<div align="center"> @ <font color=""Purple"">Where: Staples Center When: Friday, April 14th 7:30 pm Pacific</font> <font color=""blue"">Blazers Starting Lineup:</font> <font color=""Blue"">PG: Telfair SG: Blake SF: Outlaw PF: Randolph C: Ratliff</font> <font color=""Purple"">Lakers Starting Lineup:</font> <font color=""purple"">PG: Parker SG: Bryant SF: Walton PF: Odom C: Brown</font> As the regular season winds down and we prepare for the playoffs we have a home game against a lottery-bound team. It sounds like a situation most teams would want. Well, be careful what you wish for. This Portland TrailBlazer team has already beaten us twice and it would make their season to beat us a third time. There are a few common elements in those two Blazer victories that we will need to affect in order to take care of business on our home floor. Zach Randolph (who did not play in their game against the Clippers) was very effective in both Blazer victories over the Lakers. The left hander from Michigan State is a very capable scorer. He can operate in the low post where he has an assortment of skills including spins and ?up & under? moves. He also can shoot from the perimeter to about 18-20 feet. The one part of his game that needs improvement is his passing, especially out of double teams. Randolph is a reluctant passer in that context so we must mix up our coverages so he is not sure if or when the double team is coming. Another player who has been a thorn in our side is Steve Blake. He scored 19 points in each of the Blazer wins and so we must do a better job on him. He is capable of shooting from behind the screen in pick and roll situations so must not give him those looks. We also have to go at him on our offensive end in order to make him expend energy on his defensive end of the floor (file that under the best defense is a good offense). At this point of the season Portland Coach Nate McMillan is giving some of the Blazers young players a chance to show what they can do. Most of these guys are not household names but they are all talented and eager to play hard. This was shown clearly in their game against the Clippers. Portland played hard and lost by a narrow four point margin. Jarret Jack was one of the Blazers who had an excellent game. In 32 minutes off the bench he scored 20 points, had 7 assists and no turnovers. He was very comfortable running the Portland offense and showed a nice mid-range game. Starting point guard Sebastian Telfair has grown into one of the leaders on this team and is improving his control of the flow of the game. Martell Webster is a shooter with range. This rookie (straight out of high school) has shown improvement in his ability to move without the ball. Finally, Victor Khryapa has provided the Blazers with scrappiness on the boards and is capable of hitting shots from the perimeter. Once again this game comes down to us being professionals and not looking past this team. We are aware of the individual talents of their personnel and aware of the fact that this might be their collective ?last hurrah? for the season. It will make our job a whole lot easier if we come out and assert ourselves from the opening jump ? sending the message that this will be another long night for the Blazers. We need to take their confidence away early. <font color=""Purple""> Nobody in a Blazers uniform can stop Bryant one-on-one. McMillan knows Odom is passive, and that he may not be a threat against the Blazers, so this needs to change immediately. Odom should attack the weak side, while having Kobe to his right, waiting to hit an easy jumper or drive hard to the rim. If Parker can keep Telfair away from Bryant, and if Lamar can draw some attention from his defenders, Kobe will run these guys to death, and the Lakers will win this game, 106-91. Look for Kobe to have a great game as he does every game</font> </div>
Payback better come in the form of a victory tonight by the Lakers. They dismantled the Warriors the other night, and they better dismantle the Blazers tonight. This is the easiest of the 3 remaining games for the Lakers, and without a playoff spot locked up we have to win tonight. The Lakers Magic number is 2, and since the Jazz hold the tiebreaker we can't afford to get complacent down the stretch. The Blazers are one of the worst teams in the league, especially on the road. The one area the Blazers can hurt the Lakers is dribble penetration and from behind the arc. The perimeter defense and rotations have to be on point tonight for the Lakers. This game will actually be a good warm up for the Suns, because the Blazers like to get out in transistion and use the pick and roll in their halfcourt sets. I predict another double digit victory with the defense holding the Blazers to under 90 points. Kobe goes for 40 tonight.
