Ring Night & other two games

Ring Night last night for the champs and the ring itself is insane. No, seriously, have a gander at this bad boy. Although I am not a huge Lakers fan (read Anti Lakers Fan), it was cool to see some of the old championship Lakers there including Magic, Rick Fox, the Logo (Jerry West) among others. On a side note, how do feel being the Clippers where you are treated like an afterthought and you have a championship celebration in the building you play in (Staples Center) but it isn't for you.
- Sad to see Blake Griffin is out for 6-8 weeks. For a comical but insightful read on the "Clippers Curse" read this article down before draft night by Bill Simmons. On a Bill Simmons note, I want to pick up his new book, The Book of Basketball, which came out yesterday.
- As for the game, Chris Kaman had a pretty good game with 18 points and 16 boards. Camby is working back from injury and put in 14 points and 6 boards mostly from the second half. And prolly my favorite Clipper, Eric Gordon, had 21 points with 4 assists. I just love his game and look forward to how he progresses this year in this his 2nd year.
- The Lakers seemed to always be in control of the game even though it was a good game throughout. Kobe paced the champs with 33 points and 8 boards and we had an Andrew Bynum (26-16) siting in the first game of the year but I won't put much stock in it since he went for 42 against them last year in a game and Pau Gasol was a DNP with a strained right hammy. Candyman and newly married Lamar Odom got the start and put in 16 points and 13 rebounds. Needless to say, it should be an interesting title defense with new addition Ron Artest and the circus that will follow him, Candyman and the other Lakers.

Wizards-Mavs
- After a 19 win campaign by my Wizards last year, hope springs eternal with a return to health of Agent Zero, Brendan Haywood, Deshawn Stevenson amongst others and adding Oberto, Randy Foye, and Mike Miller. However, with Antawn out about 4 weeks, Wizards fans await the combination of Arenas-Butler-Jamison to play a game together. Last time was in April 2007. However, the Wiz looked sharp last night in Big D scoring a 102-91 victory with solid defense and some awesome scoring from none other than Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas. He looked to have his old hop in his step with his drives and shots. Final line was 29 points and 9 dimes. 39 points off the bench between Blatche and Foye also didn't hurt. Caron was his typical self with contributions across the stat sheet.
- The Mavs were paced by Dirk with 34 points and 9 boards. Did you know that was his 26th consecutive game with 20+ points and also the 11th straight game with 20+ against the Wizards. Was very impressed with Shawn Marion now that he is back in a run and gun offense he is able to use his skills (16-7 with 1 steal and 3 blocks) to the max and truly be "The Matrix."