NBA 2008-2009 Season

[Stee]

I think a part of that is because he took the league by surprise in the beginning of the season. Now other players are more careful with their ballhandling around him and leave him open taking away his ability to cut.

He is still really good at roaming and getting steals just less now and his stealing ability I think is where we usually see his explosiveness due to the fast break. The good thing about this is that now Ariza has developed a pretty good 3 point shot.

He did show signs of his explosiveness yesterday though but that may have been due to poor defense then anything else.

Shannon Brown seems to be a better man to man defender though, while Ariza is more about roaming.

[Deejay]

Yeah I remember liking Shannon Brown from waaaay back during Lebron's highschool all american game. Is he still sporting the braids? lol. Glad he's finally getting minutes and on a good team, no less.

If the Lakers don't find themselves in the Finals this year I will fucking laugh my ass off. I know theres a 99% chance of them making it, but oh god if they dont....

[Akiyama]

I have zero distaste for anyone in the NBA. I like/dislike everyone basically evenly, and there's not one team that I absolutely detest.

WIth that, I agree. If the Lakers don't make the Finals, I will most likely laugh a good bit. All of the touting, and praising.. and if they don't at least get to the Finals, it'd be a total letdown and I'll chuckle. D:

[Byrd]

WIth that, I agree. If the Lakers don't make the Finals, I will most likely laugh a good bit. All of the touting, and praising.. and if they don't at least get to the Finals, it'd be a total letdown and I'll chuckle. D:

They're so much better than anyone else in the west, they'll largely have themselves to blame if they manage to lose. I would be surprised if anyone took them to 6 games, even. Although, of the other 7 teams, I could see any of them being the Lakers' opponent in the Western Conference Finals, if that can work their way on to that side of the bracket.

[Stee]

For the Laker fans:

YouTube - Spike Lee's Kobe Bryant Documentary Three Exclusive Clips

It's the documentary Spike Lee was making of Kobe during the playoffs vs the Spurs in that one game. It's kobe centric but its awesome to get to hear the conversations between the Lakers while on the floor or on the bench.



On another note, apparently Flip Saunders is being hired to coach the Wizards.
Wizards reach deal with Saunders - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

[Dimmauk]

For the Laker fans:

YouTube - Spike Lee's Kobe Bryant Documentary Three Exclusive Clips

It's the documentary Spike Lee was making of Kobe during the playoffs vs the Spurs in that one game. It's kobe centric but its awesome to get to hear the conversations between the Lakers while on the floor or on the bench.



On another note, apparently Flip Saunders is being hired to coach the Wizards.
Wizards reach deal with Saunders - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

I like this video better

YouTube - Spurs 2003 Championship DVD PlayOff Series VS Lakers Part2

The 5:11 mark is the best part.

THERES NO CRYING IN BASKETBALL!!

http://www.chrisbusch.com/images/hanks.jpg

[Stee]

It's no secret that Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson has been flirting with the idea of Shannon Brown replacing Jordan Farmar as the team's backup point guard.

Brown has come in before Farmar in each of the Lakers' last three games, playing more minutes than Farmar in all three.

It now seems as if Jackson has officially left Farmar for the more physically impressive Brown, at least for the first round of the playoffs:

With bigger guards, muscular guards that are pushing the ball, there's a real need or potential for Shannon to help us in the playoffs. He's got to still make some steps forward, but tonight is another example of things going well for him.

It's nothing Jordan's doing wrong. It's just something we're looking for that's different.

Man, Phil might as well have reached into Farmar's chest and ripped his heart out.

This reminds me of the episode of Friends where Rachel finds out that Ross slept with the girl from the copy place when they were "on a break." With Chandler and Joey eavesdropping, Rachel asks Ross how the sex was with the other woman. Joey and Chandler immediately say, "terrible, awful, nothing compared to you", but Ross hesitates and says, "it was...different." Right there Ross blew any chance of getting back together with her.

