Run your own plays.

Counting down ’til October 27th!

giveandgo — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:20:18 +0000

Who else is itching for some NBA action?!

I’m still around, but in the meanwhile make sure you check out Hoopiquity.com to quench your basketball thirst.

Can we say Blow out?!

giveandgo — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:51:22 +0000

Opening night kicked off with a warm message from Jordan Farmar thanking fans for coming out to support them despite the current nature of our economic state, work hard this year, etc. I think? My attention deficit disorder kicks in now and then so I must’ve phased it out for a few minutes.

Anyway so happy to be there to kick things off. We witnessed some solid chemistry from all players- and yes every time Trevor had a solid play I was the happiest fan in the crowd. My friend said to stop staring so hard I might burn a hole through his jersey.

Anyway, the way Lakers are playing, no other team stands a chance. Biased remark? Yes.

But seriously the second unit seems to work together even better than the starting line up at times. Before, we had to solely rely on Kobe to do his thing but now we’ve got options, confident players, and smart offense.

Game 2 @ the Clippers?

Ouch. I thought defeating Portland by 20 was bad. This game was in the fridge from the start of the second quarter. I could hear Chick calling it already.

Even Mihm was getting in on the show at the end.

But my favorite play: a simple cut from Trev to finish and score off a nice solid bounce pass from Farmar.
Pure fundamentals, but I love it!

Sixth man of the Year?

giveandgo — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:32:05 +0000

Do you agree?

5 days til show time!

giveandgo — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:50:57 +0000

The season opener is just around the corner!

The teams been trimmed down. They just waived Giles and Crawford yesterday. Too bad. I can think of a couple others who shouldve gotten the boot.

Anyway, can’t wait til game 1! The NBA, it’s fantastic!

Lakers Potential Roster

giveandgo — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:29:27 +0000

OK I’ve adjusted my predictions for the roster this year:

1. Kobe

2. Pau

3. Fisher

4. Bynum

5. Trevor

6. Odom

7. Vlad

8. Farmar

9.Vujacic

10. Mihm

11. Mbenga

12. Luke

13. Giles

14. Powell

15. Crawford

16. Yue

17. Karl

And they can only keep 12+3… It’s tough man.. I can see reasons for any of the last 7 on the chopping block.

Preseason: Lakers 102, Bobcats 98

giveandgo — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:18:14 +0000

Well.. first Sasha, now Kobe.. Kobe came down from an attempted rebound and it looked like he had some form of contact with Powell on the way down, which they think hyper-extended his knee. It looked minor. But hey, I’m no doctor. We’ll see what the pro’s say come tomorrow. Just hope he’s OK and rested for the regular season.

Looks like Farmar’s the hype of the town. He brought it on the offense tonight and triggered some critical points. I’m going to admit this is the kind of output I like to see. Practice, practice, and perform.

Ariza is still getting his, and Bynum’s looking strong, with 16pts and 8 boards. The team was looking pretty consistent, with the exception of some defensive slip ups and needless TO’s. As for the newbies, I think Phil was giving the string extra PT tonight to evaluate them a little longer. Yue wasn’t living up to his potential at all, he gets trapped on offense quite frequently. And maybe added pressure caused him to miss his FT’s. He did have one steal though to his defense… but still wasn’t cutting it tonight. I wish Mihm wouldn’t waste such great height either. Now that he’s back from injuries, he can bulk up his game and improve on the inside on both offense and defense (plus don’t take so long to bring the ball in). But on an overall positive note, they’re doing a good job of getting a feel for all the players, and it’s nice to see Lakers will have a strong second unit this year. I think there’s going to be a lot of trimming down in the next few days, who do you think isn’t going to make the cut?

Lakers 112, Raptors 89

giveandgo — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:04:11 +0000

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.

Stu Lantz, one half of our favorite-missed Chick’n'Stu Duo, likens Trevor Ariza to be a “Slasher” on the court.

Definition of a slasher: a person or thing that slashes.

By far still my favorite Laker, Ariza demonstrates his athletic finesse again.

OK, and I admit Farmar wasn’t half bad tonight either. The fast break backboard toss to Ariza was probably a little bit of show-boating, but hey, it’s preseason – keep it interesting!

Bynum was alive tonight working it out on the floor. Great catch and reverse!

Oh, and quite possibly the best play of the night – Kobe’s flyby tomahawk dunk thanks to Bynum’s little assist.

Lakers 108, FC Barcelona 104

giveandgo — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:28:04 +0000

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.

Preseason Opener

giveandgo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:42:25 +0000

The Lakers kicked it off last night at the Honda Center in Anaheim with their first preseason game. Although the numbers clearly indicate we lost to the Jazz, Lakers 90 vs. Jazz 99, the value of these exhibition games is really for thirsty basketball fans to watch their favorites gear up and get back out on the court again, for the players and organizations to get back into their natural element after a long summer off, and to analyze and study how well the new team additions work out and make adjustments as necessary. In short, it always boils down to “preseason doesn’t count!” But what does count, is the feel you get from player chemistry for coaches to manipulate their lineups and strategy appropriately for the actual season ahead.

