There are any number of reasons the Lakers have come up short in their last couple of games, but the main point is that they’ve come up short. This year’s team has a surprisingly scary tendency to come up short in big games, or not even show up at all. Granted, the win over Denver last week helped heal the Lakers psyche somewhat, but two close road losses in Miami and Orlando cannot be positive for team mentality at this point. This is the part of the season where things start to ramp up, games get more competitive and rotations tighten as coaches finalize their plans for a playoff push. There are also other teams, long eliminated from playoff contention, that look to play spoiler every night out for those contenders jockeying for positioning and home-court advantage. As these forces converge on the Lakers and they seem to crack from the pressure, the main point of concern for this sports writer is at the very center of the organization.

This lesson in the timing of the late-season push is not lost on the Lakers, as they are well aware of the difficulties they face in repeating this year as NBA champions. What is difficult, I think, is that for the first time in a long time, the team needs Kobe to defer to some other options on offense in order for the team to be successful. Frankly, even though Kobe is the best player in the NBA, his shot selection and ability to finish recently has really hurt the Lakers and cost us some games. He just takes shots that are too difficult, especially when he has the option to drive and/or kick it out for an open look. When he takes those shots and makes them it looks okay, but after coming back from the two-week injury break, those same shots seem really out of sync and damaging to the flow of the offense. Does anybody dare show Kobe video of what the team looked like while he was gone up against what it looked like against Charlotte? I hope he’s taking that responsibility on himself, because he is truly the heart and soul of this Lakers squad. As talented as everyone else is, they all march to Kobe’s beat and if he can’t keep a good rhythm everyone suffers. Gladly, Phil Jackson is probably the only coach in the world who could sit Kobe during a game to try to get this message across, but if that time comes I wouldn’t count on it. Kobe is still the best closer in the game, and until he misses 100 game-winners in  a row that reputation will remain pretty solid. For that reason, even if he’s not really on, having him on the floor at the end of a game is a huge advantage. The key is that he just has to do what he already knows will give the team that advantage, and not jack up really difficult shots against tough defense with the game on the line. That used to be our best option when we had Kwame Brown and Smush Parker, but the grass is greener now Kobe, so enjoy it a little.

Still, for all his struggles recently, Kobe is getting his game legs back and I expect that over the next few weeks he will return to type of play he exhibited before the ankle injury that took him out. With the next three opponents being teams Kobe scores very well against (First the Raptors, then the Suns, and then the Warriors!) it would not surprise me to see him in top form having a 40+ point game in a solid Lakers victory, maybe even in two out of the three. In any event, if there’s one person in the league who is familiar with what a crucial time this is in the season in terms of playoff preparation, it is number 24 in the purple and gold.

As has become the norm for this Lakers squad, last night’s game was the tale of two halves. In the first, the Lakers played the same relaxed defense that has led to a lackluster record against good competition. In the second, the Lakers bench put on a show and the defense clamped down like a vice grip…even giving those in attendance their much-beloved free tacos for holding the opponents under 100. Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar played well and again have a chance to build a more consistent team to support the starting five if they can continue this type of play. Kobe, glaringly, still seems to be struggling mightily to score from the perimeter, with almost all his first-half points coming at the line or in the paint – save for an amazing fade-away to end the half. Pau and Drew, the continually evolving nucleus of our front-court attack, seem to have gotten the memo about toughness and taking the ball directly into the rim by force. Pau will always struggle with this issue, as his build and playing style just don’t match up well with the heavier, back-to-the-basket centers. His advantage of being able to take opposing centers out of the key on offense is not as effective when his outside shot isn’t falling or he isn’t really even taking it in the first place.  This is crucial because it opens up the lane for the rest of the team and also gives him more space to work with and take advantage of his quickness and agility. On defense, however, he really needs to stay more aware of his body positioning relative to the offensive players. His long arms get him a lot of blocks and he does have good court vision, but defensive positioning is all about anticipation and putting pressure on the offense. He should probably hang out with Ron Artest for a week just to see how he moves and walks around. I’d wager a bet that Ron Ron walks around like he’s guarding someone at all times, and that’s a good thing! There have been too many times that a defensive breakdown has led to an open basket on this Lakers team, and if they want to be considered championship-worthy, that needs to be addressed immediately.

