Cavs fans, please don't take offense, it's all in good fun, if you want to shoot trash back, keep it above board (no personal attacks, and references to past allegations if you know what I mean), mmkay thanks!

I received this email from my brother titled simply :

"guy was all happy cavs have the best record in the league"

Mamba MVP wrote:

Animal Thug1539 wrote:

thachosen123 wrote: @ that cavs fan in here tryna instigate $*%*..........who had the best record in the L last year?

  

Exactly...and it led to this

Four years ago today, the Los Angeles Lakers met in a regular season matchup against the Toronto Raptors. The Lakers came in sporting a 21-19 record, while the Raptors were a woeful (but not 2009-10 New Jersey Nets woeful) 13-27.

Back in 2006 he was number 8, with no broken fingers and no title without Shaq. He brought with him guys like Kwame Brown, Smush Parker, and Chris Mihm - his "butter knives" into nightly gunfights.

Earlier in the season, Kobe had outscored the Dallas Mavericks through 3 quarters with 62 points, sitting out the entire fourth quarter, foreshadowing what was to come just one month later.

What started out as an ordinary Sunday game turned into one for the history books over the next 2 hours and 22 minutes.

via www.nba.com

Kobe Bryant exploded for a outpouring of buckets that has not been seen since then, and may never be matched again, culminating in the following line:

from Lakersuniverse

Continue reading this post »

From NBA Stuffer.com, via Hardwood Paroxysm

Go to the site for a better resolution:

http://www.nbastuffer.com/NBA_Road_Trips_and_Home_Stands_Visualization.html

The greener it gets, the longer a streak of home games.

The redder it gets, the longer a streak of road games.

via www.nbastuffer.com

I've gotta take advantage of the polling function here, and ask you who you think will win the game Thursday.

But I can't simply ask who will win, I want to know what you think the point differential will be, too!

NBA.com is offering a free trial of NBA League Pass through 1/24.

http://www.nba.com/lpfreetrial/?cid=nba188

Catch all the live NBA action on your television, online, and mobile device FREE until 1/24.

At the halfway mark, who's performing better than expected, who is on pace, and who is a disappointment?

I like to use Vegas odds as an objective source for expectations, rather than analysts or fans.

http://www.docsports.com/2009/nba-season-win-totals-529.html

To start, of course the Nets are the biggest disappointment, on pace for only 6 wins, when they were expected to win 28-29 games this season.

Other underachievers include the Wizards, Pistons, Sixers and Warriors.

The teams currently on pace to blast through the over are Houston, Oklahoma, and Memphis.

Cleveland and Boston are almost exactly on pace, while the Lakers are 2 games ahead, but with a long road trip looming.

George Lopez hosted a Nike Live event with Kobe Bryant (also livecast on Facebook) at the Ricardo Montalban Theater in Hollywood this Saturday.

A friend won a Twitter contest to get a guaranteed seat, but he could not make the event, so I am fortunate he chose to call me!

Here are some pics I took at the event.

http://sleepyay.zenfolio.com/kobenikelive/slideshow

Here's a shot of Kobe entering the theater:

After reading some silliness here in the comments at SS&R as well as over at The Cav's Blog, Fear the Sword, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that as much as we fans like to pit these two players against each other, compare them, and act generally hostile to fans of the "other" guy, Kobe and Lebron have nothing but respect for each other's game.

In fact, if you were a Kobe Hater just 7 or 8 years ago, there's a good chance you would be calling Lebron a "Kobe Lover", and having an internet fight with him about how Kobe is just an "inefficient volume shooter".

Please take a look at this profile from a certain high school junior in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/basketba/2002-05-08-all-usa.htm#teams

I'm a Lakers fan and I loved this, so I can't imagine how awesome this must be for a Hawks fan to read.

Lang Whitaker of Slamonline gets all access to the Hawks and shares his experience:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/blogs/the-links/2010/01/links-embedded-with-the-atlanta-hawks/

Read through and you will get a taste of what it's like to be part of an NBA team, including the preparation, the grinding travel, and all the minutiae of being a professional player.

While we're here sitting at the computer, these guys are hopping from city to city, trying to grab some rest and get ready for the next game day in and day out.

A must read for any true fan of NBA basketball.

Lang Whitaker of Slamonline gets all access to the Hawks and shares his experience:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/blogs/the-links/2010/01/links-embedded-with-the-atlanta-hawks/

Read through and you will get a taste of what it's like to be part of an NBA team, including the preparation, the grinding travel, and all the minutiae of being a professional player.

