Now we’re talking.  Entertaining exhibition games do an excellent job of pumping us up in preparation for the regular season.  Sure, the game doesn’t count.  Sure, the team we played is the international FC Barcelona team (FC for those of you who are curious actually stands for Futbol Club) But it was still fantastic to see the Lakers gel together and put on quite a show.

I’m going to start off with Vlad Rad.  The Rad Man was rad tonight!  Radmanovic, who we know has gone through some injuries in the past (damn snowboarding!), and used to be hot at 3-pointers once upon a time, was moving around tonight, getting the ball in motion, putting up shots when it mattered to contribute a wholesome 12 points in 18 minutes.  I’m liking the spirit of this new and improved Vladimir.  If he can keep this momentum going in the season, he’s going to be a great addition to the starting lineup.

Bynum, has been getting a lot of press lately, because 1. he’s back, and 2. his money-grubbing agent is demanding the dolla dolla bills from an extended contract.  Agents do what they think is deserved, although sometimes seemingly a little greedily.   However, from the organizational standpoint, it’s easy to see why they have to give Andrew some time to analyze how he will fare. He’s just now getting back into the game – tonight he put up 13, 3 boards, and 1 block.  I like it, though it’s early. But I anticipate he will be stronger in the games to come.

I was definitely impressed with the second unit – Farmar had a few good assists tonight (minus that sloppy uh-was-that-supposed-to-be-an-alley-oop pass) and found Trevor for the finish a couple times.  Ariza is still my favorite right now – his presence may not draw super-star attention, but his smart and quick moves on the offense gets my adrenaline rushing every time.

Mbenga had a healthy dunk somewhere in the later half of the game, making up for a lot of his rookie-like moves in the first half.  We’ve come to enjoy Mbenga’s play – he’s got such heart and with such a solid bodyframe, he’s a big help on the inside.

Luke and Yue both had sloppy games tonight,  Luke was missing easy ones right under the basket, and Yue was getting flustered from Barcelona’s D and had one too many TO’s.  Breaks my heart, but they can always redeem themselves in the games to come.

I still like Giles, and would like to see him come up with a little more PT.  I hope they don’t cut him from the team.

Pau wasn’t completely Ka-Pow like his usual days, maybe since he’s playing against a lot of his homies.  But he still stayed consistent with 13 pts, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.  That’s Pau on a bad day?  We’ll take that any game.

And last but not least, Kobe doesn’t disappoint.  38 points, 10-14 FG, he remains unfazed.

I like that a decent amount of players threw up double digits tonight, showing Lakers can be a multi-player team, and still back-up their star player.  This is what the Lakers need to do to get in good this season – and we can make a confident prediction that Lakers will come up strong again and continue to be leaders in the Western conference.