Good evening, ladies and gents. Tonight begins "Hell Week", as the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Garden for the only time this season. The last matchup with Kobe and friends resulted in sheer heartbreak, so we're all hoping things go differently this evening. There are some different forces at play in this one. One is that Andrew Bynum is out for quite a while with a torn MCL, while Pau Gasol (absent in the last matchup) will play. While we won't miss Bynum's ability to intimidate, Pau's outside touch and passing could cause problems. Bryant and Odom always bring their best against the Knicks as well, so I hope Jared Jeffries is healthy enough to play the pest. New York's also got home court and a nice head of steam on their side, which will hopefully be enough to steal the first of these three impossible games.
I'm probably going to miss the first half of this one, but will hustle back for the second. Keep the game thread alive in my absence, and drop them comments. Go Knicks.