Can the LA Lakers win the title again?
Monday, November 9th, 2009
That’s if Gasol can return in time for the Lakers.
In case you didn’t know, the 2009 NBA basketball season is here. And since we already have the NFL season underway and the MLB playoffs starting to heat up, it’s certainly nice to be a sports fan at this time of the year.
And as far as the NBA season is concerned, the Los Angeles Lakers will try to defend Kobe’s first ever title without Shaq, hoping that last June’s successful run to the title will be the first of successive championship seasons. After all, teams coached by Phil Jackson are known to win titles by threes. But do they have enough this season to win it all again?
With the departure of Trevor Ariza, mercurial stalwart Ron Artest should quickly fill that hole. At this point of his career, Artest just wants to win a title so hopefully, he won’t be a distraction to this Lakers team like he once was with the last few teams that he played for.
Back to back titles would virtually be a wrap if the Lakers could get steadier production from big guys Andrew Bynum and Josh Powell. The team’s Jekyll and Hyde play is still a concern but as long as Kobe Bryant keeps this team together, they will still be in the position to win a world title.
If there’s one team that can challenge the Lakers this season, it would have to be the very team they played in the conference finals last season, the Denver Nuggets. After acquiring a true floor leader in Chauncey Billups, the Nuggets tied their franchise record of 54 regular season victories back in the 2008-09.
Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony will continue to stand out, so it’s up to their big men Kenyon Martin, Nene and Chris Andersen to come through again if the team hopes to duplicate their Western Conference Finals stint and finally take the next step towards playing for the NBA championship.
Also looking for better things this year are…
The 2009 NBA Draft will go like this
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Since we all know the Lakers are the new champions, it’s time to look forward for next season.
And as far as the coming 2009 NBA Draft is concerned, the Los Angeles Clippers are the big winners of the NBA’s 25th draft lottery, moving up from the third-best chance to earn the top pick. Memphis will be second and Oklahoma City will pick third.
With the result now at hand, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin appears to be the consensus No.1 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Griffin, who led the nation with 30 double-doubles and 14.4 rebounds per game while also averaging a Big 12-best 22.7 points as a sophomore, might be the best option for the Los Angeles Clippers as they can dispatch the services 
of expensive power forward Zach Randolph and try the rebuilding process once again.
Sure, the Los Angeles Clippers already have a lot of forwards on their roster but if the stats say that Griffin will give them the best chance to win more games, then that’s the guy they should take. Hopefully, it won’t be a mistake like the last time they had the overall No.1 pick, wasting it on Michael Olowakandi.
As far as the other teams and their picks are concerned, read on…
For the Memphis Grizzlies, it might be Connecticut junior center Hasheem Thabeet. The 7-3 shot-blocker is viewed as a high-risk choice. Memphis was the one team that might take Thabeet instead of Griffin if Memphis was to get the No.1 pick, that’s how badly the Grizzlies need size. So it seems likely they would take Thabeet ahead of Rubio. Marc Gasol was good last year, but he’s more of an offensive player than a defensive player.
The Oklahoma Thunder will have an easy…
Lakers look to take 3-1 lead over Magic
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
If they can, then we’ll probably start paying attention to those guys.
The road to the title continues in the NBA with Game 4 of the 2009 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic set to be played this Thursday in Orlando, Florida.
Last Tuesday night, the Orlando Magic made history by taking their very first win in the NBA Finals, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3, 108-104. That’s right, this franchise finally won one.
You see, it wasn’t so long ago when a Magic team led by a young Shaquille O’Neal was swept by Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets. This franchise finally winning a game in the NBA Finals last Tuesday night was vindication, to say the least.
Of course, despite making history, the Los Angeles Lakers are still in front in this series, 2-1. The Orlando Magic still have a lot of work to do too, they still need to beat this Lakers team three more times to win the title, not to mention the fact that they need to win this Thursday and tie the series to give themselves a shot in this best of seven affair.
The problem is, the Lakers will come out more focused, even more determined, and a little agitated.
You see, the way the Lakers finished Game 3 should be more than enough reason for these guys to feel apprehensive. The Lakers team that finished that game wasn’t the same team that won the first two games of this series. In Game 3, the Lakers gave it away to the Magic, with Kobe Bryant missing key free throws and committing huge turnovers down the stretch that paved the way for Orlando to win it.
Maybe the Lakers took Game 3 off since they did have a commanding 2-0 lead coming into Amway Arena last Tuesday. Maybe they just needed to find out how far can the Magic take them if a win in a game as big as Game 3 was at stake. Maybe the Lakers just wanted to keep this series interesting. After all, would you still be interested if the Lakers went up 3-0 in Orlando?
One thing’s for sure though, the Lakers…
The 2009 NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Magic
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
The NBA Finals have finally arrived and it’s Tinseltown going up against Disneyland.
You read it, the 2009 NBA Finals are finally here and facing for the first time for all the marbles will be the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic. The Lakers were able to eliminate the Nuggets in six games to get here while the Magic gave everybody’s pick to win the title back to Cleveland for good, at least until late October hits again.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been here the most among any other franchise in NBA history. From the days of Magic Johnson to the incredible one-two punch of the Kobe – Shaq era, the Lakers have been playing for titles for quite some time now.
This year, Kobe Bryant will try to win a championship ring without a seven-foot, 300-pound Shaquille O’Neal by his side, and he hopes to improve where he failed last year against the Boston Celtics.
The Orlando Magic? This is only the second time in the history of their franchise that they have been this far. The last time they got here ended in a humbling sweep by the Houston Rockets. Ironically, Shaquille O’Neal was also part of it and while he gave the Lakers some memorable moments in their three-year title reign, his history with Orlando was a sour one when his inability to shoot free throws was exposed by Houston to win the title.
This year, Orlando is being led by a new Man of Steel. While Shaq already established himself as the Man of Steel back when he was playing in Orlando, Dwight Howard has done enough to merit being branded as the city’s new Superman. And now that he has led the team back to the NBA Finals, Orlando is hoping this Superman will at least have the Magic last longer than the last time they got here.
It’s Tinseltown going up against Disneyland….
Can the Lakers finish off the Nuggets?
Friday, May 29th, 2009
The Lakers are one win away from returning to the NBA Finals.
The 2009 NBA Playoffs just keep on getting better and better each day. We already know that the Cavaliers have postponed the inevitable when they defeated Orlando in Game 5 to keep their season alive. In the West, well, the Lakers on Friday have the opportunity to do what the Magic failed at in Cleveland, finish off the competition.
You read it, the NBA Playoffs continue this Friday as the Los Angeles Lakers, up 3-2 in the 2009 NBA Western Conference Finals, will have a chance to return to the NBA Finals by finishing off the Denver Nuggets. However, since the Nuggets will be home for Game 6, it won’t be easy.
The Denver Nuggets need this elimination game to be played on their own floor too since every bad call imaginable in basketball was slapped on them in Los Angeles. Well, that’s what some of the Nuggets claim anyway.
According to one Nuggets player who refuses to identify himself for fear of retribution from the league, the Los Angeles Lakers paid the referees officiating Game 5 in Los Angeles to give them the game and the 3-2 advantage.
‘’The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money’s worth.’’
The Nuggets complaining about the officiating after losing a playoff game doesn’t surprise me since it was only a few days ago when it was the Lakers who were playing the blame game on the referees after losing to the Nuggets, 120-101, in Game 4.
Yep, the Lakers were not so happy about that one. Lakers coach Phil Jackson and the entire Lakers organization were even fined $50,000 by the NBA for complaining about the calls made in Game 4.
Game 6 should be a nice game. Hopefully…
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