SB Nation - Los Angeles Lakers

Answering The Twitter Mailbag

Jeff Clark — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:32:41 -0000

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

I want my Baby back Baby back Baby back Baby back Baby back Baby back

This weekend I wanted to do a mailbag to answer questions that some of you might have. I got most of my questions via twitter. Here's a sampling of the questions and my humble answers.

mikerobbo34 @celticsblog do you think the team considered signing Iverson?

I believe Ainge admitted that there was some internal debate about signing Iverson. Ainge has long been a fan so I would imagine it was Doc that vetoed the signing. I'm sure that Doc has respect for AI but probably felt that introducing a guy like that wasn't the best idea for the lockeroom at that point in the season. I agree. For all his offensive prowess, he doesn't seem to be much of an ubuntu type of guy. I think the Stephon experiment last year didn't hurt that much, but it didn't help much either. In the end, if everyone wasn't buying in, it wasn't worth another experiment.

Colin_in_NYC @celticsblog here's a Q - How many minutes do you think will Big Baby get when he comes back and where are they coming from?

That's a really difficult question. Shelden is much like Leon Powe in that he provides rebounding and energy but isn't always a good scoring option. I could see another platoon situation like there was with Baby and Leon last year. Both will be squeezed for minutes with Sheed coming off the bench as well. I think you'll see Baby when Doc feels he needs some more offense and Shelden when Doc really needs a rebound.

sw43 @celticsblog How will this team recover from the offseason departure of defensive stalwart Mikki Moore?

Thank you Steve Weinman. He'll be here all week folks. Tip your waitress. Wait, I thought we agreed that the Mikki Moore era never happened. As soon as Tom Ziller invoked the name of Mark Blount, I knew we were in trouble.

But seriously, even with Sheed not in his prime anymore, he is so much of an upgrade over what we had last year it is crazy.

WAD1980 @celticsblog will rebounding be the fatel flaw of the 09-10 Celtics or will Danny Ainge find a way to improve it?

Lets just say that it is a tear in the fabric. We can sew it up, patch it up, or ignore the problem. Ignoring it isn't an option because the tear will just keep getting bigger and leave a big hole in our attack. Patching it with an outside person might help, but might end up causing more problems than it is worth. I think we have players that can rebound but they need to make if more of a priority. Perk, Sheed, and KG should be able to board with anyone. Sheed and KG spend a lot of time on the perimeter on offense, but if they emphasized it, they could pull down more boards. I think.

4Hoopz @celticsblog why the Celtics? What's ur next fave' 3 teams? What players would you like to see in green? (realistically and/or unrealisticly)

Dad brought me to the '86 Championship rally in Boston when I was 11. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. Next 3 favorite? I'd have to say the Twolves (formerly because of KG, now because of Big Al and Gomes), Nuggets (I like Melo), and anyone playing against the Lakers (or Magic or Cavs). I've said before, Chris Paul is the only PG I'd trade Rondo for. Durant is unattainable but would look great in green. Ditto for Melo. Basically, once the big 3 move on, we're going to need some bigtime scorers to put next to Rondo and Perkins.

bigguyd @celticsblog what are the c's going to do with Tony Allen? Is he tradeable at his point or do we keep him as a good 12th option?

Sure he's tradable, he's got an expiring contract. As a player, however, he's not worth much at all. Couple his contract with Scal and JR Giddens and we can pick up someone for the stretch drive that might be able to help. The key will be finding a team willing to dump salary at the deadline and not taking on too many years (probably the reason why Nocioni isn't a Celtic right now).

Brian0414 @celticsblog in the offseason, any ideas of who we may be able to land?

Oh man, I'm notorious for looking ahead and thinking about the next step, but I'm not sure even I can look ahead that far. This team is built to win now. I'm not sure anyone knows what's going to happen this summer, including Danny.

My best guess is that we'll take whomever we can nab for the MLE like we did with Sheed this year. Hey, maybe if Shaq wants one more shot at a ring he'll sign on to be our Bill Walton 6th man.

CelticsCircuit @celticsblog: Is Rajon Rondo the best point guard in the Eastern Conference?

He's probably the best pure point guard, yeah. It will be fun watching him and Derrick Rose grow up together. Devin Harris had a heck of a year last year and Jameer Nelson is a heck of a player. But I like Rondo for the way he can dominate a game without needing to shoot the ball much.

katee_nbaluv09 @celticsblog do you think perkins is having an all star worthy season this year?

Good question. I'm not sure if I have a direct answer for you. On one hand, I have to make the case that his defense deserves recognition and his offense has rounded his game into an all around player. There aren't a lot of big men I'd trade him for in the East.