While we're here sitting at the computer, these guys are hopping from city to city, trying to grab some rest and get ready for the next game day in and day out.

A must read for any true fan of NBA basketball.

I feel as though the "rec" function is underutilized here at SSR.

Rec is short for "recommend". After 3 recommendations by different users, a comment will become highlighted in the thread.

You may notice at the end of each comment there is a number of recs.

Example:

Don't mind him.....

He just looks for every possible questionable call he can find to justify his lame screen name.

by pslakerfan on Dec 26, 2009 11:59 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Now, I've noticed that people like to give "points" in their reply to a particularly funny, insightful, or accurate comment.

In addition to writing "+1", might I suggest you also give a rec?

You do that by clicking on the word "actions" underneath the comment. It will then turn into either "rec" or "flag".

After you click "rec", you will see that the number of recs will increase by one.

You can only rec a comment once.

After 3 recs by 3 different users, the comment will turn green, highlighting it so that all will stop and take a look at the comment!

(Go ahead and use this thread to practice your "rec"ing skills, and rec some comments to see them turn green!)

Taking trips down memory lane is fun, especially with the internet. In the past, you could make predictions, and no one would ever call you on it. Nowadays, you can look it up and see what silly things people had to say. Hindsight is more than 20/20.

2007-08 Prediction: 43-39, 2nd in Pacific, 7th in Western Conference

Hollinger sez: "...this makes the Lakers one of the easiest teams to forecast. They can't possibly be under .500 with Kobe on the team, but they can't possibly win more than 50 games with the crew around him and the wacky front office. So look for things to turn out like they did last season, with the Lakers bowing out meekly in the first round of the playoffs. And when it ends, expect Kobe to turn up the volume on his trade chatter considerably."

What really happened: 57-25, 1st in Pacific Division, 1st in Western Conference

Well, that "wacky front office" turned out to be the only sane ones in the thunderstorm. Mitch Kupchak held tight through Kobe's demands, and weaseled Pau Gasol from the Grizz for Kwame Brown and Pau's brother. We're now seeing that Marc Gasol can actually play, so Chris Wallace at least got a quarter for his dollar. Speaking of Mitch, how often do we hear the owner say that he has complete trust in his GM, only to have the GM fired at the end of the season? Jerry Buss showed his integrity as an owner. The Lakers went on to the Finals and lost to the Celtics, who bullied the Lakers to win in six. Kobe muted his trade chatter completely.

2008-09 Prediction: 57-25, 1st in Pacific Division, 2nd in Western Conference

Hollinger sez: "Kobe. It's become passe to say he's the best player in the league; certainly he's been on the short list for the past half-decade. He's also 30 and has more mileage on his legs than any other 30-year-old in history, which might not be a concern except that his numbers have dropped fairly sharply each of the past two seasons. The fact that he's trying to play out the entire season with a wounded finger makes me think this isn't the year he breaks the streak. My projection system has his PER at 23.83 -- that's without putting my thumb on the scale for the factors mentioned above -- and while that's still awesome, it also would continue the downward trend (28.11, 26.13, 24.31) since age 27... All that gives the Lakers a better best-case scenario than anyone in the league. But they have to answer a lot of question marks in order to pull that off. And when I look at what's probable, rather than merely what's possible, L.A. comes out second in an airtight three-way race for the West's top record."

What really happened: 65-17, 1st in Pacific Division, 1st in Western Conference

What, did Hollinger just copy last year's record and make it this year's prediction? How unimaginative. Reports of Kobe's decline turned out to be greatly exaggerated. No, the Lakers didn't finish second in the West, but they did finish second to the Cavs for the best record. Fortunately, the Cavs lost to the Magic, and the Lakers got homecourt for the Finals, and the ring was theirs.

2009-10 Prediction: 65-17, first in Pacific Division, first in Western Conference

Hollinger sez:"For a second year in a row, the Lakers also may benefit from their Finals opponent. Last season they got a break with a Jameer Nelson being hampered for Orlando, after he was one of many quick point guards who riddled the Lakers' defense in the regular season. This time around they may benefit again -- Nelson is back, but I'm projecting Cleveland to meet L.A. in the Finals. With Artest in tow, the Lakers couldn't possibly match up better against the Cavs, which means Phil Jackson may be able to break out his "XI" hat next June."

...

