STAPLES AWAITS US

With our star players still out on injury,

the team rallied around and gave the plays

their very best. Still fell short towards the

games ending, but not without their vibrant

imput. Meeks, Nick Young and Pau Gasol

especially. Ryan Kelly made some mighty 

good plays as well. Certainly not to fault

anybody but wondering just why our coach

fails to put Chris Kaman on the court to

play? Seems odd to this writer. Used to

always see him doing well when with the

Clippers. Seems that the losses have

been bothering Pau considerably. He did

make 20 points and 11 rebounds during

the last game played against the N.Y.

Knicks. Losing patience too is taking its'

toll. Kobe Bryant has been busily using

the bike to strengthen his leg and is being

a bit tired of doing that so he is longing to

begin doing something else for his rehab.

Jordan Farmar and Steve Blake have

continued their sidelined watch for the

road games played. It still was a loss

with ending score of 110-103 at Madison

Square Garden on Sunday. In fact Carmello

Anthony will become a free-agent this summer.

With that having been said, rumor has it

that there might even be a possible chance

he would join our Laker team. Kobe called

him to congratulate him on the win but states

he is not totally sure that having him come

aboard would be a good thing. Back a game 

ago, playing in Orlando, Pau  led the Lakers

with 21 points and 10 rebounds. The game

was close and a fun game to watch but we

still lost it with score of:114-105. We really

did look good the first half of that game.

We were outscored the rest of the third

quarter and never did make a serious

run in the final periods. The guys looked

and acted tired. Their legs would not respond.

Even though at half time with the 55-53

lead the game fell apart for us. Perhaps

with getting back home we can find our

pace better. Let us all hope so.

BABS WELLS

MENTOR KOBE BRYANT

To watch Nick Young, one would find the words,

watch this young fella. Maybe another Kobe?

Well, our Kobe has seen the promise there too.

He has been finding the time to see to Nick Young's

status on the team and in his wealth of seemingly

great basketball techniques. Young stepped foot

in the Lakers' locker room at Staples Center 6

years ago, a place that gave him temporary access

when the former USC product starred in the Pacific-

10 Conference tournament. Just as quickly as he

goes on scoring binges, Young called dibs on Kobe

Bryant's locker. And no, it did not stop there. "I stole

one of his knee sleeves that day and it was so obvious

as we were cardinal and gold and there I was with a

purple sleeve on. I felt like I was Kobe that day" Young

said. Seems he has also donned his newest Nike shoe

titled the Kobe IX when the Lakers (16-26) visited the

Miami Heat at Airlines Center. Kobe has been a great

mentor for Nick Young telling him all types of things 

during the games. It must have seemed almost unbelievable

to Nick  this past year learning from the greatest of all

players in this game of basketball. Young, a former 

Cleveland High student of Reseda, California, grew up

watching Kobe play so it is no wonder there seems to be

quite a do-able match with these two players. It is a good

feeling for the both of them evidently. Young's "happy-go-

lucky" personality appears to be a complementing

competition streak all the same. It is noted Young is re-

sponding to the challenge of being an all-around player.

The Miami game had us all excited watching the closeness

these 2 teams had. Tying at times and then falling behind,

the Lakers soon caught up and even surpassed the Heat

a time or two. Bosh and LeBron James double teamed

our players often so even Pau was troubled to make a

basket oft times however our team could not be faulted

for doing such a super job with this Miami team on their

heals. Making at least 100 points for the 10th. straight

game is not to be considered a small thing. With so many

on our team out on injury, the younger players came forth.

Xavier Henry may be able to return to play a bit earlier

than at first expected, Kobe ought to be back on the courts

very soon, Steve Blake is improving steadily and Jordan

Farmar has made considerable improvement as well.

Jodie Meeks and Pau Gasol each scored 22 points. Nick

Young made 19 points. This game ended in :109-102 score,

with our Lakers taking a loss. Tonight they play at Orlando 

in Amway Center. Good luck!

