The City of Angels is Now Truly #LABron: Welcome To Los Angeles King James!

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Keith Allison

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During the era of the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers teams of the late '70's to early '90's, the big marquee name team players were Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar "Big Game James" Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper just to name a few.

From 1996 to 2004 there was the dynasty era of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. After that Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat and the Lakers were essentially Kobe Bryant's team then for a few more years until 2016 when Bryant officially retired as a player.

Over the last couple of years since Kobe's retirement there have not been too many good or great individual players or teams that have led to the one thing that the entire franchise and its fans want at the end of the season which is an appearance in the NBA Finals round of the NBA Playoffs and a subsequent NBA Championship. The light at the end of the championship tunnel may be near in 2018 however with the arrival via free agency from the Cleveland Cavaliers of arguably the best basketball player in the NBA currently in LeBron James!

Sometime over the course of the next few years, LeBron James and company can hopefully bring the Lakers back to their glory days that the fans of the team have become so familiar with throughout their time in the city of Los Angeles. I know that I'm definitely very excited and am looking forward to seeing how the whole team will perform during this upcoming season as well as for years to come.

Over the last few years I have not watched too many Lakers games myself for a couple of reasons. The first is that out of all of the TV sports channels that my family and I do get at our house, Spectrum Sportsnet is not one of them. The other reason is that the team itself has not been doing very good over the last couple years for me to want to watch them and therefore become very interested in seeing how well they may or may not have been doing during the season. Now that LeBron James is about to start his first season as a player for the Lakers, I think there is a very good chance that I will want to watch them play on national game broadcasts such as those on ESPN/ABC, TNT and NBA TV at least.

Another interesting aspect of Lebron James choosing to join the Lakers over the summer was seeing all the billboards that were put up around the city of Los Angeles and the suburbs as part of a recruiting campaign by local attorney and Lakers fan Jacob Emrani. Unfortunately the Lakers did not end up winning the Paul George sweepstakes to go along with the addition of LeBron but I guess getting 1 out of 2 of the biggest players that were available during this past offseason is not bad, especially if the one player they did get just so happens to be the best player in the sport right now.

While it is still to be determined how well the Los Angeles Lakers will do during the upcoming NBA season, it has certainly been very interesting and exciting to see how the whole free agency period in 2018 has played out up to this point. Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Rob Pelinka and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers front office team also deserve some credit for their efforts in trying to put together what looks like the start of a good team on paper after a few down years performance wise.

Hopefully with more moves like this being made over the next few years, the Lakers can get back to the promise land of the playoffs and the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. Until then I will wait very patiently to see how things unfold as the team will no doubt try its best to bring the Larry O'Brien trophy back to the city of Los Angeles and its fans for a 17th time in franchise history! For now I'll just say welcome to Los Angeles LeBron!

Tim Musick.
Copyright 2018.
All Rights Reserved.

Tim's Two Cents-February 17

Amare Stoudemire Headed to Cleveland?  This may seem like a good move on the surface as the NBA Trade Deadline nears.  I am not a fan of this possible move.  This has all the signs of a desperation move on Cleveland's part.  It's getting to the point where I wish LeBron would leave the Cavs no matter what happens. 

It's also not a good move to make organizational decisions just to appease one player.  Last time I checked, one player doesn't make a team good.  Remember this Cavs, there's no "I" in "Team."

Meanwhile, the Lakers keep rolling without Kobe as they won their fourth straight without the Black Mamba against the Golden State Warriors 104 to 94 last night.  Keep it up Purple and Gold!

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA, under CC-SA 2.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-January 22

Cavs Sweep Season Series With Lakers.  It is just me, or do the Lakers seem to be playing like they did two seasons ago when they lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals?  They just don't seem to have the same intensity and focus as last year. 

It was nice to see Kobe Bryant become the youngest player ever to reach 25,000 career points against the Cleveland Cavaliers.  If he stays reasonably healthy, he has a chance to become the league's all-time leading scorer.  The only problem was that LeBron James put up better numbers once again with 37 points compared to Bryant's 31 in a 93 to 87 loss.

I have no doubt in my mind that the Lakers will do reasonably well come playoff time, but it is becoming quite clear that they need to ramp up their intensity and focus in their overall game.  Otherwise this season will end as a failure.  Playing for home court advantage throughout the playoffs would certainly help. 

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Keith Allison under CC-SA 2.0 License 

Tim's Two Cents-January 19

Lakers Embark on Longest Road Trip of the Year.  After spending much of the season in the friendly confines of Staples Center, the Lakers now hit the road for an 8 game, 13 day road trip after beating the Orlando Magic 98 to 92 yesterday.  We will finally see what they're really made of.

