INJURIES? STILL IN THE GAME!!!

Well, yes, our star player, Kobe Bryant had

surgery on Wednesday to repair his torn

shoulder rotator cuff. He is rallying though

already and said his greetings to former

Laker Pau Gasol. Was nice. In a sling right

now, granted, and 9 months we are being

told for his total recovery, yet he is already

looking forward to upcoming training camp

so that he can once again be out on the

floor and playing for his 20th. season.

We wish him God Speed and a quick

recovery. It is a painful procedure to

endure and I think the actual surgery

lasted 2 hours for him. Kupchak is

hopeful and Byron Scott is as well.

Anyway, we had a ninth loss when

we played against the Washington

Wizards and it was difficult to see

this happening toward the ending of 

the game as we held a very comfortable

lead during the first half. Jeremy Lin

played well as did Wesley Johnson.

Final score for this game was 98-92.

Now for another bit of news. WE WON !!

We played the Chicago Bulls and even

had our former Laker playing with them.

Pau Gasol. (By the way, a very nice

L.A. Ovation was given this dear man)

As well it should be too and yes, Kobe

greeted him. Sore shoulder and all.

We showed such purpose it was really

a fun game for our fans to witness at Staples.

Gasol made three All-Star teams with the

Lakers. He averaged 18.3 points and 10.8

rebounds in 23 play-off games in 2009

and 19.6 points and 11.1 rebounds 

in 23 play-off games 2010. He was voted

in by fans to start  in the All-Star game

for the Eastern Conference. In this latest

game that we played against Chicago, the

Lakers rode Jordan Hill's career-best

26 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan

Clarkson and Carlos Boozer combined

for 34 points in the last game before the

upcoming eastern road trip while Staples

Center will be used for the Grammys.

Our last (winning) game ended with

the score (In overtime) being:123-118.

Now here is the road trip schedule:

Feb. 1=New York (in N.Y.)

Feb.4=Milwaukee (in Wisc.)

Feb.6=Orlando (in Florida)

Feb. 8=Cleveland (in Ohio).

Back home to L.A. with how many travel miles?

7,192 miles. Now to get on the band wagon.

BABS WELLS

EIGHT LOSSES, SO NOW WHAT IS IN STORE?

Jeremy Lin is frustrated to say the least.

Lin has experienced an adversarial season

with the Lakers well before his demotion.

We have acquired Lin and a first-round

pick from the Rockets this off-season in

a salary dump to pursue Chris Bosh.

Although Lin has averaged 10.5 points on

43.6 % shooting, 4.5 assists and 2.3 turn-

overs, Scott has often pointed out Lin's

inconsistency with his play making, his

aggressiveness and his defense. Lin

makes this statement:"Iv'e gone from

getting cut in the D-League to starting

to playing heavy minutes in all these

different roles every week, I have to

keep staying aggressive when I get

out there". He further states, " I am

human. I have emotions." He played

on Sunday against the Houston Rockets

when we lost that game, score: 99-87.

Jordan Clarkson showed us his moves

on Sunday's game. He realizes though

that he still has a lot of work to do. He

knows for one thing, he must get into

sets faster."I do believe that in Friday's

game  I did a pretty good job", he said.

He definitely can get better and keeping

guys out of the paint is one thing to do.

He took a dose of reality on Sunday when 

he scored 8 points on just 2 of 10 shooting

with 2 assists and 5 turnovers in 27+

minutes. Scott  said he warned Clarkson the 

Rockets would try to speed him up & they did.

The harsh truth awaited Kobe Bryant. The Lakers

star visited with team doctor Steve Lombardo

on Friday for a re-examination after an MRI

suggested he had a torn rotator cuff in his

right shoulder.There are 4 muscles in the cuff.

Unlike the previous MRI + ultrasound, the 

muscle is torn now and requires surgery.

Even with the torn rotator cuff, Kobe Bryant

states this is not the end of the 2014-15

season and is not the way he will go out.

The Lakers now host Washington on Tuesday.

BABS WELLS

WE ARE ALL SO SORRY KOBE

Not one of the better things that we have

learned of lately. Our star player is out 

for quite a duration once again. This

time it is a tear in the rotator cuff of

his right shoulder and may require

more surgery for him to have to endure.

Coach Byron Scott really does have

his work cut out for him now. We send

him our condolences and our best wishes.

The Lakers declined to speculate on the

severity of Kobe's injury, but many rotator

cuff injuries do indeed require surgery.