Despite these struggles, the Lakers did pull out a win and are showing signs of coming together for the playoffs. The play of the bench last night was a particularly promising sign, as the team will have no chance to repeat if the second unit fails to show up, as has been the case in a number of games this season. No offense to Sasha Vujacic or his game, I actually really like both, but it’s great to see Adam Morrison getting some meaningful minutes and playing pretty well. It’s clear he’s had enough time with the offense to at least have some feel for where to be and what opportunities he can take and the man has enough basketball IQ to get him the rest of the way. Leading the NCAA in scoring is not possible for someone to do without a boatload of talent and seeing the Lakers starting to tap that talent is very exciting. Granted, his chance to shine most likely won’t come on this Laker team, but producing well in limited minutes will up his value and hopefully give him the chance to play somewhere he can get some real time down the line.

As the final stretch of the regular season is underway in preparation for what is termed the “real season,” look for the Lakers defense and rotation to tighten up and become a little more consistent. Assuming we can avoid any more injuries for the year, the Lakers should be able to get in a good 20 games with the starting lineup and roughly the same rotation schedule that Phil Jackson plans to use in the playoffs. That kind of stretch playing together will be key for a squad that has been largely broken up this season due to various injuries and adjustment periods. It seems like just when one piece is finally settling in (or back in), another gets thrown off-track. No matter, there’s still plenty of time left for the Zen Master to put all the pieces together for another sublime finish.

It was Shannon Brown’s night, to be certain, but the latest Kobe-less Laker win could also be attributed to Lamar’s massive rebounding effort as well as Bynum’s relatively successful return from a bruised hip. I like to joke that every time someone beats the Lakers, there’s an individual on the opposing team who just has a career night. Frequently, opposing players will have career-high performances in losses to the Lakers, but it is an interesting trend that was a joy to see unfold in the reverse as Shannon Brown pulled out moves even Kobe has to smirk at from the sideline. When he did Kobe’s signature hesitation dribble and 20 foot pull-up in the defenders face, it seemed like Kobe had dared him to try one of his moves. More than the offensive effectiveness that Shannon exhibited, his hustle off the ball on both ends of the court really gives the Lakers great opportunities. As he gets more court time and his decision-making improves (not saying he’s struggling with it at all) I expect that the little things he does will shine through even more. Creating a turnover is even sweeter when you can avoid giving the ball right back because of a bad pass or just being out of control. Shannon has been making these types of mistakes less and less, so there’s no reason to think that trend wouldn’t continue to work to the Lakers’ advantage.

The rest of the team was able to pull out a solid effort despite off shooting from Pau (5 for 14), Ron Ron (5 for 13) and Lamar (3 for 12) – which points to the exact reason for the Lakers recent success – DEFENSE! A team can win every game shooting 20% from the field, as long as they can keep their opponents at 10%. The Lakers defensive rotations, communication and hustle are really starting to make me believe they are one of the better Laker teams of all time. It’s gritty, hard work that endears fans to a team and the way the Lakers are playing right now is helping the city be comfortable with the idea of Kobe not always being a Laker. That time will not come for quite a while, but it will come, and getting a little glimpse of how the Lakers play without having the best player on the planet in their starting line up has been pleasantly reassuring.

Now that all the good stuff is out of the way, there’s something that happened a few days ago which really bothers me, and that is Luke Walton being put on the inactive list with back issues. I watched Luke give an interview not long before he came back when he talked about how all the pain was gone and he just wanted to take it slow in coming back to make sure he could stay healthy. The point is not that it’s his fault, but at this point it almost seems deliberate on his part. If he doesn’t have the physical strength in his back to play in the NBA, it’s a difficult realization, but at what point does that horse die? I LOVE Luke Walton as a player and I think our bench is considerably worse off without him, but at this point the team is severely hampered having that weight on the payroll but not the player on the court. Luke being hurt happens about as often as he has a stretch of play that makes me wonder why he doesn’t get more minutes, that is to say, his career trajectory closely resembles the graph of the sin curve. Again, not saying it’s his fault, I sure wouldn’t turn down the paycheck, but then again it’s also not his call (Ahem! Mr. Kupchak!)

