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Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Here's a more efficient box-score...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=261010013
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Laker Pre-Season Game 1 Evaluation
First impressions count for something, even in a half-filled arena in Fresno. Four guys who made good ones in the exhibition opener against Utah were Sasha Vujacic, Lamar Odom, Maurice Evans and Jordan Farmar.
Vujacic faces greater competition this season with the additions of Shammond Williams and Farmar. He had one of his best halves since coming to the Lakers in the opening two quarters Tuesday.
Not only did Vujacic hit all four shots he took - - Vladimir Radmanovic even passed on a shot to slide the ball to him for a 3-pointer at the end of the first half - - but he drew two offensive fouls by being a pest.
If he can do those two things, Vujacic will have a nice role for himself this season.
Odom, meanwhile, was the best player on the floor at the start of the second half. It wasn't a coincidence that the Lakers went from leading 44-41 at halftime to going up 12 in that stretch.
He took Carlos Boozer off the dribble for layups, knocked down a 3-pointer in transition and kicked out a pass to Luke Walton for a 3-pointer off a drive. Odom also was grabbing rebounds and pushing the ball the other way.
Odom finished with 18 points (on nine shots) with 6 assists and 5 rebounds in 28-plus minutes. The only weakness he had came in missing four free throws.
``Right now, I'm playing with the spirit of two people in me,'' Odom said, referring to the tragic death of his infant son. ``I want to just keep attacking, keep attacking, keep attacking, pour it on as much as I can.
``I lost my legs a little bit on my free throws. There's always things you can improve on. Defensively, I want to just keep improving and knock down those free throws.''
Evans was a 37.1 percent 3-point shooter last season in Detroit and showed that he can be more than just a defensive stopper. He connected on jumpers from 19, 26, 25 and 18 feet in the fourth quarter.
Assistant coach Kurt Rambis said Evans had been struggling to learn both the guard and forward spots in the triangle offense. But Rambis praised him at the same time for wanting to get better and being a quick learner.
Needless to say, Evans was impressive Tuesday. He still faces a minutes crunch trying to get on the floor as Kobe Bryant's backup.
Farmar played the last 4:19 but made those minutes interesting. He was so eager to play that he jumped up in the third quarter to check in when Andrew Bynum's name was called.
By the time he realized his mistake, Farmar tried to squeeze in next to assistant Brian Shaw on the bench.
On the court, Farmar whipped a pass to Ronny Turiaf as he drove the lane, which led to two free throws for Turiaf. He also was visibly frustrated as he posted up Utah's small guard Brian Chase and didn't get the ball.
Farmar had two steals as well in a matter of 15 seconds. He finished the game by slicing to the basket for a layup with the clock running out.
He missed the only jumper he took, but Farmar brought an unmistakable energy to the court.
As for some of the other players, Radmanovic missed all three shots he took in the first half and was way, way short on an open 3-pointer and a baseline jumper. He finished with seven points on 2 of 7 shooting.
Bynum turned in the lowlight of the game. He showed off a great spin move in the third quarter but somehow short-armed his shot from point-blank range. Bynum was so upset at himself, he smacked himself in the head a couple of times.
You could hear Odom on the bench asking why Bynum didn't dunk the ball. Bynum was asking himself the same question after the game.
Here's the story on the game. There's also a trivia question related to the part below about Derek Fisher: Name the five active players who were a part of all three of the Lakers championship teams this decade.
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Report card is mixed
Rambis says the team lacked ball movement and communication but did do some good things.
By AL BALDERAS
The Orange County Register
EL SEGUNDO - Lakers coach Phil Jackson sat in on the film session Wednesday when the team watched what worked and what didn't in its 94-79 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. He also spent time working with the team in the on-court part of practice, but despite his recent hip-replacement surgery, he was quick enough to escape the media.
The overall assessment of Tuesday's game had pluses and minuses.
"There were some good things that they did out there," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "(But) there was not enough quick ball movement. There were a lot of times when guys were holding the ball too long. We thought they did a better job of executing that in practice today."
The Lakers coaching staff also spotted a few defensive deficiencies, though Rambis said the team would be better prepared against an opponent during the regular season.
"It's not like we sat around and watched tape of them and went over all of their plays," Rambis said. "We saw some defense that worked out well and some defense that didn't work out so well when guys fell asleep.
"One thing that they didn't do, especially early, was talk and communicate. It was a good lesson for them. Utah is a tough opponent. They play hard, and they cause our defense a lot of problems."
GOOD REVIEWS
Lamar Odom finally got a chance to take some time off during a summer and played well Tuesday. Odom has been called upon in recent offseasons to participate in Olympics or other tournaments, but this summer he finally got to catch his breath.
He led the Lakers with 18 points and five rebounds while playing a game-high 28 minutes. Luke Walton also played 28 minutes.
Odom said he was satisfied with his effort Tuesday but quickly reminded everyone that it's not all about what he does. With Kobe Bryant and Chris Mihm out of the exhibition-game lineups, the other players need to show that they can play and learn together.