On the other hand, it will be very difficult from a logistical standpoint to get him on the actual All Star roster. You can bet on KG and Paul being there, I'm betting Rondo will be on this year, then you have to wonder how many Celtics they'll put on the team and you start to weight the pros and cons of putting Ray vs. Perk on the team. You can see why Doc avoided the question the other day. He doesn't want to get in the middle of that debate. In a perfect world, Paul, KG, Rondo, and Perkins go this year, leaving Ray to rest and spend time with family. But I'm not sure it will work out that way.

What would you do for a Klondike Bar? (Kiorrik)

I'd do a lot for a Klondike Bar, especially if it was funny. So the question isn't what would I do, but rather what wouldn't I do. Here are some things:

Root for Kobe for any reason. In fact, I have him on my fantasy basketball team and I routinely root against myself. I was hoping to jinx him by having him on my team, but so far no such luck. Also on my team are Kidd, Richard Jefferson, Boozer, Varejao, and Horford. I'm in 3rd place and hating every moment of it.
Advocate trading Paul Pierce under any circumstance. For the right deal I could trade Ray Allen. I can't imagine it happening before the last year of his deal, but I would trade KG. I would even consider trading Rondo or Perkins for the right deal. However, I don't think I could part with Pierce for anything.
Stop writing about the Celtics. I love that this blog has become so popular and that you all like coming here to discuss the greatest basketball franchise ever, but if I didn't have this blog, I'd still be writing about the team somewhere. I just can't get enough of this stuff and I am blessed to be part of this community. Cheers.

Thanks for the questions everyone. This was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime.

60 Minutes Interview w/ ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy- Must See Hoops TV

Atma Brother ONE — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:15:33 -0000

This Sunday's 60 Minutes episode on CBS featured a long interview with NBA-banned and disgraced referee Tim Donaghy. As you would expect from a 60 Minutes interview it's extremely high quality and incredibly intriguing. Particularly striking was the bit about the refs conspiring against Allen Iverson.

[Amazon.com]

The entire video segment after the jump.

Part 1

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Part II

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Web Extra

Special Treatment- Former NBA player Doug Christie had to be careful when he played against Kobe Bryant!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Thanks to our man Andrew Sharp for the heads up on SBNation.com's NBA section (seriously bookmark and check it on the regular).

Let's put aside Donaghy's personal drama and broaden the scope here (not that his story isn't pretty jaw dropping). Whether it's right or not there's no other major sports officiating that gets the widespread and constant censure that the NBA does. Part of me is willing to give NBA refs the benefit of the doubt. It's a fast paced game and to put it simply- refin' ain't easy. What looks so obvious in the replays isn't always obvious in real time.

But then part of me just can't forget that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings. There's just something funny about that game that will always leave a funny trace in my memory. Even Ralph Nader thought so. Come to think of it Game 7 of that series felt a little funny too.

What are your thoughts on officiating the NBA? Is it unfairly getting a bad rap? Or is there something shady happening around the association beyond just Donaghy?

Poll

Overall is there something shady going on with NBA officiating or was Tim Donaghy as commissioner David Stern put it a "rogue, isolated criminal"?

Suns Spanked Again

DexterFishmore — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:36:23 -0000

On Sunday the Los Angles Lakers faced the NBA's best offense and held it to less than a point per possession. That counts as a good day at the office. The Phoenix Suns played on Saturday night, which surely contributed to their wan effort, but the Lakers defended with purpose and vigor. They forced turnovers, kept Phoenix off the free-throw line and, most important, made the Suns score two points at a time. An opponent that drains 10 threes on an average night attempted only 13, and made only four.

On offense the Lakemen inflicted damage inside and out. Seemingly resolved to avoid a repeat of the teams' first game in November, when Andrew Bynum roared for 26 easy points, Phoenix doubled the post hard and dared the Lakers to make threes. The strategy worked for a bit, as the Lakers made only two of their first eight three-point attempts, but eventually the open looks started falling, and that was pretty much that. For the game L.A. hit 10 of 21 money balls. Kobe Bryant had no trouble getting what he wanted: his 26 points entailed only 19 shots and a single turnover.

So bravo, fellas! The final score was 108 to 88. The Lakers are 16-3 and have won nine in a row.

Next victim, please.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	89	13	0.32	85	53	58	33	70	1.21
PHX	90	17	0.13	91	47	50	30	67	0.98

No Surprises Here, Suns Drubbed by Lakers 108-88

Wil Cantrell — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:30:33 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Mr. Gentry was not in the holiday spirit Sunday night.(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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Tonight was deemed "Mission Impossible Part 2" by a respected Suns journalist. The local commentators were hoping for a rain out (hur, hur). While there was no rain or Tom Cruise sightings at the game, winning was to be a monumental task. The "tired" Suns on the second night of a back to back didn't play a perfect game, and even if they did, they probably still would have lost to the defending champions.

There was certainly some good that came out of this game, and there of course, was some bad.

