Statement Game

Kobe Bryant told his teammates in the tunnel before Sunday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, this is a statement game. The Lakers made their statement.
And then Kobe jumped over an Aston Martin.

OK, he didn't do it after the game, and no the video isn't real, although there apparently are many out there who think Kobe would be stupid enough to risk his career and possibly his life by doing a stunt like this, and that the Lakers would allow their superstar to jeopardize the Lakers future.

So Kobe received some technological help in his leap and the Lakers got some help in their leap to the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference. The New Orleans Hornets lost to the Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets, who held the tie breaker against the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets.

Now, with a win against Sacramento on Tuesday, the Lakers would get the West's No. 1 seed and home court advantage throughout the West playoffs. They'd also most likely get a matchup with the Nuggets (unless they lose both of their last two games) in the first round and a second round matchup against the winner of the Houston/Utah series. Thus, the Lakers would bypass the best three teams in the West, the Suns, Spurs, and Hornets. Of course nothing in the West will be set in stone until the final buzzer of the final West game sounds.

But for the time being, the Lakers, even without Andrew Bynum who is not expected to play at the beginning of the playoffs and Trevor Ariza, appear to be a title contender.

The crazy aspect of the Lakers blowout was the scoring balance. No one expected the Lakers to share the wealth like they have. Seven players took at least seven shots. Kobe took 14 shots, second to Pau Gasol's 15, and sat out most of the fourth quarter. More importantly the Lakers played lock down defense in the third quarter when they held the Spurs to 3-17 shooting and outscored them 26-14.

In the playoffs, things change, teams buckle down and the Spurs will have Manu Ginobilli and Brent Barry back. It's unlikely the Lakers will have any 21 point wins over the Spurs if the two teams meet in the playoffs. Still, a dominating performance against the NBA champs has the Lakers and JA Adande believing they may be the team to beat.

Maybe Damon Stoudamire isn't as much of a pothead, and dumbass as we all thought: The former Wildcat had his 4 1/2 year marijuana possession case dismissed. Then again, he probably just had a good lawyer.

Carmelo Anthony will need a good lawyer. He was arrested for suspicion of DUI Monday morning.

Andruw Watch:
Sunday 0-3, 2 BBs and a lot of boos from the home crowd
Season: 4-40, BA: .100

The list of bad Dodger contracts continues to grow. Darren Dreifort, Kevin Brown, Jason Schmidt, Juan Pierre, and now Jones.

The Masters was this weekend?

I watched the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, the Sox/Yanks game on ESPN and even caught some hockey. Wake me up when you need some athletic ability to be a golfer.

If Kobe doesn't win the MVP, then the apocalypse is upon us.

Kevin Love should leave for the NBA.

Darren Collison should not.

I knew the Dodgers shouldn't have scored all those runs on Saturday in an 11-1 win over the Padres. They needed those runs on Sunday when they got shutout by Greg Maddux and four relievers.

Just saying: Blake DeWitt is hitting .156 higher than Andruw Jones. Brad Penny is hitting .100 better.