Results tagged “lakers”

Here's what we've missed in the world of Bay Area sports while trying to figure out who the Oceanic 6 are...

Here's todays sports news

Here is today's sports news

Week Around The -Ists

Revel in it Bay Area NBA fans: this year the Western Conference playoffs mean something, because for the first time in 13 years, the hometown Warriors are part of the party.

So let's take a quick drive down the lane and see what the Warriors are going to have to deal with as they knife their way to the Finals. (Yeah, we know, but just roll with the sentiment. It's been 13 years and there's an abundance of pent-up enthusiasm to be dissipated.)

Oh good grief, Warriors.

Spurs 126, Warriors 89. And it wasn't nearly that close.

Coming off Sunday night's agonizing loss to their nemesis, the Lakers, the Warriors needed a strong showing. But last night the Spurs exposed the Warriors for what they are: a second-tier basketball club that's not quite ready for prime time.

Here's a roundup of sports news

Over the last 12 years, nobody has really accused the Warriors of having their act together. They've burned through a litany of coaches, a couple of really bad GMs, and more than one first round draft choice with nothing to show for them but more new coaches, front office suits, and first round draft choices.

Another hallmark of the modern-day Warriors' mean mean stride has been their fast starts, awful middles, and decent finishes. Even in their worst years, the Warriors managed to finish the season on an uptick, perpetually giving false hope for the next season – even if that hope was just a Lottery pick.

This year had all the looks of more of the same, but a funny thing happened on the way to the cellar: the bottom fell out of the middle of the Western Conference.

-Let's get the Barry news (that being Barry B.) out of the way first. Essentially, George Mitchell, the guy supposed to look into the whole steroid thing, told everyone he wants Barry to cooperate. Barry told him to go suck an egg. Well, not really, but he basically said that he can't while he's still under investigation for perjury. You know, we think if there's any good thing to come out of being under investigation, it's that you don't have to answer anything. Did you accidentally delete "Grey's Anatomy" off of TiVo? Can't comment on that because it might interfere with the investigation. Did you steal my turkey on swiss from the office fridge? Can't comment on that due to the pending investigation. See what we mean?

So the Raiders hired somebody, baby-faced Lane Kiffin, a 31-year old coach with no head coaching experience. Nice. When we were 31, we could barely hold down a job, let alone coach a professional football team. Football Chris will give the analysis in a bit, but we heard Al was so into the idea of hiring somebody young that he posted a job listing in the local college paper. Have fun, Raiders fans.

Let's cut right to the chase: the Warriors are completely outmanned in this division. That's the bad news. The good news is that they have a decent chance of not finishing last, again.

Fear the Lakers. This is Phil Jackson's second season in his second stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, and we can just feel all the pieces coming together for him, bad hip and all. Kobe will be Kobe, which is a good base, but look for Lamar Odom to have a two-handed tomahawk of a year. In the other corner of the triangle, well, that's why the Lakers are going to be really tough this year. They have several guys that can step in and be the number three man. Luke Walton, Aaron McKie, Vladimir Radmanovic, even Maurice Evans can be that missing final ingredient.

Dujuan Wagner, Adonal Foyle, and Zarko Cabarkapa are riding the pine in suits tonight. For the opposition Lakers, Kobe won't play, and Phil Jackson, Kwame Brown, and Aaron McKie, and Chris Mihm may not even make the trip. JRich is probable, maybe, hopefully.

Another meaningless preseason game? Nope, it's opening night tonight for the Warriors at the Oracle. Here's everything you need to know, from the Warriors perspective, and from ours.

Let the PR horns boldly announce it from the highest rafters: The second Don Nelson era is off to a flying start.

Uh-oh. The Warriors are now dropping faster than Dumbya's approval ratings in the type of extended freefall we were hoping to avoid this year. To their credit, the slightly hard luck, slightly underachieving, slightly undercoached hometown hoopsters have tried to maintain their focus and determination, and have kept grinding along.

Two words for ya' Warriors fans, Koh-bee. In his last game, Koh-bee dropped a mind-boggling 81 points on Toronto, and the talk is that he might be able to match Wilt Chamberlain's 100. Alas, he's had four days to rest up, and the War-meals are next in line to face the scoring machine tonight at the Staples Center in LA. Despite his impressive feat against the Craptors, reaction to Koh-bee around the league is mixed.

Steady Warriors, steady now. We may have started a mild regional anxiety attack last week when we scooped the talking heads by speculating that Phil Jackson and the Lakers were secretly in the running forRon Artest

In a move sure to shock the world of San Francisco advertising, Frank Chu has left his current sponsor, Barbary Coast Consulting for Adidas. Yep, first there was Mars Blackmon, then L'il Penny, and now Frank. The advertiser, an Adidas store that's advertising a new shoe (we'd say who they were, but then we would be playing into their little hands), bought exclusive advertising rites to the sign and also gave Frank some new sneaks. No word as to whether the sneakers he got were black and blue for when he likes to chill or yellow and green for when it's time to get ill. SFist thinks it's great that Frank is selling only exclusive sponsorships as it shows that members of the Zegnatronic Society have real integrity. We'd hate to see Frank walking around looking like one of those NASCAR drivers with logos on every inch of his well-worn suit. SFist wonders, however, if this is the start of something new. Shoe commercials? A shoe named after him (Air Chu?). Hell, Kobe has an Adidas shoe named after him and he blew up the Lakers. Even Frank knows you can't win without Shaq Diesel.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, the Warriors won last night, defeating the Denver Carmelo Anthony’s 107-97 at the Arena Nobody Can Sell the Naming Rights To in Oakland. The game ended the Warriors nine-game losing streak and also marked the return of Jason Richardson, who led the way with 42 points. Lest we get all over-excited about this, the Nuggets were down three major players last night due to various suspensions. They have also lost seven out of eight games.

SFist is broke from the combined evils of holiday excess and rent. We're keeping ourselves entertained on the cheap by reserving books online from the SF Public Library. When we're back to feeling flush, we'll be buying books from our great local independent bookstores.