BABS WELLS

OVERTIME AND YET ONLY SQUEEZED THROUGH

Such a shame that our Lakers did such

a great job playing against Chicago &

tied often during entire game but then

at the last seconds having to lose by two

points. Was such fun watching Pau,

and seeing Nick Young gather so many

points playing the Bulls. Both Kobe and 

Steve Blake, on sidelines were eager

to help by coaching these younger

players and urging them on. In the place

that Michael Jordan built, Nick Young

continued his emergence as the Lakers'

go-to-closer. He capped a season-high

31 points on 11-of-23 shooting with a

baseline jumper that tied the game,

100-100. There then were only 6 seconds

left to play. He also sank 3 consecutive

free-throws to force an overtime play.

Lakers rookie Ryan Kelly then forced

an out-of-bounds with 9 seconds left.

This suggested the Lakers could thrive

again with a double-overtime.

Not to be however, the game ending 

Score 102-100.

Pau says that although this was most

discouraging, they must continue with

spirit and energy and give themselves

chances. No fun losing all the same.

Very tough to swallow he tells us and

yes, with so little left on that clock, it

gave us the same feelings, watching.

Thursday finds us in Miami so perhaps

that  might be another winning game for us.

BABS WELLS

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We won the last two games we played. KUDOS!

Even with Nick Young being penalized one game

we were able to get the job done. Pau came in

strong and made 22 points, had 8-of-20 shooting

and nine rebounds. Nick made 29 points and Ryan

Kelly picked up 17 points. Winning is such fun said

Nick Young and the banter around the players gave

them a far more confidant and winning attitude.

The Western Conference is tougher this year

than it was last year but also we have had a good

run toward the second half of the season. When our

injured players come back to play, it will lend far more

weight to our winning scores certainly. Sunday's

game score up in Toronto, Canada was:112-106.

Jodie Meeks has remained in high spirits all

season having played at least 40 minutes for the

past 8 games. He posted 11 points in our last

game over Toronto and has averaged a career

high 14.6 points on 44.6 % shooting with coach

D'Antoni attributing it to improved outside shooting,

drives to the basket and defense. Steve Nash is still

hopeful to be returning to play since his back issues

seem to be not nearly as bad as they had been earlier.

He has been in Canada with his trainer working on it.

Robert Sacre was able to help in some ways when

our Lakers landed in Canada, representing that

area, in helping the team get through customs easily.

He was tabbed Mr. Irrelevant as the 60th pick in the

2012 NBA Draft. His role as a Lakers player has had him

averaging 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds through 14.2

minutes both as a reserve (18 games) and as starter

(8). He claims it is a blessing in disguise, speaking of

his draft standing. With his seeming improvements

this off-season on his post-moves, pick-and-roll

execution and defense, he is signed now to a 3

year extension worth $2.6 million, with the first

two seasons guaranteed. It is still quite a challenge

when he posted only 2 points on a 4 shot attempt

in 5 minutes against Toronto. Our upcoming game

will be in Chicago today (Monday, Martin Luther

King Day) at 5:00 p.m. West coast, played at the

United Center. Keep the faith.

BABS WELLS 

ARCH RIVALS

And yet, in Boston, our Lakers not only

tied the Celtics more than once, but at

games' end, we beat them! Kobe Bryant

and Steve Blake were sidelined with their

injuries but helped coach the team at

times when ever they felt they could.

Pau made 24 points and 13 rebounds

and Kendall Marshall finished with 19

points and 14 assists including a 3-pointer 

with 69 seconds left on the clock.

At one time during the second quarter, 

the Celtics actually led by 13 points and still

held a 97-94 lead when Rondo, back once

again to play, checked back in and made a 

3-pointer to extend the lead to 8 points.

With making some necessary free-throws, it 

left the Celtics with a 3-point deficit and less

than 10 seconds to play. Boston's defeat 

deflated the excitement of Rondo's return to play.

