Lakers

[Dr T]

here is the latest. We need to match what Utah does game for game and if we pull out a better record then we move on.

With three games left in the regular season, the Lakers (41-37) host the Golden State Warriors tonight at STAPLES Center. Tip is set for 7:30pm PT.

[Dr T]

The Lakers fought off a 47-point effort from the Warriors' Stephen Curry to win 118-116 at home Friday night. Pau Gasol had a triple-double and Kobe Bryant scored 34 points before leaving the game in the fourth quarter. The Lakers have won six of seven and remain a game ahead of the Jazz for the final playoff spot in the West.

quote from lakers.com We play San Antonio Sunday and the Rockets on Tuesday. The Jazz play the wolves in Minn next and then again for the last game of the season. Kobe left tonights game with a hurt ankle. I hope he's ok. We are facing a trough last two games but at least they are at home. GO LAKERS!

[Dr T]

In Kobe's injury last night at the end of the 4th when he was holding his left leg. BAD NEWS. It is a probable torn achilles. He said it snapped at it probably a tear. He will get an MRI today and Kobe will help by watching tape and helping to give advice on how to attack in the last two games of our season.

[Dr T]

Kobe out 6-9 months with ruptured a a achilles. I wonder if he will play at all next year or if this will be his deciding factor to retire?

[Dr T]

Nash not playing tonight and Meta started with Meeks, Blake, Pau and Dwight.

[Dr T]

The Lakers' first game without Kobe Bryant was tight, as Dwight Howard and Steve Blake led L.A. to a 91-86 win Sunday over the visiting Spurs. Howard had 26 points and 17 rebounds, and Blake hit four 3-pointers while scoring 23 points.

I will take last night's win, we were not tops throughout the game but put together a fine fourth to walk away with a nice win. We face Houston in our last regular season game. Utah is behind, they play the Wolves tonight. We'll see what happens.

[Dr T]

Kobe Bryant was named Western Conference Player of the Week, for games played Monday, April 8 through Sunday, April 14. The Lakers went 4-0 on the week, 3-0 in games in which Bryant appeared. Bryant led the league in scoring (37.0 ppg), ranked second in the Western Conference in steals (2.67 spg), and added 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists.

From Lakers.com

[Dr T]

Where we sit in the West conf as of today

WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

• No. 1 Thunder (60-21) — Clinched Northwest Division, No. 1 overall in West
• No. 2 Spurs (58-23) — Clinched Southwest Division, No. 2 in West
• No. 3 Nuggets (56-25) — No. 3 in West; Assured of home court in first round; Can hold spot or move down one spot
• No. 4 L.A. Clippers (54-26) — Clinched Pacific Division; Clinched at least No. 4 in West; May or may not have home court in first round
• No. 5 Grizzlies (55-26) — Clinched No. 5 in West
• No. 6 Warriors (46-35) — No. 6 in West; Cannot fall lower than No. 7
• No. 7 Rockets (45-36) — No. 7 in West; Can climb up or fall one spot
• No. 8 Lakers (44-37) — No. 8 in West; controls own fate (April 17 vs. Houston); can move as high as No. 7
• No. 9 Jazz (43-38) — 1/2 game behind Lakers for No. 8 seed; owns tiebreaker with Lakers (won season series 2-1); can only clinch No. 8 spot

[Dr T]

more data on playoffs from nba.com

L.A. LAKERS: First things first — they control their own playoff fate. Win on April 17 against the Rockets (or have Utah lose in Memphis earlier in the night) and L.A. clinches the last playoff berth still available. A victory by Utah coupled with a loss to Houston means L.A. misses the playoffs by virtue of the Jazz winning the season series, 2-1.

They will be No. 8 if: They lose, but the Jazz lose to the Grizzlies, too.

They will be No. 7 if: They defeat Houston in their season finale.

They miss the playoffs if: They lose to Houston in their season finale and the Jazz defeat the Grizzlies.

UTAH: The Jazz need to win their season finale in Memphis … and then hope the Lakers lose at home to the Rockets (who, as you can read above, could fall to No. 8 if they lose). If the Jazz get in, they can’t move up higher than No. 8, even if the Warriors and Rockets lose their final games. Both teams would finish with better records than the Jazz.

