The battle of LA will continue this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET when the LA Clippers will host their City-rivals, LA Lakers. This game will be a bit different from their previous matchups as it comes late in the regular season. Nevertheless it has special importance for each team and it will be really enjoying for the fans of both teams to watch.
First of all, this is a key game for the Lakers. Mike D’Antoni’s team really needs every win they can get out of their last six games if they want to enter this season’s Playoffs. The Lakers have a 40-36 record and they are just half a game ahead from the Utah Jazz, who have one more loss in their record.
On the other hand, the Clippers now focus on the Playoffs and don’t have to worry much about their remaining games. However this one has a special signification. The reason is that the Clips need to establish themselves as the best team in the City of Angels in this new era of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. It’s no secret that this has been the most successful season in the history of the organization. But it will take really much effort and many seasons of such performances for the Clippers to just be able to start comparing with the legendary Lakers. The conversation about the best team in LA can only have meaning if we are talking about the best team at this moment and that’s of course because the Lakers are out of reach in regards of history and titles.
Throughout the history of the NBA the Lakers have linked their name with the meaning of success and together with the Boston Celtics, they have been the two teams with the most titles in the history of the league. From the era of Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson to the most recent successes of Kobe with Shaquille O’Neil and even with – a healthy and well-conditioned – Pau Gasol, the Lakers have dominated not only Los Angeles but the entire NBA for long stretches.
This year things have turned upside down in LA and we see them for the first time in many years struggling to secure a Playoffs spot. On contrary, the Clippers are enjoying the unknown taste of winning. They are the leaders of the Pacific Division and they can secure the title (and also the 4th seed in the West) with this win on Sunday for the first time in their franchise history.
It should be an exciting, Playoff-like game with lots of tension and emotion. For Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash is questionable because of a hamstring injury and for Vinny Del Negro, Chauncey Billups is questionable because of a groin injury.
It will be very intriguing to see if Kobe attains his scoring frenzy for yet another game and how the Lakers will team-defend Chris Paul. DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin will have a tough task trying to stop the Lakers’ frontcourt, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. If the two teams finish in the seeds they currently hold and pass their opponents in the first round of the Playoffs, they will face each other again in the second leg.
Kobe Bryant the 4th place in the NBA’s All-Time scoring list. With that jumper in last night’s Lakers win, the Black Mamba totaled 31,421 points in his career and took over the 4th spot from former superstar and Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain. It was another historic moment for No.24 and for LA, too. Now the rest of the spots all the way to number One are ahead. Can Kobe become the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer?
Well, first of all we’ll have to do some quick math. After last night, Kobe now has 31,434 points in his resume. The next target is the 3rd spot, currently held by His Airness, Michael Jordan. MJ has 32,292 in total, which will most probably be an easy target for Kobe to reach. Keeping in mind that Kobe averages almost 25 PPG for his career, we could say that he will reach the 3rd spot somewhere around early 2014, or even late December 2013. In total, during a whole season, Kobe scores about 2,000 points. Nevertheless, this season he is averaging a bit over his career average, at 27.1 PPG.
Despite the 3rd spot could an easy one for the Black Mamba, the road to the 2nd and the 1st ones is not a bed full of roses. Karl Malone is ranked second with 36,928 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the All-Time leader with 38,387.
Even if Kobe manages to average almost 2,000 points per season, which is not easy, he will need three seasons with such performances to cling the 2nd seed. That could happen of course, if he only manages to stay healthy and play inmost of the 82 games of a season and also during the Playoffs without significant reduction to his scoring numbers.
While Malone could be a reachable target, the 1st spot is a longshot for Kobe. If he manages to retain his scoring averages as he enters the second half of his 30’s he will be able to catch Abdul-Jabbar somewhere around the middle of the 2016-17 season. On the other hand, if, for any reason, his scoring drops, then he will be able to get close to the leading spot in his 38 or 39 years of age. Plus, if we could predict some kind of injuries that would cost Kobe 10-15 games a season, then this period extends even more.It’s natural for any player to experience a reduction at his scoring firepower as he ages and enters the last stages of his career.
