dmontzsta
04-23-2006, 09:03 AM
I predict the Lakers by 8 today. I am not doing anything until
the game is over. Here is what some of the Lakers had to say about
the series.
Smush Parker:
The Lakers will beat Phoenix, Parker said Saturday of the first-round
series between the seventh-seeded Lakers and second-seeded Suns.
Theres definitely going to be an upset, Parker said. We just feel
confident going up against Phoenix, and we know what weve got to do. Weve got Chris Mihm back, Kwame (Brown) is playing the best
basketball he has all season, and we just feel good going into the
series. We just have confidence in ourselves.
Lamar Odom:
You slow down and youll get whatever you want, Odom said.
You can just walk the ball into the rim. They dont have any
7-foot guys out there. A 6-7 guy is their best shot-blocker.
If you just slow down and take your time, you can get what
you want.
Lakers: Brown, Odom get ready for big time
EL SEGUNDO - One arrived with a shell-shocked look in the
aftermath of the Shaquille O'Neal trade. The other was in
desperate need of a fresh start in a new city, his name almost
ruined in NBA circles.
It is important to remember, after all, the circumstances with
which Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown came to the Lakers before
considering how far they can prove they have come in the playoffs
against the Phoenix Suns.
After so often comparing playing for the Lakers to playing
for his hometown New York Yankees, Odom finally has the
chance to live up to the standard he set for himself as the
featured player acquired in return for O'Neal.
Brown, meanwhile, has the chance to put what happened in the
first round of last year's playoffs - when the former No. 1 overall
pick was suspended by the Washington Wizards - in the past once
and for all.
"It's big just to finish (the playoffs)," Brown said. "My playoffs
were very short-lived last year. But the excitement was still there.
So hopefully I can feel that excitement much longer this time."
As much as the playoffs will be about Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson
for the Lakers, they also will be about Odom and Brown, both of whom finished the regular season impressively and will play crucial roles
in the first round.
Odom will match up against Suns forward Shawn Marion, a player
who rivals Odom in his versatility. Brown, meanwhile, will try to
exploit his size and strength against a Phoenix team that lacks
a true center.
"This game is still a big man's game," Jackson said, "and we're
going to have to make a point of that."
It was only a year ago that Brown's career bottomed out,
when he skipped practice after Game 3 of Washington's
series against Chicago and was suspended. He was accused
of quitting on his team and all but wrote his ticket out of town.
Brown's side of the story came out just before the start of
his first training camp with the Lakers as he told the Washington
Post that he feared he would have attacked Wizards guard Gilbert
Arenas if he had come to practice.
He believed Arenas told Washington coach Eddie Jordan not
to play him in Game 3. Had the incident not happened, Brown
might never have come to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade last summer.
Jackson was asked about the importance for Brown of his first
playoffs with the Lakers after what took place in Washington.
"I don't think that compares," Jackson said. "I don't think he's
going to measure that against last year's playoffs. But I do
think that he's extremely keyed up for it. He knows that there's
a lot of pressure on him."
After appearing a lost cause for much of the season, Brown
stepped into the starting lineup when Chris Mihm went down
with a severe ankle sprain and has produced. He averaged
12.4 points and 8.6rebounds in the final 18regular-season games.
"I didn't cause any problems," Brown said. "I came in as a professional
every day, and that's the one thing that I wish I could change
about what happened in Washington. Just my professionalism not
showing up for practice that day.
"Even when things were going bad, guys will tell you I was the
same guy. Just came in every day and did what I had to do. Now
that things are going good, I'm still the same person."
Jackson was satisfied with Brown's explanation
of the incident when the two talked last summer.
"He's given great effort," Jackson said. "He's been a good teammate.
He's been prepared. He's been a dedicated practice player. He's done everything right for this team this year."
Both Brown and Odom endured their share of trying times this season.
Odom struggled to pick up the triangle offense and suffered when
his shot wasn't falling. He went 1for11 in one game against
NewJersey, missing a possible
winning 3-pointer in regulation.