[Canuck Mormon]

I thought this article was interesting about Howard. Never thought I would see the day when they start talking about life after Kobe.

Dwight Howard Must Be 'The Man' for Lakers After Kobe Bryant's Eventual Return | Bleacher Report

[Dr T]

Hi Canuck,

I KNOW! I hear you. Nash is not expected to play our last game this season vs. Houston and I hope he is able to come back if we get into the playoffs. Not too sure how far we will get this year but we will see. We can still make noise.

[Dr T]

We WON! We were in the playoffs earlier tonight when Utah lost and we squared off with Houston. Pau had a great triple double, Blake played well with a season high 24 points and Howard had 16 points and 18 rebounds. We had 5 players in double digits. Last second three pointer from way back sent us to OT and I thought we were going to finish it off. On to the OT, we played hard and were able to pull it out 99-95. This win put us at seed 7 and will face the Spurs in the first round. I'd rather them then OKC. I'm not saying they will be easy at all but we might have somewhat of a chance with San Antonio.

[Dr T]

The Lakers grabbed the 7-seed in the Western Conference by defeating the Rockets in Game 82. They'll start the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs Sunday afternoon in Texas. Game 2 is set for Wednesday before the series shifts back to LA for Games 3 and 4. My whole thing is Tracy McGrady, a two time scoring champ. We'll see what he adds to the Spurs and how he might hurt my team.

[Gargantuan]

:shout:Go Lakers

[Gargantuan]

:shout: Go Lakers !!! :shout:

[Dr T]

Kobe tweeted he will be at games 3 and 4 in LA in the first round. Nash is optimistic about about his return today. He was out the last 8 games of the season with hamstring/hip issues and went through a 5-on-5 halfcourt scrimmage with the team so we shall see how we do with adding him to the team tomorrow.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Dr T

[Dr T]

Game one to the playoffs did not end up well for my boys. We got spanked 91-79. We were able to cut their lead down to four but but was the closest get got this afternoon.

Dwight Howard scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds but the Lakers fell to the Spurs 91-79 on the road in Game 1. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 16 rebounds while Steve Nash scored 16 points. Game 2 is Wednesday night in San Antonio.

quote from lakers.com

[Guest Godless]

Go Spurs Go!

[Dr T]

HAHAHA, Godless. leave it to you... Hey congratz last superbowl to your boys.

[Dr T]

We look to even the series with SAS tonight at one game a piece. Tip is set for 6:30pm PT from the AT&T Center. Come on Lakers!

[Dr T]

91-102 loss last game in SA and we come back home to play tonight to see if we can take one from the. 3 other players are hurt on my team so I'm not too hopeful that we can take this one.

[Dr T]

My home internet has been out for days so I've been unable to post about my boys losses. We lost our last two, that is four straight, to SA and were put out of our misery. We did not measure up to my expectations this season at all. I'm not used to being put out of the playoffs in the first round. It hurts.

[Dr T]

Gasol had surgery and will take 3 months for healing.

===

Dwight Howard, as of July 1. 2013 will be an unrestricted free agent. Crossing my fingers that he decides to stay with LA. We can pay him $30,000 more than other but there are a number of teams that are going after him.

[Canuck Mormon]

Dwight Howard, as of July 1. 2013 will be an unrestricted free agent. Crossing my fingers that he decides to stay with LA. We can pay him $30,000 more than other but there are a number of teams that are going after him.

If he's only in it for the money, he'll sign. If he wants to win a championship, he should sign. If he signs, it's win/win for him. He needs to start being the leader for when Kobe is no longer there, and Kobe needs to start letting him lead for when he retires. We just had something similar happen to our hockey team this year. The leader of the team (Jarome Iginla) was the leader for 9 years. The team was going no where and they traded him. People needed to step up and take his place, not easy. People did and we won something like 75% of our remaining games. The Lakers can avoid the sudden loss if Kobe allows Howard to assume some of the leadership roles now so he is ready when he needs to be.

[Dr T]

Great call CM! I agree. :)