Up to now, Kobe has proved he is the exception to the rule. Not only his scoring hasn’t dropped, but he is in fact scoring more than his career average this season. In addition, some other aspects of his game, like distributing the ball have ascended to surface. Can he continue all the way to the 1st spot and become the NBA’s All-Time scoring leader? This should be a fascinating fact to monitor.
Is Dwight Howard ready to compete for a championship?
Despite the loss to the Phoenix Suns, there’s barely a single Lakers fan that can be disappointed by the team’s performance turnaround after the NBA All-Star break. Apart from Kobe, who has been most consistent player of the team throughout this season, Dwight Howard has also managed to improve his game on both ends of the floor. He has been a huge factor that allowed the LA Lakers to save this season.
It’s no secret that both the fans and the team’s officials in the City of Angels were disappointed by the performance of D-12 during the first half of the season. You can blame his adjustment period or the fact that he was coming off a severe back injury. One thing is for sure: Howard was not the dominant player in the block the Lakers expected him to be.
However, he drastically changed his pace both on the defensive end and of offense. Especially on defense, the impact of the three-time Defensive Player of the Year has been big no matter the opponent. When he is not denying shots he is most likely to change them and that’s of course if the opponents find the courage to even attack the Lakers’ paint. This became more noticeable due to the constant and long lasting injuries of his teammate big man, Pau Gasol. D-12 had to step up and take more responsibilities on both ends of the court.
Offensively, Howard has also improved his performance. He is driving stronger to the basket after the pick-and-rolls and he is more efficient when he catches the ball close to the hoop. During the last 10 games, Howard is averaging 17.4 Points per Game on 48% shooting from the field and meantime grabbing a bit over 15 rebounds. He also has almost 3 blocks per game.
Howard’s performance boost comes along with a general improvement to the Lakers as a whole. LA is now showing that the original purpose of this team was to be successful in the post-season. Of course the Lakers didn’t target to finish 8th in the West when the season started. Nevertheless, when Steve Nash and Howard took their talents to LA to join Kobe and Gasol, there was just to one goal, to win another Championship. This team is in a win-now situation. This was the case even at the very beginning of the season and this continues to be their focus. Judging from the aging roster, one could say that this might actually be the last chance for this team to change a ring.
The Lakers have responded well to their first task, to pick up the pace, find ways to win and enter the Playoffs. Nothing’s 100% certain yet, but the fans can be optimistic. The next challenge for them is to put their names as an eligible Championship Contender. In a way they have achieved that, too. They went from a team scratched off the Championship puzzle, to a strong presence in the West. They will now have to fulfill the fans’ expectations.
Is Dwight Howard ready to compete for a championship?
It’s been almost seven months since the blockbuster trade that brought Dwight Howard to LA, to join forces with Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. No one can say that this trade was worked out well for the Lakers up to now. However, during the last weeks the team has really picked up its performance and Howard is no exception. He finally shows what a dominant player he can be, a beast down the block.
In recent win of the Lakers over Howard’s former team, the Orlando Magic, he scored 39 points and also grabbed 16 and denied 3 shots. An amazing stat he had was his 39 free-throw attempts, of which he managed to get 25 to go in. This tied the NBA record for most free-throw attempts in a game. Since the start of the season, lots of teams have followed a weird –yet successful- tactics against the 6’11” center. They intentionally fouled him when the Lakers had possession, even if Howard didn’t have the ball and tried to score a basket. That led him to missed free-throws.Nevertheless, Howard proved during the last game that he can handle such situation and he punished the Magic.
Possibly the most essential fact is that Howard is finally healthy. He entered the season not at his full strength, after passing through a serious back problem that could be proved to be even more severe. The surgery he underwent last spring and his time off the courts made him lose his pace.
After the All-Star break, D-12 started showing some urgency, as the rest of the team did. In fact it was time they all did. His numbers show the truth, 17.6 points per game, almost 15 rebounds and 2.6 blocks. It’s like he is a different player and it’s way more than just stats.