It all starts on Thursday with LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers.  That is followed by tilts with the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

This has the makings to be a very good road trip for the purple and gold.  They just need to keep their focus and concentration at the highest level.  I can almost certainly guarantee that Kobe Bryant will play injured or not injured.  Pau Gasol and Ron are slowly but surely settling into a groove since coming back from their injuries.  Right off the bat, I think the Lakers will end up winning 6 out of 8 on the road trip.  If previous history is any indication though, my prediction isn't worth the screen it's typed on.   

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Eric Kilby under CC-SA 2.0 License

Lakers Lay an Egg for Santa on Christmas

Yesterday the Lakers did something they haven't done in 11 games at Staples Center.  Lose.  LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were hands down, the better team on Friday after a 102 to 87 victory.

The Lakers were only really in this game in the early stages of the first quarter with leads of 6 to nothing and 8 to 2.  After that, there was a power outage on the overall game for the Lakers.  They had stretches where they couldn't make any shots and they weren't playing championship caliber defense.  Give the Cavaliers credit though for playing some outstanding defense that was too much for the Lakers throughout.  Once again, the Lakers were down at halftime 51 to 42.  It would have been 54 to 42 if LeBron James would have gotten his full court shot off a little quicker.

As the Lakers always do, they made a push to begin the second half, cutting the lead to six at 54 to 48 early in the third quarter.  The Cavs proved to be the better team once again stretching the lead to as large as 20 points. 

The big subplot to the game was the Laker players growing frustration with how the game was being officiated.  It was established very early on that the refs were going to call a very physical game and they were going to let the players play.  That did not sit well with Phil Jackson's squad however, as Lamar Odom was ejected in the fourth quarter after being assessed a second technical foul.  Kobe Bryant also had a technical foul.

Things really started to boil over though when frustrated Laker fans started throwing souvenir foam fingers from the stands.  Someone even threw a water bottle on the court.  I thought Laker fans had more class than that.  Regardless of the fans frustrations with the officiating, the truth is the Lakers were outplayed yesterday in every facet of the game and could not make any significant adjustments to stop the Cavaliers. 

I expect the purple and gold to bounce back against the Sacramento Queens...oh I mean Kings tonight in cowbell territory.  If they don't, the Lakers will have a long rest of the weekend.

In other basketball news, L.A.'s other team, the Clippers, were scorched by the Suns in Phoenix 124 to 93.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and michael248 under CC-SA 2.0 License

NBA Stocking Stuffers

Merry Christmas to you all!  I hope you have a good one.  Even though it's Christmas, sports doesn't take a break.  The NBA is in action today, like it is every year at this time and there are a couple of notable matchups that will brighten up any Christmas.

Boston Celtics (22-5)

Vs.

Orlando Magic (22-7) 
2:30 ET, ABC

Celtics: They are the best team in the Eastern Conference.  We all know what the big three of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are capable of.  They seem to be destined to face the Lakers in the Finals, but the season is still young and we'll see how it plays out.  I expect the C's to do well in this matchup.  It is going to be close throughout.

Magic: They're having a good follow up year so far, fresh their first Finals appearance last year against the Lakers.  Dwight Howard keeps getting better and better each season.  You can bet the Magic will bring their A game in this matchup.

Prediction: Celtics 105, Magic 99

Cleveland Cavaliers (22-8)

Vs.

Los Angeles Lakers (23-4)

5:00 ET, ABC

Cavaliers: They have one of the two best players in the league in Lebron James.  The other being Kobe Bryant whom he will face today.  They also have Shaquille O'Neal who will return to Staples Center once again.  They will want a good showing to prove they have what it takes to make a run to the Finals in a possible matchup against the Lakers.  Another storyline to keep an eye on as the season goes along is where Lebron, a free agent at the end of the season, will be at the start of the 2010-2011 season?

Lakers: They are the best team in the league, followed closely by the Celtics.  Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are the best 1-2 combination in the NBA.  Ron Artest has surprisingly fit in like a glove.  You can bet Kobe and LeBron will have their fair share of matchups throughout.  Whereas the Celtics and Magic are the appetizer, Cavs and Lakers is the main course.

Prediction: Lakers 110, Cavaliers 100.  Sorry, no free tacos.    

Photos courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Keith Allison under CC-SA License
Wikimedia Commons and Dave Hogg under CC-SA License