Odom also lined up on the wrong side of the court for a
last-second play against Washington and would later commit
a costly charging foul when all the Lakers had to do was run
out the clock on a victory in Sacramento.
Whenever the criticism grew the loudest, though, Odom would
take refuge in the weight room or practice floor. He focused on
the small things like playing hard and being on time, hoping the
tide would turn in his favor.
"When you do things like stay in the gym," Odom said, "the
coaches and everybody in the organization kind of sticks with you."
He finally put it together at the end of the season. Odom
averaged 16.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.9assists in the
30 games after the All-Star break, comparable numbers to
when he was Eastern Conference player of the month with Miami.
"This year he seems to be more comfortable," Bryant said.
"He's just flowing right into his game and he's playing like Lamar."
Odom's only previous trip to the playoffs came as Miami
advanced to the second round, winning a seven-game
series against NewOrleans before losing to Indiana. The Heat
had recovered after starting the season 0-7 and appeared to be
a team on the rise.
Two months later, Odom was on his way back to Los Angeles
- a city he thought he left behind with the Clippers - as part
of the O'Neal trade. He then had to watch the Heat finish 59-23
while the Lakers plummeted to 34-48.
But Jackson saw enough in Bryant and Odom that convinced
him to return as Lakers coach. Now Odom credits Jackson for
staying patient through all the growing pains early in the season.
"When we had our midseason talk, we talked about how I'm
doing the right job, that he has confidence in me," Odom said.
"He knew I was going to blossom. Right now, I just want to get
out here and play. I know my role, I know what I'm supposed to
do to help this team win."
Said Jackson: "He's much more comfortable in the game.
His presence and the joy he has just playing ball is infectious
to this team. It's great to have him playing where he feels at
ease and comfortable in the game."
Here is some more Lakers news, whats all this talk about Alien
head coming to the Lakers? I have seen this on 3 other sites.
For the Los Angeles Clippers, These Are the Best of Times
By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 22, 2006
Maurice Taylor was reminiscing about his formative N.B.A. years with the Los Angeles Clippers when the soft-focus flashback was abruptly shattered by Taylor's better senses.
"Ain't nothing to reminisce about," Taylor said with a wry smile.
So much for misty-eyed sentimentality.
To be a Clippers alumnus of the last nine years is to have no good old days to recall. The era was generally as foul and foreboding as the building that once housed them the Los Angeles Sports Arena. To be a Clipper meant short-term employment, losses by the dozens and on an N.B.A. scale substandard wages. To be a Clipper meant permanent second-class status in a city blanketed by Lakers jerseys and Lakers car flags and Lakers championship banners.
To wear Clippers red was to bear the scarlet letter of a franchise often branded as the worst in professional sports.
"The coaching was bad, the arena was bad, it was awful," Taylor, who is currently a Knick, said of his experience from 1997 to 2000.
A new era has dawned in downtown Los Angeles, although no one can say how long it will last. The Clippers are good. Better than good. Better than the Lakers, even, and with much more promise for the future.
For the first time since 1997, the Clippers are in the playoffs. For the first time in their 28-year history in Southern California, they could even win a series and play deeper into the spring than their glamorous cousins down the hall.
The seventh-seeded Lakers (45-37) are expected to be quickly dismissed by the talent-rich Phoenix Suns (54-28). But the sixth-seeded Clippers (47-35) have the home-court advantage and a solid shot at beating the third-seeded Denver Nuggets (44-38). The Clippers and the Nuggets open their series tonight.
In the most fantastic of scenarios, the Lakers and the Clippers could meet in the second round, with every game played in the same building. It is an enticing vision for Los Angeles sports fans: Kobe Bryant, one of the game's most dazzling talents, taking on the Clippers, a lunch-pail group led by the burly forward Elton Brand.
Never have the two franchises seemed so close to being equal. But those closer to the epicenter of this story will tell you it is a mirage.
"I think even though the Clippers have a Brand on their team, the basketball brand in L.A. is the Lakers," said Fred Roggin, the sports anchor for KNBC and the host of an afternoon talk show on 1540 AM. "People are surprised that the Clippers are there. I think the majority of the marketplace is rooting for the Lakers."