We can't lose to them again, so lets get a big blowout victory. And contain, Blake last time he killed us.
I see us winning 96-90. I think it will closer than we think, we never seem to do well against Portland, even during the championship years. Just a note, if we win, we are officially in the playoffs.
very nice preview empra! i really dont think the lakers will lose this one. they must win today to stay the 7th seed in the west and play the suns in the playoffs. without miles, the lakers have an even bigger advantage, but we still cant take them too lightly. they beat us twice this season already, and gave the clippers a big scare. dont know about you, but i smell a big night for kwame brown
<font color=""Purple"">-50 From my MVP -2nd Consecutive triple double from stretch -Kwames' Monster game -Most importantly 6 games over .500 and a win</font> <font color=""Purple"">As Stu Lants would say, That will get it done!</font> <font color=""Purple"">Lakers Rule! </font>
If the Lakers can be this efficient on offense in the playoffs we can beat anyone. Kobe scoring 50 on just 28 shots was great, but the amazing part was 4 out of the 5 starters were in double digits, despite Kobe scoring close to half the points tonight. Kwame 20 points, 9 boards Odom 16 points, 12 boards, 12 assists ZERO turnovers Smush 11 points The only player who didn't get double digits was Luke, but he had 6 points and 7 assists. The Magic # is down to 1, playoffs here we come!
This feels so freaking good. But it'll be much better clapping for Kobe's greatness and ability to lead us into the second round. Go Lakers!
WOW. This is the perfect game for Laker fans, Kobe goes off, Lamar Odom gets his SECOND triple double in as many nights, and Kwame continues his great playing...
By looking at the box score and reading the recap, I would say that this might be the best game the Lakers has had this season. Am I right?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bahir:</div><div class="quote_post">By looking at the box score and reading the recap, I would say that this might be the best game the Lakers has had this season. Am I right?</div> Offensively it was one of the best this season. Their defense could have been a lot better because they kept letting the Blazers stick around. Congrats to Kobe, he broke Elgin Baylor's record for most points in a season by a Laker. With 2754 points so far, Kobe moves into the Top 10 list of Single Season PTs Leaders bumping of Michael Jordan by 1 point. 1 Wilt Chamberlain PH1 4029 1961-62 2 Wilt Chamberlain SFW 3586 1962-63 3 Michael Jordan CHI 3041 1986-87 4 Wilt Chamberlain PH1 3033 1960-61 5 Wilt Chamberlain SFW 2948 1963-64 6 Michael Jordan CHI 2868 1987-88 7 Bob Mcadoo BUF 2831 1974-75 8 Kareem Abdul-jabbar MIL 2822 1971-72 9 Rick Barry SFW 2775 1966-67 <font size=""4"">10 Kobe Bryant LAL 2754 2005-06</font> -------------------- 11 Michael Jordan CHI 2753 1989-90
Just saw the highlights from the game. Kobe's still got hops! Man, those two 360s were nice. Can someone get a video up?
Lol, Wilt is on that list like 4 times Good win by Lakers especially like Kobes 360 dunks in that game, pretty sick
Kobe can potentially get #7 on that list...btw he needs one more 50 point game to tie the single season record set by Baylor....lol...and we got 2 more games....COME ON KOBE!
6th 50+ for Kobe, damn. If Kobe drops to 50+ games in the playoffs, does that count for the season also?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting The Soft Parade:</div><div class="quote_post">6th 50+ for Kobe, damn. If Kobe drops to 50+ games in the playoffs, does that count for the season also?</div> No. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Laker_fan:</div><div class="quote_post">Just a note, if we win, we are officially in the playoffs.</div> My bad there, if the Jazz lose one more, or we win one more, we are through. Also, looking at that list of all time season high scorers, if Kobe didn't miss two games in the season, he could have easily knocked off Jordan for the sixth spot. He would need 115 points from four games, at an average of 28.8 points for the remaining two games and the two he missed. He can still do it if he averages 58 points for the next two games.