The Suns at least competed tonight. The first quarter witnessed an active Suns team, combatting a nearly flawless Lakers attack. Amare Stoudemire showed up, feeling his outside game and battling inside for rebounds. But five turnovers leading to a 9-2 Lakers run in the first 7 minutes left the Suns in an early hole.

The Lakers D held, as it did for the rest of the game, limiting any Suns inside penetration. Pau Gasol switched off on Steve Nash, thus alleviating any pick 'n roll success.

Still the Suns were making shots, ad held close. A Jared Dudley three brought the Suns back to a 2 point deficit, the Lakers still held a 29-26 first quarter lead.

The Suns battled in the second quarter as well, going on a nice little 6-0 run. Yet the Suns struggled on D, allowing Laker penetration and two wide open threes. Robin Lopez left his man too early, allowing the first, while Steve Nash went underneath a screen allowing the second. The Suns were still playing respectable and even managed a free throw, their first with 3.49 to play in the second. But this was as good as it was to get for Phoenix on this night as they ended the first half down 54-44.

The Suns were outscored by 11 in the third quarter and all was, well, finished at that point. The lakers continued to attack and get what they wanted on the offensive end while the Suns went cold from outside, and continued to have trouble getting in the lane.

The Suns second unit closed the lead to 13 midway through the 4th quarter, but back to back three pointers by Shannon Brown ended the Suns small run.

The Rest of the Good (which wasn't a whole lot)

The Suns shot 57% 1st quarter, Nash had 7 Assists (who cares, I know)
Goran Dragic had a nice little pick off of Shannon Brown, took the ball the length of the court for a layup. (It was nearly dropped. You gotta DUNK, Goran).
Robin Lopez didn't look dreadful and confused, in fact he looked serviceable. Heis aggressive at the rim and has a nice little 5-6 foot jumper. I'm hoping he can get in shape and put in 10-15 minutes eventually this season. he could be valuable against the more sizeable teams.
The Suns second unit played pretty well. Lopez, Dragic, and Dudley all played solid. Earl Clark had a nice 15 footer off the dribble.

The Rest: A Very Small Ode to the Lakers:

OK the Suns are tired and this was a back to back game on the road. We didn't expect much. But this Laker team flat plays defense. The cut off the lanes and the Suns simply couldn't penetrate to the hoop. The Lakers also rebounded and played good perimeter defense. The Suns couldn't shoot from the field, they couldn't make a three. Further, the Lakers executed their offense flawlessly. Ron Artest made threes, Kobe Bryant simply toyed with Suns defenders. Bynum was all over the glass, and Gasol confounded Amare Stoudemire. So...what in God's name were the Suns supposed to do tonight? They played the reigning champion and got trounced. I don't like it, you don't like, but that's the way the mop flops.

End of story.

Pertinent Numbers:

Suns shot 4-13 from three point land. The Lakers were 10-21.
The Suns shot 11 free throws, making 10. The Lakers shot 22-26.
The Suns had 14 turnovers, the Lakers 11.
The Suns had 37 rebounds, the Lakers 42.
The Suns had 36 points in the paint, the Lakers had 40 (maybe I missed them, but I do not recall the Suns scoring that much in the paint).
OH, AND THE LAKERS HAVE PLAYED 16 OF THEIR FIRST 19 GAMES AT HOME. (yep, I'm just a smidge bitter).

FINAL - 12.6.2009	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Phoenix Suns	26	18	22	22	88
Los Angeles Lakers	29	25	33	21	108

Next up, @Dallas, 6.30 PM on Tuesday, 12/8

Suns vs Lakers coverage

Full Boxscore

Silver Screen and Roll

Daily Links 12/6

FLCeltsFan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:27:37 -0000

Herald Celtics just not impressed
Greg Oden done for season
Lakers line forms here
Globe How much is too much?
Celtics’ improved play speaks volumes
Vote for Perk Vote For Perk