The Clippers have tried to steal some of the spotlight in recent years, starting with an attempt to steal Bryant. Two summers ago, the once-thrifty Clippers heavily wooed Bryant, a free agent at the time. Although the Lakers could pay him $30 million more under league rules, Bryant's decision came down to the wire. With the Lakers having dumped Shaquille O'Neal and Coach Phil Jackson, the Clippers had more talent and more promise.
There is no telling what Bryant's defection might have done to the tectonic plates, or the loyalties of adoring fans. The Lakers have won nine championships in Los Angeles, and 14 going back to their days in Minneapolis. The Clippers have not won a playoff game since 1993 and have not won a playoff series since 1976, when they were the Buffalo Braves.
At the Staples Center, where both teams have played since 1999, the Lakers' championship banners hang in the rafters, along with the retired jerseys of seven Hall of Famers. The only Clipper with a permanent spot is the general manager, Elgin Baylor, whose Lakers jersey is among the seven.
The Lakers' locker room and players' lounge covers 4,900 square feet. The Clippers, who decided to move to the Staples Center after plans had already been drawn, were squeezed into a more modest 3,600 square feet after a redesign.
"That's the Lakers' arena," Taylor said. "The seats are purple."
Actually, they were purple (the primary color for the Lakers and the N.H.L.'s Los Angeles Kings) for the first six years, but they were replaced with black seats last summer.
"Hey, there's no red, white and blue in there except when they change the floor," Taylor said. "That'll never be a Clipper town. Never. Ever."
On the floor, the indignities have usually been of the Clippers' own making. Until this season, they had two winning seasons in 28 years.
The owner, Donald Sterling, has long been viewed as being among the cheapest in professional sports. The Clippers had the lowest payroll in the league from 1999 through 2002 and have ranked among the bottom seven in every year since.
In 2001, the Clippers traded for Vinny Del Negro and Will Perdue just to get their team payroll to the N.B.A.'s required minimum then waived them. For years, fans agonized as they watched a parade of promising young players exit when Sterling declined to pay them. Taylor, their leading scorer in 1999-2000, was among the exiled, along with Darius Miles, Lorenzen Wright, Keyon Dooling, Lamond Murray and Michael Olowokandi. In retrospect, the Clippers look wise few of those players have distinguished themselves but that money was never spent on better players, either.
When the Clippers signed guard Cuttino Mobley to a five-year, $42 million deal last summer, it was the most Sterling had paid a free agent. Before that, the only big contract awarded by Sterling was the $82 million deal he gave Brand, who forced the issue by signing an offer sheet with the Miami Heat in 2003. That same summer, the Clippers' Lamar Odom signed an offer sheet with Miami and practically begged the Clippers not to match it.
"I just want to get as far away from the Clippers as possible," Odom said at the time. He sounded like Ron Harper, who once compared being a Clipper with "jail time."
Brand is the only Clipper with a double-digit salary ($13.1 million), and 11 of his 14 teammates make $3.2 million or less.
Baylor does not deny the raw facts about the payroll, but praises Sterling for committing his checkbook in recent years. "Times have changed," he said.
The Clippers have also spent money to keep forward Corey Maggette, and they made shrewd trades (point guard Sam Cassell) and draft picks (center Chris Kaman, point guard Shaun Livingston).
There is a payoff. The Clippers' average attendance this season was a solid 17,376, 13th in the league. Clippers merchandise sales are up 35 percent at the Team L.A. Store.
In Los Angeles, Clippers fans, who have been burned before by false hope, speak in cautious tones about the team's success. Coach Mike Dunleavy has not had the option in his contract picked up. There is speculation that Cassell, viewed as the linchpin of the team's success, could leave this summer, possibly for the Lakers.
"Conventional wisdom would tell you they should be concerned," Roggin said of Clippers fans. "On the other hand, if you have rooted for this franchise over the years and lived and died with Donald Sterling, at this point you're delusional."
