Lakers/Suns Game

February 28, 2009 - UT and I went on Thursday night to the Lakers Suns game as I said in my last post. So the seats were not quite "floor" seats but 17 rows back of the Suns bench is not too shabby. A few thoughts of from the game: The Staples Center is a very cool venue and should be a must stop for every NBA fan. The food at the Staples Center, and at all LA sports venues so I am told, is fantastic. Sushi, pastrami sandwiches, pasta, burritos and much more. UT and I got there an hour early to get some food and have a few drinks in the Royal Room before the game. The Royal Room was a club in the stadium for people with club level tickets. The whole thing was pretty "LA" and really not worth it at all. On the way to the food stand where we got great pastrami sandwiches I bumped into Mateen Cleeves. He has the largest mouth I have ever seen, too bad his NBA career never panned out. Below is a great shot of the Staples Center as we walked from the car.

Lakers players during the National Anthem. The Air Force choir sung and they were not very good, that and the fact that the volume was not turned up high enough.

Shaq being announced. He received a mixed amount of boos and cheers which was surprising to me. Kobe has been made out to be the bad guy all these years but it seems LA is not that fond of Shaq anymore. One this that is pretty amazing though is how large Shaq is. In person it is a whole new ballgame. I wouldn't want to try and defend him because he throws is elbows around like none other.

Right before the Lakers players were announced they dropped this white curtain down from the top of the scoreboard and displayed this pretty cool team video 360 degrees around the sheet. The picture doesn't do a good job showing you how cool it was but this is the best one I got.

Over all the game was a lot of fun and I glad I went. The Lakers beat the Suns pretty easily but Nash was not playing in their defense. That being said the Lakers look like the best team in the NBA and Kobe is hands down the most dominate/unstoppable scorer in the league. A few weeks back when I compared Brandon Roy to Kobe and DWade I said Brandon Roy could be as good as Kobe and I was wrong. Kobe is like no other player in the league. His final stats were not impressive but he played less than half the game and still scored 25 pts without breaking a sweat. The Lakers look like they are in cruise control until the final 10 games when they ramp up to take the West again. I can't wait for playoff basketball...

Hope all are well.