuan Blair buckets, and a TP FT, and our lead was suddenly 7, 78-71. Contained very well throughout for the most part by Tony, Chris Paul started to come to life. We missed a few shots, and CP3, Griffin, and Butler brought the Clips back to take the lead 81-80.

Then Tony makes a layup -- but then Butler sinks a FT on a 4-pt. play. (Down 3 85-82.) With 4:50 left, the common theme has been Tony & Timmy. 3 from Timmy and 4 from Tony, and we led 89-85. With 1:55 on the clock, Paul draws the foul on Green, and sinks both FTs (89-87). Tony does the same but only sink one (90-87). Then Chris Paul would make two straight layups, with a TP turnover in between (91-90 LAC). With :32 left Tony would draw a foul on Griffin, and sink both FTs (92-91).

CP3 sank 2 FTs with :29 left, and then two straight butterfinger possessions on our part, with two more CP3 FTs in between, and we're DONE. 95-92, Clippers' ball, 6 seconds left. Gomes threw the in-bounds pass to Paul, who was running backwards very close to the mid-court line. Upon his catch, and fearing a back-court violation, he threw a desperate pass horizontally across the court - directly to

Image Source

none other than Gary Neal. Neal took a dribble, and knowing we were down-3, shot the top-of-the-key three, and it was MONEY! As happy as I was, he's got ice-water in his veins, and he's done this many times before. Incredible!

So Chris Paul misses the attempt at the buzzer, and it's OVERTIME! 95-95

In OT we'd miss 5 straight shots, and two Tim Duncan FTs. Paul would make two FTs, and with 2 minutes left, Clippers led 97-95. Bonner then hit a tight three to give us the lead 98-97, before Griffin tied it up 98-98 with 1-of-2 FTs with :42 left in OT. Spurs draw up the play that goes into Timmy, who knows Neal is gonna be open in the corner for the three.. the pass.. the shot, and of course, Gary Neal sinks it!!! Yeah baby! So CLUTCH it's unbelievable, he is.. 101-98. CP3 misses his floater on the next trip down, and that was it. Two more TP FTs (103-98), a meaningless Griffin dunk (103-100), and another foul. Then Gary Neal would miss BOTH FTs giving LA one more offensive trip with 7 seconds. Paul would take it upon himself to create it, but missed the final shot. We actually stole this WIN here 103-100 in OT.

Quick stats:
SPURS: 6 players in double figures yet again..
23 assists on 40 FGs (.575) - pretty good, and only 9 TOs
Tony Parker -- 30 pts. -- 3 rbs. -- 10 asst. 11-22 FGs, 8-11 FTs
Tim Duncan -- 11 pts. -- 17 rbs. -- 3 asst. -- 2 blk.
Gary Neal -- 17 pts. -- 3 rbs. -- 3 stl. 5-8 3FGs

Blake Griffin -- 20 pts. -- 22 rbs.
Chris Paul -- 21 pts. -- 6 asst. 6-19 FGs
Randy Foye -- 21 pts. -- 8-17 FGs

Here You Go Clips

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OK ok.. this one might be better:

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Not a Good Experiment, CP3 Mr. Stern

Original Source

An Awesome Old NFL Map

Click to enlarge.. but unfortunately, it isn't gonna be big enough.

Via HERE, and a few other places

It shows the Raiders in Los Angeles, and the Cardinals in Arizona, so this has to have been printed sometime between 1988 & 1994.

I'd love to be able to find a larger resolution than 897 x 594, but unfortunately I haven't been able to so far.

Kobe: Our Failure A Wasted Year

Kobe Bryant is never much for sentimentality, and he's not going to change any time soon.

So when he reflected Wednesday on the Lakers' underachieving 2010-2011 season, which included being swept in a Western Conference semifinal series, Bryant didn't mince words on his disappointment.

"It was a wasted year of my life," he said in his exit interview.

Among the other highlights:

• He said he believes that the Lakers can win a title next year with the same roster

• He said he plans to work on his game during the summer, focusing on leg strength and injury prevention. He added that he doesn't want to get surgery on his right index finger, even if there is an NBA lockout, because the rehab would take too long.

Click here to listen to Kobe's exit interview..

Source

Too bad - So Sad..













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Le Sweep

Lakers Trade Rumors?

The rumor mill has spun into overdrive after an underwhelming winter, compounded by bad losses to Sacramento and Boston, prompted reports of Mitch Kupchak's openness toward a trade. Who would the Lakers move? Who could they get? How radical a shakeup are we talking? Is this the equivalent of the panic button pushed?

You can click here to continue to the rest of this article, entitled My guess? Nobody is going anywhere - by ESPN's Andy Kamenetzky.


But my purpose for this post was born when I saw a particular stat on Sportscenter just now. The Lakers are only 3 games behind last year's pace. A lot of the other stats are also very similar to last year (and the year before that even) - with the one prominent exception being Kobe Bryant's scoring average, among a few subtle others.

So why would they be considering making a trade? You know, a trade that would have to be fairly big considering there is already a lot of talent in place?

I don't have the answer - but I'm pretty certain of one thing. They wouldn't be talking about it - much less making such talk public - and especially NOW if:

• the Spurs weren't 7 games ahead of them, and on such a freakishly gaudy pace.

• the aforementioned Spurs weren't coming to town tomorrow night.

Yeah I know Boston's a few ahead as well. And there's Miami and Chicago right there, but merely a game up with 33 some odd games remaining is miniscule. Boston is doing what everyone expected. Miami is somewhat underachieving - at least according to the "experts". And Chicago is having a pretty special season so far, although enduring a few key injuries.



So with that being said, why are Mitch Kupchak (pictured above - Source), Magic Johnson, and a lot of the biased media worried enough to make a trade?

They're jealous of San Antonio! They aren't doing what we're doing! Granted we ran into a hot, inspired LaMarcus Aldridge Portland team tonight, and dropped the first game of our 9-game roadie, but hey. The same experts all think we're gonna fall on our faces and win around 62-65 games. We might lose a few on the trip, but we shall see what changes happens after Thursday night at Staples Center.

Standings Via

Anything To Say Now, National Media?

Source (and the full box score)

Feel free to jump on the bandwagon..



Source

Such Classy Champions

Click the pic of fire to read the story...