Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: The Arena In Oakland TV: KCAL ---------------------- Probable Starters: Gary Payton/Speedy Claxton Kobe Bryant/Jason Richardson Rick Fox/Mike Dunleavy Jr. Slava Medvedenko/Brian Cardinal Shaquille O'Neal/Erick Dampier ---------------------------------- Injury Report: Lakers- Karl Malone-Out Brian Cook-Out Warriors- Troy Murphy-Out Evan Eschmeyer-Out ------------------- Keys to the game: - In order for the Lakers to win tonight, they have to continue their gameplan from last night by getting the ball to no one other than Shaq. Let him dominate inside, allow him to create an offensive rhythm. If Shaq goes cold early, the Lakers could be in trouble. Also, get Kobe the ball. It'll be important for him along with Shaq to receive as many touches, and shoot a high number of shots. He's coming off a 31 point effort, and by the way he was shooting last night, he could explode at any moment. Finally, the Lakers will have to play aggressive defense. Every time these two teams go against each other, the Lakers always allow the Warriors to have their way on the offensive side of the ball. They have to prevent this and take them out of their game early. It could take out their confidence if they find themselves trailing early in the ballgame. - The Warriors have won six of nine overall, and six of seven at the Arena, so in order for them to continue this streak is they'll have to look for Brian Cardinal early. Brian in his last game is coming off a career night of 32 points on 10/14 shooting, and since Slava is struggling at the power forward position, Cardinal shouldn't have any trouble with him, and should easily take adavantage. Also, Speedy Claxton is coming off career highs in assists and steals with 13 and 7, so Gary Payton will definitely have his hands full once Claxton has the ball in his hand, penetrates, and dishes to his teammates whether in the half-court game or in transition. Erick Dampier recorded his 28th double double his last game against Phoenix, and even though it'll be a tough task for him to do battle against Shaq, he definitely won't back down from any challenge. He's really proven himself this year. Laker Fever's prediction- I think this game comes down to the success of Shaq and Kobe. If Shaq can get his game going and dominate the paint areas, and Kobe equaling or doing better than his 31 point effort last night, the Lakers should be right there for the W. Everytime these two teams meet up at the Arena, the Warriors always make the game very interesting. Lakers by 4.
Kobe always has big games against Golden State...I expect him to continue the trend and torch the Warriors tonite...Dampier will outplay Shaq, but Lakers take it by 14....
I'll be at this one tonight, I predict a easy Lakers victory by about 12 points or so. I expect for the Warriors to hang in this one for a while but with their lack of execution, the Lakers will pull away.
good review. lakers will win by 15 , 98-83. looking forward for slava to have a big game tonight. kobe will take over 4th quarter again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Purple N Gold:</div><div class="quote_post">I'll be at this one tonight, I predict a easy Lakers victory by about 12 points or so. I expect for the Warriors to hang in this one for a while but with their lack of execution, the Lakers will pull away.</div> You lucky son of a *BLEEP*!!
The Lakers should take this one very easily. The Warriors will put up a challenge but the Lakers will prove just too much.I say Lakers by 9. PNG man you're lucky.
Warriors by 7. Slava takes 11 shots in the first half (making 3 of them) and commits 2 turnovers before being benched.
Lakers by 6, I think they will have a 10+point lead going into the 4th, Warriors make a comeback and Lakers pull it off in the final minutes.
Wow, Van Exel and Kobe trading baskets down the stretch...Lakers up 100-99 with 1:03 left and Shaq at the line... edit: Shaq misses both...make em when they count my ass 35 secs left, Laker ball, after Warriors fail to score...still 100-99 Lakers Kobe gets called for traveling, NVE misses it, Kareem Rush gets the rebound and they foul him immediately with 3 seconds left....Rush misses both freethrows....2 seconds left, Warriors ball, Lakers up 100-99 still Shaq blocks Cliff Robinsons three pt shot at the corner....Lakers win by 1
Damn, thought the Lakers were going to let this one slip. Warriors handed this one to LA though, they had plenty of chances to win it, we just about choked the game away as much as we could, but luckily Golden State couldn't execute in the final minutes. Dampier/Foyle were OWNED inside tonight, Shaq simply dominated tonight, and got countless wide open dunks. Kobe was the story in this one though, he had another great game against the Warriors as usual, killed them in the 3rd, and made clutch baskets in the 4th to give the Lakers leads, good thing we were able to hang on to this one tonight.
What a wild game! Payton needs to stop getting ejected! Anyways, if the Lakers had made their free-throws, they would have won easily!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting the MDE:</div><div class="quote_post">What a wild game! Payton needs to stop getting ejected! Anyways, if the Lakers had made their free-throws, they would have won easily!</div> i know man. i feel sorry for the 10 kids from his charity who watched the game, getting into a fight wasn't good to see. anyways, that was funny when shaq pushed (not that hard) the referee away from gary. two referees went down with gary. i just don't understand why they got ejected although there were no punches thrown out. they replayed the fight and it seems like gary was trying to bite claxton's ear...ouch! however, claxton said that gary didn't try to bite him. i didn't expect it to be this close, shaq and kobe needs help scoring.
Wild game last night. I didn't have a chance to watch the game on T.V. but I heard the play by play from WARRIOR COMMENTATORS!! Players of the game in this one was definitely Kobe Bryant. Just like I predicted, he had to improve his game from two nights ago, and that was exactly what he did. 35 points total. And how about that pump fake shot off the glass? Fellas, Kobe is back. I believe 100%. Also, Shaq did an excellent job last night, and he also improved his point total from the home win against Portland. Dampier and Foyle were dominated inside. They were absolutely no match for him. And yes, he made that clean block with 1.3 seconds left to seal the win. As for Gary Payton, that was just so ridiculous and childish for him to attack Claxton the way he did. The Warrior commentator claimed that Payton was choking him right in front of the scorer's table. Now, was that necessary?????? This guy on the court has a huge temper problem, and sometimes he really has to learn how to control it. I guess he was frustrated by the way Speedy outplayed him. I think us Laker fans are going to enjoy this one. We're 2-0 so far in the second half, and playing a struggling Philadelphia team next game. And wouldn't revenge be sweet?
