Purple and Gold

The Lakers extended their record to 12-4 yesterday, excellent news, the only downside being the two losses to potential playoff teams. But in my view it isn't as big of a problem as it might seem. The loss to Denver wasn't great but the Lakers kept it close despite playing against an invigorated Denver team, sometimes losses happen. Then came Phoenix, who, in order to beat the defending champions, dropped 22 three pointers, the second most in NBA history, oh my. Even though the Suns dropped 22 shots "from downtown" the Lakers still managed to keep it close and if one or two three pointers fell for the Lakers in the last few minutes of the game it could have been a whole different story. The two teams that beat the Lakers this year had to score over 120 points. That's great news for the purple and gold but not so great for the rest of the league, especially with Lakers scoring a league high 112.2 points per game. To add further woe to coaches around the league, the Lakers are still waiting for the return of their defensive center, Andrew Bynum. With Bynums's return the Lakers will add a second 7 footer who will troll around the paint making sure no one trespasses on his turf.

It's good times for Laker land, everybody is playing most notably Pau and Lamar, but a special mention must go to the bench. The 'killer bees' (not sure on this nickname) Shannon Brown and Steve Blake are managing not only to hold onto leads but expand upon it. Brown has made an incredible shooting improvement this summer and the addition of Matt Barnes seems to have been an inspired choice. I can't really find fault with the Lakers at the moment except for maybe a few too many turnovers and some slack defense from time to time. Things are looking good and it will be interesting to watch the Lakers take on the Bulls tomorrow who will push the Lakers speed and see if the Lakers can control the tempo and execute their offense rather than run and gun with Chicago.

Let me know what you think, are there any key weaknesses that you see? Is there a player that you would like to see added in January? Did you also forget how good a passer Luke Walton is?