Ah, the ups and downs of an LA Lakers season. Since the last post our beloved basketball gods have stumbled a few times and lost that top spot in the league, although few would argue they are not still contenders. Rather, these last 6 weeks or so have shown that the Lakers are more mortal than god-like in the basketball realm. As Kobe made good on his 4th (by my unofficial count) game winning shot at the end of regulation this season it is more cause for slight concern than joy.  It is exceedingly sweet to have won in such a fashion in Boston, temporarily muting the critics who say this Laker team is not standing up against quality opponents, but let’s take a closer look at the state of the Laker union to make sure this joy is well-deserved.

The Lakers start and end with Kobe Bryant, the best player on the planet and certainly the scariest person on the floor when the game is on the line. To put it lightly, Kobe is very banged up. To be quite frank, I’m not entirely sure it is ethically or legally allowable to have an NBA player literally play themselves to death on the court. Some of the injuries I’ve watched Kobe suffer just this season alone seemed to have been enough to end lesser players careers…Kobe’s not even taking time off! When Kobe suffered an avulsion fracture and torn ligaments in right pinky finger early in 2008,  an injury doctors said required surgery immediately, he opted instead just to wrap it up and keep playing all the way through the finals, Olympics, and the next season all the way through the finals and of course up to today. It was at that time, in February in 2008, that I thought I would take a major amputation of one of Kobe’s limbs for him to stop playing, and maybe not even then. Of course, watching Kobe play today baffles the mind, considering his personal injury list. I know Kobe is a trooper beyond compare in the league today, but I shudder to think of what might happen if he doesn’t eventually give himself the proper time to heal and recover…he’s not that high-flying 18 year old prodigy anymore. Kobe is now the face of a team, of a league, even of the sport itself. Let’s be honest, the current state of the Laker union, as embodied and personified by Kobe Bryant, is pretty beat up but somehow persevering.

Down low things are looking up considerably for the Lakers. In all the speculation about how much better Ariza is playing with Houston (being the 1st option a lot of the time) versus how Artest is struggling here in LA (depending on how you look at it), one thing is definitely lost in the shuffle: there’s no freaking way Ariza would ever have been able to provide the low-post offensive muscle that Artest does. Yesterday, when Artest muscled his way to the hole at the end of the fourth to give the Lakers an absolutely crucial basket, it occurred to me why Ariza was never that effective against Boston. Boston’s defense is physical and Artest is the perfect kind of weapon to attack from the small forward position. Artest is not struggling in Los Angeles, in fact quite the opposite. For what may be the first time in his career, he is being patient, listening and learning from a group of coaches and players for whom he has a very deep admiration and respect. This is translating into a more restrained, thought-out game on the court for Artest and also a kind of content feeling he exudes now that he did not in Houston and certainly on in Indiana. He is meshing into the triangle well, and there’s just not enough you can say about his defense and hustle in general, because it never stops surprising and amazing the audience. Who could have guessed that the defensive play of the game for the Lakers against the Celtics in Boston would be Ron Artest creating a (legitimate) charging foul call on Paul Pierce in the last minute of a one-point game? Well, probably Phil Jackson and Mitch Kupchak, which is why we all love rooting for the Lakers.

Another bright spot for the still-as-yet-proven 2009-2010 Laker squad is the continued development of Shannon Brown and the resurgence of Jordan Farmar. In fact, the whole bench is going to get credit here because Luke is back and starting to get his feet again and Sasha is even putting in good minutes here and there. Josh Powell somehow decided to add three-point shooting to his arsenal and with Lamar able to come back to the bench the Laker second unit is finally coming together. I think everyone is excited to see Shannon compete in the dunk contest, although they may want to raise the rim a foot or two when he dunks just to make it fair on the other contestants. I’ve seen a lot of high-fly acts both in person and on screen and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone jump quite like Shannon Brown. As previously stated on this blog, it is literally scary when he takes off from outside the key to dunk on somebody…he could end up in the third or fourth row easy! He has another exemplary play in the Celtics game, jumping up, grabbing a rebound with two hands and then putting the ball back up and dunking with one…all while still on the way up from his jump of maybe 40-50% strength. It is not out of the question to think he could grab something placed on the top of the backboard, and this is a man who is maybe all of 6′4″ with his shoes on…watch out.