With the constant and long-lasting injuries of Pau Gasol, he had to step up and take more responsibilities, both offensively and on defense. He now seems to have accepted his role as a defensive wall in the paint and as top option on the offensive end, together with Kobe. The Lakers will definitely need him at his best as they progress through their schedule. Especially in the Playoffs, Howard can be an ace hidden in the sleeve for them. There is arguably no player currently in the NBA that can defend him in the post on a consistent basis. If he catches the ball close to the basket, it’s really possible that he’ll score or get fouled, or both. That’s the Dwight Howard the league got to know, during his first years in Orlando and that’s who the Lakers’ fans expected to see after the trade.
The number one priority now should be health for Howard. As he stated, he feels great with his body and admitted he has started finding his rhythm. Coach Mike D’Antoniagreed, saying that he sees the improvement in his condition and performance day by day. At last, as Dwight is the Superman we expected him to be.
When Kobe Bryant makes statements, press talks or tweets the world is watching. Are his statements always true and correct? That question is a little tricky. The latest news that Kobe gave us is that according to his point of view the media have actually manufactured the drama over the team.
We’ve seen many times Kobe making comments regarding his teammates and his team, trying to motivate them to play harder or even through pain and even making some suggestions. This time though, he tried to underplay the fact that the general picture the Lakers have shown us up to this point of the season is not convincing. Talking about the comments he made on Dwight Howard and about the need for urgency from his team, he said that his comments about Howard were misinterpreted. Additionally he said that he only tried to motivate his teammate and the rest of the story was in fact manufactured by the media.
Trying to push your teammates so that the team rolls up and finds its pace is one thing. However, to call the Lakers drama manufactured this season might be a little too much. It’s an awkward moment for the franchise and with if they don’t manage to enter the playoffs with this roster, then the drama would become real and for good. Surely this is the last thing the Lakers have to think about. Now it’s time for focus and hard work, so that the team gets some wins. However, handling the media and solving a problem internally is what great teams do. There’s no need to avoid looking failure in the eye and there’s also no need to put the blame on a single player or coach. Teams win as a whole and teams fail as a whole. That’s the way sports work and that’s how the NBA works, too.
The Lakers need Kobe to be the leader. He has to stand up for his team now that it’s a difficult time. It’s great to see him not giving up – that’s certainly not the way he is- and try to force his teammates and especially Howard, Gasol and Nash to show some urgency. That’s how Kobe has used to be during his 17 years in LA. However, finding the appropriate way to fire up the rest of the team is important. Controversies and mutual press statements are not the solution to the problem.
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Is Dwight Howard ready to compete for a championship?
The latest news that came from the Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is that the team is not intended to seek for a trade for big man superstar Dwight Howard. Despite his injuries and his below expectations performance, Howard is still a longshot for the Lakers. He is believed to be the next star to supersede Kobe Bryant, when his career is over and the Lakers are very confident that the 6-11” center will resign with them this summer.
It’s no secret that Howard will have a bunch of teams that are going to give a go to land him, like Houston, Dallas Mavericks and perhaps even the Brooklyn through a trade. Those teams have chased Howard last summer, too, when he decided to take his talents to LA to join Kobe and Nash. Although he has kept his mouth closed and diplomatically avoided any true answer regarding his intentions this off-season, it’s widely believed in Lakers circles that he his remain with the team and they have some strong facts that support their beliefs.
First of all, the team can offer him more money than any other team can. It might sound odd, but the new CBA gives a huge advantage to the Lakers in the aspects of keeping Howard. That’s because they are able to offer him 5-year deal with a maximum salary of about $23.5 million and in the same time a 7.5 yearly increase rate. That means that each other team could totally offer him $30 million less, so a big a plus for LA in this point.
Also, having Kobe Bryant on your roster can only push another start to sign with you and in this case it will be to remain with the team. Despite the difficulties, chemistry and bonding will eventually come for the team and that’s when Dwight will be more willing to stay. Up to now, this season might have been an unsuccessful one for the Lakers, but when things turn around and Howard gets to see that they are capable of chasing a championship, he will be urged to remain to LA. There’s nothing more convincing for an NBA player than a ring, at least for most of them. Howard has clearly shown that he desperately wants to play for a contender and the Lakers are that team. After all it’s one of the reasons he left the Orlando Magic.
