Gameday Dish: Lakers vs. Mavericks

March 31 by Leave a Comment

With the light at the end of the 82-games-long tunnel fast approaching, the Dallas Mavericks will take on the Los Angeles Lakers tonight at the Staples Center in the second game of a unique SoCal road back-to-back for Mark Cuban’s 2011 title-contenders.

Dallas is on a five-game win streak. Last night, also at Staples, former league MVP and 13th-year do-everything combo-forward Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs to a 106-100 hard-fought victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and soon-to-be ROY Blake Griffin.

Coach Rick Carlisle’s team is 27-10 away from Big D and has the NBA’s best road record. At 53-21 the Mavs are a mere .5 game behind the two-time defending NBA champs in the standings with 8 games to go before the 30 teams become the 16.

Coach Phil Jackson’s Lakers last played on Sunday and capped their regular-season sweep of  New Orleans with a 102-84 win in front of the Hollywood faithful. 15th-year lifetime Laker Bryant had 30 points against the playoff-bound Hornets. 10th-year PF Pau Gasol filled up the box score with 23 points, 16 boards and 4 blocks. Since the All-Star break and festivities in Los Angeles, the Lake Show has won 15 of 16 games.

Their current 7-game win streak, which coincidentally began on March 12th in Dallas with a 96-91 road W, has propelled Kobe and company to the second slot in the Western Conference. At 53-20 they are now 3.5 games behind league-leading San Antonio Spurs. Also, if victorious tonight, the purple and gold will finish their longest home stand of this season at 7-0.

The Mavericks bested the Lakers in their first meeting of this 2010-11 campaign 109-100. So tonight’s game, the third of three and the only meeting at Staples between these clubs, is an important ‘rubber-match’ on many levels. With less than 10 games left before the postseason, Dallas and Los Angeles stand neck-and-neck, jockeying for the #2 seed in the West and home-court advantage in the second round of the playoffs – a potential and likely matchup of these two talented and tough sides.

Reggie Miller will be back in the booth with Dick Stockton and me tonight. After having to learn so many names for his NCAA coverage, I hope Reggie still remembers who these NBA guys are. Tune in to TNT at 10:30 PM ET to see the NBA’s hottest team host the NBA’s top road warriors in a game with huge postseason implications.

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Gameday Dish: Lakers vs. Heat

March 10 by Leave a Comment

The Los Angeles Lakers, 46-19, come to south Florida tonight riding an eight-game winning streak. The Miami Heat, 43-21, are on a season-worst five-game losing skid. Arguably, both squads lead their respective conferences in number of bright lights and legions of ‘opinionaires’ that follow them closely no matter where and when they play across the NBA league-scape. And tonight when they tip-off at the American Airlines Arena, the sum of these attention-circuses will be even greater than the parts themselves.

40-year-old Miami third-year head coach Erik Spoelstra took his Heat team into SoCal on Christmas Day and bested the Lakers at Staples 96-80. The Heat were led by two-time reigning league MVP LeBron James’ 27 points and 10 dimes. Eighth-year 6’11” PF Chris Bosh pulled down 13 boards in that holiday victory in front of Tinsel Town’s glitterati. Miami outscored LA in every quarter in that first of two meetings this 2010-2011 season.

These two combatants are eerily similar statistically at this point. Both sit in the 3-spot in their NBA conferences. The Lakers average 101.8 ppg and the Heat put up 101.5 ppg. LA has limited opponents to 95.2 ppg, while Miami has held their foes to 95.0 ppg. And both teams lead their divisions, going 9-3 against their Southeast and Pacific rivals respectively. Los Angeles also has its own ‘Big 3’ in Bryant-Gasol-Odom, whom coach Phil Jackson relies on for the crucial statistics of points, rebounds and assists only slightly less than Spoelstra depends on the production of the James-Wade-Bosh triumvirate.

However, the macro-view of this matchup reveals some major differences – most noticeably the Title differential. Future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant has five Championship rings, while LeBron James, in his eighth season, has no rings and only one Finals appearance in 2007, when his Cleveland Cavaliers were swept 4-love by San Antonio. The Lakers have been the last team standing in 16 NBA campaigns – the Miami Heat only once, in 2006. Phil Jackson has 13 Championship rings (2 as a player and a record-11 as a coach) and won his very first title as a player on the 1970 New York Knicks, six months before Erik Spoelstra was born.

Heat team President Pat Riley, a seven-time NBA Champ (1 as a player and 6 as a coach) and fellow 1967 NBA Draft class alum along with University of North Dakota’s Jackson, will surely be watching intently from his perch in the Triple-A tonight. Many paid and amateur observers of Dr. Naismith’s game have been speculating on the Heat’s recent tumble and whether the ‘bench-dynamic’ in Miami needs tweaking. No doubt LA will go after Miami like a lion pursuing a wounded prey. The big question is how will the Heat respond? The stage is set for a riveting drama to unfold live on TNT when the Miami Heat host the Los Angeles Lakers tonight at 7:00 PM ET.