The long standing rivalry between Boston and

L.A. has lost some of its luster with Boston's

most recent Big Three long gone and the Lakers'

star, Kobe Bryant recovering from a broken

bone in his left knee. In fact, the Celtics and

Lakers had never been this bad when they faced

each other. According to the Elias Sports Bureau,

their combined winning percentage of .354 (28-51)

was the lowest ever for the longtime rivals in a 

head-to-head match-up (after the first 5 games of the

season). What is even worse is that our Lakers

had won only one game since the week-end

before Christmas and Boston had won just 2.

Lakers rookie forward Ryan Kelly grabbed the

ball and nailed 2 free-throws that both secured

the win and polished off a career high 20 points

on 6-of-12 shooting. We won the rebounding battle.

Our ending score was:107-104.

The next game will occur up in Canada at Toronto.

This will be played early in the day, at 10:00 AM

on Sunday at Air Canada Centre.

On a roll? Be nice!

BABS WELLS

ROAD TRIP AND GAME FRIDAY

Well, guess Nick Young is having to take a few

minutes for second thoughts having been ejected

from last night's game with Phoenix. Tempers

flared and the rest is history now.

We lost to Cleveland as well as our loss to Phoenix

but with the Cavaliers game we almost made it.

Just two points off and it would have ended in a

tie game. Our players are gaining in their strengths

and in their unity and it shows. We hate to lose

as most folks do, but in the long run we will stick

with our team and wish them well. Getting some of our 

key players back out onto the courts will be ever so

helpful of course and hope upon hope that no future

injuries occur to lay them up to go limping off courts.

We had a tight score with Cleveland as I said.

It ended 120-118. Our score with Phoenix was a bit

worse: 121-114 and it was difficult to view at some points.

In Phoenix Pau Gasol made 24 points, while Wesley

Johnson had 22 points. At Staples with Cleveland, Nick

Young made 28 points, but all in all, with this road trip

of 8,300 miles and a two week, 7 game plan, all of

our players together and individually must come in far

stronger and far more determined to play hard the entire

game and not just in the first half of the game.

Right guys?

BABS WELLS

ASSORTMENT DATA

Xavier Henry emerged on Sunday after a 

spirited 15 minute battle & he was then all

smiles. He was working out with the Lakers

for the first time since injuring his right 

knee 2 weeks ago. He reported that he

felt very little pain and more looseness.

In fact he even went so far as to say that

he possibly could return tomorrow to play

when the Lakers host the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There are evidently still a few issues to

contend with but he is close to being back and

extend his workload with the impromptu pickup

game and a contingency that included the

Lakers assistant Mark Madsen.

Henry said it was a chance to validate a

few things about the knee. He tells us that

he is not one of the slow-paced spot-up shooter

kind of guy and that when he does get out

there to play he runs and cuts and crosses

over. He moves a lot trying to get to the basket.

This then is the type of play that Henry likes

and in light of our current standing of losing 

the last 10 out of 11 games, the mental

note that seems to be happening right now is of 

defeat and slumping of the shoulders which

is not the way to react, said coach D'Antoni.

Nick Young made the comment that it does

seem to be happening to them and even

with Kobe on the sidelines trying his best to

coach and give speeches helping during

the game and at halftime, it still needs the 

requirement of the entire playing team to make 

the attempt to pick themselves up and carry on.

Another cloud, if you will, that is hanging

over us all is about Pau Gasol and the

February 20th date regarding a possible

trade which most of us do not want to happen.

If in fact this actually materializes, could we

get enough young talent and a draft pick

for his expiring $19.3 million contract as a

centerpiece? This will not take affect if it

just involves shaving player salary and

luxury tax money off the team's ledger sheet.

There is speculation too if D'Antoni will

stick around to coach the Lakers.

His flimsy job security has been quickly

batted down in seconds. Kupchak has

recently said he would consider D'Antoni's

coaching ethics and patterns to be sterling.

It is also necessary to keep in mind that

our coach is under contract next season

for a guaranteed $4 million.

The Clippers game left egg on our faces.

Last time we played them we won but sadly

that was certainly not the case with this game.

