Sunday, October 13, 2013

OFF TO CHINA AND GREAT WALL

After a 13-hour flight to China, the Lakers
have quite an agenda already scheduled.
Today their plans include seeing the famed
Great Wall. There will be two exhibition games
against The Golden State Warriors;  
in Beijing on Tuesday and in Shanghai October 18th
The fans go absolutely wild over our Kobe Bryant there.
They have been witness to various NBA
sanctioned events so they cheer our star on.
Once the Lakers return October 19th
(Saturday), they will have two more
pre-season games and 7 more practices
before the teams' season opener Oct 29th.
The Lakers trainer, Gary Vitti, advised the
team on how to handle flights to and from
China. To avoid dehydration, drink water
instead of caffeine or alcoholic beverages.
To prevent leg stiffness, walk about on and
off down the aisles. Upon arrival, avoid taking
a nap since it would delay adjusting to the 15
hour  time difference. Chris Kaman, who played
for the German national team in 2008 Beijing
Olympics, also offered some tips. He said to
not eat things from street vendors. And, as it is
not a free country, just remember they make
the rules and can call you out or put you in
a bad situation at any time, so just remember
that. Steve Blake, interests in politics and in
visiting interesting historical sights, says he
is extremely curious about this China visit.
Steve Nash made the remark that taking such
a long trip together and traveling so far, can
really bring the whole team closer together.
He claims that with such a good group, they
ought to do very well all along this trip.
And speaking of Nash, he is already being
troubled by a sore left ankle. With turning 40
in February, he is very much aware of his
own body so often these days, seemingly
to turn on him and he has to care for
the aches and pains so that they will not
destroy his playing this coming Oct 29th.
Having missed 32 games total last
season, it is with some apprehension for
playing with the team with a far better
bod even with fewer minutes on the courts.
Nash focused this off-season on improving
what he called his "postural stability" and
"Movement patterns". So as he performed
his series of dribbles and jumpers, he also
monitored each step he took to avoid 
making any awkward twists that could put
additional pressure on his sensitive spine.
We wish him well later this month during
the plays in our 2013 new season.
Babs Wells 

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