Should Dwight Howard Return To The Lakers?

In the third quarter of game 4 in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs, Dwight Howard was ejected after he was assessed his second technical foul. With the Lakers down 0-3 in the series and down 55-34, the last thing Laker fans wanted to see was Howard removed from the game. Combining anger and dissapointment, Dwight walked off the Staples Center floor and into the locker room, rubbing salt in to the wound of an already miserable appearance in the playoffs. With the Spurs going on to sweep the Lakers, one question arises in everybody’s mind: Will Superman be wearing purple and gold next year?

Travel way back to last summer. On June 11th, Steve Nash signed with L.A. to replace long time point guard Derek Fisher. As if that weren’t big enough for Los Angeles, the Lakers landed Dwight Howard in a blockbuster deal with 2 other teams that brought Dwight to L.A., and sent Andrew Bynum packing for Philadelphia. With the immediate addition of Howard, the Lakers emerged on the scene as the new kids on the block, ready to challenge Miami in the finals. With hopes to the moon and back, it seemed as if the Lakers were going to shine with no problems. But as everybody would soon see, the game isn’t played on paper.

With a injured Steve Nash and a rocky 1-4 start, coach Mike Brown was fired. With big names floating around on who will next coach L.A., Phil Jackson was asserted as a favorite by practically every member of the media. Even meeting with the team, Jackson, who has won 11 NBA championship rings, was denied the job in favor of Mike D’Antoni. With a high offensive IQ, it was no secret that the main weakness of every D’Antoni team was defense. With the Princeton offense thrown away, the expectations on the offensive side for coach D’Antoni were sky high with scoring machines like Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the woes continued as L.A. became 15-16 after a loss on New Years Day. With Dwight averaging 17.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, the under achieving part of his play was the 3.2 turnovers a game, and only shooting 50.4% from the free throw line. Visably frustrated with not getting the ball enough, Howard was used to having the game plan built around him and being the main threat against opponents. Now that he was sharing the ball with 2 other all stars, Dwight Howard needed to adjust, and adjust quickly.

Although coming off back surgery from last season, Howard’s play began to pick up as the playoffs grew nearer and nearer. With the Lakers climbing their way out of the depths of the Western Conference, they secured a spot in the playoffs and would face San Antonio. However Kobe Bryant went down with what would be announced as a torn Achilles tendon, with just 2 games to go. With everybody questioning on how the series would play out, it was ultimately up to Dwight Howard to put the team on his back and carry them to victory. But the series was cut short to 4 games, and now LA sits at home watching the playoffs like the rest of us. Now the question arises: Should Dwight return to Los Angeles?

With intentions of winning a ring in L.A., Howard obviously did not do so this year. “I’m going to sit back and take my time” Howard stated after game 4. Dwight then took to twitter to apologize to all fans for his actions, and even hinted at a possible comeback. (See tweets at his account @DwightHoward on twitter.) With a maximum of $118 million over 5 years earning potential with Los Angeles, the biggest rival seems to be Houston. However the most any team can offer Dwight is $88 million over four years. With everything revolving around money now-a-days, conventional wisdom would say he signs back with the Lakers. That being said, nobody actually knows what he’ll do just yet. Here’s to round two of another crazy year for Dwight Howard.

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The Final Push

At the beginning of the season, I made my NBA Finals prediction. I chose the Miami Heat, of course, to come out of the East. Then I chose the Los Angeles Lakers to come out of the West. After the first month of basketball, I basically just threw that prediction into the garbage. But, just maybe, I may need to search through that garbage and put that prediction back on the wall.

To say that the Lakers haven’t been a consistent team this NBA season, in any way, is actually wrong. Because they have been consistently inconsistent. There is no other way to put it. After acquiring Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in the offseason, the Lakers started off the season 1-4 under former head coach, Mike Brown. I think the expectations were so high by everybody, especially those in the Lakers organization, that they fired Brown after only 5 games of seeing some of the news players in action. If it was my choice, I would’ve given Brown more time to get his team together and figured out. But, that’s besides the point.

