Seattle @ LA Lakers: Official Game Thread

Details:

When: Sunday, March 20th
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
Time (Seattle): 6:30 P.M.
TV: Fox Sports, League Pass

Projected Starters:

<font color="Green">Seattle (44-20)
</font>
Luke Ridnour
Ray Allen
Rashard Lewis
Reggie Evans
Nick Collison

<font color="Indigo">LA Lakers (32-33)</font>

Chucky Atkins
Kobe Bryant
Caron Butler
Lamar Odom*
Chris Mihm

Injury Troubles:

<font color="Green">Seattle</font>

Mateen Cleaves: Sprained thumb, ruled out.
Vladimir Radmanovic: Stress fracture in leg, ruled out.
Danny Fortson: Foot injury, ruled out.
Jerome James: Quadricep contusion, ruled out.

<font color="indigo">LA Lakers</font>

Devean George: Ankle surgery, ruled out.
Vlade Divac: Back surgery, ruled out.
Tony Bobbit: Sprained ankle, ruled out.
*Lamar Odom: Shoulder strain, gametime.

Brief Notes:

<ul>
[*]The Sonics begin a tough stretch of 10 games in 17 days against the Lakers, as they bid to wrap up the Northwest championship and a playoff berth as soon as possible. Seattle are 2-0 against the Lakers this season, breaking a Staples Center hoodoo along the way, and will be looking to build on a confident last quarter against the Magic on Friday. Los Angeles on the other hand have dropped four straight and are falling behind 8th seeded Denver in the race for the playoffs, but one thing for certain is it's not Kobe Bryant's fault whatsoever.
[/list]
<ul>
[*]The Supes are suffering a string of injuries to big men, with Jerome James, Danny Fortson and Vlad Radmanovic all missing from this one. Look for Nick Collison to get the start in the middle again, after an impressive double double against Orlando, which included eight offensive caroms. The Lakers hope to have Lamar Odom fit for the start, and if they lose, it won't be Kobe Bryant's fault by any means, especially if he gets above five assists which will prove beyond any sort of logical argument that he is unselfish.

[/list] * Useful/less stat of the day: Seattle have kept the Lakers to an average of 93 points in their two meetings this season, five below their season average. But it's not Kobe Bryant's fault.

* Word of the Day: Fault; v: To commit a mistake or an error.

"Kobe Bryant is the most unselfish, brilliant, talented and successful human being ever and we all want to boof him, therefore he is technically never at fault."

Random Family Guy Quote

Vacuum repairman: There you go, all fixed. Turns out a half-eaten meatball was clogging up the intake.
Peter: Oh. Well, did you save it?
Vacuum repairman: Uh, no.
Peter: You bastard.

All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">and if they lose, it won't be Kobe Bryant's fault by any means, especially if he gets above five assists which will prove beyond any sort of logical argument that he is unselfish.</div>

Nice preview but lol this is an O system that needs him to be selfish otherwise the Lakers wouldn't even be where they are at right now, on the playoff bubble. What about Ray Allen's recent complaining of less touches, minutes, and shots while all they really least needed was someone with a selfish attitude?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting purpleb0n9:</div><div class="quote_post">What about Ray Allen's recent complaining of less touches, minutes, and shots while all they really least needed was someone with a selfish attitude? </div>

Uh, we've all been complaining about Ray. What about it?

 

That's to show that any player can be selfish, not only Kobe. This team needed to get their unselfishness attitude back, because that's what got them here today... but Ray would have made it worse with that comment. Granted, he still made it up though with 38 pts in a victory over the Magic. The Sonics got lucky that his situation didn't escalate further, at least for now.

 

I think it's hilarious that Kobe Bryant is now one of those "if he could only get some help" players in the KG/AI vein. Hilarious.

 

The Sonics have been praised all season for their depth. With three players in their nine man rotation out indefinitely, the Sonics depth will be put to the test.

I honestly hope that the Lakers get bounced out of the playoff contention. They pose absolutely no threat to any team in the playoffs, and considering how little they got for trading Shaq, they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Seattle, on the other hand, needs to continue to win so that the comments that came out of the Detroit loss don't resurface. There is obvious friction with this team and just b/c Ray had a career game against the Magic doesn't mean that the negative feelings that some of our players have toward each other's motives are now gone. There are going to be new players playing in roles that they haven't played in all season and my guess is that there may be some resistance to these players trying to make a considerable impact down the stretch. Nate is going to really have to earn his pay check in the next two months.

I'm loving the drama.

 

Iron Shiek is waiting for this game to be Murray-time! To be honest it would be nice if Murray can step into Radman shoes and be a major contributor off the bench those upcoming games.

And....I hate Kobe...I hate Lakers....ok that's all!

 

I hope Kobe doesn't tie the game up late and hit the game winning free throws. That would just be detrimental. I mean the guy is obviously a team leader on and off the court.

But seriously, the Sonics should take this if they regained any confidence from the Magic game. We have decent matchups across the board and we'll need another stepping up from Collison Course. Hopefully Ray can put his beef with the team and management aside and concentrate on Kobe so he can pWnZorZiZe him.

 

6 assists per game isn't selfish. There isn't one person on the Seatle team who gets more assists than Kobe. There is only one player on the whole of the Seatle team that gets more rebounds than Kobe does and Kobe's FG% is as good as 90% of the Seatle team.

 

Well there you go, statistically proven, just like I said.

Damn our extra dozen wins! Curses!

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">6 assists per game isn't selfish. There isn't one person on the Seatle team who gets more assists than Kobe. There is only one player on the whole of the Seatle team that gets more rebounds than Kobe does and Kobe's FG% is as good as 90% of the Seatle team.</div> Lets leave "seatles" (abbreviated form of sea turtle) out of this. This thread is about the Seattle Supersonics and Los Angeles Lakers. Although I would love to see sea turtles play basketball.

 

Radical d00ds!

 

Lets kick some Shredder butt!

 

lol and I suppose Kobe is the Shredder and Nate McMillan the Splinters... and who'd April be? Seattle must win this game, if not the bickering will come back...

 

Haha, it's rich that a Laker fan could accuse any other team of bickering. They basically invented the word.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Laker_fan:</div><div class="quote_post">6 assists per game isn't selfish. There isn't one person on the Seatle team who gets more assists than Kobe. There is only one player on the whole of the Seatle team that gets more rebounds than Kobe does and Kobe's FG% is as good as 90% of the Seatle team.</div>

Posts like this is why I have rooted L.A to fail. Now the whole world can see what I have said all along. Kobe is no different than any other swingmen in the game today. He is a great player who can't lead a team or get close to a championship without a big man. Oh and for the record, getting assists doesn't make you unselfish. When you dominate the ball as much as Kobe does It's not that hard to rack them up.

 

Fortson and James are out too, which weakens Seattle's bench considerably with Collison being inserted into the starting five, but then you still have guys like Flip and Pot who can step into the rotation. There's a lot of depth on this roster, no doubt.

Still, if Odom plays, the Lakers should have an advantage in the starting frontcourt over Evans and Collison. It just depends on which Chris Mihm shows up.

 

Yeah Chris Mihm can play like Ben Wallace one night and Shawn Bradley the next... if he shows up I predict the Lakers will take this one... on Kobe's last second-shot over Ray Allen, 106-105 thriller

 

This does mark a game where Ray's ego could easily be put ahead of the team, unfortunately.