Who should start Fish or Brown?

Lakers fans did you feel it?  Did you?  I was sitting at home in Brentwood and I know that I felt it.  After two quarters we were all even.  Then came the 7:22 marker of the third quarter, enter stage left Shannon Brown.  For those of you who do not follow the Lakers or live in LA, Shannon was acquired as a salary dump when we traded Radmonavich for Morrison and Brown.  Brown has been nothing but energy off of the bench for the Lakers and tonight was no exception.

When he entered the game the Lakers were down seven points half way through the third quarter.  Three minutes later Shannon Brown and all 6 feet four inches of him absolutely posterized Chris self titled Bird Man Andersen.  This put the Lakers down three but more importantly put a spark into the Lakeshow and Staples Center.  The Next trip down Lamar drained a three and the rest is history.
What we Lakers fans felt tonight is what we have been looking for from our boys in Forum Blue and Gold all post season.  All I have to say is thank you Shannon Brown.  As the third quarter ended Phil brought in Farmar with about a minute left.  I questioned this but then realized that he was resting Brown to go big for the fourth.  Sure enough to start the fourth there was Shannon.

Aside from the offensive play that Shannon provided the Lakers with how about his defense on Billups.  He created two back-to-back turnovers that related in big points for the Lakers.  With this being said it brings me to the title of this article.  Should Phil go out on that limb and start Shannon Brown instead of Derek Fisher.

If Fisher played the way he has been playing all of this series or post season then I would say lets start Shannon and throw aside the playoff experience.  Yet tonight was the first nigh Fisher has scored in double digits and played a decent role in offensive side of the Lakers victory over the Nuggets.  I say keep the rotation the same and start Fish for the game and the second half.  Then when they bring in Carter you bring in Farmar and when Billups is entered again bring in Shannon.

Tonight only became a great night once we started the fourth quarter.  The Lakers sparked their D and in the end sparked their offense.  Not only did you see how professionals handle a run (I am referring to Smith and the way he looked like a tool in Denver when they went on a run) but we the Lakers posterized and shut the “Bird Man” and the bench down with a couple of posters (see Lamar’s dunk and Shannon’s dunk).

All in all this was the first time we truly saw the Lakeshow move the ball this series and dominate a period of the ball game.  Lets carry this momentum to game six and end this series early.  Ohh yeah, huge game Lamar, a blog about you coming tomorrow…..Lets go Purple and Gold.

Lakers Answer with physicality

I still have nightmares of the NBA finals from last year.  The Celtics held serve at home.  The Lakers won game three, lost a million point lead in game four, and won game five.  Game six, well that’s when the nightmare started.  The Lakers were soft, under tested, and humiliated.

As I said in my previous Lakers Rockets article, I think that game one was a great thing for the Lakers.  They found out that they can not cruise through the playoffs the way they did through the season or the previous year.  They are finally being tested.  Last game the Lakers got up fifteen and the Rockets would not go away.  Luckily they went into half with a nine point lead and maintained it in the second half of play sealing the victory.

In that half, the Lakers looked like a team from the 70’s and 80’s.  They had a similar resembelance of the Celtics last year.  They got in the other teams face, played physical, and showed them that they were not going to be pushed around by the NBA bad boy Ron Artest and the Houston Rockets.

As we all know Derek Fisher will be gone for tonight’s game after De Cleating Louis Scola.

Fish has been kicking it with Rey Maualuga....Fight on

I feel that this will once again benefit the Lakers.  As much as I love Fish and his leadership on the court his shooting has not been there for the playoffs.  He has shot 26% from the three point line and 42% from the field.  His defense has been in question going against the speedy Aaron Brooks.  Shannon Brown will most likely get the start.  Shannon is faster and a better defender than Fish, he also has been shooting the ball relatively well and brings an energy to the court.  Did anyone see him hit is elbow on the rim going for that block against Scola in the first half last game?  Yeah the guy has hops.

With Fish out Farmar and Vuj will both get significant PT and hopefully will step up to the challenge.  They will not be playing in “dead time” and trying to prove themselves yet playing within the offense when it counts.  If either of their games are on it should be  a lot of fun for Lakers fans.

Last but not least, lets look at Kobe and Ron Ron.  Ron has a short fuse and Kobe knows how to get under his skin.  Artest has been killing it from the field as of late and the Lakeshow needs Ariza and Odom to step the D up on him.  When it comes to defending Kobe, Artest and Battier are the toughest it comes.  They will ware Kobe out and make him trust his teamates.  As long as the other Lakers are knocking down then they shall be fine.

The Lakers once again need to pound the ball inside and get Yao into foul trouble.  With Yao in foul trouble that keeps Bynum out of foul trouble and on the floor longer.  If we can do this then the Lakers will force the Rockets into a shooting team which makes the odds stack up even more against them.

Tonight is going to be a hostile environment to say the least.  The refs are going to call a tight game, making the chances of Yao and Bynum to pick up some cheap fouls.  If the Lakers execute and stay tough, then there should be no problems getting one if not two W’s in Houston.

Game time 7:30 pacific, lets go lakeshow-

Los Angeles Top Five Professional Sporting Moments

As we all know, Los Angeles is a mecca for sports.  All the teams from down here have adopted the Southern Kaliphornya style and it is always apparent in the way our teams play.  Look at the clean and flashy Showtime Laker or just tune into Sports Center who is giving the West Coast some love and see how Manny is happy.  Look at Joe Torre any interview or show he goes on he seems happy and relaxed, not stressed out from the crazyness that the east coast has to offer.  

