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Cha*n
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 Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:41 pm Post subject: Lakers in the News: 3/5/14 & 3/6/14: "Clippers at Lakers: There's something different about this matchup" |
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| Quote: | What the Los Angeles Lakers said after Tuesday night's 132-125 loss
By John Reid, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on March 05, 2014 at 2:30 AM, updated March 05, 2014 at 4:17 AM
Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni
(On tonight's game)
''We had an emotional hangover in the start. You get so high on a good game that guys are excited and at the end of the game you come here and you think you're ready and you're not. It took us at least two quarters to get in to anyone. The first 10 minutes looked like a layup drill for the other team. Once you get that started adn they (Pelicans) are starving for a win, now ou gave them confidence. It has to be a learning experience and they need to understand that anyone in the league can do it one or two times. It has to be a learning expeirence and they need to understand that anyone in the league can do it one or two times. You have to bring the intensity and concentration every night. I thought we didn't do that for a long time.''
(On the offense at the expense of the defense)
''It should not be that way. One does not have anything to do with the other. The foul line is where they beat us. They had 10-plus foul shots, most of which are silly fouls. If we get up on people and continue pushing, it is our fault. We can defend a lot better than that.'' |
http://www.nola.com/pelicans/index.ssf/2014/03/what_the_los_angeles_lakers_sa.html
Last edited by Cha*n on Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:13 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Cha*n
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 7233
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Pelicans beat Lakers 132-125 to end 8-game skid
By JOE RESNICK Associated Press
POSTED: 03/04/2014 11:28:04 PM PST
UPDATED: 03/04/2014 11:28:04 PM PST
LOS ANGELES—In one year, Anthony Davis has gone from Hornet to Pelican—and become one of the NBA's top young stars after getting selected with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft.
Davis had 28 points and 15 rebounds a week shy of his 21st birthday, and the New Orleans Pelicans snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 132-125 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
The win ended a string of nine straight road losses to the Lakers and was only the third for New Orleans in the last 18 meetings overall—including a 96-85 victory Nov. 8 in which Davis had a career-high 32 points.
"We needed this win to get back on track and we needed to get back in rhythm," Davis said. "We came out and played with a lot of intensity. I was just trying to come out and be aggressive. I know I didn't play the best in the last two games, so I had to be aggressive."
The first-time All-Star made seven of his first eight shots, one night after missing his first 10 in a 96-89 loss at Sacramento while playing with a sore left shoulder.
Davis is averaging 20.2 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks. He has a chance to become the first NBA player to finish a season averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots since Shaquille O'Neal did it with the Lakers in 1999-00.
"For a guy that sets such a high bar—to be 20 years old and have all those expectations—who at 20 is playing like him? In the history of the game, there are very few," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. "So when he has nights off, and everybody wonders what's wrong, he's entitled. The way he's played, and as good as he's gotten, I don't know who else is going to win Most Improved Player." |
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_25278078/pelicans-beat-lakers-132-125-end-8-game |
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Cha*n
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Lakers don't match up well against Pelicans' star Anthony Davis
New Orleans ends eight-game losing streak as Lakers can't keep momentum from victory at Portland.
By Ben Bolch
March 4, 2014, 11:11 p.m.
This is what the Lakers do.
They go out and beat one of the NBA's top teams on the road, only to return home and unfurl a clunker against a team that hadn't won since before the All-Star break.
There's a reason the Lakers are 21-40.
Lakers beat Trail Blazers . . . in Portland . . . really!
At least they made it somewhat entertaining. A crazed comeback from 21 points down fell short in the final minute Tuesday night at Staples Center, the New Orleans Pelicans doing just enough to emerge 132-125 winners.
BOX SCORE: New Orleans 132, Lakers 125
Kent Bazemore and Jordan Farmar missed three-pointers that could have brought the Lakers to within one point and Bazemore followed by airballing a jumper with 13 seconds left.
It also didn't help the Lakers that they kept sending the Pelicans to the free-throw line and Pau Gasol missed two free throws in the final 3 minutes 10 seconds.
The defeat served as a sharp rebuttal to the Lakers' unexpected triumph 24 hours earlier against the Portland Trail Blazers, with Lakers Coach Mike D'Antoni saying his team was suffering from "an emotional hangover."
"It took us at least two quarters to even get into anybody," D'Antoni said. "I mean, the first 10 minutes looked like a layup drill for the other team and once you get that started and they're starving for a win and now you're giving them confidence."
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http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-pelicans-20140305,0,3028459.story#ixzz2v87F4gFs |
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Cha*n
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 7233
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
PRO BASKETBALL
Clippers at Lakers: There's something different about this matchup
The strange thing about the Clippers-Lakers matchup on Thursday? The Clippers are on a five-game win streak and jockeying for playoff edge. The Lakers are playing for lottery position.
By Mike Bresnahan and Broderick Turner
March 5, 2014, 7:40 p.m.
It's a stunning reversal of fortune if you pause and ponder.
The Clippers are fighting for home-court advantage in a first-round playoff series next month. The Lakers are merely playing for lottery position in the June draft.
Strange, strange days in L.A. as the two teams prepare to meet Thursday night.
The Lakers couldn't stop the New Orleans Pelicans from ripping through them for 132 points Tuesday in a loss that prevented them from matching a season-high three-game winning streak. And now they play the people that drilled them by 36 points two months ago in the worst loss the Lakers ever suffered to the Clippers.
Sure enough, the team with 16 NBA championships is drifting among the NBA's five worst teams in terms of record. And the city's current basketball darling has never made it past the Western Conference semifinals.