I'm sensing a trend here. 65-17 last year, this year's prediction 65-17. Can the Lakers beat the forecast for a third straight year? Is it a bad sign that Hollinger's machine finally predicts a title for the Lakers? Stay tuned ... same bat time, same bat channel!

And no, I don't think I could do any better. Then again, I don't put out "forecasts" and predictions. At least ones that are this specific.

"Even odds, Trevor Ariza gets ejected from a game before Ron Artest does"

If I had given you this bet before the season started would you take it? Of course you would.

But just last night, Trevor Ariza was booted from the Rocket-Raptors game for throwing an elbow at DeMar Derozan. It was following a steal by DeRozan, and Ariza threw a chicken wing at the back of his head. He missed, but the refs caught it and ejected Ariza. Ariza was obviously frustrated, as he was 0-9 with one point at the time.

Now, this is not to pile on Ariza. I really, really like him as a player, and from what I read of him as a person.

This is more a defense of Ron Artest, and all the dimwits who see him as a troublemaker.

If Ron had done this last night, do you know how many "I told you so" type of posts and comments and columns we would have seen? About 2,142 of them, give or take a hundred.

So if you were one of those worried about Ron Artest based on his past, maybe you should comment down here and apologize for not realizing that Ariza would be the first to cause trouble. I know that the season is yet to be over, but Trevor has taken first blood, and he might even get a suspension.

I didn't bring it up, the Cleveland Plain Dealer did.

I haven't totally tired of this subject, especially with the playoffs so far off, and the Lakers with few problems to complain about.

The Plain Dealer sports writers wrote a book called LeBron James: The Making of an MVP, and they published an excerpt of their book here.

Inevitably, a book like this must make a comparison to Kobe, and as you can guess by the title, the authors found it justified to shit on Kobe in order to make Lebron look better in contrast (my bold added):

Why even bring LeBron into this discussion?

Because he won his first MVP award at the age of 24. Most players don't peak until their late 20s. Johnson and Bird were not awarded their first MVPs until they were 27. Jordan? His came at 25.

By the age of 24, LeBron had 24 triple-doubles, with four more in the playoffs, compared to two for Jordan.

What about Kobe Bryant? He has won only one MVP award, that being in 2008 at the age of 29. More importantly, the guy doesn't pass -- a career average of 4.6 assists. Certainly not an embarrassing total, but Jordan is at 5.3. Bird was 6.3 assists from his forward spot. LeBron, by the end of his sixth season had a career average of 6.7 assists.

For Bryant, the numbers remain at 25.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and those 4.6 assists. There is a sense that Bryant often is a "bailout passer," meaning he gives up the ball only when he's in trouble -- being double- or tripled-teamed. Nearly every time he catches the ball, the first thing that crosses his mind is "shoot it."

What makes LeBron different is he can do everything, and is doing it at a younger age than nearly anyone has done it before. He also is doing it at a historic pace.

Like I've said before, I'm only a little bit tired of this conversation, and the scoreboard is so far in Kobe's favor, it's risible, but I think I could talk about this till the cows come home, sit down for dinner, and eat.

I don't like it when people crap on Lebron to make Kobe look good (though I admit I've done it in the past, and I feel dirty afterwards). So I promise to be on better behavior in the future, because I see how pathetic it looks from the other side to put down a great player in order to praise another one.

Are you tired of the Kobe-Lebron comparisons? Eh, maybe a little bit. It's like, leave these guys alone and let them be who they be! ... But after the demolition of the Nets, things are slow round Lakers Nation. Just waiting for the tough road games to start to see what we have here with this year's team.

So here's another Kobe-Lebron comparison for you to digest. It's really a guilty pleasure, sorry in advance to Cavs/Lebron fans who will take this personally, I ain't mad atcha. It really is low brow to be picking on Lebron talking in the third person. All in good fun.

IF I didn't know better, I'd say that Charley Rosen was a super-troll!

Please click through to the article at Fox Sports, as I this was so juicy I had to copy and paste the whole section,so give Uncle Charley some clicks at :

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/10443134/Heat-need-more-than-Wade-to-thrive

Straight shooting

Because of his gigantic talents, his overwhelming power, his freight-train speed, his resounding dunks and his chase-down blocks of breakaways, most NBA watchers believe LeBron James to be the best player in the league.

While conceding LBJ's gargantuan upside, I humbly beg to disagree. By my lights, the honor belongs to Kobe Bryant.

