AT LAST, LAKERS END SEASON LOSS TO PORTLAND TIES L.A. FOR PACIFIC CELLAR.Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. - Now all they can do is cross their fingers and toes Fingers and Toes See also anatomy; body, human; hands. adactyly a birth defect in which one or more fingers or toes are missing. dactyl a digit; a finger or toe. See also measurement. and hope Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). isn't being handed a certain trophy by David Stern
The Lakers finished their first post-Shaq season in dubious fashion Wednesday night, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise, based in Portland throughout its existence, entered the league in 1970 and has won the NBA Championship once, in 1977. 106-103 at Rose Garden and closing with 19 losses in 21 games, the worst stretch in franchise history. ``That's what we're going to try to do,'' Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. said, ``is just put the season behind us but remember the pain and the frustration that came along with it and use that as motivation.'' Only once before have the Lakers failed to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons - 1974-75 and 1975-76 - and they will have plenty of work this summer to avoid a similar fate. They have a coach to hire, a lottery pick to use and decisions to make about who stays and goes. The process starts today, as the Lakers players sit down for exit meetings with general manager Mitch Kupchak Mitchell "Mitch" Kupchak (born May 24 1954 in Hicksville, New York) is a retired American basketball player and current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers since the 2000-01 NBA season after predecessor Jerry West moved to the Memphis Grizzlies organization. and interim coach Frank Hamblen. The Lakers (34-48) wound up tied for last place in the Pacific Division with Golden State, sharing the ninth-worst record in the league. The NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= will hold a tiebreaker tie·break·er n. An additional contest or period of play designed to establish a winner among tied contestants. Also called tiebreak. tie today to determine draft-lottery position. If the Lakers win the tiebreaker, they will have a 1.7 percent chance at landing the No. 1 pick in the May 24 lottery. Although O'Neal didn't play Wednesday for Miami, the effect of his much-debated trade can start to be quantified. The Heat finished with 17 more victories than last season; the Lakers with 22 more losses than a year ago. Miami will take the Eastern Conference's best record (59-23) into a first-round series against New Jersey. The Lakers became just the seventh team in history to appear in the NBA Finals one season and miss the playoffs altogether the next. With Luke Walton suffering from food poisoning food poisoning, acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all such illnesses as "ptomaine poisoning," but it was later discovered that , the Lakers started rookie Sasha Vujacic at shooting guard and had only nine available players. Caron Butler remained in Los Angeles with his young daughter, still recovering from an asthma attack. Vujacic finished 0 for 8 from the field and missed all 16 shots he took in the Lakers' final two games. ``I hope everybody who watched the last two games of the Lakers, I hope they saw the old Sasha,'' Vujacic said. It could have been the final game in a Lakers uniform for several players, as Bryant is the only untouchable untouchable Former classification of various low-status persons and those outside the Hindu caste system in Indian society. The term Dalit is now used for such people (in preference to Mohandas K. . Devean George, who thought he would be traded at the Feb. 24 deadline, totaled 15 points and hit three 3-pointers. Hamblen, who reluctantly took over as coach after Rudy Tomjanovich's midseason resignation, went 10-29 with a defense that finished the year having surrendered an average of 101.7 points per game. Maybe it was fitting that the Lakers and Blazers concluded the season against one another, considering they had combined to win just three games this month. The story of the fourth quarter was Bryant, who finished with a game-high 37 points but took every shot for the Lakers in the last four-plus minutes. Ross Siler, (818) 713-3610 ross.siler(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) The Blazers' Ruben Patterson attempts to dunk over the Lakers' Chris Mihm on Wednesday. (2) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant grabs an offensive rebound in front of the Blazers' Darius Miles on Wednesday. Bryant finished with 37 points in the Lakers' loss. Don Ryan/Associated Press Box: GAME RECAP |
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