By Phil saying they're looking for something "different," he's basically giving Farmar the basketball version of "it's not you, it's me."

Whether it's Jason Kidd or Deron Williams, the Lakers will definitely be facing a big guard in the first round, so it looks like Phil will be going with the "different" Shannon Brown more often than not.

Oh well, at least Farmar has Luke Walton to console him.

Los Angeles Lakers Examiner: Phil Jackson breaks up with Jordan Farmar


Looks like Brown is replacing Farmar in the playoffs, and if Brown plays well.....bye bye Farmar in the offseason. There's no way Mitch is just going to let him hang around when we need the cap space.

[Arvin]

Los Angeles Lakers Examiner: Phil Jackson breaks up with Jordan Farmar


Looks like Brown is replacing Farmar in the playoffs, and if Brown plays well.....bye bye Farmar in the offseason. There's no way Mitch is just going to let him hang around when we need the cap space.

Wow, that seriously makes me fucking ecstatic. Brown was my favorite while he was here at state, very impressive college player but he wasn't shining in the NBA up until recent. He was probably worse off than Paul Davis and Mo Ager.

These playoffs look pretty awesome.

[Stee]

Lakers vs Utah first round

[Dimmauk]

Lakers vs Utah first round

So how did the Shannon Brown experiment go last night? I know the Lakers won, but was Deron locked up all night? The Jazz miss Mehmet badly.

[Man0warr]

So if Mavs win/Hornets lose tonight we get that 6th seed wooo, we can beat Portland, Denver might suck.

[Dimmauk]

So if Mavs win/Hornets lose tonight we get that 6th seed wooo, we can beat Portland, Denver might suck.

There are some really awesome games tonight. The Spurs vs Hornets will be epic. Spurs really need to win, I'm sure they dont want to start the playoffs on the road in Portland. Who would?

[Man0warr]

Yeah Seed 2-7 still have everything to play for, Mavs are nearly unbeatable at home after All-Star break though, especially if Howard plays.

[Stee]

Brown did pretty well, they kept running him off screens so there weren't many Brown vs Deron moments. Though Deron did try to cross him over a few times in one play but Brown kept at him, however Deron drained a 3 with Brown's hand in his face. That's the best you can hope for, for players like Deron. Defend the best you can and hope he misses.

What was hilarious though, was watching the bench suddenly come alive the last game before the playoffs. Sasha suddenly had his shot back and was draining 3s left and right and the bench was actually extending leads instead of giving them up. Wow

It's going to be interesting tonight watching the rest of the West finally get playoff opponents. Damnit playoffs start already.

[Devia]

Brown also had a pretty cool shot block in the first quarter. I think I like him.

As far as the Lakers bench players, I've been hoping they were getting some shooting slumps out of the way while it didn't really matter so they could start getting hot again just in time for the post season. Maybe my wish is coming true.

[Byrd]

San Antonio hits a 3 as time expires to send the game to overtime, keeping their home court dreams alive.... Argh.

EDIT: And Dallas knocks off the Rockets. Come on, Hornets!

[Stee]

This is ridiculous, theres a shit ton of games going on right now coming down to a single basket.

[Dimmauk]

San Antonio hits a 3 as time expires to send the game to overtime, keeping their home court dreams alive.... Argh.

EDIT: And Dallas knocks off the Rockets. Come on, Hornets!

What a fucking awesome game! Hornets getting ownd in OT!

[Byrd]

What a fucking awesome game! Hornets getting ownd in OT!

Orz. Memo to Hornets: Foul the guy with the ball when he's dwindling the clock down to take a game-tying 3. Basketball 101, guys, come on.

Blazers-Rockets winner vs. the Lakers in the second round should be the Lakers' toughest test pre-finals.

[Stee]

I want the Lakers to meet the Blazers in the second round....but then I feel bad for the Rockets. If they lose this it's another year of not getting past the first round.