If you’re reading this blog, you most likely already know that Kobe Bryant banked in a last-second three at the end of regulation to avoid the loss and put the Lakers ahead of the Heat 108-107 for the final score. While Derek Fisher’s three and Wade’s missed free-throw in the final seconds set up the shot for Kobe, he certainly didn’t see it going that way. To paraphrase his comments after the game, he says it was the luckiest shot he’s ever taken and that all he was trying to do was get to the basket to tie it up. I suppose the Lakers are lucky, because he says his foot slipped on the inbound pass and all he could do was heave up a prayer over the stifling Miami Heat defense, winning the game for the Lakers in the process.

This was one of the more exciting regular season games the Lakers have played in quite a while, including last season…but it does highlight some key points for the Lakers to work on. The bench was not performing well enough for Phil Jackson to be able to rest the starters significantly. Also, the Lakers gave up too many offensive rebounds to the undersized Heat and allowed far too many dribble-penetration drives to bring them back late in the game. It almost seemed like they gave up on defense a couple of times towards the ends of possessions. It’s hard to tell if that was just in-game fatigue or mental lapses, but either way it’s not good. Also not good are Lamar almost coming apart at the seams and Shannon Brown seeming to cool off, to be filed under things that don’t bode well for the Lakers reserves. Jordan Farmar did provide a consistent bright spot for the time he spent on the floor. He can really have a positive effect in almost every game because of his surprising athleticism. It’s always a big headline when he does it, as it was a few games ago, but I’ve seen Jordan chase down guys to block their layups from behind plenty of times. When he’s aggressive defensively it helps get him into an offensive rhythm as well. As for Shannon, I really hope he pulls himself out of his mini-slump, because he’s such a fun player to watch and he hustles on defense.

Ron Artest continues to provide a sort of glue for the Laker defense that is already proving to be more potent than last year’s. While Trevor Ariza played the passing lanes well and was very athletic, he was not large enough to guard some of the bigger 3’s and smaller 4’s that we needed him to. Artest, instead of being too small and slender, simply rolls over his opposition on both ends of the floor, which is endlessly entertaining to watch from the viewpoint of the purple and gold.

Still, at the end of the night, there were only Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade – and the slightly older, more championship-laden Kobe emerged the victor in a game that couldn’t have been closer. As for Kobe’s own personal thoughts on his wild game-winner, my boss has a saying that is quite apropos for this situation. When I’m not blogging I’m providing IT support for small businesses and whenever we figure something out or get something fixed in a surprisingly short amount of time, my boss likes to say with a smile, “It’s always better to be lucky than to be right!” He says this mainly because he tries ten things at once and doesn’t really care so much what change specifically fixed the issue, as long as it’s fixed. Similarly, Kobe’s shot certainly wasn’t the most correct offensive decision of his career, but since he characterizes it as his luckiest and the outcome is as such, I’d have to say that my boss’s saying extends to professional sports as well.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Pau Gasol provides the key to the Lakers championship hopes, but I must say I felt so good about my last prognostication it was satisfying to just sit back and watch the Lakers decimate the last 7 teams we’ve faced. The Lakers offense and defense are so fluid with Gasol on the floor that the efforts of opposing teams almost seem futile. We’re so big, so fast and so strong that the longest a game seems competitive is about 15-20 minutes. There will be some teams that give the Lakers problems, and malaise will set in at some point and questions will be raised about this team’s ability to deal with it…happens every season. The most important thing when those times arise is always the response, and I frankly don’t see these Lakers folding it in and giving up. If anything, the current Laker team is tougher mentally and physically than in any year since our three-peat to start the decade.

