| 06 December 2008
Dec 5th - LA Lakers (15-2) at Washington Wizards (3-13)
This is one of those ugly games that the Wiz have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Washington have been ugly right from the get-go, to such an extent that Gilbert Arenas wondered whether the Wizards would be better off finishing last, and gaining a lottery pick.
Post giving Agent Zero a huge contract, there's been very little in the way of silver linings - and November was a torrid month for the Wiz - nothing is going right... that is, until December 2nd's huge win against the surging New Jersey Nets. Whilst that one was a surprising win - 108-88 against one of the NBA's hottest teams? - a 6 point loss to Portland on the Wiz's home turf the following night proves which was the anomaly.
LA... after losing a heartbreaker against the Pacers, they came out and worked a win against Philadelphia the following night. Don't mistake the game against Indiana as being something that will happen all that often, the Lakers are altogether too talented for that. From Kobe Bryant through to Josh Powell, there's too much of pretty much everything to expect the Wizards to be able to compete against LA. After his recent comments to the media in regards to when he should be on the floor, Bynum will be eager to dominate - and the Washington team has little in the way of bigs to combat the three-headed monster that is Bynum/Gasol/Odom. Kobe knows that if he gets the minutes, he'll get the big scores... and I have a feeling that Phil Jackson will be looking to make a statement at the end of this road-trip.Washington will compete - they've rarely been beaten by more than 10 this season on their home court (3 times) - but this could be one of those times.
The Lakers win by 17.
