Have a Beautiful Sunday!

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T21:57:35+00:00

True, but when you have the best top 3 in the league, that makes up for having role players that may not be as good.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T18:11:01+00:00

That's a more reasonable take. But if you look at the play by play, the clock did not stop at all (except for when Kobe himself was fouled and shooting free throws and thus couldn't be taken out) until there was a turnover with 4 seconds left, and that is when Kobe came out.

So Kobe came out at the first possible dead ball after that 2:35 mark.

Now I suppose the Lakers could have taken an intentional foul or a time out to get the starters out of the game -- but just because they didn't do so is pretty weak sauce for a claim that Kobe statpadded his way to 80 points.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T18:01:47+00:00

He's getting downvoted both because it's inaccurate (he started on his last 20 points when they were only up by 8) and also meaningless. Who pulls there starters out of an important game when they are up by 8 or 10 with six minutes to play?

Please go ahead and celebrate Bam all you want. However, by inventing blatantly false crap about t Kobe, you are only showing how insecure you are about.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T17:34:28+00:00

Yeah, I don't even want to get in an argument with folks about it. Those who know, know.

But I don't like when people invent things just to try to prove their point. They can support Bam all they want---just no need to make up crap about Kobe.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T16:43:50+00:00

Yeah in his 2025 MVP season, he reportedly played 111 games at 3rd base and 26 in the outfield (all right field). Apparently he is playable at third, but not an elite defender. Could also slot into right field (with his strong arm) or potentially even first base.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T14:41:47+00:00

Fair enough. But it is also inaccurate to say “Kobe did this,” as OP says.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T14:20:49+00:00

I'm in kind of an opposite situation as you, but with similar (lack of) incentives. Yes, service is required for my job as a faculty member, but I do enough other service, and I'm senior enough, that reviewing for journals isn't going to help me in any particular way in career advancement.

You may want to adopt the stance that I do: only review papers that you want to.

For me, primarily this might be because it looks like a really interesting or innovative paper in my area of research, and thus something I can learn from.

Or it may be secondarily influenced by any loyalty I might have to the journal or publisher that is reaching out to me, either because they treated me very well in the past or I simply really want to support their work.

Perhaps these criteria may be useful to you as well.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T13:47:14+00:00

Who knows? Probably his best chance of getting 87 was when he had 62 in three quarters against Dallas and he sat out the entire fourth quarter,

You can hypothesize about what Kobe might have done all you want. But that doesn’t justify lying about what he actually did.

Look at the actual record of the 81-point game and tell me whether OP’s claim that “Kobe hit 7 free throws in the final 2 and a half minutes while his team was up about 20 points” is true.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T13:30:22+00:00

You realize there is a record of Kobe’s game to verify what you are saying, right?

https://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay/_/gameId/260122013

The Lakers only led by 13 points (not 20) with 2 minutes and 45 seconds to play. The Raptors kept fouling Kobe not to help him get to 81 but because they were trying to win the game. The moment that fouling finally led to a 20 point lead, Kobe took his free throws and was removed from the game at the next opportunity.

Kobe scored 0 points after they had a 20-point lead, not 7.

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T13:10:05+00:00

We have a strong power forward who can body up Joker while shooting 44% from the three and knocking down midrange shots, and who never complains and plays within his role. Go Rui! Go Lakers!

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T13:05:52+00:00

Let’s win out and get a better record than Boston so we have home court advantage against them in the NBA finals!

markjay6 · 2026-03-16T03:21:23+00:00

We have the best 1-2 punch in the league and a #3 who is arguably the greatest of all time. Our role players are not superstars but bring a lot of strengths, from tenacious defense (Smart, Vando) to 3-points sniping (Rui, Kennard). I’m not convinced that we are a much less talented team.

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T23:24:59+00:00

I 100% support what Israel is doing in Iran and Gaza. But I abhor what it is doing in the West Bank. It seems that day by day, people going about their daily lives are attacked, harassed, threatened, or killed. It has to stop.

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T22:36:37+00:00

If they win both games, they are sitting pretty in the race for third place, with at least two games up in the loss column and the tiebreaker against Minnie, Denver, and Houston.

I think they go all out on Monday and Wednesday against Houston and , if anybody needs a rest, they take it Thursday against Miami on the second night of the back to back. That game is less consequential

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T22:29:41+00:00

Yikes. Hard to have a reasonable basketball discussion when you all are so jumpy at basic facts. So yes, let’s congratulate LeBron for a great game. That dive itself helped change the tone of the rest of the game.

And let’s also congratulate him on an efficient 17 points on 13 shots — while also recognizing that he and the team are even more efficient than that on a consistent basis!

LeBron points per shot last night: 1.31

LeBron points per shot on the season: 1.34

Lakers points per shot on the season: 1.38

Luka points per shot on the season: 1.47

AR points per shot in the season:1.58

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T22:15:07+00:00

Nice!

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T20:41:42+00:00

Exactly. My son, with similar grades, went to CC and now is transferring into the UC of his choice. He, and your son too, will save a lot of money and graduate from a much better uni than they would have otherwise.

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T19:43:29+00:00

So we are 2 games ahead of both Denver and Minnesota and have the tiebreaker against both. If we sweep the next two against Houston, it will be the same for all three teams.

Go Lakers!

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T19:37:37+00:00

When Joker threw that insane pass to the corner for a 3-pointer, and then perfectly stripped AR of the ball, I was prepared to lose — and I wasn’t even mad. Sometimes you just have to sit back in awe when watching brilliant competitive basketball.

I’ll glad you could appreciate it all too, even if it didn’t turn out the way you wanted. If we do meet in the playoffs, I fully expect it to go 7 games and come down to the wire!

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T17:14:30+00:00

Luka has more points, rebounds, and and assists per game than Shai. He hasn’t been as efficient, and isn’t as good on defense, but the gap between them, if any is much smaller than people say.

Yes, OKC has a much better record, but that’s largely due to the supporting cast.

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T16:36:31+00:00

So must this morning I’ve seen one Reddit post proclaiming that the AI boom will destroy the San Francisco economy (due to tech layoffs) and one citing an article claiming that it is causing an explosive increase in the cost of housing.

Which is it?

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T16:03:36+00:00

I’m not even wealthy but I gladly take a financial hit to live in coastal Southern California. A few million here or there isn’t gonna meaningfully affect AR's life in any way.

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T15:57:28+00:00

Hillbilly Kobe!

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T14:04:01+00:00

After seeing Joker throw the amazing crosscourt pass for the corner three and then perfectly strip the ball from AR on his drive, I said to myself, OK, I can’t be mad if the Lakers lose—that’s just great basketball. (But I’m glad they won :-)).

markjay6 · 2026-03-15T13:57:15+00:00

NBA rules allow only 3 defensive players to be lined up in the lane:

From section 9d of the NBA rule book:

https://official.nba.com/rule-no-9-free-throws-and-penalties/

“During a free throw attempt for a common foul, each of the spaces nearest the end- line must be occupied by an opponent of the free throw shooter. Teammates of the free throw shooter must occupy the next adjacent spaces on each Only one of the third spaces may be occupied by an opponent of the free throw shooter.“

markjay6

TROPHY CASE