<div align="center"> Brandon's Prediction The Lakers will find that Brian Cook is a nice addition to this team, and Kobe will use him throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarters. After a while, this game will turn into a Francis/Kobe scoring frenzy, and Kobe will start to use his teammates again in the 4th. With the Lakers down by one, and a few seconds left, Kobe will hit his first game-winner of the year...and the Lakers will win another one at home, 92-91.
Nice preview Real. I think this will be a high scoring game and poor defense from both teams. Both Kobe and Francis will have big games, but I think the X Factor will be Odom and/or Mihn .. How good or bad they perform in the defensive and offensive end will decide the game. However, if Hill is back I expect a nice line from him. Magic by 6.
jumaine jones 3s are sick... 6-6 from beyond the arc......>"< the Magic are up by 2 now with less than 3 minutes left I hope Magic can keep fire on and don't blow the lead. We certainly can win this!! Grant Hill and Co. are looking great welcome back Pat Garrity
Looks like The Franchise is going to have a double double before half time 9 points 9 asissts right now with 2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. I am surprised at how well Hill is playing coming off a injury did he start? I missed the start of the game and did not see the starting lineup either way he has been the biggest factor for us right now. I think if we can just have comtained Jumaine Jones we would be up and blowing them out right now since Kobe is 2-9 and Lamar is dominating Howard, but not getting the ball that much he is 2-4 form the field with 13 points total.
What is wrong with Kobe? I really think the Lakers need to work on screens, bigtime. Nobody is setting screens correctly, thus making things tougher for him to get a shot off. Plus, he's trying to pass when he should be shooting, and shooting when he should be passing.
Wow the Magic are getting totally destroyed on the boards today, and the Lakers have three guys who have scored over 20 points this game. Odom has once gaain become the forgotten player for the Lakers he is shooting over .500 but only has attempted 9 shots, and only has two points in the second half. It looks like we will lose a close one very good game by the franchise though near triple double 27 points 13 asists 7 rebounds. I think this is one of those games where a couple things dont go your way here and there and you find your self down. Like Jones he is as inconsistant as they come what are the odds that he would have a over 20 game against us, and that Mihm would have 13 boards. I think one bright side is we have contained obe in shot percentage wise he shot horrible and I mean horrible 6-23 from the field. Which is one reason why I am wondering why Odom who is 5-9 and is shooting so well si not getting the ball more while Kobe has attempted 23 shots and is well under 50%. On this trip so far what I have noticed is Howards offensive game has picked up some what, but at the cost of his board game 11 and 8 tonight, but we are more use to 10 and 13 or 9 14. I would personally not mind seeing him score less and rebound more we have many scorers, but with Cato out we need more rebounding. Battie did his best tonight 8 points and 12 rebounds. Looks to be a free throw contest now 23 seconds left akers up 105-98. I am proud of the way we hung in it tonight though with all the things that did not go our way.
That sig is sick, Pure. And yes, I agree about Odom. I don't understand what's going on, really. I don't know if it's Kobe's fault, or Rudy's. Also, Francis was awesome...but I'm surprised at the way Hill played. Nice game for him, especially since I didn't expect him to play.
Dang, Francis dunk was so sick, it looked like he jumped off of a trampoline. That as one crazy dunk, Hill played really well, and I am actually impressed with Dwight Howard, he has a future in this league as a superstar, I didnt have high expectations for him, but night in and night out he is shutting me up..good game by the Magic, just came up short.