CelticsBlog   Doctor Cool
Paul Pierce Deserves (Some) MVP Consideration
Celtics Stuff Live 12/6: Austin Ainge
Loy's Place    There's a Movement Afoot to Get Perk to the All Star Game
Rondo Has Some Hops
Red's Army    Your Morning Dump... Where Doc sees a link to the championship team
Keep your eye on Austin Rivers
Your KG Face of the Day
CSNNE   TOP OF THE CLASS: C's grade out well
Celtics Hub   Sunday Notebook: C’s still not satisfied, Doc on the Lakers
North Station Sports    Meet The Bench: Shelden Williams
How the NBA Climbed Mountains Through an Era of Struggle and Outlandish Proportions
Deja vu: Greg Oden likely done for the year
Celtics Town    Doc Rivers: Boston Celtics "never that good" last season
David Stern thinks women can play in the NBA
Doc Rivers happy with C's unhappiness
Hardwood Houdini    Lebron James: You Either Love Him or Hate Him
Lex Nihil Novi    Celtics Remain Winless against Philly 83-84
Sixers-Celtics: It's Why You Purchase the Season Ticket 83-84
Everything Starts with Rondo, But Will Everything Finish with Rondo, Too?
DJ, Danny, Gerald, & Quinn: Boston's Not So Fab Four 83-84
Celtics Life    Today's Video: Kendrick Perkins Mix
Please Noah, Go Hurt Him
NBA News: Oden Likely out for the Year
ESPN    The 'What If?' game
Keep talking...It's only making Rivers better
New Jersey Nets forward Yi Jianlin needs 50 stitches to close cut lip
NewsOK   Thunder notebook: Celtics like Thunder’s future
Collected wisdom: Former Midwest City star and current Boston Celtic Shelden Williams
CelticsStuff Live   How I Know The Celtics Are Good Again
Celtics Stuff Live 12/6: Austin Ainge
MetroWest Daily News     Courtside View: Rivers making use of options -
Yahoo     D-League offers option for prep-to-pro players
Blazers' Oden expected to miss rest of season
Hoopshype      NBA Rumors Sunday, December 6
Allen should be a keeper
Telegram   Investment in Perkins paying off for Celtics
NBA Mate   Sunday Six Pack: Bad Shot Kobe, Dancing Lebron and the Evolution of Big Ben
Dimemag    There is no "it" … It is you. "You" happened again
Enterprise   Streaking Celtics have gotten their act together
My SA   Spurs feel OK after fluky loss to Celtics
Canton Rep      Around the NBA: 'A sense of urgency' drives Cavs Around the NBA: 'A sense of urgency' drives Cavs
Off the Dribble    Sinking in the Atlantic
Fan Huddle    Kendrick Perkins: A Center of Attention
Orlando Sentinel     Orlando Magic history: Some of the strangest events have happened on the road

Lakers-Suns Preview

DexterFishmore — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:00:16 -0000

All right, rockers, it's time to get serious. We've been in high spirits the past two days toasting the Great Bank Bailout of 2009, but tonight we've got new guests arriving. They're not as fun and easygoing as the Miami Heat, and if the Lakers don't tighten their act up from what we saw on Friday night, the game won't end quite so festively.

On Friday, the Heat high-pick-and-rolled the Lakers nearly to death. It's been lost amid the Kobe glee, but the Laker defense was inept for most of the game. Repeatedly Dwyane Wade broke free off a high screen, drove the lane unharassed and either finished at the rim, went to the line or found one of his big men for an open look. The Lakers appeared baffled by this 100-year-old tactic, and if the Heat hadn't missed 15 free throws or Kobe's heave had been two inches off to either side, the D-grade D would have been the story of the game.

Now arrive the Phoenix Suns, deadly masters of the pick-and-pop, drive-and-dish and numerous variations thereon. Last time they darkened the Lakers' door, on November 12th, they got hammered for their troubles, losing by a cool 19 points. They were playing part deux of a back-to-back, as they will be tonight. Then again, Miami had the same difficulty on Friday, and that and three bucks bought us a cup of coffee.

The Suns don't have the same buzz around them these days as they did in November, when they were the hot team du jour, but their resumé is still very solid. They're only a game behind the Lakers in the standings, and they held the league's best record until an out-of-nowhere loss to the Knicks last week. Following that up by getting rocked in Cleveland didn't help their Q rating, but they handled a game Sacramento team last night to get back in whack. Their Offensive Rating of 112.5 is first in the league, and their death-dealing three point attack gives them a puncher's chance against anyone.

Of the basic activities that take place on a basketball court - turnovers, shooting, rebounding, fouling and getting fouled - shooting is the most important. Shooting accuracy, as measured by Effective Field-Goal Percentage, predicts game outcome better than any other metric. Those other things are important too, but none as much as shooting well, and Phoenix does that one thing better than anyone else in the NBA.

About 28% of the Suns' field-goal attempts are from three-point range, which is the third highest rate in the league, and they make an insane 44% of those tries, first in the league. They boast a team Effective FG% of 56%, also first. They don't take care of the ball well, and they're below average in getting to the line and rebounding their misses, but their ridiculous shooting means their offense is great anyway. Basically, they bomb away from outside and see if you keep up.

What makes tonight's matchup so interesting, schematically, is that the Laker D excels like no other at forcing missed shots. The Lakemen have allowed opponents an Effective FG% of only 46% and a three-point accuracy of only 30%, both tops in the NBA. They were strong in these metrics last year and are even better now, thanks in no small part to Ron Artest and the (nearly) full-time service of Andrew Bynum. When the Suns have the ball, it'll be a bellwether, strength-on-strength contest of elite units.

When these two teams played in November, Phoenix had a ghastly shooting night, managing an EFG of only 40%. Amare Stoudamire, who bricked 13 of 15 field goal attempts, was especially brutal. The Suns won't shoot that badly again, but remember that last time around, Pau Gasol was out. His length on the inside will make clean looks for La Soudamire and any other Sun who visits the paint even harder to come by.

