November 7th, 2009, 4:25 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
EL SEGUNDO
Kobe Bryant scored 41 points against Atlanta. He had 31 points against Oklahoma City and 41 against Houston the following night.
The Lakers guard then scored 41 point against Memphis on Friday on an efficient 19 of 30 from the floor. That’s 154 points in six days.
For many players, scoring that much would be taxing, tiring and overwhelming. For Bryant, though, it’s just another day on the court.
Bryant said the reason he isn’t fatigued is two-fold. One, he took a large chunk of the summer off; he didn’t pick up a basketball for a month, which allowed all his niggling injuries to heal.
Two, he said he has better teammates this season.
“They can make decisions with the ball. They understand the offense,” said Bryant, who is averaging 34.5 points through the first six games this season, best in the NBA. “We’ve been playing together for a while. It’s not like I have to go get it on the perimeter and then try to beat three or four guys.
“You look at the points I’m getting, they’re almost all from below the free throw line. It’s almost silly to think about it. I never would have had those opportunities in the past. I have guys who I’m playing with who are threats, who can make 3s.
“The defense has to honor them and I can post up. It makes it a lot easier. You look back then and I had to beat three or four guys (to score 81 points) against the Raptors and the Raptors were (terrible) that year (2005-06).
“Think about it, it’s crazy. It’s stuff I don’t have to do now. It’s stuff I had to do just to keep us competitive.”
Phil Jackson said normally he doesn’t want to see Bryant — or any player — take on that much scoring. But with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on the sideline because of injuries, someone has to carry the team and there’s no one better.
“We’re down a couple players, so yeah, it’s necessary that he comes out and plays like that for us right now,” Jackson said. “But I think he enjoys it. He loves having that opportunity.”
Posted in: Kobe Bryant • Phil Jackson | 3 Comments »
November 7th, 2009, 3:29 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
EL SEGUNDO
Andrew Bynum showed up to the Lakers training facility in slippers Saturday, which was the first and clearest indication that the Lakers center wasn’t ready to play.
Meanwhile, Pau Gasol spent more than an hour on the training table getting treatment on his strained hamstring while his teammates finished up practice, giving the Lakers another sign they would have to again play without their two post players.
Bynum said his right elbow, which he injured in the game against Houston, continues to give him pain when he attempts to shoot or block out.
“It’s just got to heal up,” said Bynum, who sat out Friday’s game against Memphis.
Gasol, who has yet to play a regular-season game, experienced some residual pain after Friday’s shootaround, according to Phil Jackson. Both players are considered game time decisions, but Jackson didn’t sound optimistic.
“Pau has been working out to his limits and last night felt some residual pain and was concerned about it today, so he was not out on the court with us today,” Jackson said.
Jackson added that perhaps both players could be back in the lineup when the Lakers play Phoenix on Thursday.
“We have a three-day break after the game on Sunday, so I don’t see any reason why it would be extended past that time,” Jackson said.
Posted in: Andrew Bynum • Pau Gasol • Phil Jackson • Practice notes | Post a Comment »
November 6th, 2009, 10:53 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
 Getty Images LOS ANGELES
Kobe Bryant was just being Kobe Bryant when he scored 41 points against Memphis on Friday. It wasn’t anything new. He’s scored 41 points two other times this season.
Still, his dominating play in light of the Lakers’ injury situtation was impressive. He took over in the post, where Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum normally roam but sat out because of injuries and did not count a 3-pointer in his game-high total.
In fact, he didn’t even attempt a long-range shot.
“For the most part, he wa the only one scoring,” Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay said. “He was hitting some tough shots. We played pretty good defense on himi and he hit tough shots. What more can you ask for?
“Kobe was Kobe tonight. What is that, like eight straight shots or something like that, he had? It’s tough. When he’s on like that, it’s tough for any team.”
Posted in: Kobe Bryant | 3 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 10:02 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
LOS ANGELES
Winning games this early in the season has been somewhat of a struggle for the Lakers without Pau Gasol in the lineup. Take away Andrew Bynum and the task suddenly got that much more difficult.
But not impossible.
The short-handed Lakers, behind the inspired play of Ron Artest, managed to forget their injury woes for at least the time being and beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 114-98, at Staples Center.
Artest took up the some of the slack left by the Lakers’ two absent 7-footers, scoring 19 points, pulling down six rebounds and handing out seven assists. His spirited play came on the heels of TNT analyst Charles Barkley’s criticism of his off-court activities, including his music career. Barkley suggested Artest wouldn’t be focused enough on basketball.
