Clank clanck clank! It's the Lakers... and Santa too?

Today, in downtown L.A., it is a glorious day. Where in the city of angels every creature in purple and yellow will be stirring, including those who hardly get any play time. Kobe Bryant will not have to live with the ghost of Christmas Shaq, and Santa Jackson gets spoiled like a baby with a tenth ring in his stocking.

Rudolph the red-nosed Ariza will get accepted by his fellow deer and Santa Jackson after pulling the slay against the Magic, and the worker elf, little Derek Fisher proves his reliability. I don’t know if the same can be said for “Don’ter the Blitzen” (aka the inconsistent Lamar Odom) as he seems to be doing a lot more prancing than he does playing. He may not be allowed back in Santa’s shop come next Christmas season.

And even little Luke Walton, the token white elf, can be seen setting up trees with the worker bee Jordan Farmar, but not like the trees his father once grasped. And even in this time of merrious cheer, Zen is practiced, but perhaps not this coming year in L.A.

If you look closely you can see a Gasol standing tall, and a Bynum who is about to fall as they both stand underneath the mistletoe in The L.A. Day Parade!

Although the two would not face each other lest it be in the NBA Finals, both men's teams, Dwight Howard left, and Yao Ming right, face the unsettling task of taking down two of the three teams with the best records in the NBA.

Last night presented us with a pair of game ones on TNT that just about went down to the wire, but most importantly, had the road teams winning. The first game featured the three seeded Magic and two seeded Celtics in Boston with Orlando getting the W. The second game was the five seeded Houston Rockets at the one seeded Lakers in Los Angeles. with the road team pulling out a crucially upsetting victory. This is a great position for any team to be in, and especially a considerable underdog like the Houston Rockets. With that being said, who has the greatest advantage?

One advantage both teams earned with their victories is home court. Aside from that there are other mental factors that can provide advantages as well as some disadvantages.

The Orlando Magic looked solid and efficient as they worked their way building a huge lead which at one point was as high as 28 points midway through the third quarter. Their big four scorers of Dwight Howard, Raefer Alston, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis all posted 10+ points and they also received a boost from Mickael Pietrus who stepped it up adding 10+ points of his own. All in all it definitely looked like the fatigue from Boston’s seven game, multiple overtime series with Chicago was beginning to show.

That was until they began a spurt which saw them outscore the Magic 54-41 in the second half, and even close the gap to four points when there were less than two minutes left in the game. Now it’s one thing to win on the road and pull off a game one victory. But when you cannot keep the clamps down after building a 28 point lead in the third quarter against a team who is supposed to be tired and is playing without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, that should do more good for they psyche of the Celtics than it does for the Magic.

As for the Rockets, they managed to stay within their game the entire contest versus the Lakers. Even when L.A. converted a nine point deficit in the second half into a one point lead, Houston never waivered and stuck with their game plan a got back to holding onto comfortable leads of five to nine points. Much of that had to do with the careful and mistake-free ball handling of point guard Aaron Brooks.

On top of that, they received en emotional lift when Yao Ming was hurt after Kobe Bryant’s right knee banged into his own right knee. Yao was favoring the knee very heavily and he even walked off the court before pleading with his team trainer that he was fine and able to go back. All he did in his return was hit a big jumper and sink six free throws to keep LA at bay in the waning moments of the game. Now if that isn’t good for a fifth seeded team’s confidence faced with task of taking down the daunting L.A. Lakers then I don’t know what is.

Because of the Rockets consistent game play in their victory coupled by the determination of Yao Ming, I would give them the edge on the advantage end over Orlando. As for the Magic, it is great that they won on the road, but they were basically hanging by a thread as the game was expiring, and perhaps they have yet to face a fully alert and enthused Celtics team.

Tune into ABC this Sunday April, 19th at 3:00pm for game one of the Lakers/Jazz first round NBA playoff series.

The settling of the up and down western conference standings has finally come. The matchups are set, and the playoffs begin this Saturday April 18th. The first bout features the number one seeded Lakers going against the number eight seeded Utah Jazz. Time to discuss.

The Utah Jazz have all season long been noted as a team who can be dangerous come playoff time, and especially for the Lakers since they were able to take their series last season to six games. But that was back earlier this year when the Jazz were in contention for a playoff seed as high as number two. Now the only recognition they are getting is that they can pose problems for the Lakers. Too bad they won’t pose enough problems four times.

The Jazz are led by one of the league’s top point guards in Deron Williams with his 19.4ppg and 10.7apg. They are also spurred by the much improved play of Ronnie Brewer, Paul Millsap, and even C.J. Miles. If you throw in the scrappy play by international stars Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko, as well as the three point baller in Kyle Korver, you most certainly have a solid unit. However, the Jazz’s bad side is not too promising.

Guys like Okur, Kirilenko, Brewer, etc do not have the ability to take over a game and can barely create their own shots. When you throw in the fact that the one other guy on the team who could have done that besides Williams, Carlos Boozer, has struggled to get back into the swing of things since his recent return from injury, then the Jazz are nothing more than a team that may be running on fumes by games four and five of the series.

The Lakers on the other hand, now there’s a squad! No one on the Jazz (and much less the entire NBA) is the equivalent or on par with Kobe Bryant. No one on the Jazz is as consistent and solid as Pau Gasol, and the one guy who was close, Boozer, is still catching up. Another thing L.A. has going for them is that there big man who recently returned from injury, Andrew Bynum, has actually transitioned a lot smoother than Boozer.

But the most telling characteristic about each team is this; the roles of the Utah Jazz players are mostly defined by what Deron Williams can do each night on the court whereas for the Lakers… everybody on the team knows their role.

