Smack / Jan 9, 2012 / 12:12 am

Ricky Rubio Makes Magic Again; Washington Is Embarrassing Themselves Right Now

By

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant

The Lakers must’ve been too busy checking out Rihanna courtside to notice they were turning it over at a nearly record-setting pace (27 turnovers) in their 90-82 win over Memphis. The fact that Kobe (26 points, nine dimes), Gasol (13 points, 15 rebounds) and Bynum (15 points, 15 rebounds) still won probably tells you more about the Grizz than anything else. All of the good vibes from last season are gone, and Memphis is right back to where they were prior to the second half of last year: a bunch of okay players with no purpose or centering belief. The return of Z-Bo can’t happen soon enough … The Lakers led by 13 near the end of the third, but by the nine minute mark of the fourth, that lead was down to four. Too many stupid threes and a bunch of bench guys banging Js for Memphis brought the Grizzlies back to life in a hurry. L.A. got it in line long enough to survive with Bryant playing one of his better playmaking games in a while, and the seven footer tag team completely dominating on the glass. We’ve been saying this for the past year or so, but even with the nice win last night, the Lakers can’t seem to finish off close games anymore. A lot of that has to do with Kobe losing a step. The rest of it may be just age. But already four times this year, L.A. has given up huge late-game runs (And for a while it looked like it was gonna happen again last night) … Rudy Gay (19 points) had a sick follow-up slam in the third quarter where he dunked it so hard, we thought he might’ve popped his shoulder back out again. On the very next possession, Kobe blew by him for one of his patented baseline reverse jams like we’re in 2005 (Didn’t we just say he’s lost a step?) … When we chilled with Steve Nash last week, we had to ask him what some of our readers were wondering: Should he be shooting more often on this team? He told us he has the green light to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Coming from Nash, that’s not even a stab at Alvin Gentry. It just is what it is in Phoenix. Last night, Nash nearly set a record for assists in a half, and had 17 dimes by the end of the third of the Suns’ 109-93 win over Milwaukee. We guess he’s not ready to start chucking just yet … And does Kyrie Irving (21 points) pass the eye test? Considering we’ve already watched Cleveland more than we did all of last year, we’d say yes. He had one double crossover on Kurt Thomas in the third quarter where he went around Thomas as if Crazy Eyes was an old man. Wait … Cleveland caught some hate for picking Tristan Thompson so high this summer. But he’s been balling this year and had a crazy end-to-end sequence once he checked in last night. On defense, he spiked back Nicolas Batum‘s shot at the rim, then ran the floor, got an offensive rebound and smashed … The Cavs hung around on Portland for a while. But eventually, the Blazers stepped it up and ran away with the game, 98-78 behind LaMarcus Aldridge and his 28 points … We’re out like Ike Taylor.

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  • mario

    bnews – honestly i love you man, but maybe you should try something to stop the hate. change your name and start again. dont tell us its you. after you write something go away, take a walk or something, come back and read over it. maybe read it out loud to your mom, see how she reacts. if she still loves you, hit submit.

    i might be a bit slow with this, but people notice you can vote for joel anthony in the all star ballot? hilarious. i will be voting for him for fun, and also as howard doesnt deserve my vote.

    joel is possibly the least skilled starter in the nba.

  • QQ

    QQ da boss. The league is conspiring against Dwight.

    Peekachu – u gay homay

  • beiber newz

    ^joel anthony makes chuck hayes look like dennis rodman.

  • beiber newz

    ^@ post 51

  • First & Foremost

    Tell em why you mad, Austin

  • http://Dimemag.com Panchitoooo

    Lol@ QQ da boss sounds like beiber the guru. Stop stroking you ego son and post some legit comment about basketball rather than just hating on your elders.

    Yo i posted it on the tail end of smack a few days back but did anyone else see the homo hug between kobe and pau when they played the warriors? I swear pau closed his eyes on the embrace…lol… Wish i could find a link to it… Get on it beibs

  • http://Dimemag.com Panchitoooo

    I like tebow but i like the broncos defense even better. Cant wait for madden 13 to scramble with tebow. I remember in madden 07 using Vick to run almost every play. Only bad part is that if Vick got hit he’d either get hurt for half the game or fumble the ball. Eventually i stopped playing with Vick, no matter what the year, because of that reason.

  • Three Stacks

    http://twicsy.com/i/cLUb4

    I remember watching this during the game and being uncomfortable, but Pau gave Bynum a similar hug a couple days ago, I think. I think Pau decided during the off-season to finally man-up and give out man-sized hugs whenever he feels like it. Just in case we though he was soft.

  • Big Island

    Austin – Because Jay Cutler is a roodeepoo. Seriously, QB’s get all the love and all of the hate. They are protected like nobody else in the game, even though receivers get protected pretty well, by the rules. They get hit maybe 8 times a game. We’ve seen Big Ben, Romo, Leftwich etc… play through stuff I would have cried my way out of the stadium with. So when a QB has something that isn’t on his throwing arm, he’s gonna get mocked. A lineman hits a 300 pound man every single play to hopefully hit a 200+ pound man running at him. If they get hurt, they can’t really alter their game like a QB who can sit in shotgun and hand it off. I’m not saying Cutler wasn’t hurt, or even that it’s fair, but it’s how the world turns.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    Im not impressed by players that play through injuries by using pain killers (which they all do). I watched my BM give birth to my daughter with a smile on her face because of pain killers. So it’s not impressive if they are out there playing while on pain killers.
    I just heard that Kobe gets a bunch of pain killers before each game to deal with his wrist. So that means he’s barely even feeling anything while he’s out there. No wonder he was able to play with his hand swollen like Hell Boy.

