Washington @ L.A. -- 12/17

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kobe 8 Ball:</div><div class="quote_post"><div align="center">@
<font color="navy">The Washington Wizards (12-8)</font>@<font color="purple">The Los Angeles Lakers (Game Tonight)</font>
Time: 10:00 PM Eastern
Place: The Staples Center
TV: Local</div>

<div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="navy">Wizards Head Coach</font></font>

<font color="navy">Eddie Jordan</font></div>


<div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="navy"> WizardsProjected Starting Lineup</font></div></font>
<div align="center">
<font color="navy">(Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood) </font></div>

<div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="purple">Lakers Head Coach</font></font>

<font color="purple">Rudy Tomjanovich</font></div>

<div align="center"><font size="5"><font color="purple">Lakers Projected Starting Lineup</font></font>

<font color="purple">(Chucky Atkins, Kobe Bryant, Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm)</font>
</div>

<div align="center"><font size="5">Bench Factors</font>

(<font color="navy">Kwame Brown</font>,<font color="purple">Jumaine Jones</font>)
</div>

<div align="center"><font size="5">Key Matchup</font>

(<font color="navy">Larry Hughes</font>, <font color="purple">Kobe Bryant</font>)
<font color="navy">Larry Hughes:</font> 18.4 ppg, 4.9 apg, and 6.3 rpg
<font color="purple">Kobe Bryant:</font>27.1 ppg, 7.6 apg, and 6.8 rpg</div>

<font size="5">Keys to the Game</font>
<font color="navy">Washington:</font>
<ul>
[*]Offensive Boards- With a horrible rebounding team like the Lakers the Wizards can easily dominate the glass. This could very well be an easy win for the Wizards if they dominate the glass, if they do not this game will be a good one
[*]Hughes on Kobe- Hughes has played awesome D all year long, limiting opposing SGs and absolutely controlling Richard Jefferson. Kobe will be a bigger test for him, but Kobe has been shooting the ball horribly from the field and I believe Hughes will show up to play some serious D in this one and force Kobe to take bad shots.
[*]Team Play- Play as a team, get everyone involved because honestly, when Jamison isnt involved he is worthless. He isnt doing the things he did last year in Dallas, posting up and kicking out. He is shooting long range jumpers and it is hurting the Wizards, either get him to post up or dont let him shoot, its that simple, he is hurting us as of late.
[/list]

<font color="purple"> Los Angeles:</font>
<ul>
[*]Boxing Out- The Wizards are the top offensive rebounding team in the league, the Lakers are a bad rebounding team. They must stop the Wizards from grabbing O boards or it will be a long night for them.
[*]Lamar going to show up?-Every year a struggling player blows up against the Wizards, last year Tmac exploded for 60 and two games ago Shaq exploded for 40. What will Lamar explode for?
[*]Hit shots...please?- No one but Kobe has been hitting shots, and even he is struggling with this. The Lakers must step up as a team and drill their open shots when Kobe kicks it out to them, they will not make the playoffs playing this kind of ball.
[/list]

<font size="5"> Prediction</font>
L.A. has lost a couple in a row, so have the Wizards. I like the Wizards in this one, they have better matchups besides Kobe IMO, and with Kwame looking good now off of the bench, I dont think the Lakers will be able to pull this one out. I take Washington in a tight, good game...97-93</div>


Hehe, a little anxious eh? How bout we play the game tonight before talking about the game vs Washington.

 

Always Lakers! Always! GO LAKERS!

 

<div align="center">




Washington Wizards: 12-8
Los Angeles Lakers: 13-9

Date: Friday, December 17th
Time: 7:30 PM
TV: FSN, NBALP

Previous Games:
Heat @ Wizards 98 - 93 (LOSS)
Lakers @ Kings 115 - 99 (WIN)

Projected Starting Lineups




<font size="1">(Eddie Jordan)</font>

C - <font color="Blue">Brendan Haywood</font> (10.2 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 0.6 APG)
PF - <font color="Blue">Antawn Jamison</font> (21.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.7 APG)
SF - <font color="Blue">Jared Jeffries</font> (6.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.3 APG)
SG - <font color="Blue">Larry Hughes</font> (18.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.9 APG)
PG - <font color="Blue">Gilbert Arenas</font> (21.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 5.5 APG)

