Category: Los Angeles Lakers Blog

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Lakers beat writers stranded in New York

A huge snowstorm struck the Northeast United States on Saturday, and as a result beat writers covering the Los Angeles Lakers were all unable to make it to Detroit for Sunday’s Lakers at Pistons game (6 p.m. ET start time).

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports (via blog):

Phil Jackson has cited the drain of travel distance to road cities being one reason why it’d be harder for the Lakers ever to go 72-10 the way the center-of-the-country Chicago Bulls did.

Well, here’s a reminder that cold-weather teams such as Chicago (and everyone else in the Eastern Conference who has to go more regularly to cold-weather cities) have travel issues brought on by snow and ice that the warm-weather Lakers rarely encounter.

The Lakers made it from Newark, N.J., to Detroit (or more accurately, they flew into Pontiac, Mich., to be closer to the arena in Auburn Hills) in the wee hours of Sunday morning despite an incredible snowstorm that began Saturday and grounded pretty much all commercial planes in the Northeast. It wasn’t an easy feat, and the club had booked hotel rooms in Newark for the night with the expectation that their plane might not be able to get in the air amid the still-descending snow.

None of the writers who travel separately from the team plane will make it to cover the Lakers-Detroit game, which is pretty much a historic development. Personally, I’ve never not been able to get to the next city because of weather.

I assume the reporters will still write game articles today, but from hotel rooms for a change.

Kobe Bryant breaks finger

Kobe Bryant broke a small bone in his finger on Friday. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the injury will be.

The AP reports:

Kobe Bryant scored 20 points while playing with a small break in his finger, and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up the generous portion of their schedule with their 11th straight victory, 104-92 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.

Pau Gasol had 17 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for the defending champions, who improved the NBA’s best record to 18-3 while finishing a season-opening stretch with 17 of their first 21 games at home. Ron Artest scored 16 points and Lamar Odom added 13 for Los Angeles, which hasn’t lost since Nov. 15.

Yet the Lakers also got a scare when Bryant hurt the index finger on his right hand while reaching for a pass late in the first quarter. Bryant has an avulsion fracture, in which a small piece of bone tears away near a ligament or tendon.

”It’s pretty painful,” Bryant said. ”I just tried to play through it.”

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Bryant sustained an avulsion fracture in the index finger of his right hand but kept playing. The Lakers sustained a case of not taking the Timberwolves seriously but also kept playing on Friday, eventually winning their 11th consecutive game, 104-92.

An avulsion fracture occurs when a small fragment of bone is pulled off by a tendon, which apparently happened when Bryant took a slightly off-target entry pass from Jordan Farmar late in the first quarter.

He left briefly and returned for the start of the second quarter . . . sort of. He took one shot, passed the ball only with his left hand, and left near the quarter’s midpoint for X-rays down the hall from the locker room.

This is potentially a real problem. Bryant has already been playing hurt for a long time now, but this may be too much to tolerate. If Bryant has to miss time he should probably do it as immediately as possible and get it over with.

Nets hire Del Harris as assistant coach

The New Jersey Nets have named Del Harris as an assistant coach, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.  Harris joins Tom Barrise, John Loyer, Roy Rogers and Doug Overton as a member of Interim Head Coach Kiki Vandeweghe’s staff.

Harris, 72, joins the Nets following one season as an assistant with the Chicago Bulls were he helped first-year coach Vinny Del Negro reach the playoffs.

Prior to his time in Chicago, Harris was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks from 2000-08.  During that time, Harris worked closely with Vandeweghe and Nets point guard Devin Harris.  Harris brings 50+ years of coaching experience to the Nets including 30+ seasons in the NBA.  As a head coach, Harris amassed a career record of 556-457 (.549) in parts of 14 seasons with the Lakers, Bucks and Rockets, reaching the playoffs 11 times.  Harris received the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in 1995 after guiding his Lakers to a 48-34 (.585) record, finishing third in the Pacific Division.

Harris also has international coaching experience as he coached Nets forward Yi Jianlian and Team China in the 2004 Olympics, where the team finished eighth out of a field of 12.  He also coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s National Superior League (1969-75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships (1973-75).

Before entering the NBA ranks, Harris was the head coach of Earlham College from 1965-74 finishing with a 175-70 (.714) record.

The Plainfield, Indiana native attended Milligan College in Tennessee where he played four years of basketball with career averages of 18.0 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony scores 50

Friday night in Denver the Nuggets edged the New York Knicks 128-125 in a wild shootout that featured one member of the losing squad, Al Harrington, come off the bench to shoot 14-of-24 with four three pointers and 9-of-13 free throws for 41 points and 10 rebounds.

While Harrington’s individual scoring output would normally be the best in the league on any given NBA basketball night, it was second best in this game as Nuggets small forward Carmelo Anthony erupted for 50.

Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post reports:

carmelo anthony

As if turkey wasn’t enough, [Carmelo] Anthony gorged himself on a diet of open shots provided by New York. And he made them count. The Nuggets forward knocked down 17-of-28 shots to finish with a career-high 50 points.

“It feels good,” said Anthony, whose previous career high was 49 at Washington in 2008. “I have not been (to 50 points) a lot of times, and never got over that hump (in the NBA).”

Anthony had 10 in the first quarter, 14 in the second, 15 in the third and 11 in the fourth.

And a shot chart full of filled-in circles.

Anthony, so far, is having the best season of his career. MVP chants are becoming common in the Pepsi Center, and they revved up again in the fourth quarter when Anthony stepped to the free-throw line.

