The game against Sacramento Tuesday night was a clear picture of what the Lakers are and will be in the playoffs: offense, offense, offense and hopefully get enough stops late in the game.

It is becoming more and more apparent that this is the formula the Lakers are subscribing to because playing defense is not a full-time gig for these guys. Some of them, and I'm not going to call out names (Luke Walton and Vlad Radmanovic), are just atrocious. The Kings were in the driving lane so many times that all of them could have been ticketed for speeding.

Beno Udrih looked like Tony Parker on some of those dribble penetrations. And someone please tell the Lakers that John Salmons, who is probably ranked 150 in most fantasy leagues, is No. 15 because nobody seemed to bother to guard him. At one point, the Lakers were 15 points down to these lowly Kings!

Continue reading "LAKERS HOPE THIS WINNING FORMULA WILL BE ENOUGH"

The defining moment of the Lakers regular season is upon us.

The next four games will tell how good and how far the Lakers have come this season: at New Orleans on Friday, at red-hot Houston Sunday, at Dallas next Tuesday and the finale at Utah on Thursday.

If the Lakers are going to put a solid grip on the No. 1 seed in the West, they need to go 3-1 on this trip. A 2-2 record will good, but not great. A 1-3 record would be bad but not horrendous. Each team presents different problems.

New Orleans has the best point guard playing this season in Chris Paul and he will test the Lakers interior defense. Paul creates matchup problems for all the Lakers guards. The Lakers can always put Kobe Bryant on Paul, but you don't want to do that for the entire game. Look for Phil J. to rotate D. Fish, Farmar and maybe even Sasha on the Hornets' mercurial point man and funnel him to the baseline because he does most of his damage in the paint.

Continue reading "LAKERS FACE CRITICAL ROAD TRIP"

The Lakers' regular season has had so many turns it mirrors the insanely entertaining Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland.

From Kobe Bryant's temper tantrum last summer, to Andrew Bynum's sudden rise and unexpected fall (or dislocation), to Monday's show-stopping overtime victory over the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers are the NBA's version of The Real World. You think you know? But you just don't know.

I guess that happens when you put 12 strangers and have them play on a team for six months. They stop being nice and start being real.

OK. Enough reality TV.

At 49-22, the Lakers are on or near the top of the Western Conference and should stay up on that perch until the end of the regular season. They play nine of their last 11 games at Staples Center and only four of those games are against playoff teams: Washington, Dallas, New Orleans and San Antonio.

Continue reading "LAKERS SHOULD RIDE ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP"