Lakers: Trade Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard?

The Lakers have just been swept by the Dallas Mavericks.

And after the sweep, there is now some major house cleaning to be done.

The Lakers might be on their way to adding Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard after the Lakers' improbable loss to the Mavericks, by trading still young and promising center Andrew Bynum.

It would have very little to do with Bynum's comments about the Lakers having trust issues, the sweep to Dallas, and the flagrant foul on Jose Juan Barea that resulted in Bynum's ejection, though none of those things helped.

No, it has more to do with Dwight Howard. The Magic center was rumored to be traded to Los Angeles during the regular season because there is the possibililty that the Magic won't be able to retain him.

Receiving Bynum in exchange might actually be a coup for the Magic. Bynum's upside is huge. The Lakers' center was taken as the team's first lottery pick since 1994 in 2005, and was groomed by legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Orlando would be adding a quality offensive player, who is younger than Howard. It also helps that he was pushed hard by the most competitive player in the NBA in Kobe Bryant, and the most demanding coach in the league in Phil Jackson.
Indeed, the Lakers have invested a great deal of time and effort in Bynum, but this could be his last hurrah. The addition of Howard might be too good to be true, and general manager Mitch Kupchak won't be able to pass it up.
The benefit of having Howard is limitless. Perhaps the best defensive center in the league, Howard is desperate to win a ring, and has no injury history, unlike Bynum.
Howard has a career-scoring average of more than 18 points, and has averaged nearly 13 rebounds per game. At 25, he still has great years ahead of him.
Another great asset that Howard brings is a new face. The Lakers have become predictable, and need a new infusion of talent.
Howard more than likely would welcome the move. He has to be bothered by the first round exit of the Magic, his role as the most prominent player on the team, and the lack of talent the team has on the horizon.
A straight-up trade between Bynum and Howard fits in terms of salaries, and that's a big deal. It would be a convenient trade in that there would be no necessary complications, unlike the saga with Carmelo Anthony, which dragged for months.
In fact, this trade might not be a possibility, but rather a probability.

Eye-opener: Did the Lakers quit on Phil Jackson?

If the Lakers fall in Dallas and no one is around, do they make a sound?
And when we say no one we mean no Lakers.
The two-time defending champions went out with thud instead of bang with a 122-86 loss to Dallas and a Mavericks sweep.

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Jackson, expected to retire after winning 11 titles, watched his teams go paws up. For the time in 65 playoff series, a Jackson team was swept in the playoffs as Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom were both tossed from the game.
"It was like the roof fell in on us," said Jackson who later added that he felt "there were a couple of players who felt daunted by the energy of the game. Their game was depressed. … A couple of players didn't step into the performance that I'd like to see them step into."
The Lakers had plenty of excuses for losing a series including age and the wear and tear of having played so many games in the past few years. But they didn't seem to have many excuses for such a dismal showing.
"I think you can be together too long," Magic Johnson said. "This group has been together too long. They're not in sync. They don't really believe in one other.
So did the Lakers run out of gas or did they quit on Phil Jackson?