I AM READY FOR SOME B-BALL!!!
the game is over. Here is what some of the Lakers had to say about
the series.
Smush Parker:
The Lakers will beat Phoenix, Parker said Saturday of the first-round
series between the seventh-seeded Lakers and second-seeded Suns.
Theres definitely going to be an upset, Parker said. We just feel
confident going up against Phoenix, and we know what weve got to do. Weve got Chris Mihm back, Kwame (Brown) is playing the best
basketball he has all season, and we just feel good going into the
series. We just have confidence in ourselves.
Lamar Odom:
You slow down and youll get whatever you want, Odom said.
You can just walk the ball into the rim. They dont have any
7-foot guys out there. A 6-7 guy is their best shot-blocker.
If you just slow down and take your time, you can get what
you want.
Lakers: Brown, Odom get ready for big time
EL SEGUNDO - One arrived with a shell-shocked look in the
aftermath of the Shaquille O'Neal trade. The other was in
desperate need of a fresh start in a new city, his name almost
ruined in NBA circles.
It is important to remember, after all, the circumstances with
which Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown came to the Lakers before
considering how far they can prove they have come in the playoffs
against the Phoenix Suns.
After so often comparing playing for the Lakers to playing
for his hometown New York Yankees, Odom finally has the
chance to live up to the standard he set for himself as the
featured player acquired in return for O'Neal.
Brown, meanwhile, has the chance to put what happened in the
first round of last year's playoffs - when the former No. 1 overall
pick was suspended by the Washington Wizards - in the past once
and for all.
"It's big just to finish (the playoffs)," Brown said. "My playoffs
were very short-lived last year. But the excitement was still there.
So hopefully I can feel that excitement much longer this time."
As much as the playoffs will be about Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson
for the Lakers, they also will be about Odom and Brown, both of whom finished the regular season impressively and will play crucial roles
in the first round.
Odom will match up against Suns forward Shawn Marion, a player
who rivals Odom in his versatility. Brown, meanwhile, will try to
exploit his size and strength against a Phoenix team that lacks
a true center.
"This game is still a big man's game," Jackson said, "and we're
going to have to make a point of that."
It was only a year ago that Brown's career bottomed out,
when he skipped practice after Game 3 of Washington's
series against Chicago and was suspended. He was accused
of quitting on his team and all but wrote his ticket out of town.
Brown's side of the story came out just before the start of
his first training camp with the Lakers as he told the Washington
Post that he feared he would have attacked Wizards guard Gilbert
Arenas if he had come to practice.
He believed Arenas told Washington coach Eddie Jordan not
to play him in Game 3. Had the incident not happened, Brown
might never have come to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade last summer.
Jackson was asked about the importance for Brown of his first
playoffs with the Lakers after what took place in Washington.
"I don't think that compares," Jackson said. "I don't think he's
going to measure that against last year's playoffs. But I do
think that he's extremely keyed up for it. He knows that there's
a lot of pressure on him."
After appearing a lost cause for much of the season, Brown
stepped into the starting lineup when Chris Mihm went down
with a severe ankle sprain and has produced. He averaged
12.4 points and 8.6rebounds in the final 18regular-season games.
"I didn't cause any problems," Brown said. "I came in as a professional
every day, and that's the one thing that I wish I could change
about what happened in Washington. Just my professionalism not
showing up for practice that day.
"Even when things were going bad, guys will tell you I was the
same guy. Just came in every day and did what I had to do. Now
that things are going good, I'm still the same person."
Jackson was satisfied with Brown's explanation
of the incident when the two talked last summer.
"He's given great effort," Jackson said. "He's been a good teammate.
He's been prepared. He's been a dedicated practice player. He's done everything right for this team this year."
Both Brown and Odom endured their share of trying times this season.
Odom struggled to pick up the triangle offense and suffered when
his shot wasn't falling. He went 1for11 in one game against
NewJersey, missing a possible
winning 3-pointer in regulation.