Enough of the style and attiude of the west side its time to get into my top five plays for Los Angeles.  

#5 The Angels win the World Series.  As a Dodger fan it is difficult for me to even consider the Angels as a Los Angeles team but I feel that I have to and have a valid reason why.  Reason one the Giants and reason two Mike Socisa.  In game five the Angeles were down three games to one against the Giants.  Manager Mike Socisa (retired Dodger great) was eight outs away from getting eliminated and having the dreaded Giants win their first World Series in the bay area.  The Angeles were able to overcome a five run deficit to beat the Giants and Barry Bonds, as well as rip the hearts out of Giants fans everywhere.  Was it the team or the rally monkey?   We will never know 

#4 The Dodgers resign Manny.  I may be premature on this one but look for big numbers this year.  If last season was any indication to the powers of Manny then we are in for a treat this year.  The morale of the city has been glowing ever since Manny was resigned.   Has anyone ever seen Manny look so happy before?  No one.  Manny is happy, his teamates like him, his manager likes him, and the city is renmed Manny Wood.  He does so much more for this city then just play baseball it gives us hope and determination.  If gives us pride and is making us all anxious for opening day.  

#3 The number three moment for this city would have to be Derek Fisher’s turn around jumper at the buzzer.  I can still picture it today.  There was .4 seconds left on the clock.  The all mighty Lakers who had Shaq, Kobe, Malone, Fisher, and Payton on the floor were looking to go down in the Western Confrence Championship series.  Timmy Duncan had just hit a shot which Shaq could have not defended any better and left .4 seconds on the clock.  Payton dropped the perfect inbound pass to a streaking Derek Fisher.  The big fish caught shot and sprinted stright to the locker room in one of the most spectauclar plays a sports fan could ever whittness.  I could not beleive what I had just saw, even after they played the shot on slow mo to make sure he did get it off.  I still have goose bumps to this day.    Is that Doc Rivers as one of the announcers?

#2 I am going to stick with the Lakers for number two.  In the late 90’s and early 2000’s there was not a bigger rivalry than the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers.  Ever since I was born I have been a Laker fan.  During this period of time I lived up in Sacramento and boy was it hard.  Being the only Laker fan in high school was tough.  I rocked the yellow and purple day in and day out.  I pissed everyone off and they knew that all they could do to shut me up was if the Kings won a series over the Lakeshow. The Lakers were in the Western Congrence Finals and they were about to go down three games to one and on their way back to Sacramento.  They were down by two when Kobe drove…You know what just watch the video and it will tell you the rest. assist Divac.

#1 I think that it is very easy to say the best sporting moment for this town is when Gibson went yard against Eckersley.  Forget the fact that the Dodgers were down to their last out.  What about Gibson not playing the whole game due to jacked up legs.  The Dodgers got down 4-0 after Canseco hit a slam.  Slowly they chipped away at the lead and was down three four in the bottom of the ninth.  It was the bottom of the line up and the Dodgers needed to do something spectacular.  Gibby went into the locker room hitting balls off the tee grimanceing in pain.  When he came into the game he was facing the unstoppable Dennis Eckersly possibly one of the best closers ever.  It is fair to say if the Dodgers lost this game they would not have won the World Series.  Gibby battled so many pitches off.  He finally got one to hit and well the rest is history.  Feel free to watch. 

If you still think my number four moment is whack just wait.  Manny brings energy to Dodger Stadium the same way Kirk did.  Just wait and see.  The funk is back….. 

MVP MVP MVP MVP

 

MVP

For Laker fans all year long, we have been waiting for a night like this. Kobe finally dropped big points and it could have not come at a better time. He dropped 61 pts in the Mecca of basketball Madison Square Garden including a perfect twenty for twenty performance from the free throw line. He scored the most points ever in this gym passing Jordan who dropped a double nickel and Bernard King who had 60.
As a Laker fan this is awesome but as we saw tonight the true basketball fans in New York also appreciated the performance. When Phil pulled Kobe out with under a minute to go the crowd started chanting MVP and truly meant it. Spike Lee, Mr. New York Knick, gave Kobe a standing ovation, and even the zen master gave Kobe a humble slap on the ass. It truly was a great night for the NBA and basketball fans world wide.
I know that Bron Breezy has been leading the leauge in the MVP race but tonight this performance will hopefully close ground between Lebron and Kobe. No more is Kobe the guy that hoists up fifty shots a night and averages thirty seven points per game. On most nights he leads the team in points and assists averagins 27 and 6 per game. His defence is stellar, he gets his teamates the ball, and similar to Air Jordan himself, Kobe is now making the players around him better.
He if finally playing the game the way it should be played and efficiently. Tonight Kobe knew that his team needed something positive to look towards with the news of Andrew Bynum going down for possibly three months. They needed this momentum to carry them through Toronto and Boston. Now as Kobe so many times has led by example, it is time for his team to step up. Time for Lamar and Pau to play some interior Defense, time for Luke and Vlad, to hit those open threes, time for Trevor to keep doing what Trevor does, time for Fish and Farm to get the ball where it needs to go, and finally time for the Lakers to put all doubts aside that they can win and win big with out Bynum.
This I feel is only a start to a brilliant performance that we are about to wittness from Kobe Bryant. Lakers fans, NBA fans, basketball fans, get ready to wittness basketball the way it should be played, the way the greatest player in the world plays. It is time for Kobe to reclaim his MVP.