Artest proved otherwise Friday, coming within one point of his season-high in points.
Kobe Bryant took up the rest of the scoring burden, leading all scorers with 41 points. Bryant became the youngest player to score 24,000 when he hit a 13-foot jumper with 4:14 left in the second quarter. He celebrated by shrugging his shoulders while sitting on the bench during a time out.
“What can I say?” Phil Jackson said. “This is a guy who sees a weakness in a team and exploits it. …. Killer instinct, that’s what he had tonight.”
The rest of the Lakers seemed to shrug off the notion they would have trouble without the two big men. DJ Mbenga, who started place of Bynum, scored five points and collected 12 rebounds.
Gasol has not played since straining his right hamstring in practice early last month, missing all six regular-season games. He is not expected to play Sunday against New Orleans.
Bynum suffered a strained right elbow against Houston on Wednesday and sat out Friday. He could see action Sunday.
The Grizzlies were led by Rudy Gay’s 22 points and Zach Randolph’s 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Posted in: 2009-10 • Game reports | 2 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 7:46 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
LOS ANGELES
TNT did a nice little feature Thursday on Ron Artest, profiling the newest Lakers’ off-court ventures. They showed his rap career, his community work, serving up milkshakes to his Twitter fans, hanging out in Los Angeles and basically just having fun.
It showed the lighter side of Artest.
But Charles Barkley apparently didn’t like it. The TNT analyst thought Artest is spending too much time on his rappin’ and experiencing the L.A. fun and not being focused enough on helping the team win.
“(The Lakers) are going to be (better) if he controls himself,” Barkley said on-air after viewing the Artest feature.
“If Ron Artest just plays basketball I think they can be better. He’s going to have to keep himself under control. He’s the fifth option, he’s not the fourth … he’s going to have to accept that winning is the most important thing. It’s easy to say that, but he’s the fifth option and he’s going to have to deal with that.”
Artest was hurt by Barkley’s comments and his attempt to take away his “shine” and posted 14 tweets on Twitter.
“Everybody can’t be Tiger,Bird,Stockton,Duncan etc.. Some people turn out to be Rodman , Maxwell and Artest! What’s so bad about that?!!!!.??”
“He wants me to be something I’m not,” Artest said.
He added, “That whole story had nothing to do with that. TNT was trying to make me look good, but Charles tried to turn it into something bad. They were pointing out a lot of good things and Charles totally took my spotlight, you know. He totally could have picked another time to do that.”
Posted in: Ron Artest | 7 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 7:25 pm by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
LOS ANGELES
Call it a bit of wishful thinking, But 90 minutes before tipoff, Phil Jackson was still hoping that Andrew Bynum would walk into the locker room and say that he is ready to play.
Wishful thinking indeed.
Bynum (elbow), along with Pau Gasol (hamstring) were not available for Friday’s game against Memphis, leaving Lamar Odom and DJ Mbenga to handle Zach Randolph in the paint.
“Lamar has a big job because Zach Randolph is a prolific scorer,” Jackson said. “So we probably will double-team them in the post.”
Randolph, a 260-poiund power forward, is averaging 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds, while center Marc Gasol is throwing in another 17.6 points a game.
Jackson said it will be important for his post players to stay out of foul trouble considering sudden lack of big men.
“It’s going to be about the foul situation basically,” Jackson said. “We have to stay out of foul trouble and limit their big guys.”
Odom said staying out of foul trouble will be easy.
“Play less defense,” he said.
He laughed, but he sounded serious.
Posted in: Andrew Bynum • Lamar Odom • Pau Gasol • Phil Jackson | 2 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 1:45 pm by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
The Lakers have just four road games in their first 21, but they had to work overtime to get victories in these first two in Oklahoma City and Houston. To see some slices of life from my camera during first trip of the Lakers’ road schedule this season, click here for a slideshow.
Phil Jackson was asked by the locals the first night what he thinks of Oklahoma City. There was potential for the sort of slight that the broad-minded Jackson has given to smaller cities such as Sacramento (”cow town”), Orlando (”plastic”) and New Orleans (”that mildew smell”).
Jackson had sort of held his tongue in Las Vegas last month for an exhibition game, saying he wasn’t going to say anything bad about the city “as much as I’d like to.” This time with the Okies, Jackson basically did the same thing - but getting his opinion across.
The Lakers’ coach said he’s “not really fond” of the Oklahoma area. He praised the sunsets and sunrises, but then added: “The wind is aggravating if you live out here, there’s no doubt about it.”
Posted in: Houston Rockets • Oklahoma City Thunder | 2 Comments »
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