Here's why:

LeBron's pregame hijinx are just another notch against him compared to Kobe. ( / Getty Images)

It's never too early to speculate if you love basketball!

Who will be a first time All-Star selection this year?

Here's my short list, in order of likelihood from most likely to long shot:

Josh Smith

Kevin Durant

Andrew Bynum

Andrea Bargnani

Derrick Rose

Brandon Jennings

Discuss.

Update : Notable Reader Submissions - Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo, Andrew Bogut

You gotta love skimming over this column from Feb.13, 2009 after a game like this ... and grinning smugly.

People often say that Kobe Bryant has no weaknesses to his game, but that’s not really true. Before the game, Battier was given his special package of information. "He’s the only player we give it to," Morey says. "We can give him this fire hose of data and let him sift. Most players are like golfers. You don’t want them swinging while they’re thinking." The data essentially broke down the floor into many discrete zones and calculated the odds of Bryant making shots from different places on the court, under different degrees of defensive pressure, in different relationships to other players — how well he scored off screens, off pick-and-rolls, off catch-and-shoots and so on. Battier learns a lot from studying the data on the superstars he is usually assigned to guard.

and

The reason the Rockets insist that Battier guard Bryant is his gift for encouraging him into his zones of lowest efficiency. The effect of doing this is astonishing: Bryant doesn’t merely help his team less when Battier guards him than when someone else does. When Bryant is in the game and Battier is on him, the Lakers’ offense is worse than if the N.B.A.’s best player had taken the night off. “The Lakers’ offense should obviously be better with Kobe in,” Morey says. “But if Shane is on him, it isn’t.” A player whom Morey describes as “a marginal N.B.A. athlete” not only guards one of the greatest — and smartest — offensive threats ever to play the game. He renders him a detriment to his team.

15-30. 41 points, 11-15 FT, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 win

Savor it ... for now. Because rest assured Kobe will have a bad game someday with Battier guarding him, and we'll have to hear about it all over again, even though it will have less to do with Battier's D and more to do with Kobe simply having an off night.

In case you haven't heard, the news is that Sasha is cuddling up to Maria. I know, big deal.

But it's totally X an O's basketball related. I only give you the hard news. Sasha, for his part, is being coy, and neither confirming or denying the rumor. The Machine don't kissy-poo and tell.

via www.vujacic.net,

via catatanlasya.files.wordpress.com

Tim Donaghy's book was pulled by the publisher because of "potential liabilities". This means the NBA will sue the pants off of them if it ever makes it to the book shelf.

But that hasn't stopped Deadspin from publishing excerpts of it on its site, titling it "The Book the NBA Doesn't Want You Read".  It's juicy, with tales of refs betting on who will call the first foul, and ref sessions on how to officiate Kobe - Raja Bell matchups.  Here's one tidbit:

If a player of Kobe's stature collides with the likes of Raja Bell, the call will almost always go for Kobe and against Bell. As part of our ongoing training and game preparation, NBA referees regularly receive game-action video tape from the league office. Over the years, I have reviewed many recorded hours of video involving Raja Bell. The footage I analyzed usually illustrated fouls being called against Bell, rarely for him. The message was subtle but clear — call fouls against the star stopper because he's hurting the game.

Or, maybe the message is that Raja Bell fouls Kobe a lot more than Kobe fouls Raja Bell.

There's also some damning statements about the Sacramento-Lakers playoff series. You can attack the messenger's credibility, but if you believe a shred of what he says, you will not watch basketball in the same way again.

Read the rest here and discuss.

I first saw this at the LA Times Laker's blog.

Here's the link in case the embedded video doesn't display : 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4600455

This video is a must see for any diehard Laker fan.

Ron Artest's first choice of team to play at this year: Detroit Pistons. I like how you think, Ron-Ron!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5jlGnc8CQo

Warning: There is a lot of cursing and frequent usage of the "N" word. If you're easily offended, this is NOT for you. But if you like to hear the "real" story, uncensored with the flavor of how people talk without the filtering and sanitizing of the mainstream media, you should be interested.

Starting at 3:19, Jamie Foxx recounts meeting Kobe after Foxx's concert in LA.

Listen to get the feel of it, but here's what you can look forward to: Kobe talks sh-t about the Celtics and Paul Pierce, has a high level respect for Lebron, and the 40-point loss to the Celtics still hurts.

This is not on-the-record journalism, nothing official, it's just some guys talking, it's purely for entertainment's sake.