Definition of a good day....

Celtics win in OT and the Lakers lose to those pesky Clippers.....nice.

lac

and kobe plays heavy minutes yet again and shoots 10-30

Yes, Life is good for now! God is in His Heaven! All is right with the world! We'll need more help Friday vs. the Hawks!-MD.

More like definition of what a great future looks like for Boston.

We knew from last season's playoffs that this team could re-invent themselves and almost pull it off sans Garnett. But this team is taking it to a whole new level.

What a great beginning to the eventual ending to the Miami game last night. Of all people to lay off of.. Rajon "I'd rather score a fancy lay-up uncontested than any other shot on the court" Rondo!! Miami showed they are still a second tier team in the East. We'll lay the blame on the coach of Miami for that loss. They were all looking for Ray for the 3 point dagger. Ahh, so many weapons. So many choices. Never put all your eggs in one basket, Miami. Not against us, at least. LAL and CLE yes, but not us.

Doc gets all the credit for drawing that one up. Great mo heading into we know where for some revenge on Friday. Once again, I am not worried about ATL. Now that this team has been forced to re-invent early mid-season with good success, we are starting to see the DA genious unfold. Add in the mysterious release of Lester Hudson and something else good is brewing on the horizon.

If CLE can knock off ATL back to back full strength, we can readily do it down a man or two.

But I think we are going to remember the Miami game for a while. Definitely one to keep in the back of our minds as the season goes on. I'm just glad the Celtics finally got a buzzer beater of their own. We clearly don't need as many as apparently LAL does, but just to have one drawn up like that that wasn't a prayer like all of Kobe's was priceless. That's enough for me. Kobe's not going to get it come playoff time when one of those critical shots clanks off the rim accompanied by a one way plane ticket back to LA.

I know it won't happen, but a thorough dismantling of ATL on Friday would be my wish, but I'll take a 5 point victory over them and their stunned wheels coming off the wagon fans tomorrow any day. We'll follow that up with the brawl in Boston on Monday. Time to start kicking butt and taking names, just like last night.

Doc is developing a special "victory no matter what I'm left to work with" talent unmatched by any coach in the league. That's what should be scaring the pants off the league right now. Glad all this is happening to us right now. OK, over to the Lester hudson thread!!

Technically, this was a "road game" for the Lakers. Another advantage they have over the rest of the league. They go "on the road" to play the Clippers in the Staples Center!!. That's tough, huh? Pity the poor Lakers that have to play a home-away series with the Clippers. They never have to leave their own beds.

Lakers shot 38.6% from the floor for the game. Kobe shot 30% and took 35% of all FGA by the Lakers in the game and Odom shot 3-11. Who do you think shot them out of the game? The Lakers probably could have survived Odom's poor shooting, since he only took 11 attempts, but you can't have someone take 30 shots and shoot 30% and expect to beat an NBA team. Not even the Clips.

If there's a bright spot for the Lakers, it was Shannon Brown. He's starting to look like a player. He scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting in 27 minutes. That tied him with Bynum (7-16, 15 points, 41 minutes). Jackson finally pulled his head out of his ass and has moved him up in the rotation ahead of Sasha Eurobitch. Duh!

For the Clips, it'll be interesting to see what they look like after Blake Griffin learns the game. Kaman has really, really come into his own. On the down side for them, one of the Celtics previous mistakes, Sebastian Telfair, is looking like another Donald Sterling braindead signing.

bob

Bob, just one small nit. You're correct that it's an advantage to the Lakers (and Clippers) to play "away" games against each other on their home floor. But you can also argue that it's an advantage to their opponents to play twice as many games at Staples. Everything about each arena is different, from the visiting team facilities to the backgrounds for the baskets, and by playing twice as many games at Staples, opponents are more familiar, and more comfortable, with that arena. It's a small thing but offsets the advantage the Lakers and Clippers get.

The Knicks and Nets get the advantage of sleeping in their own beds without giving away the familiarity that comes with a shared arena. It's a wonder they don't win the title every year.

It does seem like things may be looking up for the Clips, but there are four teams above them in the race for the 8th playoff spot. (Their record would have them tied with Toronto for 6th in the East.) And, most significant of all, Donny Boy is still the owner, so that's 2.5 strikes against them.