There are also secondary reasons that strengthen the team’s belief that Howard will stay and those might be the big market that Los Angeles is, with the star shine of Hollywood and the glamorous lifestyle and also the chance to work and with the Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul Jabbar. These only add up to the already strong motives that Howard has in order to stay for the team. So not seeking a trade for Howard is definitely the best choice for the team right now.
Chris Michaels I live in Los Angeles, CA and work as an Chief Wisdom Officer
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Kobe will record his 15th straight All Star appearance, all as a starter, while in the meantime he leads the votes overall for the third time in his career. This is well deserved by him despite for the Lakers being just 11th in the West. The 34-year veteran superstar is leading the league in scoring with 30 PPG and also is also shooting a career high 48% from the field this season.
Also at guard Chris Paul will make his appearance as a starter for the 4th time in his career, his sixth time generally as an all-star. Paul has been the leader of his team this season and has managed to change the whole picture of the Clippers together with Blake Griffin and the rest of the crew. He is averaging 17PPG and also almost 10 assists and he has provided some huge games for his team, lifting LA over tough opponents. His presence and his basketball IQ is what makes him so special, as he has the unique ability to make every teammate look better, a skill that only a few players in the entire NBA history possessed. Paul had a tough competition this season with Russel Westbrook for the starting point guard role, but managed to finish ahead from the Thunder’s star at votes.
At center we find Dwight Howard, his seventh straight All-Star appearance and his sixth as a starter. Although his team has not had a rather successful season till now, the monster center is putting huge numbers almost every game in rebounds and field goal percentage. He is averaging almost 18 points per game, 13 rebounds (first in the league) and 2.5 blocks. Even with some ups and downs in his performance, Howard is still considered to be one of the most, not to say the most complete players down the block and his starter role is well deserved.
Blake Griffin will also start for his 2nd time in an All-Star game, his third appearance overall. He is averaging 18 points on a 53% shooting from the field and also 8 rebounds per game. His has provided some huge games this season for the Clippers and also boosted the team’s 17-game winning streak that broke the franchise record. Apart from all the numbers and the stats, Griffin might be one of the strongest and most enjoying players to watch in the entire league, with all the dunks and alley-hoops his putting down.
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Much criticism has fallen on the shoulders of Kobe Bryant lately regarding his individual defensive performance. Of course, the whole Lakers team is circled by clouds regarding the general team picture and this season’s record. After lots of statements from other players, coaches and journalists, Kobe may have proven the best way that he is still capable of playing NBA All-Defensive Team-like defense.
You can question many things about Lakers’ defensive system. You can easily say that Howard is not the inside presence the team needs or that Mike D’Antoni is not utilizing the whole roster the best way possible. But to say that Kobe is not playing good D? Well, ask Brandon Jennings or Kyrie Irving about that. During the last games of the Lakers, Kobe was assigned to guard two of the most lethal point guards in the league and of course the best players of each team. How did he do? He held Irving to just 15 points on 7-15 shooting from the field. He is averaging 23.6 points per game on almost 46% shooting. Two days later, Jennings finished with just 12 points on 4-14 shooting while being guarded by Kobe. His numbers this season are 18.3 Points per game and 40% from the field. But it’s not just that.
Defense is way more than individual effort in basketball. Every team needs a good defensive tactics and a well understanding of how the system works in order to play effectively. This requires a firm setup from the coaching staff and a good execution from the players. Of course Coach Mike D’Antoni isn’t known for his superior defensive systems. But you can’t either blame Kobe for the team’s run this season. In fact, Kobe might be the only player who is playing like a true superstar and leader, as he is supposed to do, on both ends of the court. Yes he might have started to age and yes NBA requires all good players to be good athletes in order to compete. However Kobe has certainly not entered the stage of his career when he can’t compete any more at the highest level. This was made clear especially after the statements of both Irving and Jennings, who had the chance to taste a bit of Kobe’s defense the last two games. Both of them pointed out the great defense they faced and also stated that it was a huge factor for the outcome of the game. The Lakers came up winning both of these games.
