CHAMPIONS IN THE MAKING

Winners! Both last two games..our Lakers

showed us the stuff that they are capable of.

Pride shows on our faces and in our hearts.

Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs games

were ours for the taking and take, we did.

Applause, applause, applause !!!!!

In Utah, the ending score was:119-104.

Nick Young made 41 points alone.

Sometimes it came at the expense of a

balanced offense. However, Nick's

prolific scoring may have cost us but

we played with fervor all the same.

The win snapped a season-high 7

game winning streak for the Jazz.

At one point, they actually were even

ahead of us by 13 points until we

closed the half on a 19-2 run,

powered by Jodie Meeks' 9 points.

Last night playing against the Spurs,

Tony Parker was pressured by our Jordan

Hill as he drove to the basket during

the first half. Robert Sacre told the

reporters that "At this point we're

just happy we got our win."

Our regular season is now over and

we can begin building our team for

next year. We are not all that certain

either if Coach Mike D'Antoni will

be returning with our team or not. 

Pau's contract is also "iffy". The 

ending score for our last 

game was: 113-106.

Just as the Lakers wrapped up this

season's disastrous injured roster,

Kobe Bryant will begin training

next Tuesday. Kobe said, his main

concern now is "Nutrition, Hydration, Focus".

Today and tomorrow, Kupchak will

talk with the team in his efforts to

discuss rebuilding members.

Former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

turned 67 years old yesterday.

Losses too. They are: Zandar Hollandar

age 91, died last Friday. He had been

sports writer for many teams including

"The book of basketball" in 2009.

Another fella died on April 7th that

was a big influence in sports, Royce

Waltman, age 72. A longtime coach,

he wrote brick size books titled "Complete

Hand books" and led the Indiana Hoosiers

to win their 5th National Championship

in 1987. Our losses, surely, but they

now deserve their rest. R.I.P.

The Daily News writer, Vincent Bonsignore

writes that there is talk about replacing our

current coach next year and one of the

names mentioned is Derek Fisher.

Derek already made the remark he

was thinking of retiring. A former Laker

player for years, and having such good

managerial skills, he would certainly be

a mighty good choice to pick, this writer

maintains. He is so intelligent and with

his eager rapport with our Laker players,

it would be a win win situation it seems.

Our brand new season starts the month

of October so until then, stay cool and

peek once in awhile at my blog for any

forms of upcoming newsworthy items.

God Bless.

BABS WELLS

OUR FORMIDABLE LAKERS

Playing last Friday and Sunday at Staples

Center, we used a variety of players.

It was of course, most noticable that

our Kobe, Nash, & Kaman were among

the missing. Even Jordan Hill was 

fairly unhappy having a migraine.

Nick Young has been  out 16 games.

So, over all, our team has been quite

severed from what we had earlier been

expecting and it is no wonder that with

ailments, player transfers and so forth,

our team has had to take all of it in

stride as best that they could and still

maintain an "upbeat" outlook to continue

doing their best no matter if it was with

Golden State, Sacramento or Memphis.

So now we go out on the road to Utah

and to San Antonio to finish off playing

this season with high hopes for a far

better roster coming up in October

for playing for next season. The score,

by the way for our game against

Golden State was: 112-95. Our loss.

The game against Pau's brothers'

team (Mark) with Memphis, was:102-90.

And again..alas, it was our loss too.

Now, suited up tonight, they will be

on the road playing Utah and  then on

Wednesday they will be in San Antonio.

Having mentioned this before regarding

Jodie Meeks, I will but elaborate some.

He averaged a career-high 15.6 points.

After the season, he will become a free

agent, so  it is toss-up pertaining to

whether or not he will remain on our

Laker team. We are hoping so.

He states that" shooting the ball is what

I'm known for, but I worked hard on my

handle a lot and I worked on finishing at

the rim". In an interview he said " I just

wanted to come in and have a good

all-around year". It is fun to see him

make those baskets. He and Nick Young

have given us as fans watching many

really enjoyable moments seeing

their enthusiasm playing the floor.

Playing against the Warriors for

example, Nick Young scored 25 points.

So far, it appears that with the injuries,

298 games this season have shown

the players on that injury list missed

that many games.

In Michigan, a little 8 year old girl

was fighting for her life with the odds

against her during all of her treatments

and care with cancer. Not in the big 

leagues, but a basket ball player none

the less, Michigan State forward,Adreian Payne

took it upon himself to help lessen this

trooper in childhood, Lacey Holsworth. 

She had neuroblastoma and this young

man was instrumental in allowing her

to become a part of his team rebounding

to win the Big Ten tournament as he showed

her preferred treatment.

And so, there she was, at the

Michigan State Basketball banquet

last month, standing next to coach Tom

Izzao, who put his arm around her as

he addressed all of  the players, families

and others in attendance. Adreian Payne

had hoisted Lacey up earlier to the net

as they both brought the net down. It, 

indeed was a very big day for this tyke 

who lost her battle last Tuesday. R.I.P.

dear little one.

Onward and upward  and off to Utah!

BABS WELLS

CLOBBERED-OH MY!