The other roster difference this time around is the absence of Leandro Barbosa, who's out with a sprained ankle. I wouldn't call this a crippling blow or anything, but it's more important than you might think. Barbosa was playing 21 minutes a night and showing superlative plus-minus numbers. Per 100 possessions, Phoenix was 4.4 points better with him on the court than without. His shelving has meant more minutes for second-year lefty Goran Dragic, about whom the numbers are conflicted. His assist rate is strong and his shot is improving, but his plus-minus stats are ugly. At least he and Sasha Vujacic can chat together about Slovenia during shootaround.

The Lakers will need to keep close track of both Jason Richardson, who's hitting 44% of his threes, and Channing Frye. I've remained highly skeptical of Frye and his newly developed three-ball range, but damned if he isn't proving me wrong. He's hit an absurd 47% of his money shots on the year.

Also, I'm not sure this "Stephen Nash" guy they've been touting is for real.

(One other trend line to note before we move on from the Phoenix O: the Suns have been awfully loose with the rock lately. Over their past five games, they've turned it over on 17% of their possessions. Not good, gentlemen.)

So Phoenix knows how to accrue pointage. Fair enough. It's not clear, though, that they're at all equipped to slow the Laker attack. The November game served mostly as a chance for Bynum to build up his All-Star credentials, as he destroyed Amare to the tune of 26 points and 15 boards. Even physical, well-regarded post defenders like Emeka Okafor and Nene have struggled to control the Laker big man this year, and as a defender Amare is - how to put this nicely - neither physical nor well regarded.

Furthermore, at the risk of repeating myself: Pau Gasol. He didn't play in November; he will tonight. Pau gives Phoenix yet another post player they probably can't really really deal with.

The Suns are just a poor defensive team, ranking 23rd in the league in points allowed per possession, and it's this shortcoming that keeps them a level below the Lakers in the NBA food pyramid. They don't force turnovers, they allow opponents to shoot pretty well, and they're the worst defensive rebounding team in the league. Over their past five games, they've allowed foes to rebound 34% of their misses, which is bad but only a few ticks higher than their full-season rate of 31%.

You know when the Lakers miss a shot, and Pau, Drew and Lamar Odom just keep volleyballing it around until it goes in? We could see a lot of that tonight.

Over this five-game stretch, the Suns have surrendered 1.13 PPP to their opponents. That group includes strong offenses like Toronto and Cleveland, but also total crap offenses like New York and Minnesota. The Lakers have adjustments to make from their recent outings, smarter and more disciplined pick-and-roll defense foremost among them, but so do the Suns.

Kobe scored 29 against Phoenix last time around, and he knows the Lakers played poorly on Friday. He's irked about it. He should be attacking from the start. The Suns don't have an answer for them either, so they'll need their threes to rain down like a desert squall.

	Lakers	Suns
*RECORD*	15-3	15-5
*NET POINTS PER GAME*	+7.7 (3rd)	+4.6 (8th)
*PACE*	98.1 (6th)	98.5 (4th)
*OFFENSIVE RATING*	105.0 (14th)	112.5 (1st)
Turnover Rate (Off.)	13.0% (6th)	14.5% (21st)
FTA/FGA (Off.)	0.26 (25th)	0.30 (18th)
Free-Throw %	74.9 (15th)	73.3 (22nd)
Effective FG% (Off.)	50.2 (14th)	56.1 (1st)
True Shooting% (Off.)	53.8 (17th)	59.2 (1st)
Off Rebounding Rate	27.6% (11th)	26.9% (14th)
*DEFENSIVE RATING*	97.6 (3rd)	106.9 (23rd)
Turnover Rate (Def.)	14.5% (12th)	11.9% (28th)
FTA/FGA (Def.)	0.28 (8th)	0.25 (1st)
Effective FG% (Def.)	46.0 (1st)	50.1 (20th)
True Shooting% (Def.)	50.5 (1st)	53.3 (13th)
Def Rebounding Rate	72.2% (20th)	69.4% (30th)

All statistical terms defined here. Parentheses indicate league rankings. Numbers are courtesy of Basketball Reference and HoopData and, except for record and net points per game, are through Friday night's action.

Game Preview: Suns vs. Lakers

Wil Cantrell — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:27:34 -0000

Will Nash look to shoot first like last night? (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Ah the dreaded second game in back to back nights. The Suns flew out of Phoenix last night after the Kings victory to Los Angeles to play the Lakers tonight at 7:30 tonight. The Lakers are still very pleased with themselves after a last second Kobe three finished the Heat, 108-107.