They often take several months too for

rehabilitation. Bryant briefly returned to 

the game in New Orleans and played 

essentially with one arm after the injury

making a 14 foot jumper with his left

hand. He is a right handed shooter.

Bryant is the highest paid NBA player this

season making $23.5 million this year

and $25 million next year. He is averaging

last season having his overlapping ailments. 

It appears likely he will not now be able to play

in the All-Star game on February 15th in N.Y.

Pau of Chicago, (former Laker) will start up 

front for the East along with Carmelo Anthony 

for the Feb 15th game in NY. Memphis' (Pau's

brother) Marc Gasol, joins New Orleans

Anthony Davis and Clippers Blake Griffin.

Scott's 8th starting lineup that featured rookie 

guard Jordan Clarkson who posted a career 

high 11 points on 5-9 shooting, 4 assists and 

1 turnover in 28 minutes in his first career start. 

Price went scoreless on 4 shot attempts in

19 minutes. Lin did not appear because

of a coach's decision, the first time that

happened in 3 years. On Sunday the

Lakers will be playing against the Rockets

at 6:30 p.m. TWCS. We shall see how 

it goes now with our Star out of it.

BABS WELLS

AND NOW WE ASK...WHERE IS KOBE?

Granted Kobe's legs are sore and not as they

used to be, He is managing after so many 

seasons I suppose as well as he feels he can.

We now have lost 5 consecutive games and 

it is difficult to get around that fact. 

The bench are doing their job and doing

it well too it appears, Ronnie Price

missed Friday's game against the Utah

Jazz as he was having an aggravated 

right elbow and so it was with some 

trepidation whether or not he would be

able to join the team for the Arizona trip.

The last time Nick Young made a trip to

play the Phoenix Suns, it did not end

well after being ejected in the second

quarter and thereby earning a one-game 

suspension. Young received a

hard foul from Suns center Alex

Len, sending Young to the court

and setting off a heated alter-cation 

between Young and several

Suns. Both Young and Len were

ejected. He picked up his 4th. 

technical of the season Friday

against Utah. Wesley Johnson has

started 38 games at small forward

over Nick Young because Scott likes

Johnson's defensive versatility and

Young's scoring to bolster the bench.

Yes, Johnson did miss 3 games last

week because of a strained right hip

flexor so Ryan Kelly took that spot.

Score being: 115-100 at AZ. games'

ending was a tough one to handle.

It certainly did look as if we were

going to win this game at first.

The Lakers really could have

used Bryant against Phoenix. Despite 

Nick Young's team-leading 24 points on

7-12 shooting keeping the Lakers in 

contention, the Suns closed out the

final 2.41 with 11 un-answered

points, and the Lakers dropped their

5th loss and fell in a regular 

season sweep to the Suns (25-18)

for the first time since the 2004-05 

season. Lakers missed Ronnie Price

for the second consecutive game

because of persisting right elbow

soreness while rookie reserve

center Tarik Black sprained his

right ankle after posting 6 points

in 21 minutes. No, Kobe is not

totally shut down so far but due to

the Lakers being destined to miss 

the NBA playoffs, for the second year 

and 7th time in franchise history,

we will be watching very closely

just to see how this all plays out with

our star player. Losing Steve Nash

and now the difficulties with Kobe

are really giving us a run for our money.

On Wednesday at 5:00 we play the

Pelicans, at TWCN. Hopeful it

will finally be a winning game for us.

Way back in 1948. the NY Knicks

acquired Ray Lumpp, the 1948

Olympic guard. Born in Brooklyn in

1923, and attending NYU, Ray

just died the paper tells us, at

age 91.He also had played for

the Americans in London where

they went 8-0 en route to the

Gold medal. We are saddened

for his family and hope that

he will be able to R.I.P.

BABS WELLS

LAST TWO GAMES

The argument goes that Kobe Bryant's

absence indirectly spurs everyone on

the Lakers team to elevate their play.

It seems that the Lakers pass the ball

more. Every player finds more shooting

opportunities. That energy translates

into a sharper defense. Sounds good

in theory but it did not happen that way

during the game against the Portland

Trailblazers. Our loss was very noticed.

Final score being: 106-94.

Nick Young scored 6 points in the 4th

quarter to the score of 75-all with 9.5

remaining. The Blazer's answered with

a 17-3 run to take a 14 point lead.