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Gameday Dish: Lakers at Nuggets

November 11 by Leave a Comment

Both the Nuggets and Lakers are looking to improve upon their latest performances. On Tuesday night, Denver lost 144 to 113 at Indiana, making them an even 4-4 for the season. The run-and-gunners got a taste of their own medicine when the Pacers fired 54 points in the third quarter – the most points scored by a team in one NBA quarter in 20 years. To put that in perspective, number one overall pick John Wall was barely two months old the last time a squad put up that many points in 12 NBA basketball minutes.

The Lakers along with the New Orleans Hornets are the only teams left in the NBA with unblemished records. At 8-0, the 2010 NBA Champs have come out of the blocks looking close-to-dominant. With eight wins against no losses, this version of the Lake Show is tied for second-best start ever for a Lakers team. And this is all being done without siixth-year center Andrew Bynum, who has not played so far this season due to a summer surgery on his right knee. Only the 1997-98 Purple & Gold, at 11-0, stand ahead of this year’s team when it comes to start of the season sizzle.

With Los Angeles’ on-target, long-range 3-bombing leading the league at 43.5%, the Nuggets team defense better pay special attention to their perimeter play, especially after allowing the Pacers to hit 16 threes in their last game. Denver bested the Lakers in 3 of 4 meetings last season and took them to six games in the 2009 Western Conference Finals, proving they are capable of derailing the champs. Denver will be looking for redemption tonight and hoping to capitalize on the vulnerability the Lakers displayed in their latest matchup.

In Tuesday’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, LA played what can be fairly described as their weakest contest of this early season. The Wolves out-rebounded them 54-42 in their 99-94 loss. To continue their winning ways Los Angeles will have to improve on the boards against a tough, physical Denver front line led by superstar forward Carmelo Anthony.

Speaking of #15 on the Nuggets roster, Anthony’s extension-refusal, almost-traded, maybe-gone, still-here, stay-or-go mini drama still hangs over everything the Denver franchise does.  The subtitle to this season in the Rocky Mountain State could be called ‘Melo Movements?’ with emphasis on the question mark.

Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and I will team up tonight to bring you live coverage from the Pepsi Center on NBA on TNT at 10:30 PM EST following the Boston Celtics at Miami Heat.

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Gameday Dish: Heat at Celtics Season Opener

October 26 by 2 Comments

The Heat and the Celtics have their eyes on the same prize: getting to and winning the NBA Finals in June. The Lakers will be showing off their newly acquired championship rings in a pregame ceremony at the Staples Center tonight and appear ready to threepeat for another title and more bling.

Rings, this game is all about championship rings: LeBron on the beach looking for that first ring; Shaq in Boston determined to get championship number five to keep up with his former teammate and now trophy rival Kobe Bryant.

The finals are a very long, arduous regular season away. But there’s the type of buzz surrounding the start of this season that we usually don’t encounter until playoff time. And tonight’s opener between the Celtics and Heat features two teams at the center of the drama as the Celtics’ Big Three Pierce, Garnett and Allen prepare to do battle with Miami’s newly formed triumvirate of James, Wade and Bosh for Eastern Conference supremacy

Tonight’s matchup will put into motion the many exciting subplots set to play out this season. Will D-Wade occupy seat 1 or seat 2? Will Rajon Rondo make the proverbial jump to superstar? How will Kendrick Perkins’ injured knee and his mid-season return to the starting lineup affect the Celts? Will Miami’s supporting cast surrounding the stars step up and deliver? Will Coach Doc Rivers be happy with his big decision to come back to the Boston bench after the heartbreaking Game 7 loss in last year’s Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers. And how will second-year head coach Erik Spoelstra lead his new awesome threesome?

Did I mention LeBron James joining Dwyane Wade and the Heat?

The biggest star in professional basketball (professional sports?) leaves his almost-hometown team (the Akron Cavs?) via a prime-time television special and relocates to flashy, splashy Miami to join forces with D-Wade, Chris Bosh and Pat Boss, aka team president Pat Riley.

Some prognosticators have been throwing around the Michael Jordan-led 1995-96 Champion Chicago Bulls and their 72-10 all-time best regular season mark as a measuring stick for this Miami team. Jordan, Pippen and Rodman … James, Wade and Bosh – different eras, different players for sure, but similar expectations in many fans’ and even experts’ minds.

Anything less than a dominating start of the season in the wins column will be viewed as a letdown for this newer than new Miami Heat squad.  Expectations of success are higher than maybe any team has shouldered since those mid-to-late 90’s Bulls teams that won three titles back-to-back-to-back.

The Celtics on the other hand, having won the crown in 2008 with what was then considered a veteran team, are statistically the oldest team in the NBA and may be forgiven for some regular season stretches of sub-par play due to wear and tear.

However, Boston fans could taste franchise-record title 18 until the final, final moments of Finals’ Game 7 last year and are hungry for another championship banner to add to the Celtics’ collection in the rafters of the TD Garden.

The quest for the coveted 2011 NBA Championship ring starts tonight. Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and I have Miami Heat at Boston Celtics at 7:30 PM EST on TNT.

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Czar’s 2010-11 Season Preview: MVP Candidates

October 22 by Leave a Comment

2008 and 2009 MVP Award winner LeBron James will join the ranks of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone if he earns the distinction for a third time during his first season with the Heat. But this will be one of the tightest races we’ve seen in years.

[nba-video vid=channels/tnt_overtime/2010/10/21/fratello_mvp.nba]

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