<font size="4">VS</font>




<font size="1">(Rudy Tomjanovich)</font>

C - <font color="Purple">Chris Mihm</font> (11.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 0.4 APG)
PF - <font color="Purple">Lamar Odom</font> (14.5 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2.6 APG)
SF - <font color="Purple">Caron Butler</font> (13.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.4 APG)
SG - <font color="Purple">Kobe Bryant</font> (27.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 7.0 APG)
PG - <font color="Purple">Chucky Atkins</font> (10.4 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 3.6 APG)

Factors off the Bench

<font size="1">(Kwame Brown, Jumaine Jones)</font>

Game MVPs


WIZARDS - <font color="blue">Gilbert Arenas</font>
Predicted Stats: 25 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists

LAKERS - <font color="purple">Kobe Bryant</font>
Predicted Stats: 27 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists</div>

Brandon's Analysis
Gilbert Arenas is simply going to take Chucky Atkins to school in this game, no doubt about it. The Lakers are going to have to shut down the paint and prevent Arenas from penetrating, or Hughes and Co. will have open shots all night long.

The Lakers are going to have to halt the scoring distribution that the Wizards bring to the table every game; otherwise, Los Angeles may find themselves running out of steam trying to defend everyone with a hot hand. The Wizards are very well capable of putting 6 players in double figures against any team they play against. However, let's not disregard the Lakers' great ball distribution last night against the Kings, who were shot out of ARCO by the third quarter with everyone contributing to the win.

An important matchup tonight will be Odom and Jamison. Offensively, Odom needs to drive the lane and take it up strong like he did against Webber last night, but keeping in mind that Jamison has a mobility advantage over C-Webb...so attempting to get to the line should be on Odom's mind at all times. Defensively, he needs to keep his hands up and contest every single shot by Jamison, while keeping him off the glass for second chance points.

If the Lakers pick up a lead by 5+ going into the half, they need to focus on building that lead instead of losing it in the late 3rd. If they find themselves down late in the 4th, it's not just Kobe time; he needs to get Odom into the game in the clutch, because this duo can be a tough cookie to crumble in the final minutes, if they play appropriately.

Brandon's Prediction
The Wizards are attempting to regain control in the East, as Miami and Orlando are fighting for their division against Washington...so look for the Wiz to come out strong and ambitious. The Lakers are out to prove that last night was no fluke, and the extra boost of confidence will in fact keep this team cooking for a while. This should be a great game...but the Lakers will pull away in the 4th and win it, 94-86.

 

Why are there two previews in this one? Well, it's halftime and the score is 54-54, KObe with 13 pts and 7 assists, is he eyeing to be the second player after Tiny Archibald to lead the L in scoring and assist? And he's shooting well too on 5-for-8. I take the Lakers by 3.

 

^Because Real Deal has his own predictions made on every game anyways, so he decided he might as well post his own.

I think the Lakers will pull off this win, but barely.

I'll take the Lakers by 3.

 

Lakers down by three, but hangin in tough. 4th Quarter is time to shine!!! Pass the ball to Odom and Butler..They were on in the 1st half!

 

Oh haha I didn't even notice that Real Deal makes one every game my bad ... Kobe is going to lead the L in triple double this year, but I guess he doesn't care about that because winning is more important to him than anything else.

 

Mihm had a terrible game.

 

he shot once..lol

 

^At least he has 6 boards.

One thing tho... too many turnovers from the Lakers so far.

 

damn. OverTIME! Caron! Why didn't you just make that three so we could all go home happy! LOLz

 

ISOLATION!!! Wow.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting purpleb0n9:</div><div class="quote_post">Oh haha I didn't even notice that Real Deal makes one every game my bad ... Kobe is going to lead the L in triple double this year, but I guess he doesn't care about that because winning is more important to him than anything else.</div>
I was thinking the same thing, but then again Kidd is back, and the most anyone had yet was still 2, and now 3 with Kobe getting this on today, so I'm guessing Kidd will lead still...

Go Wizards!

Chris Mihm, 5 turnovers, how did those happen?

Also Wizards only 6 turnovers, wow, this is probably the least turnovers I've seen this team get, gonna have to download the torrent and watch this game tommorow

 

we better not lose...go lakers !

we still havent beat a team that scores over 100 right? =x

 

are you serious....wow...we LOSE ANOTHER HOME GAME THAT WE SHOULD OF WON

edit :

wow great effort by kobe...we sitll have a chance ! foul and have one last shot !~