It would be easy for the Clippers to overlook the Lakers when they're atop the Pacific Division and fourth in the West while their counterparts have the conference's worst record (21-40).
They say that wouldn't happen.
That 20½-game lead the Clippers hold over the Lakers in the Pacific? Might as well be half a game, they say.
"That shows growth as a team, getting up for every game," Chris Paul said. "Every game for us has to be a big game — just like New Orleans, just like Phoenix.
"The Lakers, they beat Portland the other night, so I don't care what their record says, especially because we're playing in Staples Center. It's another road game for us. We've been bad on the road. We lost to them in the first game of the season so we'll be ready."
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http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-clippers-20140306,0,528909.story#ixzz2v9nKkv8O |
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Cha*n
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Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 7233
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Former Laker Michael Cooper was talented, confident -- and paranoid
Courtesy of Gotham Books
Michael Cooper remembers the first time he was ever asked to guard Larry Bird one-on-one for a prolonged stretch. The date was January 18, 1981, and the Lakers traveled to the Boston Garden to face the hated Celtics. At the time, Cooper was feeling awfully good about himself. With Magic Johnson sidelined with an injury, he was a fixture in the starting lineup, right alongside stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon. Cooper stood as a key cog on basketball's best team and, he says, "I was as cocky and confident as I'd ever been."
To Cooper, Larry Bird was still merely larry bird (lowercase intended) -- an overrated Great White Hype who captured a nation's imagination more for his pigmentation than his playing ability. Cooper had seen it all before. Doug Collins. Mike Dunleavy. Tom McMillen. Mike O'Koren. White guys came, white guys went. Larry Bird? Who the hell was scared of Lar--
"I'm getting ready to wear your f----- ass out."
The words were uttered softly. Almost in a whisper. Had the white boy just spoken in such a manner to Michael Cooper? Had he really said such a thing? Barely two minutes had passed in the opening quarter and Bird was already slinging yang.
"Bring it, mother------," replied Cooper, hardly a linguistic wallflower. "Bring it."
Larry Bird brought it. Celtics guard Nate Archibald dribbled the ball down the court. Cooper followed Bird toward the top of the key -- "Larry's standing there talking to me, talking to me. Nonstop talking" -- then shadowed him as he walked down the lane and circled around a Robert Parish pick. "About to wear your ass out," Bird said. "Wear ... it ... out ... " Bird pushed off Cooper. Cooper pushed off Bird. "Bring it," the Laker said. "C'mon, f----- ... " |
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140304/showtime-excerpt-michael-cooper/#ixzz2v9ochVyC |
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Cha*n
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:12 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | CLIPPERS AND LAKERS BATTLE FOR LA BRAGGING RIGHTS ON TSN2
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Los Angeles Clippers didn't need much help from their bench to keep a winning streak intact and look to make it six in a row Thursday against the local Lakers.
The Clippers handed the Phoenix Suns a 104-96 loss on Tuesday, as all five starters scored in double digits. Matt Barnes led the bunch with 28 points, Blake Griffin followed with 22 and Darren Collison ended with 18 points.
"Matt Barnes kept us in the game the way he was shooting the ball and we got stops and that's when we really got back in the game. It was intense." said Griffin.
DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, while Chris Paul had 14 points and nine assists for the Clippers, who have won five in a row and eight of their last 10 contests. The Clippers have won five straight on three separate occasions this season.
The Clippers' bench had just 12 points and was without top reserve Jamal Crawford (calf), who has missed back-to-back games and is questionable against the Lakers. Crawford is averaging 19.0 points this season
Clippers forward Jared Dudley is questionable Thursday because of back spasms.
Meanwhile, Griffin needs 30 rebounds for 3,000 in his career and has scored 20 or more points in his last 20 games. He passed Dominique Wilkins for the most consecutive games with 20-plus points since the Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984-85. Bob McAdoo holds the franchise record with 57 such games. |
http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=445436 |
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Cha*n
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Clippers-Lakers Preview
Tim Legler previews the Thursday night showdown between the Clippers and Lakers.
A five-game winning streak is nothing new for the Los Angeles Clippers, who have now rolled off three of them this season.
It's that sixth straight victory that has managed to elude them.
The Clippers will try to set a new season best for consecutive victories Thursday night when they suit up as the visitor against the city-rival Lakers at Staples Center.
Since the five-game streak began Feb. 23, the Clippers (42-20) have been rolling with an average of 112.2 points. The offense has been balanced in those contests with three different players leading the team in scoring.
The most recent was forward Matt Barnes, who scored a season-high 28 in a 104-96 win over Phoenix on Tuesday. Barnes, seventh on the team at 8.7 points per game, sparked a big third-quarter run, going 7 for 7 from the field for 18 points in the period to help Los Angeles rally from 11 down at halftime.
"I just wanted to be aggressive," Barnes said about his performance in the third. "I had a couple of open looks and they were closing out hard and it gave me some looks at the basket so I was just taking what they gave to me and I was able to knock them down."
The Clippers have continued piling up points despite their two top shooting guards missing time during the surge. Jamal Crawford (strained calf) has missed the last two games and J.J. Redick (back, shoulder) has been sidelined for all five.
Both are out indefinitely, and Redick likely won't return until the playoffs.
Picking up the slack so far has been point guard Darren Collison, who has started the last two alongside Chris Paul in the backcourt. Collison is averaging 14.2 points during the streak and has shot 51.9 percent overall and 50 percent from 3-point range.
New acquisition Danny Granger, a former All-Star, could also see more time after going scoreless in under four minutes in his Clippers debut Tuesday. Granger averaged over 20 points for Indiana in three straight seasons, but injuries have hampered him since 2012 |
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/preview?id=400489789 |
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