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It may be a weird question for every Lakers fans, but it’s the reality we all have to face. We may be used to ask whether or not we are going to win the Pacific Division, the Western conference or even the championship. However this season, things have changed. What we’ll have to fight for is to secure the 8th spot in the conference and enter the playoffs. Can we do that? Of course we can. Will we manage to achieve that? Let’s hope so.
After 37 games the Lakers now are 16-21 and rank 11th in the Western Conference. The 8th seed is taken currently by the Portland Trailblazers, who have a 20-17 record. They are 4 games ahead of the Lakers. Houston is 7th with 21-7 and the Nuggets are now 6th with 23-16. So the first target for us at this point is to achieve as many wins as possible in order to secure at least the 8th seed. We might have a tough schedule up ahead, with lots of games against above 0.500 teams, like the Heat, Memphis and the Thunder, but with Howard back on the team after an unspecified injury and with Nash already back, we can be pretty confident that we can win any game. Gasol is also expected to return the next few days and that will allow us to see the full potential of our team finally. We have yet to see how the entire team can play all together since the very beginning of the season. Due to our misfortunes and the constant injuries of our best players, we are in a tough position right now. But in the end I think we will manage to get what we want and believe me, as soon as we enter the playoffs, things will change drastically. We are champions, we have the heart of a champion plus a bunch of superstars in our team and we will not be easy prey for any predator in our Conference.
If we manage to get our entire team back and keep them healthy so we can get some rhythm, I am sure wins will come. Perhaps some tweaks during till the transfer deadline could help in that direction. Chemistry is not built overnight and that has to be made clear to all of us. We can play like a contender and I am sure we will when we have everybody up and rolling once again. Not only can we enter the playoffs, but we can take over many of our playoff opponents.
For the LA Lakers, it has been a frustrating and controversial season up to this point. They were the big story during the off-season past, after making the huge acquisitions of All-Star center Dwight Howard and also veteran point guard Steve Nash. They also added some great role players like Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison and even Jordan Hill while in the meantime they retained their core players, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Piece. Every media, newspaper and TV show stated that the Lakers looked unbeatable in paper. They were supposed to be one of the few teams in the entire NBA that could contend for a title against the Champions Miami Heat. They, together with the Oklahoma City Thunder looked to have all the pieces set to chase a ring. However, the reality was vastly different for the team.
The beginning of the season was disappointing and the Lakers lost 4 out of their 5 first games. That led to the immediate firing of Coach Mike Brown, who was to blame for the team’s ineffective way of play. On top of this, the injury of Steve Nash after appearing in just 2 games was devastating for the Lakers. In addition, Dwight Howard came back to action after a serious back injury. Things continued to go south for LA, as they lost also backup point guard who torn an abdominal muscle and had to undergo surgery. The sophomore Darius Morris suddenly stepped into the power rotation, but the difference between him and Nash or Blake was obvious in the game play. The team continued to struggle on both ends of the floor, committing many turnovers and not finding its offensive rhythm, even after the new Coach Mike D’Antoni took over. Despite the winning record being slightly improved, the Lakers continued to struggle and hover over and under 0.500. It is very unusual to see the LA Lakers lying under the 8th seed at the Conference Standings. Pau Gasol was injured with a tendonitis and remained sidelined for eight games. His performance this season did not match the great expectations every Lakers fan had, but that was just another drawback to the team’s general appearance.
The end of 2012 found the Lakers on the verge of 0.500 with a 15-15 record. Of course things got better for them after both Nash and Gasol got back from the injuries. The Lakers won a tough derby against the New York Knicks, at a game that marked Nash’s return. It was a momentum victory for them.
Of course it’s normal for a team with so many new roster acquisitions to be in a bonding stage for a short period of time. However, the Lakers have to rush this stage and balance their way of play as we approach the Playoffs. Steve Nash is almost 39 years old, Kobe turned 34 this summer and also Gasol is 32. With this aging roster and 1-2 years possibly this team stays together, the Lakers are in a win-now situation. That’s why in 2013 they have to fight their way back and re-enter their way of chasing a championship.
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