  • LABaller

    Leave it to rilla to find any reason to not be impressed w Kobe.. I mean I got my own reasons but it really feels like every post u put about him has your biased towards mj n how badly u want them to never be compared

  • beiber newz

    THANK YOU LABALLER. wow, the hate is just spewing. like , he doesn’t even try to do a good job to conceal it

  • beiber newz

    guarantee if that lady had to give birth 5 times in a 7 day week, or give birth 3 times in 3 nights, she’d be poppin em pills like skittles.

    now, in no way am i comparing child labor pain to a torn ligament, frankly i believe giving birth is worse than a bullet wound from what i hear.

    but tha point is that, when you have to go to work consecutively, it is much easier to ignore the pain when you know it’s one night of pain like child birth.

  • bosh

    my wife is due very soon. i will be showing her the above comment as i am sure she will find it consoling to know she will not have it as bad as kobe with his wrist. i will say it as she is giving birth. ‘you think this is bad? kobe plays consecutively. at least you can ignore this pain’

    lol. come on. kobe fan boys are amazing.

  • control

    bosh

    How you expect the kid to relate to child birth? Hes never even had relations with pussy, cept when he looks in the mirror…

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @bosh

    hahaha, you should actually try that shyt. WOuld be hilarious. Of course you may get cussed out but for the comedy factor it’ll be worth it.

    @LABaller
    Of course I think it’s blasphemy to compare MJ and Kobe. But I don’t get all bent outta shape about it, I know its going to happen because of some of the similarities between the two.
    And that pain killer comment was in reference to @Big Is’s comments about the QBs playing through all that pain.
    Before I typed that, I was reading some NBA article about how Kobe has to pop pain killers. So i used Kobe as a reference point since he’s the only person playing through injury right now…or at least thats what you’re lead to believe.

    You guys want the Lakers and Kobe to always be talked about, but only under your circumstances. It doesn’t work that way. You gotta take the good with the bad homie.

  • Bosh’s wife

    Oh holy crap. You are seriously comparing child birth to Kobe’s wrist?! For real? You are forgetting the months of extreme morning sickness and physical pain that women can go through prior to giving birth you idiot.

    And many women do all this without popping pills because drugs affect the baby.

    Also, it’s not uncommon for women to tear their vagina apart and have it sewn back together after child birth, so keep that in mind with your ‘one night of pain’. It takes months for a woman’s body to recover from a pregnancy.

    Yes, that’s right, it is unwise to provoke a hormonal pregnant woman with such ignorant comments.

  • beiber newz

    hahaha even though i said child birth is the worst pain in the world. hahahah show you three stooges don’t read, i officially hate you three and will step outside my box and show you 0 respect…u hav pushed my last nerve. i resisted for far too long. this should be fun.

  • LABaller

    @rilla

    trust homie as a true laker fan I’ve been taking the bad and lovin the good when it comes to Kobe. I’m the dude who hated him for shaq’s departure cause I thot it was a shit trade for the TEAM. I’m not a Kobe fan, I’m a laker fan. But being able to go to these games n see the dude in person… Just like last night after he’s injured old crippled goin thru a divorce and probably is in therapy for his psychotic belief that he’s still the best player in the game.. Hats off is all I’m sayin. Gotta respect dude for all he is and does. If everyone had that dedication towards their work I’m guessin shit in the world would be a lot better. Other than that tho.. Lol I know you think it’s blasphemy for them to be mentioned on the same breath but there are definitive reasons for it.. Mj wasn’t the nicest dude either.. You take the asshole no nonsense dick for what he is if he’s puttin in work where it counts.. That was Jordan and that’s Bryant too. And trust I ain’t sayin they’re the same.. They aren’t.. But they gotta be the only two who have that plus the skills to back it up more than anyone so they will always be linked

  • Bosh

    Beiber – literally my second post ever. Step back in the box bro.

  • http://www.dimemag.com Austin Burton

    @Panchitooo — Took the words right out of my mouth on Vick. Me and my college roommate spent HOURS playing whichever Madden had Atlanta Vick on the cover, and he fumbled about 40% of the time he got hit. I think that was their way of making it fair because he was so fast. I eventually stopped using Vick and found that Kordell Stewart was almost as good a runner without the fumbling problem.

    @Big Island — I know that’s the way it is, it just sucks. And don’t discount the pain Cutler would feel in his knee every time he had to take a snap, pivot and hand the ball off. Or every time he had to drop back. If I recall, those Bears didn’t run a majority of their plays out of the shotgun, so to just entirely change the offense like that for Cutler’s injury probably would have been worse for them than just rolling with the backup.

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