Pau Gasol isn’t the key in and of himself, but because of what he allows Phil Jackson to do with the rotation. Being able to bring Lamar off the bench gives the Laker reserves firepower that few teams can match, and frankly without that they’ve been exposed to be just an ordinary run-of-the-mill bench in the league – the games without Pau standing as proof. That’s the whole reason this team was put together in this way, to allow Kobe to have room to create offensively and completely stifle opponents’ inside game with two active 7-footers in the starting line-up.

In addition, his basketball IQ has allowed Pau to integrate himself into Phil Jackson’s scheme completely. He’s an excellent passer and his touch around the basket is something pretty to watch. At one point in the New Orleans game last night, he caught a length-of-the-court pass right at the block and instantly landed in a back-t0-the-basket position to make a great post move with his left hand. Granted, I think the guy guarding him was all of 6-4, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he was 7-4 because that shot was unblockable and as smooth as silk. But as I said, the difference he makes really has to do with the rest of the team, and Kobe in particular.

Kobe benefits the most from Pau being back because he’s able to shift his offensive game back out to the perimeter where he is even deadlier than he is on the post. I think Kobe had only take something like 10 threes through the first 10 games of the season or so, and for a shooter like Kobe that’s a problem. Yes his shot was off a little, but we all know that if Kobe takes 10 threes in a game there’s a good chance he’ll hit 5 or more. He just wasn’t shooting from the outside at all, because without Gasol on the block commanding attention he felt the need to collapse the defense himself. As good as Kobe is as an all-around offensive force and in the post specifically, his strength is truly in his perimeter and mid-range game. It’s hard to say there has ever been a player as skilled as Kobe in certain facets of the offensive end of the game, especially when you watch what he does on a consistent basis. He’s been using his left more consistently now, just another weapon in his seemingly endless arsenal. This is an arsenal we cannot see at its full potential without the Lakers having a dominant inside presence that allows Kobe to exploit seams in opposing defenses. When he has to play 5-on-1 it’s not nearly as fun or pretty to watch.

The reports circling the league have Pau making his 2009-2010 Laker regular season debut tomorrow…and might I be the first to preemptively welcome the ‘Big Spaniard’ back. The Lakers have subsisted well enough on Andrew Bynum, but the team struggles noticeably when Kobe’s shot fails him, as it did in the two losses prior to last night’s victory. It’s not a matter of whether or not everyone is caught staring at Kobe put up a bunch of bricks, but that the team is still young enough, and with the insertion of Ron Artest fresh enough, that they need the two top scorers to be leading the way in this opening stretch of the season. Granted, 8-3 isn’t terrible and there’s every reason to believe that the Lakers will continue to pick up steam as a team even without Pau coming back now, but I sure am glad to see him playing basketball and not the random celebrity suspect of the week on CSI: Miami.

That being said, I must admit the Lakers were fun to watch last night. Not only did Kobe get it going in a big way after an ugly 1-for-6 start, but the Lakers moved the ball, hustled and of course let an inferior opponent back into the game late just to make it exciting for all those fans who may have forgotten that the Lakers love drama for drama’s sake. There’s a certain feeling I get when the Lakers are totally blowing a team away and the end score is a moot point well before the 4th quarter…and last night’s game against Detroit was not one of those games. The most difficult thing for the Lakers to do, it seems, is keep their focus for 48 minutes straight. No matter how much talent or drive a team has, if they lose focus even for 30 seconds in this league it can change a game…a series…an organization. Granted, those incredibly important moments very rarely happen this early in the regular season, but if the Purple and Gold don’t work on their mental stamina along with the triangle the chances of a repeat will slip away rather quickly.

Kobe knows this, and so do Ron Artest and presumably the half a dozen other Lakers who helped bring home the championship last season, but for some reason it’s really not showing on the court. Perhaps Kobe’s off shooting just put everything else under a more intense microscopic view, but I’d prefer to err on the side of caution. I do, however, tend to agree with what the Laker players have been saying in interviews: that once Pau comes back and the rotation goes back to normal everything will fall into sync once again. While that may be true, it should not be counted upon to be the magic pill for the Lakers this year. If we want to pull off a second repeat in the span of a decade, the Lakers are going to have to start working at it now with every possession, every free throw and every defensive stand…can’t take any mini-vacations.