"It was good for me individually to have a game like that to start the season off: - being aggressive, attacking, things like that," he said. "Right now we're all focused and trying to do the little things to become a better team. We want to try to take these steps together."
WAITING GAME
Mihm continues to be hopeful he will be able to play in at least one of the exhibition games.
He spent Tuesday getting his right ankle treated while the rest of the team was in Fresno for its first exhibition game. Mihm had arthroscopic surgery in July to remove scar tissue from the ankle.
"I took a day to just get some treatment," Mihm said. "It paid off because it calmed down quite a bit. We got back out here, ran a little bit more and tried to work in some more basketball skills. It's definitely progress. We're kind of going day by day and increased it a little bit more today. We'll see how it reacts."
TONIGHT
The Lakers will meet the Seattle SuperSonics at Honda Center at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on KCAL/9 and KLAC/570. Sasha Vujacic has a bruised left foot but is expected to play.
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Farmar Motivated
11:22 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise
EL SEGUNDO - He's a rookie, and a young rookie at that, and he's behind two guards who split most of the playing time at point for the Lakers last season.
But don't tell Jordan Farmar his chances of seeing significant playing time this season are just about nil.
"You're not just out here conceding the ship," Farmar said. "I want to play. I'm going to do everything in my power to get in that situation."
Coach Phil Jackson's philosophy about rookies means that at 19, Farmar is at the bottom of the pile. But he has been impressive in camp and may just find playing time this season.
"I think the kid has a really bright future," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said.
Conventional wisdom said it would be a three-year process before Farmar would be a consistent contributor, and that's still probably the case. But he's not backing down to Smush Parker or Sasha Vujacic.
Farmar, who left UCLA after his sophomore year, helped himself by picking up much of the triangle offense in the summer league. But more than anything, Farmar just has natural point guard skills: He knows how to run a team, how to find open teammates, how to put teammates in the right spot, how to be a leader.
"The most confidence I have is in my ability to play basketball and just learn the game," he said. "Aside from everything, I know how to play the game. When you teach us something, I learn it and I understand why you're doing it. So I'm not worried in terms of knowing a system and understanding things."
Mihm Update
The sweat poured off Chris Mihm after practice Wednesday, which was a good sign for the center still recovering from right ankle surgery.
Mihm received soft-tissue treatment on his ankle Tuesday. That allowed him to run and do some drills Wednesday.
"It's definitely progress," he said. "Like I've said, we kind of go day by day. We increased it a little bit more today, but we'll see how it reacts tomorrow. Hopefully as long as it doesn't swell up or flare up at all, (I'll) keep progressing towards getting me back out on the floor."
Mihm won't play tonight when the Lakers face the SuperSonics in an exhibition at the Honda Center in Anaheim. His goal still is to play in at least one exhibition.
Quotable
With Kwame Brown hovering over him, Lamar Odom said Brown should lead the Lakers in rebounding, and he had another bold statement: "He could lead the league if he really wanted to."
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Evans Earns Good Reviews
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
October 12, 2006
It was a draft-day footnote, falling well below Toronto's selection of top pick Andrea Bargnani and the seemingly never-ending barrage of trades by Portland.
The Lakers' acquisition of Maurice Evans from Detroit for the rights to Cheik Samb barely registered amid the draft-day hubbub, but the Lakers are satisfied with what they've received.
Samb, a Senegalese center selected 51st overall by the Lakers, was not invited to the Pistons' training camp and probably won't be for another year or two. Evans, on the other hand, has been a pleasant surprise in El Segundo, arriving with a defense-first reputation and showing more of an appetite for offense than expected.
He views it as a more palatable situation than another year in Detroit, where his playing time and scoring average dropped in the playoffs because the Pistons' rotation was shortened. After a sour end to the Pistons' season in the Eastern Conference finals, Evans and his agent, Roger Montgomery, appealed to team President Joe Dumars.
Evans averaged only 3.3 points and 6.3 minutes in the playoffs, about half his regular-season averages.
"We were very hopeful that some changes could be made, whether we could expand our role there or get into a better situation," Evans said. "And they put us in a better situation."
When Evans received the news he had been traded to the Lakers, he called Dumars and thanked him. He is expected to back up Kobe Bryant at shooting guard and get time at small forward as well.
"I definitely welcome an expanded role," Evans said. "The thing I like about our offense is it kind of highlights your talents. If you're a versatile player, then you can really show off your skills and your talents.
"You might be in position to shoot three-pointers one moment, the next moment you might be slashing or cutting to the basket."
Evans signed a two-year, $3-million contract with the Lakers, but the second year is a player option, allowing him to test the free-agent market after the season if he wished.
The Lakers hope he fills a need as one of the first players off their bench.
Starting in place of the still-recuperating Bryant, Evans had 12 points in 21 minutes in an exhibition opener Tuesday against Utah.
"We just kind of viewed him as a board-crasher and an occasional three-point shooter, but he's shown us that he can do more than that," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "He's done a good job."
Evans will do about anything to ease the transition from Detroit.
"I wouldn't say unhappy like I was a problem, but they understood I was looking to be more a part of that team than what I was," he said.
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