Last night we were also able to stack up the newbies and see where they stand within the Laker organization. Will they make the cut? Here’s a look at Who’s Who of the New Faces:

Josh Powell – So we lost Ronny and gained Josh – will his skill level make up for the loss of Ronny’s team spirit and cheering prowess? Probably not. Tough to say. We’ll see how he fares.

Joe Crawford – Second round draft pick, not to be confused with the notorious referee with the same alias. At SG, it’s clear he won’t be guaranteed generous PT. How good will he be.. not sure. With limited PT last night, I can’t expect much from Joe this early on in the game.

Brandon Heath – Potential? Critics doubt Heath will be a prosperous addition to the team, but hopefully that will drive him to play harder. He’s obviously got some basketball under his belt, most recently from playing in France and Clippers summer league, but will that trigger more game?

C.J. Giles – I think personally, he’s my favorite of the new faces. At 6’11, he’ll be a added force to grab some boards. Yes, we’ve already got Bynum and backup Mihm (who I expect so much more from now that he’s back from his injuries).

Dj Mbenga – This is actually Mbenga’s 2nd year with the Lakers, and 4^th year in the NBA, I had to throw him on here because there are times I feel he is one of the underdogs and despite his goofiness I have hopes that he will pick it up this year and work on some of his fundamentals. It doesn’t hurt to have him on the team considering he’s a good deal, inexpensive and a defensive help. If he can just keep the goal-tending down to a minimum, we’re good.

Coby Karl - I threw Coby Karl on here too, even though technically he isn’t new either. But he has GOT to pick it up. I know his story, I give him props for fighting cancer and still playing for the love of the game. I know he plays his heart out, but will his game be enough to be a contributor to the Lakers this year?

Sun Yue- Have yet to see his game since his recent onset of mono.

When the roster is weeded out and all is said and done, I’d go with:

1. Kobe

2. Pau

3. Fisher

4. Bynum

5. Trevor

6. Odom

7. Farmar

8. Luke

9. Vlad

10. Mbenga

11. Vujacic

12. Mihm

13. Sun

14. Powell

15. Crawford

Maybe, I’d be willing to exchange someone from the latter part of the list for Giles.

Quick recap of the game and the key squad’s performance. Bynum is definitely looking good – despite his absence from the last remainder of the the ’07 season due to his knee injury, he came out solid last night. The future is looking bright. My favorite player of the game, is by far, Trevor Ariza. His style of play, and quick, athletic skillset will be a tremendous booster for the Lakers this year. A believer in him since he was brought on last year, I’m happy he is going to work well with the starting lineup. Fisher is a consistent force as an experienced point guard. Kobe’s automatic – last night he iced his little shimmy-shake jumper over his opponent, nothing unexpected here. And Pau was solid even in the 5 short minutes he played. Bottom-line: the Lakers starters are on par and good to go for the new season.

Can’t say I’m fully relieved with everyone’s play. Lamar is looking OK, but upon reviewing his stats, it’s clear he’s still warming up. Be aggressive Lamar! I want to see that intense game mode you get it when it’s go time. I have seen it before. I’m sure you can get it back again and lead the second string as a star player.

While it’s true Farmar had 15 points last night, there were still many times where I had to refrain from saying Farmar, you suck! I say this out of sheer faith that your harshest critics have the biggest expectations out of the potential they seen in you. It’s nothing personal. I have to be tough on Farmar, because it will only make him stronger. I think he needs work despite the hype he gets. Everytime I pick up on the media that Farmar’s really pushing it hard and working his heart out there in training camp, I expect to see that fire when he comes out in a regular game. I catch those little bursts of energy he has when he gets a steal and goes out on a fast break, but if you’re going to do that, finish the play. Seal the deal. Work on being consistent. The great thing is he’s really quick on his feet – I hope he continues to do that but also work on becoming a critical and smart team player, not just a showman of quick layups and fastbreaks. I acknowledge his tenacity, and expect he could be a contender for most improved after the year is over if he works harder on his overall game.

Vlad. Make those. Please. If you’re going to serve your purpose. Make those. Simple as that.

Other than that, the biggest weakness again, is Lakers’ defense. There were periods in the 3^rd quarter we really underwent meltdown. That backdoor cut from the Jazz killed us. They somehow had one guy open and ready for that simple baseline backdoor cut to the basket and no Laker defender in sight. We got burned a few too many times, and it was evident to me that’s where we still need the most work.

On the positive side, the Lakers are still a force to reckon with, it won’t be easy for other teams to surmount such a stellar starting cast. I’m definitely ready for the season to start already. Count down: 20 days left.

Congrats Redeem Team

giveandgo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:57:01 +0000

Congratulations to the Redeem Team for bringing home the gold! Spectacular performances by all the NBA superstars for working hard to fight off all international teams. The final game vs. Spain was a nailbiter and that much better when we won. I think it’s safe to say NBA fans are feeling pretty proud right now. Our boys did it! Look how happy Kobe is.