Kobe hates the Suns, goes for 48.

So in accordance with Kobe's "I'll do as I please" attitude he's displayed this season, he set his mamba eyes on Phoenix, a team Kobe has shown much disdain for ever since they sent the Lakers home in the 1st round two times in 06 and 07. Kobe, despite Grant Hill's best attempt at slowing him down, lit them up for 48 points, the most he's scored since 2009, when he went for 46...against the Phoenix Suns. After the game, Kobe left no doubt about what was on his mind, first was his true hate for the Suns, and second was his "lack of agreement" with a recent ESPN article that listed him as the 7th best player in the NBA. Continuing his improvement since that terrible Denver game, Kobe shot 18 for 31 from the field and added 6 assists.

A surprising performance to along with Kobe's was Luke Walton's return to 2007 form. His rebounding and timely passes were a nice surprise in the absence of Troy Murphy, Josh McRoberts, and Jason Kapono. One player that left more to be desired was Andrew Bynum, who only chipped in 12 pts and 8 rebounds. He struggled with the defensive assignment of guarding the pick and roll with Nash and deadly shooters like Gortat and Frye. Mike Brown ultimately decided that the Suns' bigs could not expose Luke, so Luke got the crunch time minutes. Against a team like Utah however, Bynum will need to come up big. Prediction: Utah Jazz 95 - Lakers 82 :(, the road woes continue.

Lakers pull off win despite lackluster effort.

Lakers played yet another game last night, this time against the wounded Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were missing Stephen Curry, but luckily for them they were also missing Andris Biedrins. Instead they started defensive standout Kwame Brown, who battled Andrew Bynum everyday in practice for the first several yrs of Andrew's career. Golden State came in with one goal, do everything possible to keep Bynum from dominating and for the most part they succeeded. They routinely threw double and triple teams and went to a zone for a better part of the game. The Lakers and their disappointing 3 point shooting were not up for the task, but luckily they tightened up the turnovers and Kobe went to work.
One thing that became apparent was that Bynum will need to improve how he handles a crowded paint, and there were signs of it when he found a cutting Troy Murphy in the middle of the 4th quarter. I have no doubt Bynum will improve as the season goes on, and if the shooters start making their shots, it'll be that much easier.
The best player of the game was Kobe Bryant who chimed in with 39 points, an NBA season high. His jumper was going in all night, a far cry from his performances earlier this week.

Prediction; Last time out I almost nailed the GS game, missing by one point. I guessed 97-89, the final score was 97-90. Next up is Memphis at Staples, and I predict a 92-87 victory.

Blazers beat the Lakers at the Rose Garden.

Bynum eager to eat up the competition.

Lakers just lost to the Blazers in Portland again, I think that makes it 26 of the last 30 up there in the Northwest. Like always, the crowd was ridiculously loud and though it probably doesn't affect the players, it makes me as a fan feel more agitated by every Blazer bucket than normal. Andrew Bynum had another superb performance, getting what is now a reliable 20/10. Kobe had his too; it was efficient but often it feels like he goes our of his way to iso up his defender.

The loss really falls on the failure at the defensive end where rotations from the weak side were slow to come around, and the hedging of the pick and roll at the top of the key appears to be a task too great for Pau and Bynum. Felton was carving them up by splitting the gap, and Gerald Wallace used his unique mixture of strength and athleticism to muscle his way to 30+ pts, a lot coming from inside the paint. Lakers are back at it tomorrow against Golden State, and if Bynum and Pau don't combine for 40+ points against a terrible frontcourt, a victory is probably unlikely...but I expect Bynum and Pau to get it and lead the Lakers to a comfortable victory. Prediction: LAL 97 - GSW 89