The Lakers hold a game edge on the Suns atop the Pacific Division and are currently on an 8 game winning streak. Are you all worried? I am not. And here is why. The Suns can gain a moral victory tonight without scoring more points than the Lakers at the end of 48 minutes. Here's how:

Play with confidence (unlike last time out vs. the Lakers)
Make shots we should make (shoot the three, and a respectable FG%)
Battle on the boards (put bodies on Bynum, Odom, and Artest)
Play some defense (let Kobe get his 30, but don't let Pau and the others kill you)
PLAY COMPETITIVE BASKETBALL FOR 48 MINUTES

Simple, yes? Look, there has been much made of late about the Suns and their confidence. From Gentry to Nash to Stoudemire, the sentiment echoed is the same. Against the Knicks and Cavaliers the Suns were tired and lacked confidence. (They also didn't make any shots). While we cannot say that the Suns won't be tired, it's a fact of NBA life. There's a game scheduled, and the Suns have to play it. Why not down an extra red bull before the opening tip?

Stats:

Lakers: 104 ppg (6th). Opponents 96.7 ppg (10th). 46.3 %FG, 34.7% 3 pt FG%

Suns: 110 ppg (2nd) Opponents 105.8 (27th). 49.6% FG, 43.8 3pt FG%

Top Five Man Units (+/-):

Lakers: Bryant-Fisher-Gasol-Bynum-Artest: 117.5 minutes/+52/80% win percentage

Suns: Nash-Richardson-Stoudemire-Frye-Hill: 320.4 minutes/+50/ 53% win percentage

Quick Facts:

The Suns are 1-3 on the second games of back-to-back sets, averaging 102.8 points to opponent's 116.3.
The Lakers have not lost a game since Pau Gasol returned to the lineup
In the Suns 5 losses, they have shot 35 percent from 3-point range. In their 15 wins, unsurprisingly, they shoot 46 percent from three.
Amare Stoudemire's 21 rebounds last night was more than his combined totals versus the Knicks and Cavaliers.

Suns Stats

Lakers Stats

Silver Screen and Roll

Kobe's miracle shot helps Lakers defy sports gods

C.A. Clark — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:59:36 -0000

More photos » by Noah Graham - NBAE/Getty Images

2 days ago: LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 4: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots over Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat with .04 seconds remaining for the win at Staples Center on December 4, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers defeated the Heat 108-107. (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

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I don't want to talk about Kobe Bryant's ridiculous, miraculous, and incredible game winning bank shot, mainly because words can't do it justice. Words can't explain it. Words probably cheapen it. You've either seen it, or you haven't. And if you haven't, you shouldn't be reading words right now any way. Check it out right now. The words will be here when you get back.

It's what led up to that shot I want to talk about. What made that shot necessary. Because, in theory, such events shouldn't have been required to pull out a victory in what appeared to be, at least on paper, a highly favorable scenario for a Lakers victory. After all, the Lakers were on a 7 game win streak, with each of those wins coming by double digits. Over the streak, they were winning by an average margin of 17 ppg. Miami is a decent team, but had only won 3 of their last 9 games. Miami played the night before, in Denver (and as Laker fans know, a back to back involving that journey is particularly arduous), and Denver smacked them around. All signs pointed to another relatively comfortable Lakers victory.

So, once the elation and hysteria of witnessing what will almost certainly be a top 5 moment in the NBA this season have passed, we're left with a question: Was this a "good" victory for the Lakers? Or was it "disappointing", in the sense that such heroics should never have been necessary?

This was not a good victory. This was a GREAT victory. The Lakers stole this game last night, but they didn't steal it from the Heat. They stole it from the gods. The hands of destiny decided the Lakers should lose, and Kobe Bryant decided to make his own destiny.

All talk of deities and "forces beyond our control" aside, the Lakers were supposed to lose last night's game. Not because the Heat deserved it and the Lakers didn't. To steal a quote from last night's post-game (previously stolen from the great movie Unforgiven) "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." You might read that quote and think it's true because the Lakers won a game they didn't deserve to win, so "deserve" doesn't matter. What I'm trying to say is that the Lakers didn't do anything worthy of "deserving" to lose, and the Heat didn't do anything "deserving" to win. The term implies justice and fairness were at stake. And I don't think fairness had anything to do with what happened last night.

NBA players are not robots, they are human beings. And because they are human, they are subject to inconsistency, both in effort and performance. I certainly can't make the claim that I'm at peek effectiveness whenever I'm at work. I can't make that claim when I'm having fun, playing video games or sports or whatever. We have ups and downs. Its the fatal flaw of humanity, what results when the brain decides to delve past pure instinct and get into the realm of emotion and thought.

And since NBA players are inconsistent human beings, they will have good and bad games. It's not determined by anything so mundane as a coin flip, but there is an inherent percentage chance that an individual player will play well, or poorly, or somewhere in between, in any given game. It normally balances out to establish a consistency of play across an entire team on any given night. This is why the Lakers or Celtics routinely play well enough to win, and the Nets and Grizzlies routinely play well enough to get destroyed.

