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A face only the entire basketball universe could love. (note also special cameo appearance from my hand)

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I am slowly working my way through the last couple of Lakers games and digging into the numbers. I will have more on that later in the week. Probably with charts and maybe even a graphs. Joy!

I will say this, though: I am getting more confident and not less as I get more into the research. I am not the slightest bit impressed with the Lakers sweep over the Jazz.

Utah was playing with basically Deron Williams -- who's hurt and will reportedly need surgery on his shooting arm -- Carlos Boozer, and Paul Milsap -- who are essentially the same guy: undersized power forwards who have skill but can't match the Lakers size. CJ Miles and Wes Matthews are good bench role players forced into big minutes, Kyle Korver who can shoot but not defend, and they had to rely on 18 minutes per game from Kyrylo Fresenko, which would be like playing Jarron Collins 18 minutes per game but a little bigger, a lot goofier and a ton more wet behind the ears.

I wasn't all that impressed with the Jazz when they were healthy, without Okur and half a series from Kirilenko that was train wreck waiting to happen.

And yet the Jazz still scored 102 points per game and got a lot of open looks for guys that just can't be counted on to make big shots in the playoffs. The Suns are a MUCH better team than the Jazz right now. The Lakers fans really should be embarrassed that they almost lost two games and they never were able to get separation. That series should have been as big of a blowout as the Magic over the Hawks, except the Hawks would have beaten the Jazz, too.

One myth I think we can bust this week is that the Lakers play good pick and roll defense. Stay tuned for more on that.

Programming Notes:

• Yours truly is traveling to LA for Games 1 and 2. While I can't wear my colorz at the game, you can count on orange undies and my #31 jersey will be along for the ride one way or another.
• As Trevor alluded to earlier today, we have a VERY special surprise planned for tomorrow. It's gonna be way cooler than having Roger Mason, Jr posting on our site.
• We are putting together a podcast with our brethren at Silver Screen and Roll. That should drop on Thursday sometime and Suns fans, I have bad news for you. Not all Lakers fans fit the stereotype. Some are just decent people who happen to root for their home team.
• In case you care (and you really should b/c it is awesome), the Phoenix Mercury kick off their championship defense season on Saturday, 11am versus the LA Sparks. How fitting. $10 for lower bowl seats to chant "Beat LA" and see the two best female basketball players on the planet. What a deal. Our coverage of the Mercury this season will be over at Swish Appeal. If there's interest this summer, we can put together a boys night at the Mercury game. I am sure I can get us a sweet deal.
  
• We've got lots more WCF coverage planned for this week. I will be downtown at practice, so if you have specific questions before the series, this is a good time to let me know.
• Oh, and I am going to try and get another live chat with a player set up (I have to remember to ask tomorrow. I keep forgetting, so you guys remind me in the morning, k?)