February 21st: Looking for direction.

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:22 am    Post subject: February 21st: Looking for direction.

Looking for direction
The Lakers, particularly Odom, need to shift from learning Jackson's system to executing it.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

A year ago, Kobe Bryant was at his first All-Star Game without Shaquille O'Neal as a teammate. Bryant had a mediocre Lakers record in tow and no idea who his next coach would be. So Bryant wished upon the closest thing to a star he saw.

Bryant predicted Lakers teammate Lamar Odom would make the All-Star team in 2006.

"Lamar is just now getting acclimated to the flow of things," Bryant said then. "Next year I look for him to be here as well."

Much of the reason the Lakers are 26-26 now is that Odom did not make the All-Star team and did not come close. No one - not Bryant, not Coach Phil Jackson, not even Odom's three kids - could even ponder making a case for Odom's selection.

Instead the local player who made the leap to the stall next to Bryant's in the Western Conference All-Star locker room was Clippers forward Elton Brand, whom the Clippers kept in 2003 when they let Odom go to Miami.


Last edited by Phil on Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:24 am    Post subject:

Lakers Look to Bring It Home
# Jackson moves shoot-arounds to Staples, where the team has struggled and will play 19 of last 30 games.

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

Changes are underway for Part 2 of the Laker season, some of them major, some of them minor, all in the name of trying to avoid a disintegration similar to last season's unprecedented 2-19 swan dive out of playoff contention.

There will be more Andrew Bynum sightings in the final 30 games, more attention (read: pressure) placed on Lamar Odom, and an at least temporary relocation of game-day shoot-arounds from the Laker training facility in El Segundo to Staples Center, where the Lakers have performed more like visitors than hosts in recent weeks.

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The Laker bench is barren these days and the big men are dinged up — Kwame Brown has been slowed by an assortment of injuries and Chris Mihm will play with a protective pad on his sprained right shoulder — leaving more time for Bynum, who has averaged only 7.8 minutes but should expect more.

Long-term Laker plans still don't call for Bynum to be consistently effective until, say, 2008-09, but now is the time to come to the aid of an ailing frontcourt.

"I've been real careful with him, trying to really nurture him, and now it's time," Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. "We want him to more than just develop as a practice player and actually be productive on the court. The pressure's going to kind of accumulate on him the last third of the season, particularly if our injuries continue to plague us at that position."
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:26 am    Post subject:

Bryant: Feud with O'Neal is dead
By Ross Siler, Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - Maybe before these Lakers could take a step forward, or at least push above the .500 mark for good, they had to find some closure with their championship past.

If so, then the peace made between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal at Sunday's All-Star Game could have some karmic effect on the last 30 games of the season.

The two former teammates came out for the opening tipoff in Houston with Bryant extending a fist bump and O'Neal playfully slapping it away. The two laughed all the way onto the court and continued joking until the ball was tossed up.

After flying back Monday morning, Bryant pronounced the feud between himself and O'Neal dead, a remarkable development considering that after the Lakers-Heat Christmas game, O'Neal refused to answer a question about Bryant on national television.

"I'm not surprised at all," Bryant said. "We've gone through those type of swings in one season. You know what I'm saying? It's nothing."
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:29 am    Post subject:

James ups ante for Kobe, Iverson

Barbara Barker

February 21, 2006

HOUSTON -- It took just 21 years and 51 days for LeBron James to win his first All-Star MVP award. Now that his trophy is safely stowed in the overhead compartment and James has jetted off into the rest of the season, what's the next milestone for Cleveland's young phenom?

Don't be surprised if it is chasing after the NBA scoring title.

Yes, Kobe Bryant is the league's leading scorer at the break with a breathtaking 35.0 points per game, but both James and Allen Iverson are poised to give him a decent run.

Despite all the talk about team basketball, the end of the season is going to feature one heck of a title chase. With Iverson averaging 33.1 points and James 31.2, it very likely will mark the first time in 24 years that three players have averaged at least 30 points.

Basketball fans, especially young basketball fans, will be watching. James is the future of the NBA - something 13-time All-Star Shaquille O'Neal is reminded of often.

"He's a great player," O'Neal said after Sunday night's game. "I know because I've got three sons and I go in their room and they don't have any posters of me. There's posters of Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady and LeBron."
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:15 pm    Post subject:

Lakers headed for crucial stretch

(Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Lakers own a 26-26 record and are in third place in the Pacific Division. They are 9 1/2 games behind the division- leading Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers will host 18 of their final 30 games in the campaign. They return from the All-Star break to play the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday at the Staples Center.

It is the second meeting of the season between the Lakers and Portland. On January 11th, Juan Dixon poured in 27 points and dished out six assists to lead the Trail Blazers to a 113-103 win over the Lakers at the Rose Garden. Portland has won the last two contests in this series, while the home team has won 14 of the last 17 meetings. The Trail Blazers have lost seven of eight and 12 of their last 15 at the Lakers.

The Lakers play the fourth of a five-game homestand on Tuesday. They are 1-2 on the stand. On February 15th, Josh Smith finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Lakers, 114-110, at the Staples Center.

All-Star Kobe Bryant finished with 39 points and nine assists in the loss to the Hawks for the Lakers, who have dropped six of their last eight games overall. Lamar Odom netted 17 and Devean George ended with 16 points in defeat.
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