The AP reports:

With the game in the balance, the crowd chanting “MVP! MVP!” and Anthony’s sights set on an offensive milestone, the Nuggets forward sank a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to finish off a career-high, 50-point performance and help Denver beat the New York Knicks 128-125 Friday night.

“They might have been the two toughest free throws I’ve shot in a while,” Anthony said. “We’ve got the game on the line, 50, you’re right there and you want to get it. If I didn’t say I wanted to get it, I’d be lying to you. I’m right there. But most importantly they were two big free throws.”

Matt Gagne of the New York Daily News reports:

“He’s got the total package right now,” Al Harrington said after the Knicks finished 0-3 on their West Coast swing and dropped to 3-13. “He’s hitting threes, he’s got a mid-range jumper, he can get to the free throw line whenever he wants to. Whenever you’re playing a guy like that, there’s nothing you can do. “I think our guys did a pretty good job, because if we didn’t, he would’ve had 70.”

Including Friday’s games, Melo leads the entire NBA in scoring with 30.9 points per game. Kevin Martin (Sacramento Kings), who is injured and has played in just five games this season, is at 30.6 ppg. Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) is at 30.1 ppg, followed by LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) with 29.4 ppg and Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) with 27.5 ppg.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

Late bus delays Knicks in L.A.

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports:

The Knicks couldn’t beat the L.A. traffic or the world champion Lakers last night at Staples Center.

The night started with a bad omen when half the team — and coach Mike D’Antoni — showed up to Staples Center just 45 minutes before tip-off, nearly an hour late.

The team bus got caught in a massive traffic jam on the L.A. freeways and then the Lakers jammed them 100-90. Even worse, center Eddy Curry, after an ineffective first half, sat out the second half with a sore knee – an ailment that plagued him all last season. The Knicks, who play in Sacramento tonight, dropped to 3-11. Curry may not be available.

Kobe Bryant shot 14-of-20 against the Knicks, finishing with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists (but 4 turnovers) and 3 steals. Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest each scored 17 (though Artest had 6 turnovers), and Pau Gasol added 11 points with 16 rebounds.

Lots of Knicks players struggled, including Wilson Chandler (5-of-20, 15 points), Chris Duhon (2-of-9) and Al Harrington (2-of-7).

Share your opinion on the InsideHoops New York Knicks forum.

Andrew Bynum putting up big stats

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reports:

Andrew Bynum putting up big stats

Bynum had 25 points on nine-for-11 shooting in the Lakers’ 101-85 victory Sunday over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He also had nine rebounds and made all seven of his free throws in almost 29 minutes.

Toronto forward-center Chris Bosh is the only player in the league averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, though Bynum is close to being there too.

He is now averaging 19.9 points and 11.2 rebounds.

Are the All-Star voters paying attention?

“I hope to make it,” Bynum said. “That’s really a goal I had coming into this season. I think I’m playing at the level I need to be playing. All I can do is get votes now. I’ve got to keep it up.”

I still consider Bynum more of a product of a great team system (and great teammates) than a go-to center, but he’s winning me over regularly lately.

Share Lakers opinions on the InsideHoops Los Angeles Lakers forum.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has rare form of leukemia

The AP reports:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia, he told The Associated Press on Monday.

The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn’t give any guarantees, but informed him: “You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle.”

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reports:

Abdul-Jabbar, 62, revealed during an interview Monday that he has Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow that produces cancerous blood cells.

The disease was diagnosed in December. But Abdul-Jabbar said his condition can be managed by taking oral medication daily, seeing his specialist every other month and getting his blood analyzed regularly. He said he expects to lead a healthy life.

Abdul-Jabbar acknowledged he was scared after visiting his doctor and learning of the diagnosis.

“The word ‘leukemia’ is a very frightening word,” he said in a phone interview from New York. “In many instances, it’s a killer and it’s something that you have to deal with in a very serious and determined way if you’re going to beat it.”

More from the Los Angeles Times:

Abdul-Jabbar said he wasn’t feeling particularly ill last year, but was having frequent hot flashes and was sweating constantly. He said his doctor told him to get some blood tests.

“By having the hot flashes, I knew something was up. But I didn’t think that it was going to be something as serious as leukemia,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Kobe Bryant youngest player to score 24,000 points

The AP reports:

Kobe Bryant scored 41 points while becoming the youngest player to reach 24,000, leading the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers to a 114-98 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

Ron Artest had 19 points and seven assists in the fourth straight win for the defending NBA champions, who played without injured big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

Lamar Odom managed just three points before fouling out on his 30th birthday, but Bryant carried the Lakers while reaching his latest scoring milestone 38 days before Wilt Chamberlain did. With a second-half surge, he even overtook Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson for 16th place on the NBA’s career scoring list.

Shaq still pursuing law-enforcement work

Mark Puente of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (via blog):

sherrif shaq

Predators lurking for local children on the Internet could soon be talking to a 7-foot-1 undercover deputy.

The Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy is reviewing paperwork to determine whether Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal is eligible to carry a gun and a sheriff’s five-point badge.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid last week notified the state agency, which determines officers’ eligibility, that he intends to deputize O’Neal if approved by the state, according to records obtained by The Plain Dealer. O’Neal held law-enforcement commissions in Arizona, Virginia and Florida. Reid declined to comment until the process is complete.

If O’Neal is approved, he would need to complete 36 hours of police training within six months and take the Ohio police examination to maintain the appointment, said Holly Hollingsworth, spokeswoman for the Attorney General. He would also have to pass a test on a shooting range.

This is one of the few things Shaq appears to take pretty seriously. He’s pursued it for a long time. But I still doubt he does it full-time after his NBA basketball career wraps up in a few years. Helping the law will probably be a side-hobby for the big fella.