Outside

Outside,

Most of the familiarization a player will ever experience about a "foreign" arena takes place in his first game at that arena. The fact that Lakers' opponents play an average of 2.8 games per season at Staples rather than the average of 1.4 games they play at other arenas means very little (if anything) in terms of gaining an incremental "feel" for Staples— and it's certainly NOTHING compared with the advantage of not having to make a couple of extra road trips per season.

I haven't been in Staples, but I was at the allegedly Fabulous Forum for the "balloon game." And, if the environment at Staples is anything like it was at that game, what's to learn? All a visiting team had to do was get a half-decent lead on the Lakers down the stretch, and it became pretty much like a home game for the visitors. At the Forum, most of the Lakers fans who hadn't already left to hit the freeways were distracted as they discussed their evening plans...and they didn't even have cell phones to extend the discussions geographically.

What's to get used to? It's a regulation floor with regulation rims. A player can learn more about backgrounds in one pregame shootaround than during the relatively few shots he may take in an extra 1.4 games per season.

I don't believe dual usage represents a significant advantage for the Lakers because they play only those two "away" games with the Clips per season. But there are probably other rebuttals more meaningful than any "arena familiarity" issue. For example, I'd like to see a list of teams by mileage traveled and days spent away from home during the regular season.

By the way, do you know how Lakers home attendances compares with Clippers' home attendance? That would also be interesting.

Sam

Man, I broke my new No. 1 Rule -- never submit a counterargument to a post that says anything bad about the Lakers. I'll go to my room.

outside

we all love you. the truth as i see it is this. The Lakers are not as hungry or unselfish as they were last year. The Lakers are not as good as their record due to a massive imbalance of home games. The Lakers have serious issues EXACTLY like us last year with depth and minutes. In close games 3 guys are playin 40. they are playin a lot of close games.

Are they dangerous. Yes. As dangerous as last year? NO. Kobe is back to tryin to do everything himself and Phil I believe is making some serious long term tactical errors in how he is managing his strters minutes. Also Fish has slipped and it aint hard to see. They aint getting much out of him.

It is my opinion as an observer of hoop that they have regressed significantly.

It is still very early and this could all change but it is how it is right now.

jeb

and bheck

I conur on shannon brown. he is a baller and can make them better with minutes.

I'd say the Lakers and the Celtics are very similar in the respect that any current evaluations of their championship prospects this season are entirely premature.

• Injuries cloud the picture and delay the integration of players new to both teams.

• It's difficult to evaluate benches that are being "raided" to replace injured starters.

• Injured players who very well might be on the floor in the playoffs may be held out now for precautionary purposes.

• Playing against a new team every second night is not at all the same as playing as many as seven consecutive playoff games against the same team, getting to "know" that team very well, and participating in a very different kind of battle...the battle of adjustments.

• Systemic factors can often overcome individual problems. For example, if Fisher isn't producing a lot of assists, is it really a
problem on a team using the triangle offense? The Lakers, as a team, recorded 23 assists per game in winning the championship last season. They're recording 23 assists per game this season too. By the way, according to BasketballReference.com: during the past championship season, Fish recorded 3.8 assists per 36 minutes of playing time. This season, he's recording 3.7 assists per 36 minutes of playing time.

It's fun for fans to debate about who's on top and which team is the darling of the day based on the most recent games played. But that stuff doesn't mean diddly squat to the teams themselves because they're concentrating only on how to improve and maintain health. There's a long way to go. It really ain't over until it's over.

Sam

sam

all we can do is call it as we see it. last year it was pretty clear to me by mid season it was going to be the Lakers. They just kept getting quality wins. This year not going the same for them and better for the celts.

Beauty of having so many opinions is it helps round out and inform your own.

Sam is so right IMHO about the fluidity of everything at this point in time...It's almost comical to watch the garbage going on over on the other board with every game....The trolls from each side pile in to try and bash the other side every time the other side's team loses.
On the other side of the coin, it's reasonable that there are trends to be teased out of the stats, I think, that have some long term significance...
The trick, of course, is picking the important ones amongst the "noise".
By the way, did I say how fortunate I felt to have this board of reasonable, intelligent, convivial posters to post with....so I can just go over to the other board, as I might go to the zoo, to watch the posters throw excrement at each other. Actually, there are decent posters over there too amongst the noise....