Riddled with injuries, our players took such

a beating with the ending score: 123-87.

It appeared our players were not one bit

enthusiastic which we all wondered about.

In fact they actually seemed lazy and lackadaisical.

Even Pau had a terrible time to get into the

swing of it. His game efforts were way off.

Our defense too was nothing to note this game.

We must do far better in our attitudes, our

unity playing and in our overall game play.

Let's just hope that will perhaps be the case

for our game then coming up for us Tuesday.

BABS WELLS

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES

Our Lakers are continuing to try to keep

up their spirits but it is getting harder all

the time, having now lost 9 out of 10 games.

Nick Young says there will eventually be a

rainbow but for now just going through a storm.

So happy we still have our Pau on the team.

Guess some things will be considered by

February 20th but at least they chose to

not trade him off to Cleveland right now.

We do need him and with his stable and

comforting attitude, it is mighty nice having him

still be a teammate with all of these younger

and eager players. The Lakers retained Xavier

Henry, Ryan Kelly and Kendall Marshall and for

now have waived small forward Shawnee

Williams. He had a partial guarantee in his

contract and made about $450,000 allowing

the Lakers to trim their $79.1 million payroll &

inch closer toward the luxury tax threshold

at $71.7 million. With the Lone Star State

having won against us two nights in a row,

it is a far sadder locker room right now.

As it stands, our Lakers have too many

injuries to count, leaving them without

any defense presence or consistent

outside shooting. We so badly need a win.

Pau Gasol made 21 points in the last

game and in his calming voice, continues

to state his opinions saying that of course

the whole situation will improve once we get

bodies back and at least we do know( he said),

that it can't get any worse than it is right now.

Seems Chris Kaman handles our losses a bit

differently and merely goes out and drinks

a glass of heavy whipping cream! To each

his own. For us, we will keep on keeping on.

BABS WELLS

WELCOME TO 2014

Basketball, guess we fans just love it all the same,

win or lose. (of course granted we like the wins).

After losses of 6 games for our Lakers, we finally

did win with Utah and a terrific game it was too.

Pau Gasol showed us what great stuff he could do.

Making over 20 points alone, he states that he does

not wish to be traded and would like to remain a

Laker. Knowing all about trade rumors, this 33 year

old Spaniard has been hearing them about himself

the past couple of years and it is happening again.

By now, one might think Gasol would just want to

get out of Dodge and say "Adios" but no, he claims

L.A. is now his home and the Lakers are his team.

He also says he would certainly like to ride out this

current storm of losses and being a loyal player,

he knows once our star players are on the well list

all things will fare better. True, Pau has not been

too happy in Mike D'Antoni's system, and no, he has

made no bones about that. Gasol is right now in his 7th. 

season with the Lakers and he is shooting 44.3%

from the field which is not as he is accustomed to doing.

Kendall Marshall is a young gent we shall be watching.

He came out of the D-League Dec. 20th. He is a left-

handed shooter with a different looking shot but is

stoked to be getting this opportunity to start.

Losing against Milwaukee and then winning against

Utah gave us some anxious moments. We also had

some gratifying ones too, against Denver. Being

that it was a home game at Staples, was tough.

Reflecting on last year, it was a most sobering one with

the loss of Jerry Buss, long time executive Bill Sharman,

and Vern Mikkelson, who helped our team win 4 NBA

titles in Minneapolis. We also got swept in the first round

of the playoff's and had star-crossed Kobe Bryant in

the lineup for only 6 games so far into the season.

Even some of our newcomers found that they were 

vulnerable. Xavier Henry was sidelined for the first time

this season because of a bone bruise and cartilage

abnormality in his right knee, and forward Wesley Johnson

did not play due to a bout of gastroenteritis. Chris Kaman

sat out too due to a troublesome left ankle sprain.

It would seem the Gods are against us, but playing on

is what we do, no matter all the illnesses or injuries and

on Tuesday there is another game with back to back

play again on Wednesday. Just hope for the best.

BABS WELLS