Giddyap!! Sunday's game was a lost cause for our Lakers. Tuesdays game? A complete turn around..What a neat game for spectators to watch! Right from the get-go it was easy to see, back on home court that our Lakers had it together. Kobe Bryant had his Dad in the audience (a coach in Japan), but he told the reporter that was doing a short interview with him that his son got his talent from his Mother!) Ron Artest had his head back to a norm. All the bench were able to play, not D.J. but with the score soaring in our favor, it was fun to see the bench get their day in the sun so to speak for awhile too. Another Kobe note to share with you is that the broken index finger he has been playing with all along is healed. The joint is a bother it seems however with some arthritis having settled in. Game 6 is Friday night in O.K. City. The winner of this series advances to play the winner of the Denver-Utah series. The Jazz lead the Nuggets 3-1. Hopeful Friday's game will look far more like last nights' game did, and not down in the hole again like last Sundays game was. We are rooting for you & do love that Tuesday score of 111-87!! Babs Wells

A High School assembly? A College fest? The fans at Target Center
in Oklahoma last night gave every indication it must have been one
of those with all in blue and white,waving pom poms...right?
And our Lakers were gung-ho for 3 quarters of the game and
evidently fizzled out during the last quarter as O.K. City poured
on their drive to win 101-96. What were those referees thinking?
30 or more times Oklahoma went to the line..I do not think Kobe even
got to the line once..with those kinds of odds, is it any wonder
that we came up with a loss instead of a win? I ask you..what were
they thinking? No, I'll not get fined $35,000 as coach Phil Jackson
did for speaking out but in my mind it did not seem fair one bit.
Our team played well..they found their rhythm and stuck with it.
Ron Artest was on Kevin Durant as instructed to be, 3 pointers
were played just great, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were right
where they were needing to be on the court and played great,
all in all it was a very fun game to watch. Doubt David Stern
(NBA Commissioner agrees with me though) (re:Referees).
All things considered, the first half of the game could not have
gone better for us as we soared ahead of the Thunder..but in
the finality of this game, we lost...so now comes games for us
to see this coming Saturday + following Tuesday.
Go Get 'em boys!
Babs Wells

Playoffs' are with us here in Laker town. First though, a dignified tribute paid to one of California's greats. Stu Lantz helped in the ceremony before last nights' game outside Staples Center in the rain..a Bronze statue of famed Chic Hearn was unveiled. Chick paid his dues, dying in Northridge at age 85 leaving his red headed wife Marge behind. For 42 years he was Lakers sports announcer with phrases we use today, always on his lips. Phrases like "slam-dunk" & "air ball". Such a winning personality, we miss him still. To have this monumental honor pretty much says it all. His real name was Francis Dayle Hearn. He entertained us and kept us informed and we bid him today a heartfelt tribute for it all. And, yes ! We won our second playoff game against O.K. City last evening..but by a far lesser degree than we did on Sunday. It was a hard won game even though several times during the game we were 11 points in the lead. Ron Artest did not seem to stick to Kevin Durant like Velcro as he seemed to do on Sunday so it made a big difference. With Kobe Bryant playing despite his many injuries gave us all cause to wince at times but he is so competitive that it kept him in the fray. Poor passes caused us some apprehension when Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher passed the ball and our opponent caught it instead of where it was meant to go. If by some chance O.K. City should win four games coming up, it will be Adios but we are hopeful that will not happen. Our score this last game was but by 3 points a win at 95-92. Lakers now play in Oklahoma on their home court, Thur.& Sat. Cheer them on and lets' see what they can come up with! Babs Wells.

