with Pau Gasol still MIA, and with starting center out today with strained elbow, Kobe score 41 in a 16-point victory over the Grizzlies, with lots of help from Artest and the rest of the Lakers...

Just 5 games into the season, and Kobe's scoring 33+ points a game, leading all of the NBA. I expect him to revert back to roughly 24-25 when Gasol comes back, along with Bynum, making the Lakers whole again.

Also, the Celtics lost for the first time this Friday night, in Boston no less, as the surprising Suns took it to them.

wow, Suns are 5-1. I wouldn't have guessed this, especially with how bad they were last year. Nash looks like he's in line for 1st-3rd place for the MVP trophy. He's 35-y/o. Most players slow down after 33-34...Nash is not, yet.

podstock:

wow, Suns are 5-1. I wouldn't have guessed this, especially with how bad they were last year. Nash looks like he's in line for 1st-3rd place for the MVP trophy. He's 35-y/o. Most players slow down after 33-34...Nash is not, yet.

Who is the Suns have that destroyed the Celtics?! Seems the Celtics just had an off night. Free throw and 3pt percentage heavily favored the Suns.

What was amazing was that the Suns beat the Celtics in Boston.  What really helped the Suns was sinking 13 three pointers compared to the 4 by the Celtics.

Jason Richardson lit up the Celtics for 34 points, 10 boards and sunk 6 three pointers.

I wonder if Rondo went up to Nash and told him that he will never win any championships. 

I'm sure not, but if it did, I would hope that Nash would walk up to Rondo and tell him that the Celtics are no longer undefeated, and that Chris Paul is a much better overall player than Rondo ever will be.

 I certainly am surprised that the Celtics gave that much money to Rondo.

It'll be interesting to see how his mid-range jumper is in the next 1-3 years.

I remember the Lakers flat-out leaving him open during the NBA Finals, and he kept missing those 14-18 footers.

Let's see if he improves, or becomes the next Sebastian Telfair -- highly hyped, couldn't come close to living up to the hype

Wait, the Celtics have not signed Rondo yet... what u talking about?  

Both Rondo and the Celtics verbally agreed to the 5 year extension.  Now they just need to go through the formalities.

It's all about the paperwork, and perhaps after Rondo being Rondo, the Celtics will back out of the deal.

 If I were the Celtics, I would try to set myself up so that I would have enough money to get Chris Paul from the Hornets, who's a free agent in 2012.

NO reason to believe that Paul would stay with the Hornets if they are going to be a lottery team, and no reason to believe that the Hornets can afford to pay Paul a huge salary

The Celtics signing Chris Paul would just make the egg on Rondo's face that much better.  What comes around goes around for you Rondo.

 tonight is the Lakers' toughest task so far, with the Suns and their 7-1 record coming into Staples Center and featured on TNT in a double-header, which of course means the high likelihood that we Lakers fans do not get to see that start of the ballgame.

I hate double-headers!!!

seems like everytime there is a double-header, the second game is never featured right at the start of that game, because the first game almost always goes over the 2-1/2 hours that is "allotted"

sort of like NFL - drives me nuts

Phoenix will be a tough test for the Lakers, especially with the way the Suns have been playing.  I still couldn't believe the 20 points and 20 assists by Nash.

I say that the Lakers will end the Phoenix winning streak by at least 10 points, as Phoenix is due to have a bad game.

 good call, Stan - very nice prediction.

and yep, the Lakers pretty much controlled the entire game vs. the Suns, where Amare made 2 out of 15 shots

Suns are just too small for the Lakers.

Size matters....especially in basketball

I would not have predicted that the Lakers would lose by at least 20 points (losing by 23 in the 4th quarter with 3 minutes to play) to the Nuggets.  I would have predicted a Denver win, but by 10 or less.

And I would have thought that Boston would beat Atlanta in a close game.

My only prediction that I would have gotten right was New Jersey continuing their winless streak by losing to the Magic.

 whew! that was a stinker the Lakers laid at the hands of the Nuggets this past Friday, scoring something like 23 points in the 2nd half, the lowest in franchise history.

geez, what happened to Kobe?

2 losses so far, to Dallas and Denver...I would've probably guessed the Nuggets would want revenge for what happened in the playoffs, but I didn't think the Lakers would lose to Dallas at Staples Center....

 Then again, who'd thunk the Celtics would have 3 losses this early in the season?

Tonight, the Rockets and Trevor Ariza come to Staples Center. Ariza actually has done quite well so far, averaging nearly 20 points a game. Not bad, and certainly better than I would have thought he'd do. But, it's early in the season ... let's see how he does once teams realize he's an offensive weapon and concentrate on stopping him.

Pau Gasol better get back to the Lakers lineup soon or else the Lakers will continue to struggle.  Kobe was off against Houston.  Let's see what happens to the Lakers the next game.

 I sure hope the Lakers don't have to depend on Gasol to win

What they have right now should be good enough to win it all.

It's scary how Kobe can have shooting nights where he is 5 for 17.

You'd think, at this stage in his life, that once he starts out 1-8, that perhaps, instead of doing fall-away 20-footers, how about penetrating into the lane for a 10-footer. Perhaps a foul will occur.

Much easier to get fouls while you're in the lane, vs. being on the 3-point lanes

 a great game by Kobe, who scored 40, and was red-hot after shooting 1 for 6 early in the game, but ended the game making 17 of 29 shots.

But then again, Detroit is a shell of its former self, as its 2 best players were injured.

I am concerned that the Lakers had a 20+ point lead going into the 4th quarter, and the 2nd team played so poorly that Detroit cut down the lead to single digits....

on another note, I see that Shaq has been missing the last 2 games due to some injury.

I am keeping an amused eye on how Shaq does as he winds down his career.

when he was in his prime with the Lakers, he never took care of himself, always coming into the season out of shape, and using the regular season to get into shape. Shaq said something like, "...they only pay me in the regular season, so I only work in the regular season..."

it'll be interesting to see how Kobe declines in relation to how Shaq has badly declined.

Kobe should have a much smoother ride to retirement, a la Jordan

whereas Shaq is just sliding down a hill, a shameful shell of his former self.

Detroit is just terrible right now, with so many no-names.  Both Prince and Rip are out.  Trading Billups was just terrible.  Ben Wallace playing C?  Please. 

Kobe just had his 100th 40pt game.  Let's see how many mroe he'll get.  MJ had 178 or something.  

Had MJ not taken time off to play baseball or now golf, he would have had over 200 of those 40 point games.  But Kobe (and eventually LeBron) will challenge for that title.

And Shaq is out again for a few games.  Ouch for the Cavs who are losing badly to the Wizards.