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Lakers Try To Stay Warm
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The Lakers are halfway through the “Coldest places in North America during the dead of winter” road trip to the Midwest and East. So far: four games, two wins.
Not a stellar outcome, but not bad considering they have two starters (Luke Walton and Kwame Brown) watching games in street clothes, plus had to play one without Kobe Bryant (for an infraction far less serious than what LeBron James got away with without a suspension, but that’s a rant for another day).
Last Saturday’s win against Washington was the trip highpoint so far -- not because of the fun first-half Kobe vs. Gilbert Arenas shootout but because it may have been the Lakers’ best defensive game of the season. Smush Parker did a great job forcing Washington’s Mr. Everything Arenas to his weaker right side and the result was a 9 for 29 shooting night and a Laker win. The problem with Smush and the entire Laker squad this season is their attention span on defense is about that of a second-grader in need of Ritalin. So we’ll see what happens the rest of this week.
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Tonight the Lakers are in the one warm spot on the trip, Atlanta (got up to a balmy 46 today for the high) to take on the athletic but young-and-we-play-like-it Hawks. The game starts at 4, unless you want to watch it on KCAL 9 in which case it starts at 5:30 (got to make those advertisers happy). Something to look for: if the Atlanta youngsters like Joe Smith and Josh Childress are taking their shots near the basket the Lakers could be in trouble, if thy have to take jump shots the Lakers win handily.
Thursday night the Lakers are in Detroit (projected high temperature of 21) to take on the Pistons. Don't confuse this version of the Pistons with the one that beat the Lakers in the NBA finals three years ago -- they used to be all defense with little offense, now they can score with anyone but their defense is spotty. Still, they are currently the top seed in the East.
Friday it's on to Toronto (high projected at -2). The Raptors are the best of the worst -- they lead the Atlantic Division, but with a record of just 25-23. This is an average team, led by the far above average Chris Bosh, but that may be enough to win the Atlantic Division.
Sunday it's the nationally broadcast Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James matchup, and we're not sure that ABC would care if the rest of the Lakers or Cavaliers showed up. Of course, the high temperature in Cleveland is expected to be about 25 degrees, so the rest of the Lakers will want to be in the building just to stay warm. Plus ABC broadcasters will provide plenty of hot air.
For the Lakers, this could still be a very respectable 5-3 road trip. But that only will happen if they play attention on defense, so you're guess as to what will happen is as good as mine.
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