Pau Gasol and the Championship Trophy will be headed to India

NEW YORK — Los Angeles Lakers star Pau Gasol will travel to India next week with the NBA championship trophy to conduct clinics, the first time a member of the reigning NBA champions has ever visited India.

The 30-year-old Spanish forward will visit Mumbai and Delhi for six days starting Monday to help boost the NBA and basketball in general in the world's second-most populated nation.

"I have always wanted to visit India and I am very excited to represent the Lakers and the NBA," Gasol said.

"As an international player in the NBA, I know how important it is to do my part to grow the game globally and would love to compete against a player from India in the NBA one day."

Another NBA star, Orlando Magic center Dwight visited Bangalore and Delhi last week.

Gasol will appear with the Larry O'Brien Trophy, also making its first trip to India, and conduct clinics in Mumbai next Thursday for players in an NBA-backed community league.

The Barcelona native will stage a clinic for underprivileged childre through NBA Cares, the league's social outreach program, on August 27 in Delhi.

"Giving youth in India the unique chance to step onto a court and learn from a reigning two-time NBA champion will inspire more athletes to play the game," NBA International President Heidi Ueberroth said.

"Pau is a great ambassador for the NBA."

Serbia upsets Spain 66-57 at Euro championship

Serbia's tight defense help to upset the highly favored Spaniards yesterday during the opening round of the European Basketball Championships.

The Serbian National team may lack an NBA star but they don't lack in heart. Their defense combined with Spains inability to hit an open shot kept them in the drivers seat throughout and cemented a 9 point lead on Lakers center Pau Gasol's team.

Pau, coming off surgery on his left index finger shot 4- 10 from the field and a mere 1 of 8 from the free throw line for 9 points. Hopefully that finger wont be an issue for the upcoming NBA season.

Andrew Bynum and the Lakers Have Fowl For Dinner Defeating Raptors 112-99

The Los Angeles Lakers are that much closer to the best season start in their long history. They are currently 14-1 after their 112-99 victory last night over the Toronto Raptors. If they can pull out wins in the next 3 games, they will take bragging rights for best start from the 2001-2002 Lakers team, although that team won a championship and this season still has a long way to go.
When I say if , it's not a very big if because their next 3 games are not exactly against the cream of the crop. In fact Indiana, Philly and Washington have together won only 1 more game than the Lakers have, so I look at this as more like a trip to the grocery store than a road trip.

Now to get back to last nights victory over the CRaptors. Pau , Kobe , and Bynum all had great games out of the starters. Pau scored a team high with 24 points. Big Drew came to play with 18 points and 10 rebounds while mr. consistent, Kobe hit 23 points and 7 assists with his eyes closed.

Lamar had a very quiet 3 point 6 assist game despite the Lakers being +19 with him on the floor and Trevor Ariza had a great game with 14 on 6-10 shooting.

The Laker defense wasn't bad overall , keeping the Raps barely under 100, but there were a few lapses. It would have been nice to see the Lakers hold the Raptors sans Jermaine O'Neal to around 85-90.

The lakers did a great job on Chris Bosh, limiting the MVP campaigning forward to 12 points but Toronto had some nice balance with 6 players scoring double digits. The most notable was Anthony Parker, brother of WNBA star Candace Parker, who had 19 points on 6-12 shooting including 4-6 from the the 3 point line.

The Lakers haven't had a very tough schedule to start and have been toying with teams by stepping up the intensity in the second half, but to me that's a sign of complacency. Sure with the ease at which they have been beating teams some complacency is inevitable but it's always safer to make defense a habit rather than a necessity to break the game open in the 3rd or 4th quarter.

We all know that this Laker team has dynasty potential , but I am anxious to see how they take to the tougher schedule that begins later this month.

Lakers Roll Over Nets To Improve 12-1

By Elliott Teaford, Staff Writer-Daily News

The Lakers were imperfect winners again Tuesday night.

Say what you will about their recent method of operation, their consistently inconsistent play and their obvious lack of rhythm, the bottom line was that they routed the New Jersey Nets, 120-93, at Staples Center for their 12th victory in 13 games.

What's more, the Lakers have won five consecutive since suffering their lone defeat of the season, a 106-95 loss to Detroit on Nov. 14, a game that in hindsight was as close to flawless as the Pistons have played this season.

Lately, the Lakers' victories have lacked the sort of resounding nature that some of their early-season wins did, but the results have been winning, nevertheless.

They are four wins away from matching the club record for the best start in Lakers history, a 16-1 mark in 2001-02, when they won their last NBA title.

They certainly reverted to their earlier form Tuesday, taking their biggest win from the Nets since New Jersey joined the NBA as one of four ABA refugees in 1976.

Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and three assists. Jordan Farmar added 18 points in a reserve role, Andrew Bynum had 15 points and six rebounds and Lamar Odom had 13 points.

Oh yeah, and Kobe Bryant scored a season-low 12 points on 5-for-17 shooting.

Of the Lakers' starters, only Bynum played in the fourth quarter.

"It's a good sign, a healthy sign," Lakers coach
Phil Jackson said of winning big without getting much offense from Bryant, who averages a team-leading 23.7 points. "But we want Kobe to shoot the ball well and have good games, obviously. That's the focal point of our offense. We want him to be the threat that everyone has to overplay and be concerned with because that makes everyone else have an easier game."

In the end, holding Bryant well below his average only got the Nets so far. The Lakers toyed with them during the third quarter, turning a tight game into a runaway.

The Lakers broke open the game by outscoring the Nets, 34-22, in the pivotal third quarter. They did it by shooting 59.1 percent (13 for 22) and limiting New Jersey to 26.1 percent shooting (6 for 23) in the quarter.

"It just shows you their balance," New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said of the Lakers. "I think that's the greatness of the Lakers. You know, Kobe is one of the elite players in this league, but they have so much around him."

The Lakers went inside to Gasol and Bynum early and often, hoping to take advantage of the inexperience of Brook Lopez and Li Jianlian. Gasol and Bynum more than made up for Bryant's shooting struggles - he would miss eight of his first nine.

Still, despite 16 points from Gasol and 11 from Bynum, the Lakers led by just two, 56-54, at halftime. The Nets, like the Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls, weren't rolling over and playing dead in the first half.

The Lakers made their break in the third quarter, however.

Unlike some recent games, the Lakers would not let down in the fourth quarter. Their lead grew to 29 points late in the game. Moreover, they outscored the Nets by a whopping 64-39 in the second half.

Farmar sparked the Lakers' second unit with 12 points after halftime, leading the reserves to a 56-19 edge over the Nets' backups.

"I thought we came out and played a stellar second half," Jackson said. "The first half was like feeling each other out. We had trouble stopping their penetration and they shot the ball well. The second half, we got our defense in order.

"Our emphasis tonight was an inside game. They have a lot of young players. I thought both (Gasol) and Andrew would be players we could feature as far as getting the ball inside. (Gasol) hit outside shots as well. He had a fine game."

Devin Harris led the Nets with 24 points. As expected, the Lakers had heaps of trouble guarding Harris, who had 16 points and five assists in the first half.

http://elliot.teaford@dailybreeze.com