But every once in while, you get an outlier. A game in which, for whatever reason, most of the team is playing above or below their average performance. Even rarer, you get an outlier for both teams, a game in which one team is playing well above their average performance, and one team is playing well below. When that happens, the result is easy to figure, no matter the opponents. This is what I speak of when I say the sports gods intended the Lakers to lose. It's not really an act of the divine, its a combination of circumstances. But the feeling, and the result, are the same.

And last night definitely had some outlier characteristics to it. The Heat shot the ball well from the outside. Not crazy good, but good. 7-13 from behind the arc, and they were also 9-17 in long two point shots. These were shots that the Lakers wanted Miami to take, and the Heat obliged. Really, the only Heat player who played poorly by his own standards was Dwyane Wade.

The Lakers, by comparison, shot the ball horribly. 5-17 from long range (and keep in mind that includes the last two, so L.A. was 3-15 before that) and a lot of them were wide open shots. Ron Artest in particular had perhaps his worst game as a Laker, with 9 points on 17 shots, and he was missing a lot of wide open threes, shots he definitely has been hitting with success this season. Bynum and Gasol didn't play poorly by any stretch of the imagination, but I think both would say they could do better, combining to shoot 50% when they both average closer to 60%. And two of the three bench players put up terrible games. Shannon Brown provided nothing last night, and Odom managed to get himself kicked out of a game at a time in which Gasol was still groggy from having been poked in the eye ... by Odom. Not Lamar's finest hour. The only Lakers who played a good game (once again, by their standards) were Kobe and Jordan Farmar.

Don't get me wrong, there were issues with the way the Lakers played. Their pick and roll defense in the 4th quarter was like watching a horror movie(perhaps because their most athletic big defender was thrown out of the game). There were some really bad decisions on the offensive execution. But, for a good chunk of the game at least, the effort was there. The Heat killed the Lakers on the offensive glass, which shouldn't happen. But the Lakers did the same to the Heat. The best sign of an unfocused team is turnovers, and the Lakers only turned it over on 9% of their possessions. This is why I don't think fairness played a role last night. The Lakers did not play without effort. Their effort simply wasn't very effective.

And it happens to everyone. At some point, every team will collectively have a game in which their individual performances all aren't up to snuff. Games like tonight are what makes 72-10 so spectacular. Games like tonight put a 33 game win streak in perspective. These games happen to every team, no matter how good they are. It's why New York decimated Phoenix a couple nights back, why Denver can lose to Minnesota at home. It's why the Nets were able to finally win a game.

Which brings me back to my point. This is a GREAT victory for the Lakers. To be able to win games that you have no business winning is the sign of a champion. Sure, tonight they got a victory because of a play so lucky, not even the superstar player who made the shot could deny it. But they were still in position. They fought through their struggles. They kept pushing, on a night when they didn't really have "it". They didn't give up. Down 4 with 9 seconds left to play, they still believed in their ability to win the game.

They got dealt a hand full of outliers, all pointing towards a loss, but instead of folding, they bluffed their way to a runner-runner Flush. Off glass.

[Author's Note: I take it all back. There clearly were gods involved in last night's game. You might think there's no way in hell anything could possibly top last night's shot by Kobe Bryant, but I think I've found something that does. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the greatest box score in the history of basketball.

BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
Sasha Vujacic, SG	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0

Zero minutes. Zero Shots. Zero statistics of any kind. +6. I'm not sure how you can look at something like that and think to yourself that anything other than God could have created something so awesome.]

OMFG

DexterFishmore — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:54:01 -0000

The chronicles of Laker history already had a 0.4 Seconds, and now there's a 0.6. That's how much time remained on the clock when Kobe Bryant - 25 feet from the basket, flying leftward off one leg, with Dwyane Wade is his face - launched the shot that brought hoops fans everywhere to their feet and to their laptops and Blackberries, so they could tell everyone what they just saw. It was a banked-in three that Kobe calls the luckiest shot he's ever hit, and it stole a win from the Miami Heat. Scroll down to see the video. The final score was 108 to 107.

The Lakers trailed by four with nine seconds left, but Derek Fisher dropped a three from the right elbow (location-wise, roughly the same spot from which he daggered Orlando in Game Four), and Dwyane Wade then missed one of two free throws to set up the final possession. By that point the Laker defense had more or less fallen apart - they allowed the Heat to score 1.29 points per possession in the fourth quarter and 1.23 PPP in the second half - Lamar Odom had been ejected, and the consensus in our game thread was that the Lakers kinda, sorta deserved to lose this one.

As Clint Eastwood observed in The Unforgiven, however, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." This one goes into the books as a win, the Lakers' 15th against only three losses.

Ron Artest, would you care to have the final word tonight?

"That's Black Mamba. I knew he was gonna make it."

