Again?!

From Wednesday 12/16. (A few days late!) Kobe goes for 39 after netting 42 the night before.

What broken finger?!

Jazz Snaps Lakers Streak at 11

I didn't see the game, so I have no real opinion or analysis to add.

Final score: Jazz 102, Lakers 94. Here's the box score from the game.

My Beef with King James

I haven't had a chance this past week to react to an incident that occured recently, but now that I have a few minutes, and I've actually had a chance to gather my thoughts on it, I figured now's as good a time as any to give you my opinion on it.

Everyone knows LeBron James is a great player. And, everyone knows he loves to have fun, especially on the court. But last Friday night against the Bulls, I think he went a little overboard.

Throughout the game that night, LeBron was seen dancing excessively on the sidelines and during the game, even while he was on the court. He was seen during one timeout making "funny" faces at the camera that just so happened to be right in his face. And as he put it later, he was just having fun.

Well, Bulls center Joakim Noah took exception to it. And frankly, so did I. Late in the game, while James was about to shoot a couple of free throws in front of the Bulls bench, Noah, sitting on the bench, started calling him out on it. After James made one of the free throws, he casually walked towards the Bulls bench to confront Noah, but before it got out of hand, it was broken up.

Still, even after the game, there was a lot of talk about it.

Now, we all know Noah had a knack for a doing a little excessive taunting back when he was at the University of Florida. And some might suggest he was being a bit hypocritical to call out James. But I think Noah was dead-on for calling him out in this case.

This is the NBA. It's a professional league where the players get paid. This is a different animal from the NCAA.

Some say that NBA players, no, check that, all professional athletes, are entertainers. While this might be true, the last thing that gives you the right to do is showboat, rub it in your opponents faces. It's one reason why I'm not a big NFL fan. Because the lack of maturity and respect from some players to their opponents disgusts me. (The end zone showboating after a score has gone far too overboard for my taste, and so has the showboating after making a great defensive play when they're trailing by three touchdowns late in a game.)

Back to LeBron James. As I said before, he's nothing short of a great player, a great athlete, a great talent. But one thing he does lack, in my opinion, is maturity. And I think it was that immaturity that led to the excessive dancing on the court.

By comparison, you never, ever saw Magic Johnson, Larry Bird or Michael Jordan dance around like that while on the court in the middle of a game. You never saw them disrespect their opponents. Heck, you don't even see Kobe do it, or even Dwayne Wade.

Why? Because they respected/respect the game and their opponents. And most importantly, they took/take the game seriously. They were/are passionate about it. Sure, they tried/try to have fun, but they did/do it without chastising their opponents.

They did/do it respectfully and with dignity.

Kobe Breaks Finger as Lakers Roll to 11th Straight Win

The Lakers keep find ways to turn close games into routs, and last night was no different. Well, actually it was.

The difference was Kobe broke his index finger on his shooting hand in the first quarter while he was reaching for a pass. He stayed in the game briefly and played through it but eventually came out of the game and went to the locker room for x-rays and treatment. He came back out for the second half and finished the game with 20 points.

With the 104-92 win over former Laker player and coach Kurt Rambis and his Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers improved their-league best record to 18-3 and wrapped up the easy part of their schedule on a roll. The Lakers got a generous schedule in which they played 17 of their first 21 games at home, and rolled through that stretch with a 15-2 home mark.

Pau Gasol was outstanding last night pouring in 17 points and pulling down a career-high 20 rebounds, and Ron Artest added 16 points for the Lakers.

In this last stretch, the Lakers won impressive games this week against Utah and Phoenix. With the Phoenix win, the Lakers reminded the Suns, the rest of the conference, and probably the rest of the league, as well, who the Cream of the Crop really is.

Utah will get a chance for redemption tonight as the Lakers travel into cold Salt Lake City for a rematch against the Jazz. But they won't get any breaks (no pun intended) because it's going to take a lot more than a broken finger to keep Kobe off the floor. Kobe is expected to play tonight, but how effective, or ineffective he is because of the broken finger, well, we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we?!

Another Kobe Buzzer-Beater

We should be used to this by now as Laker fans, but this was ridiculous! Kobe heaved a running three-pointer off the backboard as time expired for an electric 108-107 win over Miami, sending another sellout Staples Center crowd into a frenzy. Dwayne Wade couldn't have defended Kobe on that play any better.

Just simply a great finish to a great game. There's not much else to say about this game. That's how great a game it was.

The win was the Lakers eighth straight win to improve to a league-best 15-3.

Ouch!

Anyone happen to see the box score for Atlanta's 146-115 win over Toronto tonight?

The Hawks had nine players score in double figures tonight, folks! That's right, NINE players in double figures. And a tenth player scored nine points!

It also didn't help that Chris Bosh only scored two points for the Raptors. I guess he was so happy to be out of frigid Toronto for a night, that he simply took the night off to celebrate being in a warm climate city for a change.

Lakers Help Nets Rewrite History

After routing the Warriors in Oakland, 130-97, this past Saturday night, the Lakers did the same to New Jersey at Staples the following night, hammering the Nets 106-87. With that loss, the Nets tied a league record for most consecutive losses to start a season with 17.

Tonight, back in Jersey, the Nets hosted the Dallas Mavericks in hopes of trying to avoid history with the worst start in NBA history to start a season without a win. Instead, they took another beating, losing to Dallas, 117-101, in a game that wasn't even that close. The Nets now own a part of NBA history... for futility.

0-18.

No team has ever had such a start.

The Mavs held a 77-50 halftime lead and shot a ridiculous 81% from the field in the first half, including 90% in the second quarter. The game was actually tied at one point at 28, but the Mavs blew the game open from there, and never looked back. They led by as much as 31 points early in the third quarter.

The announced crowd at the Izod Center in Jersey was just under 11,700, but there probably wasn't even that many fans in the building, so the chorus of boos was hardly noticeable as the final seconds evaporated off the clock.

Meanwhile, while the Nets were creating new history, the Lakers continued their march towards another title.

After the blowouts against the Warriors and Nets, the Lakers buzzed past the Hornets last night at Staples, 110-99, their seventh straight win, improving to 14-3 on the young season. Coupled with a stunning Phoenix Suns loss to the hapless New York Knicks, the Lakers leap-frogged the Suns into first place in the Pacific Division. The Suns then proceded to follow last night's embarrassment with another ugly loss tonight, 107-90 in Cleveland.

With another off day tomorrow night, they get Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat on Friday night, and then Phoenix on Sunday night, both at Staples.