Four?!

We have now won the last four games! Atlanta,
Portland, Clippers and Oklahoma City..what a great
thing to report, since our Western team also won
at the "All Stars" game too! Ron Artest says it
pretty clearly..."Lotsa screens..getting hit too but could get
hit all day long and run all day yet even some of them
were illegal screens".Kobe Bryant caught and passed
another Hall of Fame on the NBA's all-time scoring
list Sunday afternoon. He swished a jumper from along
the baseline to catch Elvin Hayes and passed him with
a bank shot. Bryant's scoring total stands at 27,320 points with
going into Tuesdays' game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If he continues to score at his present average of 25.1 points,
he will pass Moses Malone for sixth (27,409) by seasons' end.
Andrew Bynum's statistics were eye-catching after the Lakers
victory over the O.K. city Thunder. He had 16 points on 5-for-7
shooting, plus 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in 31 plus minutes.
Backup small forward Matt Barnes joined the Lakers for their trip
to Oklahoma. "It feels great to be back around the guys & feel
like I am part of the team once again" he said. "Its' been pretty
rough from that aspect". Not yet on court playing. We beat O.K. city 90-87.
Friday's game against the Clippers was on both of their home
courts but Lakers did take the game with score of: 108-95.
A sad note and a far different sport with the mention is that we
have lost the Hall of Famers baseball star: Duke Snider.
Duke was an L.A. born outfielder & beloved Dodgers star.
Even though basketball is my favored sport, as a Grandmother,
I have been to many a soft ball and baseball game and I can
well appreciate the "Boys of summer" players and know full
well the charm Duke had with his many fans and co-players.
We bid you farewell for now and well remember your famed career.
Our Lakers go on the road to play the Minnesota Timberwolves
next on Tuesday evening. God speed in My home state of Minnesota!
Babs Wells

All Star Game is past once again and the West won!

Fun seeing what our players could do with such an
enthusiastic crowd to watch them. When the team
consists of players from all different teams we
are never quite sure of the flow and teamwork.
Another interesting matter to mention here is
that President Obama was recently up in Oregon
at Hillsboro, outside of Portland visiting Intel.
My youngest daughter lives in Hillsboro but
unable to see him due to being in Illinois at
the time. Obama is quite a basketball enthusiast
so too bad it was not planned for a bit later when
our Lakers played in Portland and won in overtime
too! They lost 3 of their 7 road games but won
4 and then came back home and won against
Atlanta and now last eve. won against Portland
and that in itself is worth mentioning - certainly due
to their past history of not winning in Portland
on former games played with them.
The Atlanta/Lakers game was almost hard
to watch due to the Hawks inadequacy.
We won that game 104-80 with Kobe Bryant
making 20 points, Pau Gasol making 14 and
Ron Artest adding 11 points, Derek Fisher: 10.
Coming out strong in the beginnings of the Portland
game, we did well, then at half time we were
behind, so it really looked as if the Trail Blazers
had the game in their pocket, but then Kobe lifted
the Lakers to a win in overtime making the final
score 106-101. A nail biter to be sure!
After Sundays' game, there was a record tying
fourth when Kobe again made MVP & proudly
held the trophy high above his head for all to see.
Andrew Bynum is still dealing with knee issues.
That right knee of his is still not as strong as he
would hope it would be by now. He does seem to be
feeling some better though since he took the brace
off his left knee for better maneuverability jumping.
Lakers host the game on Friday night at Staples
center playing against the Clippers. The Clippers great
new rookie,Blake Griffin plays, so it should be another
interesting game to see! Looking forward to it!
Babs Wells

And so it is time before the "All Star" games
to sit and ponder the why's of those last two
games our Lakers played and lost.
Winning the first 4 of their road games gave
us such pride but for some odd reason the
last two games were not played with any
of that former vigor and purpose. Losing
in Orlando hurt, didn't it? But wait..we had
the game at Charlotte yet to play..so what
do you suppose happened with our fella's?
At games end in Orlando the score was
Orlando 89 and Lakers 75. Certainly some
lessons to be learned there. Even the brand
new Amway Center did not help us out any.
Kobe Bryant tried but still could not seem to
save the Laker team from losing in their first
trip playing there. So next came Charlotte with
the most lopsided defeat of the season with
Charlotte winning at 109 and Lakers losing
at 89. Really hurt. Guess not too much to say.
Our next game is with Cleveland on Wednesday.
This reporter will have to say "good luck boys"
for this upcoming game though as nothing more
will be reported here until after the All Star games
being hosted this year right at home in L.A.
Pizza anyone? Hope we all have fun just the same!
Babs Wells