The game on Friday gave us

doubt but still was very much

in the offing for us. Dallas

was ready and willing to play

and to win. Dirk did his usual

great plays and the Mavericks

beat us at Staples Center.

Pau Gasol was among the

missing and it is now very

possible he might not be

able to ever again don the

Laker uniform. His Vertigo

has left him weakened and

light headed. He leads the

Lakers at this point at 17.4

points per game and yes, he

would dearly like to remain

a Laker  but it is up in the air.

Nick Young's agent downplayed

his client's recent comments 

to NBA.com suggesting he 

will opt out of his $1.2 mil. player

option to become a free agent

this offseason. He is a most

valuable player but we are

being told that there is no pro-

actively worrying about next

year right now. He has averaged

17.8 points per game, second

on the Lakers, and has shown

a stronger commitment to

defense. In fact on Tuesday

of last week, he made 40

points against Portland.

Sunday, also at Staples Center,

we played against the Clippers.

It was ever so grim with ending

score showing us as the loser

by: 120-97. Sorry but they totally

clobbered us. Chris Paul and

Blake Griffith were in good form.

Steve Nash played but it appears

that this may very well be his last

appearance on the playing court

for this season. Jordan Farmar

once played with an edge the

Lakers occasionally considered

selfish but today he seems to

have shed all of that and plays

with a far more patient touch.

Farmar, 27, relishes the freedom

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni

allows in his free-flowing offense.    

Tonight we play Houston at 7:30

and that too will be  played in L.A.

at Staples Center.

Sports Director Sandy Grossman, 

has died at age 78. He was acclaimed

working 10 Super Bowl broadcasts

and directed 18 NBA Finals. He had

also won 8 Emmys, embracing watching

game film as a director before that

was actually standard practice.

Also noting that we lost an icon.

Only 5'2" in stature, Mickey Rooney

played on film. stage and television.

Mickey was well known for his song and

dance routines and at age 93, finally

was laid to rest. He was born the same

year as this writers' husband, 1920.

Energetic always, he has 4 stars on

the  hall of fame. Several movies he

starred in with Judy Garland. Judy

began her earlier singing out here

in L.A. High Desert, Lancaster, CA.

She was but a young child before 

their move to Hollywood where she

was often seen on the big screen

singing and dancing along with

Mickey and gave our country

the oomph we all needed all

those years ago when we also

watched Mickey in his many

Andy Hardy series. He always

made claim to saying:

"Don't retire, Inspire!"

We will miss you Mickey Rooney.

See  the rest of you tonight then.

BABS WELLS

ANOTHER DAY FOR WISHFUL THOUGHTS

What is it we are told when our kiddies

play Little League? Another loss only gives us

the wisdom and energy for challenge to win!

We can only hope. The two recent losses hurt 

but granted they were not huge loses by any

means. Our game against Portland was "iffy"

at best. We had not had Steve Nash, Pau Gasol

and Chris Kaman all on the floor at the same

time before, had we? The final score was:124-112.

We fought, we played, we ran like the pro's

we are, but it evidently was just plainly not in

the cards that night. Granted, we were also bolstered

that evening by the return of Xavier Henry and with

the knowledge that on Sunday we beat Phoenix, and

with knowing Nick Young was keeping us within striking

distance with his 3 point shooting, our determination

grew. Nick was the 5th and last player off the L.A. bench. 

He made his first 8 shots and finished 15 for 26 with a

season high 40 points. Evidently it wasn't enough

to prevent us from having our 10th defeat in 14 games; 

the most losses by the club since finishing 33-49

in 1993-94. The franchise hasn't lost 50 games in a

given season since 1974- (30-52).

Pau Gasol made 22 points during the Portland game

but he still did not really feel all that well. He stated

that his "vertigo" was a nightmare. He, in fact, had

3 liters of intravenous fluid inserted into his ailing

body and continued to struggle with what on earth

had happened to him. He had just exited the Lakers'

win over Orlando last week after feeling dizzy and

light headed. Soon after, he was carried away on

a stretcher to the hospital. He said afterward that

"everyone that saw me felt bad. I was extremely

pale and shivering and I could not move."

Gasol is now wearing a patch behind his left

ear, stemming from his inner ear being affected

from the illness that occurred. He also is taking

unspecified antibiotics to squash the remaining

symptoms which included endless vomiting and

an inability to open his eyes.

He likened it to when he suffered a concussion

last season, an injury that sidelined him 5 games.

The recent Sacramento game went fairly well

and it truly did seem we might fare better as

winners. Was not to be though, as the ending

score was Sacramento's win of 107-102.

The Lakers (25-50) are experiencing only

their 8th losing season since moving west

from Minneapolis in 1960. They are now

on pace to have their worst record in L.A. area.

We worry over their mental capacities now

and are in high hopes that with all that has

taken place, we can at least gather some

hope that some  of our remaining

games will end in victory for us as we look

forward to the season coming up after

this one is completed. Our hopes and

our best wishes are always there, for

we are forever Laker fans.

On Friday in Staples Center, we will

be playing against the Dallas team.

BABS WELLS