Odom also lined up on the wrong side of the court for a
last-second play against Washington and would later commit
a costly charging foul when all the Lakers had to do was run
out the clock on a victory in Sacramento.
Whenever the criticism grew the loudest, though, Odom would
take refuge in the weight room or practice floor. He focused on
the small things like playing hard and being on time, hoping the
tide would turn in his favor.
"When you do things like stay in the gym," Odom said, "the
coaches and everybody in the organization kind of sticks with you."
He finally put it together at the end of the season. Odom
averaged 16.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.9assists in the
30 games after the All-Star break, comparable numbers to
when he was Eastern Conference player of the month with Miami.
"This year he seems to be more comfortable," Bryant said.
"He's just flowing right into his game and he's playing like Lamar."
Odom's only previous trip to the playoffs came as Miami
advanced to the second round, winning a seven-game
series against NewOrleans before losing to Indiana. The Heat
had recovered after starting the season 0-7 and appeared to be
a team on the rise.
Two months later, Odom was on his way back to Los Angeles
- a city he thought he left behind with the Clippers - as part
of the O'Neal trade. He then had to watch the Heat finish 59-23
while the Lakers plummeted to 34-48.
But Jackson saw enough in Bryant and Odom that convinced
him to return as Lakers coach. Now Odom credits Jackson for
staying patient through all the growing pains early in the season.
"When we had our midseason talk, we talked about how I'm
doing the right job, that he has confidence in me," Odom said.
"He knew I was going to blossom. Right now, I just want to get
out here and play. I know my role, I know what I'm supposed to
do to help this team win."
Said Jackson: "He's much more comfortable in the game.
His presence and the joy he has just playing ball is infectious
to this team. It's great to have him playing where he feels at
ease and comfortable in the game."
Here is some more Lakers news, whats all this talk about Alien
head coming to the Lakers? I have seen this on 3 other sites.
For the Los Angeles Clippers, These Are the Best of Times
By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 22, 2006
Maurice Taylor was reminiscing about his formative N.B.A. years with the Los Angeles Clippers when the soft-focus flashback was abruptly shattered by Taylor's better senses.
"Ain't nothing to reminisce about," Taylor said with a wry smile.
So much for misty-eyed sentimentality.
To be a Clippers alumnus of the last nine years is to have no good old days to recall. The era was generally as foul and foreboding as the building that once housed them the Los Angeles Sports Arena. To be a Clipper meant short-term employment, losses by the dozens and on an N.B.A. scale substandard wages. To be a Clipper meant permanent second-class status in a city blanketed by Lakers jerseys and Lakers car flags and Lakers championship banners.
To wear Clippers red was to bear the scarlet letter of a franchise often branded as the worst in professional sports.
"The coaching was bad, the arena was bad, it was awful," Taylor, who is currently a Knick, said of his experience from 1997 to 2000.
A new era has dawned in downtown Los Angeles, although no one can say how long it will last. The Clippers are good. Better than good. Better than the Lakers, even, and with much more promise for the future.
For the first time since 1997, the Clippers are in the playoffs. For the first time in their 28-year history in Southern California, they could even win a series and play deeper into the spring than their glamorous cousins down the hall.
The seventh-seeded Lakers (45-37) are expected to be quickly dismissed by the talent-rich Phoenix Suns (54-28). But the sixth-seeded Clippers (47-35) have the home-court advantage and a solid shot at beating the third-seeded Denver Nuggets (44-38). The Clippers and the Nuggets open their series tonight.
In the most fantastic of scenarios, the Lakers and the Clippers could meet in the second round, with every game played in the same building. It is an enticing vision for Los Angeles sports fans: Kobe Bryant, one of the game's most dazzling talents, taking on the Clippers, a lunch-pail group led by the burly forward Elton Brand.
Never have the two franchises seemed so close to being equal. But those closer to the epicenter of this story will tell you it is a mirage.
"I think even though the Clippers have a Brand on their team, the basketball brand in L.A. is the Lakers," said Fred Roggin, the sports anchor for KNBC and the host of an afternoon talk show on 1540 AM. "People are surprised that the Clippers are there. I think the majority of the marketplace is rooting for the Lakers."