Cold country to be sure but our Lakers seemed to take
to it nice enough and won their first 4 of 7 road games
away from home court. Facing the Boston Celtics is
not always a super fun experience, having been rivals
for so long, but in January they beat us - yet this time
around we had the upper hand. L.A. rallied and we
came through with score of: 92-86, victors were we!
Phil Jackson received some other news too as the
media got wind of it as well. After 23 seasons
of coaching, Jerry Sloan has decided to retire.
He'd had 1,127 wins at the helm of the Utah Jazz
and simply said he had run out of energy and it was
time to move on. He is the only coach in NBA history
that went on to win 1,000 games with one team, a feat
he accomplished Nov. 7 against Oklahoma City.
Our own coach, Phil Jackson, had some "down
memory lane" moments when he ambled into Madison
Square Garden from the 33rd. Street entrance for possibly
the very last time as NBA coach Friday. Riding the elevator
he got to thinking " I really do not want to do this anymore".
Jackson played with the Knicks in the '70's., coached against
them in the '90's & with the Lakers in the 2000's. He has said
that this will be his last stand and will retire once the last game
is played in the spring. Once the shot wore off for Lamar Odom
with the head injury he suffered, requiring 8 stitches (since he
and Pau Gasol knocked heads together in the third quarter
collision Thursday in Boston), his head was mighty sore & throbbing.
Pau's front tooth evidently did not suffer nearly as much hitting him.
Matt Barnes is still on the mend since surgery but doing quite well.
He is back running again, practicing, doing the treadmill and his
agility drills. He is anxious to be one of the playing team once again.
The "All Star-Break" is scheduled for Feb.17-20 so it is just possible
he might be able to suit up after that is ended and begin playing then.
Winning in New York against the Knicks was a big plus and a real
bonus for our team. Kobe Bryant kept hitting 3 pointers and made
19 points almost it seemed in the first immediate minutes of the game.
Lamar Odom scored 14 points, Andrew Bynum made 12 points and
nine rebounds and Shannon Brown made 12, including 2 on a spectacular
catch and dunk on a lob pass from Steve Blake to finish a 2nd.quarter
fast break. They scored so high that the bench were even allowed to
get the opportunity of allowing the starters to sit it out and rest up.
Good game and a fun one to watch. Keep up the momentum if you can!
Babs Wells

On the road again..just can't wait 'til we're on the road again.

Well, that tune is most tolerable right now for our Lakers.
In the opening minutes of the game against New Orleans, Pau
Gasol swished a jump shot off a pass from Kobe Bryant.
Victory was ours at 101-95 Saturday playing the Hornets
on our first of 7-game trip. By games end Pau had scored
a season-best 34 points on 13 for 17 shooting, grabbed a
team-leading 10 rebounds, added 3 assists & continued
aggresively within the Lakers triangle offense. Toward the
end, when the Lakers had staved off the Hornets last charge,
Gasol leaped up for a rebound, let out a yell and dribbled
out of danger as the buzzer sounded on the Lakers third
victory this season over New Orleans.
Andrew Bynum played in his 26th. game of the season,
making his 19th. start on Saturday,scoring 12 points
on 5-8 shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 assists & one block
in 28 minutes, 20 seconds.
Mondays' game against Memphis was a hard won game.
Another victory however with score of: 93-84.
This was an important game for us to win. Travel begins
to get a bit tougher with the upcoming game in Boston
looming in the near future and with the Celtics it always
is difficult to slice through the hostilities. In Memphis,
Pau had 17 points, Odom had 15, Artest 13, Andrew
Bynum 11 points and Derek Fisher 10..all in double figures.
No matter what was acceptable or what was said, the longest
road trip of the season ends with Feb. 14th. playing in Charlotte,
and Feb. 16th. in Cleveland but first we must face the Boston
Celtics this Thursday and then on to New York on Friday and
down to Orlando on Sunday. It is grueling and long but so far
we have braved the storm. Be nice for a 7-0 record road trip,
wouldn't it though? Hopeful to be successful.
Babs Wells

Squeaking by? Seems so.

Tuesdays game a win over Houston in overtime.
Thursdays game losing by only one point.
Seems that there was an all guys chat
before game begun with Jerry Buss in
attendance.Without Andrew Bynum out
on the floor, we did still win Tuesdays
game all the same with score showing
Lakers 114 and Houston 106. There was
even some behind scenes talk of a possible
trade in future with Ron Artest but he is in
denial of this being so.Home games for now
with long road trip in the offing.Thursday eve.
Staples Center game had buzzer beater being
the culprit. San Antonio is currently the league
leading team and so winning this game would
certainly have been a feather in our caps. Losing as
the buzzer sounded by only one point is a bit
hard to take. Score: San Antonio 89 & Lakers 88.
A tidbit of info to share here today is that one of
the favored basketball followers, Adam Sandler,
just now received his Star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame. This was the 2,431st. star placed.
Two other fun things to share with my readers
are: Remember old T.V. show "Dallas"? For
future viewing to come up is a Dallas Reunion
with Larry Hagman returning as well as Linda
Gray & Patrick Duffy. The new story focuses
on the Ewing offspring as they clash over the
future of the family dynasty and even have the
mansion in Texas of the Southfork Ranch!!
The other informative bit of news today is about
a former child actor..that cute, red headed and
freckled youngster that was the little boy on the
show "Family Affair" starring Brian Keith and
Sebastian Cabot in the two adult roles. Well,
seems this red head tyke is now grown up. He
works in Tarzana, CA and is a counselor for
drug abusers and that is a formidable position
to be in. His T.V. name was Jody and even then
we all could see his worth. Show ran 1966-1971.
this gentleman now lives in Santa Clarita and is
also very helpful to other substance abusers
& with the homeless. His name is:John Whitaker
and so we applaud him today.
Babs Wells