To be honest you cant do anything against that. 2 People that were completely unexpected stepped out for lakers and got 50 pts. We did the job on kobe and helped that he hurt his leg. One thing that did hurt us, apart from stevie, we didnt have any other huge scoring, someone helping out with 22pts would have been good.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting magicdamo23:</div><div class="quote_post">To be honest you cant do anything against that. 2 People that were completely unexpected stepped out for lakers and got 50 pts. We did the job on kobe and helped that he hurt his leg. One thing that did hurt us, apart from stevie, we didnt have any other huge scoring, someone helping out with 22pts would have been good.</div> Kobe hurt his leg? What happened? I don't get to watch the games, since I'm in Kansas.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Real Deal:</div><div class="quote_post">That sig is sick, Pure. And yes, I agree about Odom. I don't understand what's going on, really. I don't know if it's Kobe's fault, or Rudy's. Also, Francis was awesome...but I'm surprised at the way Hill played. Nice game for him, especially since I didn't expect him to play.</div> Thanks Eclipse gave me permission to use it a while ago thought I would switch back to it, because it was probably the sickest sig I ever had on this site. Also I agree I do not know if its just Kobes fault. I mean all the Lakers plays are designed for him, and that is not his fault it is coachings fault, and the only plays designed for Odom are back up plays. I dont know what happened with Kobes leg like you I dont get to watch I am in PA, but I do not think it was anything serious since he was in the game at the end I believe according to nba courtside live. Also thanks for helping out with the preview Real Deal.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pure Skillz:</div><div class="quote_post">Thanks Eclipse gave me permission to use it a while ago thought I would switch back to it, because it was probably the sickest sig I ever had on this site. Also I agree I do not know if its just Kobes fault. I mean all the Lakers plays are designed for him, and that is not his fault it is coachings fault, and the only plays designed for Odom are back up plays. I dont know what happened with Kobes leg like you I dont get to watch I am in PA, but I do not think it was anything serious since he was in the game at the end I believe according to nba courtside live. Also thanks for helping out with the preview Real Deal.</div> Are you sure that's not his fault? I mean, he did want an offense that revolved around him. It is the reason that Jerry Buss dumped his team to build around him.
Well Pure, I know what you're saying...and see, the way I look at it, the plays are designed for him, but that doesn't mean that they involve just him. For example, who's setting screens for him? I don't see any. In fact, off the ball, the only person I see cutting to the hoop is Atkins, but come on...how in the world is Kobe going to throw the ball inside for a 5'11" point guard that can't jump? I'd like to know where Odom and Butler are. Off the ball, they are just standing around...and this causes either forced shots or turnovers. We need a PG badly. If we had a decent one that can handle the ball, this would allow Kobe to play off the ball for once, and with him jogging the perimeter and cutting to the hoop, it would make others move also, and we can get some movement back in the paint. Mihm tends to stay in one spot all the time...I'm surprised he doesn't get called for the three-seconds actually...but that's a big reason why we haven't won a championship in the last two years, and why we were blown out by the Pistons. We had an SF who just stood at the perimeter, a PG who rested at the top of the key, a PF with no defense whatsoever (Slava), and a center who didn't move, who expected the ball even with two Pistons waiting in the passing lanes. Kobe is forced to take shots in a double team, and he doesn't hit...and the Lakers lose. It's time for our guys to move without the ball. With Kobe running the point and the two, it's not going to work out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting magicdamo23:</div><div class="quote_post">To be honest you cant do anything against that. 2 People that were completely unexpected stepped out for lakers and got 50 pts. We did the job on kobe and helped that he hurt his leg. One thing that did hurt us, apart from stevie, we didnt have any other huge scoring, someone helping out with 22pts would have been good.</div> I don't agree with you on that. What us really hurt was our rebounding or lack of controlling our own board. The Lakers had 21 offensive rebounds and got 22 second chance points, compared to our 11 offensive rebounds and only 9 points from those. So basically, we are really missing Cato right now.
What I gotta say is that they showed most of the highlights on espn fastbreak but didn't show Steve's dunk over Mihm. And on sportscenter I didn't see any highlight dunks. Damn, the last dunk by Steve gave them a ray of hope and no love from sportscenter what so ever.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coranor:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't agree with you on that. What us really hurt was our rebounding or lack of controlling our own board. The Lakers had 21 offensive rebounds and got 22 second chance points, compared to our 11 offensive rebounds and only 9 points from those. So basically, we are really missing Cato right now.</div> Agreed. Battie tried hard to get the rebounds and D12 must also try to grab more boards for us. But I noticed that Battie and D12 are having turnovers problem...we really need to get more offensive boards and try to handle the ball well. Let's see what our team can do against the suns later...