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	92	9	0.30	82	46	53	38	60	1.17
Miami	92	14	0.55	64	53	57	40	62	1.16

Kobe Bryant rescues Heat from undeserved road win

DolPhanDave — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:57:46 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Ouch.....

Browse more photos »

The game in L.A. began very similar to the game in Denver, with the Heat keeping up to their host. Wade was still shooting from the outside and not hitting, which is very troubling. Rio had a solid first quarter, drilling a pair of treys and running the Heat offense somewhat efficiently.

Unfortunately the Heat closed out the first quarter on a somewhat crappy note. After Dorell Wright couldn't finish a gimme ally oop from D-Wade (how exactly do you miss a wide open dunk?), Ron Artest got his own rebound and scored, trimming the Heat lead to two after the 1^st quarter.

Miami came out very careless with the ball in the 2^nd quarter, prompting the Lakers to re-take the lead. The Heat were still keeping pace with L.A. but I couldn't get the ‘when will they run out of gas' doubt out of my head. The most troublesome stat was that as the first half winded down Dwyane Wade still did not have a field goal.

He finally broke through with 2:04 left when he got Kobe caught up in a screen and drive right down the middle and jammed it. That made 1-for-7 for Wade. He came right back with a sick 360 move and 2-handed the rim. Kobe hit an equally nasty shot at the buzzer and gave his Lakers a 3-point halftime lead.

Would you believe me if I told you that at halftime the Heat's leading scorer was Mario Chalmers (9), they'd shoot just 53% from the foul line (8-of-15) and still be down by just 3?

Both teams started out slow in the second half, each scoring just one bucket in the first two minutes. Then the baskets started coming fast and furiously, and again the Heat were in the position to try and keep up. Four minutes in the Heat were back down by 6, and it was certainly a turning point for Miami. They responded with 4 straight, as if to say ‘were up to the task'.

The Lakers then went on an 8-2 run to pump the lead up to 8. Just as I was thinking "Can the Heat make any kind of run of their own?", they started scoring and scoring and it turned into a 12-2 run, putting the Heat back up 74-72. The game would go into the 4^th quarter tied up at 76.

Kobe Bryant came out and scored 6 straight for the Lakers in a 69 second span, and Erik Spoelstra called a quick timeout to try and stop the bleeding. Not quite...the Lakers were on a 14-5 run and holding a 9-point lead with under 7 minutes left. The Heat started a little run fueled by a pair of Jermaine O'Neal dunks (off of D-Wade assists).

The Heat used an 11-2 run to draw even at 93, then a Q-Rich triple put the Heat up 96-95 with 2:40 left. On the other end, Kobe got a gift of a call when he drove the lane and bumped into Jermaine O'Neal, who appeared to have established position. Nevertheless, J-O was called for the block and of course Bryant hit the layup.

Wade drilled a pair of free throws with just under 2 minutes left to tie the game at 98. Then after a Derek Fisher missed J, Wade drove from one end to the other and scored ‘too easily' to put the Heat up 2 with 1:25 seconds left. Gasol and Wade traded buckets, and then Dwyane draped himself over Kobe Bryant, forcing a very tough fadeaway J as the shock clock expired. Quentin Richardson would find himself back at the foul line with 21 seconds left, and he drilled the pair to put the Heat up 4.

Once again the Lakers would score, and this time it was D-Wade who was at the line needing to keep it a two-possession game. He hit both, putting the Heat on the brink of a ginormous upset. Of course, it's never easy. Derek Fisher hit a three with 4.3 left and Wade would only hit 1-of-2 this time...and the game would come down to one final chance for the Lakers.

Kobe got the ball, traveled, kept going and hit a three off glass to win it. Awesome.

What killed the Heat? Free throws. You can't miss 15 out of 42 and expect to win. That is just terrible. I hope this loss sticks in a lot of our players heads as a loss chalked up to poor foul shooting. Maybe they'll spend just a few more minutes in practice working on those free throws.

GAME NOTES

With 2:37 left in the 3^rd quarter, Quentin Richardson was fouled in the act of shooting for the firs time this season. He sunk both free throws.

Michael Beasley was held in check, taking only 8 shots. He finished with 12 and 6; maybe coming back down to earth? I hope not...

And while we're on the subject, did anyone notice that Udonis Haslem, not Mike Beasley, was in at the end of the game?

Jermaine O'Neal records another double double. 16 points, 10 boards and 4 assists. Also a block and a steal...pretty solid all around night for J-O.

Jamaal Magloire got his first significant minutes and did well, scoring 7 and grabbing 5 in 16 minutes. Well-done, big cat. Interesting that he was the Heat's first choice off the bench instead of Joel Anthony, who didn't make it into the game.

Wade started 1-for-9 in Denver and 0-for-6 in L.A. Something for him to think about before Sunday's game in Sacramento.

Ah yes, Sacramento. The final stop of this painfully predictable road trip. Tipoff is at 9pm our time, 3am their time.