I believe that the high dependence for success resting on the shoulders of one player in Utah (Williams) against the unit on a mission to absolve last season’s failures in L.A. will undoubtedly prevail in five games. See ya Jazzies.

Kobe and his Lakers won't be denied as Western Conference champs.

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be miles ahead of their other western conference counterparts. They are currently 9.5 games ahead of the second place Denver Nuggets. That’s pretty good distance even for a season like this, wouldn’t you say? I would say, sir. On top of virtually securing home field advantage until they get to the finals (Cleveland currently owns the league’s best record), they’ve also got some favorable potential opponents.

The eighth seeded Dallas Mavericks are clearly not at the top of anyone’s playoff brackets. Number six New Orleans has not found as much success as last year, and has been injury riddled, and has also suffered from the loss of Janeiro Pargo from last year. Number five, Portland, is pretty spunky, but they’re still young. The number four Houston Rockets look promising, but they suffer from a lack of scoring, although they are great at defense.

I’d say the ‘scariest’ teams for the Lakers are the number seven Jazz, who took them to six games in last year’s second round of the western conference playoffs. They are one year older and their other players are almost doubling their career ppg from last season. Then of course, at number three, are the experienced San Antonio Spurs. They know the Lakers well and have always been master executers in crunch time. Finally, the number two Denver Nuggets. They’re gaining a lot of confidence behind their calm new leader, Chauncey Billups, and players are getting their work done in a much more efficient basketball manner.

But the Lakers have Kobe Bryant surrounded by immense talent, and will not fail to make it to at least the NBA Finals this season.

NBA FIGHTS!

Come one, come all and see some of the few fights we have from classic NBA matchups. To be honest this video is not just all fights but also includes hard fouls as well. Watch and enjoy as Vince Carter makes a fool of himself at the Olympics while representing America. He must have lost his attitude when he lost his hair, hahaha. Be sure not to miss Ron Artest involving himself in drama on this tape as well. Enjoy! oh yeah Reggie and Kobe go at it! Sweet!

LeBron James' career year has him posting 28.1ppg, 7.4rpg, and 7.0apg. Those are the numbers of a star.

Much has been said this year about the great record and stellar play of the Cleveland Cavaliers as a unit. They currently are 2nd in the league in points given up per game only behind the Boston Celtics. Not only do they defend well, but with a league-best 28-1 home record, if they can hold onto their current number one spot in the east, then they would look to be a good favorite to enter the NBA finals. Guess again.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe has already started 2009 with a bang. This week Kobe played the way legends do. Kobe put in 61 points against the New York Knicks in their home arena, breaking Bernard King’s long time record of 60 points. The funny thing is when you think about it this point total is 20 points less then his personal best…my lord, Kobe is the #1 player in the NBA…Nuff said!

At this point there are five title contenders in the NBA; in the west, the Los Angeles Lakers (31-8) and the San Antonio Spurs 26-13, and in the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers (31-7), Orlando Magic (33-8), and Boston Celtics (33-9).

Right now, I would put the Spurs over the Lakers. I know the records are five games different, but lately I’ve been seeing Kobe take a lot of shots in the fourth quarter in games against Orlando and San Antonio that just haven’t been going down. Pau Gasol is having a great season, but now the Spurs have four guys who can be counted on to hit big shots, and not in any particular order; Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and now Roger Mason Jr.

Furthermore, the Spurs show no signs of getting older, and they even seem like they are playing “younger” than last year.

In the east, the one team with the overall best consistency has been the Cavaliers. The Celtics seem like their big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen are getting older (More-so Garnett and Pierce), and their role players have not stepped up much in their recent strings of losses. I would have to say that right now Pierce and Garnett seem to be taking a step back, but I know they can turn that around. However, until that happens, I have to keep them under Orlando and Cleveland, even if they are the defending champs.

The Orlando Magic just seem like they play within themselves every game, and that has been just enough to pull out some big road wins this season. But with their ever-growing regularity of settling on huge three pointers down the stretch to win games may not be so hot come playoff time… “You live by the three, you die by the three.”

Finally, it is the Cleveland Cavaliers who are my top pick in the east. LeBron James seems to be coming into his own, as if what he had been doing already wasn’t enough. He is really hitting his peak now, and is relying on his teammates much longer in games than Kobe Bryant.

What’s even more is that they (Cleveland) aren’t even letting any of the non-contenders come close to beating them at home. If they can hold on to the number one seed come playoff time, and have homecourt advantage in the Finals, I will pick them to win it all.

I made this highlight video only using footage from one of my online games. I decided I was going to Kobe ball him to death, and I shattered the record of 81 points in a game for Kobe Bryant…The big reason I made this vid, was to let everyone know how bad this kid is. I can’t stand how many quit in NBA live 09 online and I am starting to make videos to hopefully mock and deter people from quitting…Too bad this kid was a chump and quit because I was definitely going to score over 100 points…Enjoy the show..

KING JAMES IS NOT THE KING

Kobe Explodes for 96 points on chump

Kobe showing off the new "Hyperdunks"

I was just surfing the Net and I found a video that I thought was really interesting, from a production standpoint. This video was pitching the Kobe Bryant’s new shoe from Nike, which are the “Hyperdunks”. I haven’t been a big shoe guy since Jordan exited the league, but I’ll tell you what those shoes are hot. If I get back into playing ball on the weekends, expect to see me at the cash register picking those boys up. I really liked the commerical. Let me know what you guys think? I just thought it was a great idea for a video and I wanted to know if anyone else thinks so!

so here it is