Granted, the Trail Blazers (30-8) have

the second best record in the Western

Conference.  Our Kobe did not play

for the 6th time this season. It would

seem that in their latest effort, the

Lakers failed to over-achieve

without their star to help them along

the way. Byron Scott says that

there is not right now any shut-

down regarding Kobe planned.

Bryant, with his string of ailments, 

is staying on the 32 minute plan.

This seems to be amenable to him.

So far, he is sticking with the program.

He has not been nudging the coach

for any additional time.

Game against Cleveland with LeBron

James back on that team again, did

not fare as good as was expected.

It only comes in flashes now, the

stardom that once lit up an entire

NBA generation. But when someone

like LeBron James is in the house,

the flashes are enough to illuminate

an entire midwinter night. Kobe flashed

back all the way to the beginning Thursday

night, distributing a career-high 17 assists

in his new role as coach Byron Scott's

Lakers point guard. He and James went

at each other in the final 90 seconds,

when Bryant hit a 3 pointer and then

just missed on another, settling for 2

free throws to pull Lakers within

103-99 with 43 seconds left to play.

We lost, but barely...score: 109-102.

We note that former NBA Roy Tarpley

has died at age 50. His basketball

career was cut short because of drug 

abuse. He died last Friday. He had played

with the Dallas Mavericks. His death was

mentioned as having happened at Arlington

Memorial Hospital. He'd played in the '80's

and in the early 90's. He had been a star Center.

We are always saddened when these

kinds of things are brought to our attention.

R.I.P. Roy.

BABS WELLS

L.A.TEAMS

Oh boy, did we ever take a clobbering against

those Clippers last time we played at Staples

against them! Blake Griffin scored 27 points, 

Chris Paul had 24 points and Matt Barnes, 19.

The Lakers have lost 6 of their last 8 and then

two in a row while dropping to 11-25 overall.

The Clippers blew out the Lakers in the third.

They outsmarted us 29-15 and Bryant made

his first basket of the game, hitting a 10-footer

that left them trailing then at: 85-55. The
Clippers scored a season high leading 70-48 

at halftime. The final score was 114-89. Sad.

Even without Kobe, the Lakers just breezed

right past the Orlando Magic as they maintained

a lead throughout the final 45 minutes. They

finished off Orlando with a 12-2 run midway

through the fourth quarter, highlighted by 3

straight baskets from Boozer. Jeremy Lin 

scored 18 points. Carlos Boozer added 12 points

and 14 rebounds and the L.A. Lakers sans Kobe

beat the Orlando Magic 101-84. Now today,

(Sunday) at 6:30, we are to take on the Trail-

blazers at 6:30. hoping we will once again

be in the winners circle. We shall see!!

Rain fell upon our California soil last evening

and today. Mighty welcoming sight for

us having been in such drought conditions.

Christmas is past us, New Years' is upon us

with scores of games yet to play. Our Kobe

is currently being advised to curb some of his

minutes playing out on the courts. I think that

is wise. He has had a goodly share of bodily

injuries on his 36 year old bod.

Looking forward to watching today's

game. See you there!

BABS WELLS

PACERS AND TRAILBLAZERS

Kobe played so well and we are ever

so proud of him out there on the courts

whether at home in Staples Center or out

on the road. Ryan Kelly, Lakers forward,

went in for full practice for the third

time and is back playing with the team.

Kelly managed only 3.7 points in 8.3

minutes this season in 3 games amid

overlapping injuries to his left and his

right hamstrings. Terribly frustrating

for him to handle. He missed the beginning

of training camp last season in his

rookie year as he rehabbed from

a  surgically repaired right foot.

Yes, he did feel hesitant performing

weave drills last week after he

experienced his second hamstring

injury. The Lakers though, are

confident his presence will boost

their fortunes after averaging

8 points on 42.3 % shooting

his rookie season. With only 12.4 

seconds left playing against the

Indiana Pacers, our Kobe sealed the 

deal with a 4 footer and caused

us to win by one point: 88-87.

During the Portland game, it looked

very good for a goodly portion of

play against the Trailblazers.

Nick Young showed his swag

and we almost had it in the winners

circle but having come up from 

behind at 13 points, we still

lost to the opposing team: 98-94.

Now Wednesday in L.A. we 

play another CA team in Staples

against the Clippers. Ought to

be a really good game to watch.

We sadly note that Lakers Mitch

Kupchak and family are right now

grieving the loss of their 15 year

old daughter that passed away.

We are ever so sorry on realizing

their loss. May she R.I.P.

BABS WELLS