Did the summer go by too fast for anyone else? Not that I enjoy NBA downtime, but it seems like it gets shorter every year!

The Purple and Gold have added Ron Artest and I had the privilege of seeing him in action against Golden State in the preseason game played at the Inglewood Forum. The Lakers lost, but I saw a lot of solid play out of the newest addition as well as the occasionally awesome Andrew Bynum. What I saw then hasn’t changed three games into the new season, although Artest seems to be struggling with his shot a little.

The Lakers look like a team on a mission, if not always in sync. That will improve as the season progresses but I fully expect some nasty bumps in the road as the Lakers are NOT, I repeat NOT, on the level of the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls team that went 72-10, for the best regular season record of all time. Comparisons to that team and expectations of play on that level are ridiculous, unfair and unproductive for the Lakers right now. Kobe got it right in an interview aired during the Laker loss to Dallas when that question was posed and he said they are nowhere near a place where they can actually even think about anything like that. He’s right, and he knows better than any other active player how hard it is to take a team through the modern NBA regular season, come out on top and blast through the playoff to a championship. When he says they’re nowhere near, that means we shouldn’t even be talking about it until the team’s record is something like 50-3.

Now that the rant is done, let’s get down to some bball! Let me recap why I love the Artest-Ariza trade for the Lakers. Ron Artest is a stronger, more powerful and much more intimidating defensive and offensive presence than Trevor Ariza. While he is struggling with his outside shot at the moment, just watch him box someone out under the basket on either end of the floor. It looks so intense, I’m convinced it’s painful for whoever is playing him at the moment. He’s amazing to watch without the ball and I haven’t been this proud to watch Laker hustle since we had AC Green or maybe Mark Madsen (and a shudder runs down the spine of the reader…).

The intensity, focus and hunger for a championship that Artest brings could not have been coaxed out of Ariza by the best of coaches…he’s a young, talented guy who just won his first championship in which he played a major role…you go convince him to work as if he hasn’t won it yet. With Artest, no one has to do that, because he hasn’t won it yet and he’s surrounded by teammates sporting the most ridiculous piece of championship bling the NBA has created yet (each ring has a laser etched image of that individual player’s face on the side, a first in NBA championship ring history). He’s so motivated to do well and just dominate his position on both ends of the floor that it’s probably creating the situation in which he is now essentially tripping over his own feet. Unfortunately for everyone else in the NBA, Phil Jackson is a master of harnessing that energy that star players have and slowly, quietly molding it into championship glory. Artest couldn’t be more ready to learn some new tricks from the league’s resident Zen Master, and the Lakers couldn’t be more ready to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

Speaking of enjoy fruits of hard labor, when is the rest of the league going to realize that Shannon Brown is a freak of basketball nature? When a 6-3 guard is out-jumping and dunking on the 6-11 power forward on his OWN TEAM with his freakin’ EYES STARING AT THE RIM, what is it going to take? When Shannon Brown and Ron Artest trap someone, or Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar even, the chance that the Lakers will end up with the ball seems to be inordinately high. It’s hilarious to me that other teams seem not to care, or know what to do to contain him, so for now Mr. Brown seems to be continuing the upward trajectory he began late last season. On a related note, I really feel strongly that it needs to be made a flagrant foul whenever someone pushes or bumps an offensive player who is in the air on the way to the rim. There have been too many times when Shannon Brown has taken off and looks poised to posterize someone, only to be low-bridged and potentially seriously injured. It is a growing problem as the league becomes more competitive and athletic with every new wave of talent.

To all the Laker fans just now sobering up from the championship parties and afterglow of the perfect end to a wild season, don’t put down those keg (or soda) cups quite yet…WE JUST GOT RON ARTEST! Granted, this is news that passed through the airwaves days ago, but the implications of the deal will be felt for years to come. In essentially trading Trevor Ariza (granted, a sad loss) to the Rockets for Ron Ron, the Lakers upgraded that spot on both ends of the floor. To be fair, Ariza played a pivotal role in the recent successful playoff run, but if you watch those games and think about what Ron Artest would have been doing in a few of those situations, it’s almost scary. Ron Artest is probably the main reason that the Houston Rockets took the Lakers to the 7th game of the series, and were the only team to do so this past season. His fire and intensity on defense are the main reason that Kobe and Phil were quietly clamoring for him even before this championship, and his addition to the team is a serious upgrade even taking the loss of Trevor Ariza into account.