Mavericks take surprising 2-0 lead on Lakers heading back to Dallas

If this season turns into the special one the Dallas Mavericks hope it will be, they're going to look back at Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers as the turning point.
With an opportunity to put the two-time defending NBA champions on their heels, the Mavericks seized the moment in a very big way with a convincing 93-81 victory at Staples Center. The win enabled Dallas to take a surprising 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series after it stunningly won both games in LA.
In fact, now that the Mavs will host Games 3 and 4 Friday and Sunday at American Airlines Center, they actually could sweep and win this series without having to come back to the West Coast.
And who would have imagined that happening before this series started?
"We're a great road team because we're resilient," center Brendan Haywood said. "We're a family - everybody roots for each other.
"And we have a lot of different guys that can hit big shots. So on the road usually when we're down, we never feel that we're out of it."
The Mavs led the majority of the game, using poise and solid defense to carry a 68-62 lead into the fourth quarter. The lead swelled to 75-65 with 9:46 remaining after Haywood converted an offensive rebound, Jason Terry buried a 3-pointer and J.J. Barea coaxed in a pair of free throws.
The Lakers closed to six, but Barea struck again. This time the pint-sized playmaker hit a floater, then fed Haywood for a thundering dunk and a 79-69 lead with 6:05 remaining.
A three-point basket by Jason Kidd and a driving layup by Barea padded the Mavs' advantage to 84-69 with 4:39 left. From there, the Lakers were pressured unlike they have been at any point during these playoffs.
LA's biggest problem was its long-range shooting. It was 0 for 15 from 3-point range until Kobe Bryant hit one late in the fourth quarter, and wound up 2 for 20. The Mavs were 8 of 25.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 of his 24 points through the first three quarters, and things got so bad for the Lakers that their fans booed them on a couple of occasions.
Shawn Marion added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, Barea scored 12 with four assists and Kidd added 10 points and six assists.
DeShawn Stevenson also played a major role for the Mavs at both ends of the floor. The scrappy guard converted three 3-pointers through the first three periods - the last one a bank shot that pushed Dallas ahead 56-50 early in the third period.
Kobe Bryant led LA with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting. Andrew Bynum scored 18 and grabbed 13 rebounds, Pau Gasol contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Ron Artest scored 11 before he was ejected with under a minute left for clobbering Barea in the face.
Not many so-called basketball experts gave the Mavs a chance in this series. Still, despite having the NBA kingpins on the ropes, Haywood and his teammates aren't about to celebrate too soon.
"When you're playing against this Lakers team you can never relax," Haywood said. "2-0, that's good.
"But we will never relax until we see we have Game 4 wrapped up."
"The challenge is to be consistent in our attack," said Terry, who had nine points and five assists. "Defensively, continue to play the way we play.
"Offensively, continue to be aggressive and stay with the flow."
It was that "flow" which put the Mavs in position to shock the world.

Lakers' book may be nearing its final chapter sooner than expected

LOS ANGELES -- It was all so funny at the time.
Before the Lakers' incredible era reached this unforeseen point of peril Wednesday night, their coach was being pestered about his latest book. This was the one that hadn't been written yet, the chapters of Phil Jackson's final season unfolding with every passing day but the actual idea of publication a ways off in his mind.
"The book is way, way, way down the road," he said with his trademark wryness. "It has no function, no form, no structure yet, no outline. Nothing."
What it might have, as it turns out, is a surprise ending.
Dallas delivered a devastating blow to the Lakers' quest for a three-peat at Staples Center, taking a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals with a 93-81 win that left the locals incensed about the plot twist and the notion of a 12th championship looking unlikely for the man who swears this stand will be his last.
The loyalists rained boos on their stunned Lakers late, none louder than the ones reserved for embattled forward Pau Gasol during his third-quarter stretch that served as the low point of his already-dark time. Hopeless fans headed for the exits long before the score would seem to dictate such dissonance, clearly fed up from either the sight of backup Dallas point guard J.J. Barea slicing through the nonexistent Lakers defense or the cacophony of clankers as the Lakers shot 2-of-20 from three-point range and 11-of-20 from the free-throw line.
Jackson had started the evening wishing his team would be "a little more lighthearted about" its latest challenge because, well, "it's still a game." Find your place of Zen like he had in recent days, he was saying, perhaps through the sort of "comic relief" he had relied upon.
Afterward? There were heavy hearts and nary a smile in Laker Land.
Ron Artest was the only one taking out his frustrations before the game ended, as he inexplicably clotheslined Barea with 24 seconds left and was promptly ejected as a likely prelude to a suspension. Andrew Bynum came with the verbal blow not long after, when the center, who has quietly become a willing and capable voice in the locker room, gave his candid assessment of a dire situation.
"It's obvious that we have trust issues, individually," said Bynum, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds but gave himself and "F (or a) D" because of his involvement in the disastrous defense.
"All 13 of our guys have trust issues right now. I think it's quite obvious to anyone watching the game. (There's) hesitation on passes, and defensively we're not being a good teammate because he wasn't there for you before. Little things. And unless we come out and discuss them, nothing is going to change."
Gasol, who had just 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting and was one of the many who couldn't contain Dirk Nowitzki (24 points on 9-of-16 shooting), did not agree.
"I don't think we have trust issues," he said. "You've got to be able to give that trust to your teammates. Once we feel that, (the Mavericks will) feel that. But right now, they're getting a lot of looks -- a lot of good looks, too many good looks, and they're penetrating our defense way too much.
"Obviously 0-2 makes everybody upset. Us, and our fans. That's not what we wanted. That's not what we expected, but that's where we're at. Right now it's time for us to stay strong and as close as we've ever been if we want to be able to be successful and get through this struggle."
Gasol would know, of course, because no one is looking more like the fall guy at the moment. After averaging 19.6 points and 11.1 rebounds while shooting 53.9 percent from the field in last year's postseason, he is now averaging 13.6 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting just 42.7 percent from the field this time around.
"He missed open shots, he missed a layup that was blocked at the rim because he didn't dunk it," Jackson said. "There are some things that obviously didn't look good out there for Pau, but he worked...He was one of the kids that looked tired tonight."
The Lakers continue to downplay the fatigue factor, not only from this season in which the target remained firmly on their back, but the miles logged from three straight trips to the Finals. Whatever the reason, the mountain of evidence against them is now taller than Bynum and Gasol combined.
Jackson had already experienced an unwanted new experience, having seen his team lose the first game of a series twice in the same postseason after doing the same against New Orleans in the first round. Now comes this: only three teams in NBA history have come back to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games at home.
"It's hard, but you can't possibly expect this to be easy," said Bryant, who had 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting. "If you want to make history, you've got to do historic things.
"I'm not shocked. I'm surprised, (but) I'm not shocked. We've been playing with fire the last three years dropping games on our home floor. We finally got what we deserved and we're down two (games)."
The Mavericks, who used a 22-9 run between the late third quarter and mid-fourth to pull away, look primed to provide even more comeuppance. The book isn't over just yet, but the end may be near

