Lakers need to get in gear
The Los Angeles Lakers' annual preseason game in Las Vegas is just about ready to begin at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Thus far in the exhibition season, The Lakers look like anything but a team hoping to defend a Western Conference title.
Los Angeles suffered a 99-90 loss to Utah and an embarrassing 107-80 defeat at the hands of the Clippers.
Jordan Farmar has led the way for the Lakers with 13.5 points per game.
While results don’t much matter when the games don’t count, individual performances can be a bit more important.
The most troubling thing to Lakers fans has to be the struggles of Lamar Odom.
The forward has scored just three points in 36 minutes of action.
He’ll have to get things going before the regular season if the team hopes to duplicate last season’s success.
In fact, there has been talk in Los Angeles of Phil Jackson starting Trevor Ariza in Lamar Odom’s spot. This is a position battle to watch.
Tonight, the opponent is the Sacramento Kings.
The Kings sport a 1-1 record in the preseason, with a win over Oklahoma City and a loss to Portland.
Bobby Brown, a rookie from Cal State Fullerton, is the Kings’ leading scorer at 15 points per game.
The Sacramento organization, of course, has strong ties to Las Vegas.
The head coach is former UNLV great Reggie Theus.
Also, the owners are well known to the Valley. The Maloof family is a staple in Las Vegas.
Where’s Kobe?
The question every year when the Lakers come to town is, “How much will Kobe Bryant even play?”
It looked like we might have an answer very early.
When the Lakers took the court about 20 minutes before game time to shoot around, Bryant was absent.
The fans were getting noticeably anxious about the missing superstar.
Then, about 10 minutes later, Bryant took the court with his teammates.
It is still unknown how much he will play, but he has averaged 24.5 minutes in the Lakers’ two preseason games.
Celebrity Watch
So far, the Thomas & Mack Center would not be mistaken for a Lakers home game at the Staples Center.
Robin Leach is here, though, so you know the rich and famous will be here soon.
Of course, the most anticipated event each year at this game is the entrance of Lakers owner Jerry Buss and his ever-evolving stable of young beauties.
He might be mellowing in his old age. He has arrived with just one young woman on his side.
National Anthem
There were some microphone issues during the national anthem performance by the “Sirens of TI.”
They battled through it and turned in their usual stellar effort.
Can we just make a rule that they perform the anthem at every Las Vegas-area sporting event?
They always do a great job with the difficult song, and they are not at all bad to look at in the process.