Family Reunion of sorts? Having Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum,. Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton healthier and playing seemed a united front and it paid off! Lakers won over Oklahoma. City Sunday afternoon at Staples center: 87-79 with our team being in the lead the entire game besides! Seeing Derek Fisher heave a big 3 more than once during the game sent cheers through out the stadium! Ron Artest standing in the way all through out the game on Kevin Durant was most interesting to note too.Guess that an eye injury kept D.J. off court with a surgery taking place besides. Pau Gasol continued his great plays as he seems to always do. To sustain the energy shown Sunday for the entire game though is what is needed for these playoff games.Hopeful it will remain so. Babs Wells

Season ends for our regular games and playoffs begin this coming weekend & to play against Oklahoma City, Oh boy! Won in Tuesday's game even without Kobe Bryant or Andrew Bynum playing but Luke Walton and Jordan Farmar played hard and of course with Lamar Odom., Derek Fisher and Ron Artest, we had a fairly good team even though Phil Jackson did allow the bench freedom on the courts, but trouble abounded for Wednesday night game. No Kobe, or Andrew and then Jordan Farmar injured his hamstring so was out & early on Sasha Vujacic injured his foot so went hopping off courts to the locker room. He managed though to make 8 points & was fouled on a play as well. The game just prior to last evening, he scored a season's high of 13 points. Hope he will be able to be considered to play now in the playoff's coming up. Clippers have lost so many games that it is hard to count them + lost their long time coach, Mike Dunleavy. yet rallied their play and won over Laker team with score of: 107-91. Two L.A. teams competing. A note of interest (maybe) here..this reporter has gone for the gold! Bought for my own use a new toy! Basketball stand and hoop! At my advancing age? Just pray I do not turn an ankle or some such thing! 'Bid you farewell with that silly note until Playoff time! Babs Wells

A mini missive today. Homecourt, Kobe Bryant suited up, rested and ready to play. Last minutes of the game and free throws missed, shots missed, a foul called and guess what? Lakers lost to Portland 91-88. Ought not to have happened surely, but there it is in our face and we are trying to say we are ready to begin playing in the play off's? Hmmm..we sort of wonder about this but guess it was just an off night of sorts and we will be getting back up on the saddle to ride once again Tuesday at home against Sacramento and back to back game with Clippers on Wednesday. We can only hope. Babs Wells

Make someone happy, make just one someone happy
and you'll be happy too! That old song is certainly quite
appropriate right about now folks..with our Lakers
winning over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night
at Target Center..97 - 88 and no Kobe Bryant or Andrew
Bynum playing besides. Good seeing former coach Rambiss
once again and knowing that now we have cinched the best
record in the Western Conference for the third consecutive
season..Pau Gasol had fun, playing his heart out against the
undersized and inexperienced Timberwolves.He scored
29 points, on 11-17 shooting, grabbed a team leading 15
rebounds & had the stamina to remain on the floor.
Ron Artest got into the act a bit too much landing in the
tangled phone lines at the announcers table and even spilling
a drink on the jacket of Stu Lantz but they handled it well.
The Lakers have not lost a playoff round in the west in the
past 2 seasons. Playing on home court of course has it's
advantages And now we sit back and rest our minds for
a little while with two more games to play before playoffs
begin on April 18th. Rest easy my friends & watch & see!
Babs Wells

Mile high city, Denver is..with elevation we are not accustomed to. That did not seem to hinder the Lakers a whole lot however..even though at half time we were 10 points behind. Kobe Bryant chose to not suit up and rested his bod this night and Andrew Bynum still out on injury....however still, Lakers gave the nuggets some minutes of hard play all the same. This was the first of five games to play before date of April 18th, for start of the playoffs. They still got in some practice. Lakers play back to back tonight at Minnesota, then home again to play Portland. We tied the Nuggets at different times during the game yet still lost by 2 points leaving the score: Denver 98 - Lakers 96. Kudo's Korner ought to be mentioned here with our coach, Phil Jackson, once again going to the defense of his players. Some bad calls by the Ref encouraged him to stand up for what he saw as error. In doing so, he was fined $35,000 by the NBA. Not fair at all but what can one do in cases such as these? Note the Laker team payroll of $91.4 million is the highest this season in the NBA. The Lakers lead the Western Conference standings and have the league's second best overall record. Minnesota will be an interesting game I should think having been the Lakers first home prior to L.A. move. Babs Wells