Boston guard Ray Allen in full playoff hero form for win over New York

BOSTON – There has been frustration. There have been some quiet complaints and some lengthy explanations about the lack of movement in the offense. There was even the time in late March when Ray Allen, upset over having played 36 minutes in a loss to the Pacers and getting just eight field-goal attempts, walked out of the locker room without speaking to reporters after the game—a rare brush-off from one of pro sports’ most professional participants.
After a night like the one Allen had on Sunday here at TD Garden, though, it’s easy to push all that tumult and tension aside. That’s because Allen was in full playoff-hero form in Game 1 against the Knicks, scoring 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting and knocking down the game-winning 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds to play, helping the Celtics avoid an upset with an 87-85 win.
“I wasn’t worried about it, offensively,” Allen said. “We have so many great weapons out there on the floor. Here in the playoffs, I knew what my matchup was, defensively, I knew what I had to do to keep Carmelo (Anthony) from having a big night and (Amare) Stoudemire, too. Offensively, early, I had a couple of layups, a couple of shots at the hoop. But for the most part, I wasn’t worried about shooting the ball.”
That’s not to say that Allen hasn’t been worried about shooting—or not shooting, as it were—over the past month or so. He’s been a muffled marksman of late, an awkward position for the game’s all-time leading 3-point shooter. Game 1 marked Allen’s first 20-point outing since March 19, a span of 12 games. That’s the longest run of sub-20-point games he has had since 1999. Allen averaged 12.3 points over this stretch, and simply wasn’t getting many looks at the basket, averaging just 9.7 shots per game.
Allen has linked his struggles to the Celtics’ overall struggles, especially their sudden inability to move the ball. That was a problem again in Game 1, but Boston was able to fight through it.
“You guys have been asking me for a couple of weeks about shooting the ball,” Allen said. “But it’s rhythm. It’s all about rhythm, and [taking] your time. Here if I have a shot, Paul is out there, Kevin is out there, I try not to focus on that. There are plays to be made. Offensively, we are our own worst enemy when we don’t move the ball around. I am not going to fall into that hole of thinking I have got to shoot the ball. We have a lot of great scorers.”

But there’s no question that as the Celtics fell into a late-season swoon, especially on the offensive end, Allen’s inability to get his scoring going was the most glaring weakness. Boston was 18-4 in the regular season when Allen topped 20 points. Finding a way to get him back on track is a necessity for this team’s postseason success — especially when there is a big shot that needs making, as with Allen’s clinching 3-pointer.
“No, I wasn’t surprised at all,” Celtics big man Glen Davis said. “I’ve seen it a million times.”
The Celtics—and Allen—would not mind seeing it a million more.