Still, the Lakers must retain Lamar in order for this all to work out. There aren’t really any free agents out there that could fill the hole Odom would leave behind, and he’s also a huge team chemistry guy as well childhood friends with Artest. It is conceivable that Artest agreed to come thinking that Odom would stay and that it was part of the decision-making process. He even set the example by taking the mid-level exception when he is clearly worth more than that as a player. What he is quite clearly saying is that winning a championship is more important than the difference in the amount of money he would make, and hopefully Lamar agrees and structures a similar type of deal with the Lakers to remain with the team. Swapping Ariza for Artest is definitely an upgrade, but like I said, there aren’t really any upgrades or even matches for Lamar Odom out on the market so the Lakers would be silly not to do everything they can to compromise.

Aside from the team aspect, let’s take a look at the media aspect of having Ron Artest be a Los Angeles Laker. He will reside in the media capital of the world, mingling nightly with the elite of the television, music and film industries. It will be interesting to see if Artest can avoid the pitfalls associated with parts of the LA lifestyle and concentrate on the real bling – an NBA championship. His attitude and behavior suggest that he will, as he seems to be modeling his focus on Kobe and his media control on Shaq, we might be in witnessing another dynasty in the making…complete with all the fanfare and drama of those past!

First of all, let’s welcome Andrew Bynum back to the Lakers line-up for the first time since January 31st (was it really that long ago?). 16 points and 7 boards in 21 minutes is not too shabby considering he missed 35 games, although “Bynumite” might be a little strong considering the man’s potential. There are, however, some excellent reasons to think that his return will prove ‘explosively’ beneficial for the Lakers. First, and most obvious, is the defense and rebounding that he clearly didn’t forget how to do during his time off. Second, and probably more importantly, his return allowed Lamar Odom to give the bench a much-needed lift. Having Lamar come in with the second unit provides a versatility off the pine that few teams in the league can match, and the seeming emergence of Shannon Brown only adds to the potency of the mix. In fact, I think Shannon Brown fits in perfectly with Ariza at the 3-spot and Lamar at the 4, because when he and Ariza trap guards on the perimeter our defense is at its best. That type of defense limits the dribble-drive opportunities for the opposing team, which has been a big problem I’ve seen in the Lakers defense over the last two years. That’s not to say that dribble penetration isn’t something that all teams struggle to defend, but as I’ve stated in previous posts, stopping the initial drive consistently and not allowing easy baskets are two of the biggest things the Lakers need to be able to do if they want to win…period.

That being said, tonight’s game exhibited the team play and toughness that has come to define the Lakers this season. As good as our roster is, I’m not sure too many people thought we’d be in a position to win more than 65 games. Just like last year, the Lakers have surprised every with just how good they are, but none of it will matter if they can’t bring home the big prize. The things that the Lakers lacked as a team mentally, physically and emotionally last year seem to be coming much more naturally this year. Bynum’s injury notwithstanding, the team has played with a flow that is amazing to watch. Pau to Kobe, Kobe to Pau, Kobe to Odom, Odom to Kobe – there are just too many scenarios that the team happily exploits for the crowd’s benefit. I have to give it up to Kobe too, since this year he has really made himself look great while getting his team involved. For all his exploits as an incredible individual offensive player, he may even be underrated in his passing creativity and overall vision. At one point in the second quarter of the Nugget’s game, Kobe led a little misdirection and slipped Pau the ball behind his back. He faked me out and I’m sitting at home watching from the vantage-point of the camera!

Granted, at times (mainly due to poor defense) this season the Lakers have been painful, if not downright awful to watch. Still, the good times have most definitely outweighed the bad, and considering what the organization as a whole has been through since our last championship in 2002, isn’t that all one fan can really hope for?