Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Staples Center TV: Los Angeles: FSN, NBALP Atlanta: UPN Atlanta ---------------------- Probable Starters: Jason Terry/Gary Payton Dion Glover/Kobe Bryant Stephen Jackson/Devean George Shareef Abdur Rahim/Horace Grant Theo Ratliff/Stanislav Medvedenko ---------------------------------- Injury Report: Hawks- Terrell Brandon-Out Obinna Ekezie-Out Lakers- Rick Fox-Out Shaquille O'Neal-Out Karl Malone-Out ------------------- Keys to the game: Hawks- The keys for the game for the Hawks is to get Jason Terry involved early in the ballgame. He can be a very dangerous shooter, and capable of getting hot at any given time. But one disadvantage he does have is committing too mant turnovers. He ranks #9 in total turnovers. Another key for Atlanta is getting the ball to Stephen Jackson and Shareef Abdur Rahim. In their loss at Sacramento, these two players were the ones that really benefited their team the most. A quick fact on Stephen Jackson: He's averaging 22.0 points the last two games, so the Lakers definitely will have their hands full. Theo Ratliff too will be an absolute threat in the paint. He ranks #2 in blocks, so whoever dares to drive to the basket, they better be sure to keep their eyes open. Lakers- Clearly the Lakers are a very flat, disarrayed team that is mentally out of it. Losing their fourth straight overall, they finally return home to Staples Center where they can at least feel some relief. The keys for the Lakers will have to be clearly on the success of their backcourt. Gary Payton and Kobe will just have to take this struggling team on their shoulders and deliver a W. Because it seems like this team is just standing around forgetting their roles on this team. Another guy I look at is Brian Cook. Even though he's only played in about 4 games this season, he's scoring double figures, and he seems to have a great deal of confidence in himself. Laker Fever's prediction- There is no excuse for the Lakers to lose this game tomorrow night. They're playing the struggling, lowly, Atlanta Hawks, and the Hawks just struggle against Western Conference opponents. Lakers by at least 9 pts.
Yes, Lakers have to win this one. It would just feel great to get back to winning, as sad as that sounds. There is no excuse, Lakers have been out-matched by these other teams they have lossed to because the frontcourt dominates, though I think Rahim will have a big game, Lakers should easily win this one. Kobe will explode, and hopefully he'll get more help offensively. I take the Lakers by 5.
I expect the lakers the get killed in rebounding agian with ratliff and shareef playing. But i say lakers win this one by 5,
lakers will win tonight, if not, then i'm wrong. seriously, they should win this one to end their losing streak. kobe will have 30+ points and i expect payton and george to have a great game, 20+ points each is not bad to help kobe offensively. go lakers! :thumbsup:
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobe_8:</div><div class="quote_post">lakers will win tonight, if not, then i'm wrong.</div>
Great preview, looks pretty even to me, Shareef will murder Horace Grant in man to man, especially on boards and even on offense. I love SJax, I hope he makes George pay, Fox is so much better. I hope LA loses, I say Hawks by 7.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Magic Johnson:</div><div class="quote_post">Great preview, looks pretty even to me, Shareef will murder Horace Grant in man to man, especially on boards and even on offense. I love SJax, I hope he makes George pay, Fox is so much better. I hope LA loses, I say Hawks by 7.</div> I would think with your Magic Johnson avatar and sig, you'd be a Laker fan.
Los Angeles Lakers - Atlanta Hawks 83-26 10 left in 3rd. medevenko 18 points and 10 boards. this game is a joke.
About the preview, didn't Terrell Brandon retire? If I am right about that, shouldn't he now be on the roster? About the game, I am glad it is not televised on ESPN. That would be wasted coverage.
Hey, a win is a win, but I'm not going to act like the Lakers are back on track, this one was predicted an easy one, but DAMN! Didn't see this game, had a basketball game of my own, but Terry/SAR played only a combined 45 minutes! What's up with that, and Ratliff also was limited in his time. No wonder Slava had a big game. Good win for the Lakers though, I'm sure it brings some kind of confidence back to this team. Also, I wish I could have seen way more minutes from Brian Cook, the game was a blow out, and he only played 14 minutes?! C'mon Phil, get the young guys in there and let them run.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Purple N Gold:</div><div class="quote_post">Terry/SAR played only a combined 45 minutes! What's up with that, and Ratliff also was limited in his time.</div> What's up with that is that they played horrible basketball! I mean they lost by 46. Upping their minutes wouldn't have helped. The coach needs to send a message that he will bench his best players, and I use best very loosely. No NBA team should lose by 46 no matter what the circumstances.
This should shut people up. I knew Slava had this potential, even check the game threads. The guy can flat out score! And he played decent defense. (Yet, it was against the Hawks..)
Finally someone stepped up... Medvendenko! He played well especially for a defender like Ratlif on him-this is what L:A need sto win games without there big players-players that can step up and make everyone forget were missing players-he played ggreat-Kobe played well too-great game. Hawks: U suck
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Depth:</div><div class="quote_post">Hawks: U suck</div> Actually, they have beaten some pretty good teams this year, including the Nuggets twice. Their not all that great but show some respect.
Wow, I mean what can I say? The Lakers simply just blew out, and massacred the Atlanta Hawks 113-67. Everything for the Lakers clicked so well, defense was the key point in this game, allowing the Hawks to score only 7 points in the first quarter. Let me repeat: 7 FREAKIN' POINTS! Now if this isn't confidence for this injured Laker team, I don't know what is. Kobe Bryant of course was the main ingredient for this game, but how about the effort of Slava Medvedenko. Am I reading these stats correctly? 26 pts 11 rebounds? The man simply looked like a man possessed. He controlled the glass, made his own efforts of second chance opportunities, and made things happen for this struggling frountcourt. This is what he was supposed to do since Malone and Shaq left. Dang Slava, was that so difficult? I won't say much on the Atlanta Hawks. Just a horrible, miserable basketball team. Should be an exciting game Monday as our Lakers try to repeat the same kind of performance against Cleveland.