March 24th...Victory over the San Antonio Spurs. April 4th. loss with the San Antonio Spurs. Different story on Sunday wasn't it for our Lakers? They played hard and even outscored the Spurs in the opening minutes showing their worth with a 21-13 lead. Then they bombed. Their meandering style did not have the oomph to win. They could have made a big statement by winning but they didn't.With home court advantage it really looked like our Lakers were coming on the court in style..but their losing scenario reared its' ugly head. They had the advantage yet somehow managed to lose. It was not an easy game to watch, even Jack Nicholson left early. Luke Walton showed up and although he did not score, he made 2 assists and 2 fouls. Some fans were yelling "Luuuuuuuke"!! to welcome him back with the team. He was made an aide for the coaching staff during his time away from playing due to a pinched nerve in his back. Lakers have 3 days off now to rest, recover and get in some practice before their game in Denver on Thursday. Sunday's score was San Antonio 100 and Lakers 81. Playoff's coming up soon so we'd better "get on the ball"! Babs Wells

Cheers!! Our Lakers are back! We watched a game last eve. that is a reminder of what all our team depicts. Lakers win 106 to Utah's 92! We were ahead entire game and it was a joy to see everybody playing as they always used to do..Granted their battle with Utah was on their home court which I imagine was a big help.The 5 games away from home was no where near the fashion we were used to seeing them play and lost 3 games during these times away from home court. Anyway, Pau Gasol was assertive and pushed for shots that were not always easy ones, Kobe Bryant made nearly all of his free throws, Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher took turns entertaining us and the witty Ron Artest showed us his muscles & then kissed them besides& lent a note of levity to the game. Luke Walton will be gracing the court again too we are told for Sunday's upcoming game.We are all so pleased to hear Kobe Bryant signed a 3 yr. contract to remain a Laker.He will be 35 when this contract is again to be reconsidered. Starting (as I said before) when he was but 17, we always did think he would remain a Laker player and perhaps even end his career a Laker. Hearsay has it that Pau Gasol's brother, Marc Gasol, with the Memphis Grizzlies, is out on injury & not to be playing for the rest of the season. Our coach Phil Jackson is beginning to wonder if he will remain with our team or not. Physically he might find it better to pass on the torch, but with Kobe Bryant remaining a Laker possibly he will sit and think this over once again. We'll just have to wait it out & see. Sunday is Easter and Lakers play at Staples center at 12:30. Breath of fresh air from last nights game so we at least have a nice break & will see what Sunday brings us. Babs Wells

Ditto...ditto..As we all know, we lost our game in O.K. City, won then in Houston but the losing trail continued on into New Orleans and now Atlanta. This streak is following us for right now and it is disheartening to see.Atlanta team played hard and dirty with choke holds and upper body pushes..first to Ron Artest and then also to Pau Gasol..not the game that would stand out as fair or good play-manship certainly. Sasha Vujacic was not even on the court to play..as he had a rather misunderstanding of sorts with coach Phil Jackson after the loss in O.K. city. Guess he will have to eat crow and fess up to be able to get back into play again.We shall watch & see. This last game with Atlanta was a swing & miss game, with no surging, no momentum & no boasting of confidence.Without Andrew Bynum playing shots..it did not seem to go well, no rebounding enough, nor passing of the ball as they should have.Jordan Farmar was angry at himself having missed some shots and Kobe Bryant missed some free throws to make him somewhat disgruntled. No panicking yet but their games must turn around.Tightening up would be a start.Maurice Evans (former Laker) made 18 points for the Hawks. Our team simply was outplayed. We will have to do better if we want to beat upcoming teams..playing Utah and then San Antonio.We better get ourselves turned around as we lost to Atlanta 109-92.Be watching you Lakers & hopeful that in practices some lessons will be learned to show us your stuff! Babs Wells