The Clippers have tried to steal some of the spotlight in recent years, starting with an attempt to steal Bryant. Two summers ago, the once-thrifty Clippers heavily wooed Bryant, a free agent at the time. Although the Lakers could pay him $30 million more under league rules, Bryant's decision came down to the wire. With the Lakers having dumped Shaquille O'Neal and Coach Phil Jackson, the Clippers had more talent and more promise.
There is no telling what Bryant's defection might have done to the tectonic plates, or the loyalties of adoring fans. The Lakers have won nine championships in Los Angeles, and 14 going back to their days in Minneapolis. The Clippers have not won a playoff game since 1993 and have not won a playoff series since 1976, when they were the Buffalo Braves.
At the Staples Center, where both teams have played since 1999, the Lakers' championship banners hang in the rafters, along with the retired jerseys of seven Hall of Famers. The only Clipper with a permanent spot is the general manager, Elgin Baylor, whose Lakers jersey is among the seven.
The Lakers' locker room and players' lounge covers 4,900 square feet. The Clippers, who decided to move to the Staples Center after plans had already been drawn, were squeezed into a more modest 3,600 square feet after a redesign.
"That's the Lakers' arena," Taylor said. "The seats are purple."
Actually, they were purple (the primary color for the Lakers and the N.H.L.'s Los Angeles Kings) for the first six years, but they were replaced with black seats last summer.
"Hey, there's no red, white and blue in there except when they change the floor," Taylor said. "That'll never be a Clipper town. Never. Ever."
On the floor, the indignities have usually been of the Clippers' own making. Until this season, they had two winning seasons in 28 years.
The owner, Donald Sterling, has long been viewed as being among the cheapest in professional sports. The Clippers had the lowest payroll in the league from 1999 through 2002 and have ranked among the bottom seven in every year since.
In 2001, the Clippers traded for Vinny Del Negro and Will Perdue just to get their team payroll to the N.B.A.'s required minimum then waived them. For years, fans agonized as they watched a parade of promising young players exit when Sterling declined to pay them. Taylor, their leading scorer in 1999-2000, was among the exiled, along with Darius Miles, Lorenzen Wright, Keyon Dooling, Lamond Murray and Michael Olowokandi. In retrospect, the Clippers look wise few of those players have distinguished themselves but that money was never spent on better players, either.
When the Clippers signed guard Cuttino Mobley to a five-year, $42 million deal last summer, it was the most Sterling had paid a free agent. Before that, the only big contract awarded by Sterling was the $82 million deal he gave Brand, who forced the issue by signing an offer sheet with the Miami Heat in 2003. That same summer, the Clippers' Lamar Odom signed an offer sheet with Miami and practically begged the Clippers not to match it.
"I just want to get as far away from the Clippers as possible," Odom said at the time. He sounded like Ron Harper, who once compared being a Clipper with "jail time."
Brand is the only Clipper with a double-digit salary ($13.1 million), and 11 of his 14 teammates make $3.2 million or less.
Baylor does not deny the raw facts about the payroll, but praises Sterling for committing his checkbook in recent years. "Times have changed," he said.
The Clippers have also spent money to keep forward Corey Maggette, and they made shrewd trades (point guard Sam Cassell) and draft picks (center Chris Kaman, point guard Shaun Livingston).
There is a payoff. The Clippers' average attendance this season was a solid 17,376, 13th in the league. Clippers merchandise sales are up 35 percent at the Team L.A. Store.
In Los Angeles, Clippers fans, who have been burned before by false hope, speak in cautious tones about the team's success. Coach Mike Dunleavy has not had the option in his contract picked up. There is speculation that Cassell, viewed as the linchpin of the team's success, could leave this summer, possibly for the Lakers.
"Conventional wisdom would tell you they should be concerned," Roggin said of Clippers fans. "On the other hand, if you have rooted for this franchise over the years and lived and died with Donald Sterling, at this point you're delusional."
I AM READY FOR SOME B-BALL!!!