But besides everything that has happened throughout the year, the Lakers are finally in the playoff race. They currently have sole possession of the 8th seed in the Western Conference. And with only 7 games left in the season, every game is a must-win for this team. Kobe Bryant can have no rest until they lock up a playoff spot.

This is it for this team. These last games is where they will be challenged and their true colors will be shown. Everybody needs to be on top of their games, not just Kobe. Because one man can only do so much for his team until they lose in the final seconds. It broke out on ESPN earlier that Steve Nash will not be playing tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies, missing his second consecutive game. With that being the case, Kobe will have to step up even more than normal, taking on the PG role at some point in the game.

They also have a rough schedule coming up. They play five playoff teams in the remaining seven games. They play the Grizzlies, the Clippers, the Warriors, the Spurs, and the Rockets to close the season out. I think they will get into the playoffs. I think they will hold on to that 8th seed and barely squeeze in. They’ll hold off the Jazz and the Mavs, there’s no need to worry about those teams. But how far they go in the playoffs is the question that everybody wants the answer to.

If they do wind up getting the 8th seed, I don’t think they’ll go anywhere if they face the OKC Thunder. I think everyone can agree that Kevin Durant and the rest of that team would absolutely dominate the LAL. But, if they go against the Spurs, I can see them beating San Antonio and moving on to the next round. Why? Well besides Manu Ginobili being out for about a month, as of a few days ago, it’s the age. Tim Duncan is old, and so is Tony Parker. Something will happen, and their bodies will not prevail.

Kobe wants this more than anybody on that Spurs team, in my opinion. And once they’re actually in the playoffs, the rest of that Laker team will step up BIG. Do not underestimate their talents and potential, despite what has happened throughout the year. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will get into the playoffs. But it will come down to whoever gets the 1 seed, the Thunder or the Spurs. That will determine their playoff run.

NBA’s MVP of The Day: February 24th

On Oscars night, the NBA was host of 9 exciting games, which included a blowout win by Oklahoma over the Bulls, a Miami win over Cleveland (extending their winning streak to 11), and a crazy Lakers vs. Mavericks matchup, in which LA turned out to be the winner after great basketball. It was an award-winning game, where Kobe performed as the main role and deserved to be recognized as the MVP of the Day for February 24th.

Once again it was the Black Mamba that lifted the Lakers, leading them to 7th win out of their last 10 games and putting them just a game away from the .500 mark (28-29).

In the game Kobe made some incredible shots, but answering each and every basket was the 2011 Finals MVP and Champion Dirk Nowitzki, who finished with 30 points and 13 boards, making it his first double-double of the season.

The last two minutes of the game were very intense, but it all came down to the last 16.8 seconds. The Lakers were up 101-99 and Metta World-Peace was sent to the free-throw line, but he only converted one of the pair; making it a one possession game. On the next possession, O.J Mayo was given a look from downtown but missed, and that wrapped up the game for Los Angeles.

Kobe finished with 38 points (13/21 FG), 12 rebounds and 7 assists after 38 minutes on the court.

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NBA’s MVP of The Day: February 22nd

Yesterday was a very intense night for the NBA world: 12 action-packed games and many heroes, some of them being Jarrett Jack, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Nonetheless, there was one who stood out from the package, that being the NBA’s MVP for Feb. 22nd: Kobe “The Black Mamba” Bryant.

The recovering Lakers faced the 10th seeded Portland Trail Blazers in Staples Center, a key conference game. Kobe prior to the game had been asked if the Lakers could make the playoffs, he said: “thats not a question”. Thus, adding some pressure on the team.

After 3 intense quarters, the second one Kobe being scoreless, Portland were up by only a bucket (80-82); it was “The Closer’s” moment to stand out. Behind his 11 points in the last 5:30 minutes of the game including 4 clutch free throws down the stretch, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers got the W for Jerry Buss and maintained themselves in the playoff run.

Kobe finished with 40 points (15/23 FG), 7 rebounds 4 assists, 2 steals and 5 turnovers. It’s his 117th time scoring 40+ points.

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