NBA Round-Up: Lakers Still Rule LA, Sixers Surge While Knicks Struggle

A weekly wrap up of the best Latino headlines in the NBA.

Lakers Losing Their Edge? Not So Fast.

When the Lakers stopped a three-game losing skid stopped last week after beating the now-relevant Clippers, someone asked if it meant that the Lakers, were once again champs of the area.

Kobe Bryant reminded the guy that the Lakers were actually the ones that had won five NBA titles during the last 12 seasons.

Winners of 17 titles in total, it's definitely hard for the Clippers to walk into the Staples Center and wonder whether they're the home team, or the tenant that pays rent to the Lakers, especially with all the yellow banners hanging from the rafters.

The Lakers still have a lot of areas to improve in, especially at the point guard position and could add another scorer to the bench, areas where the other Los Angeles team, led by Chris Paul, definitely has an edge.

But let's just remember the Lakers still have Bryant, perhaps still the game's top clutch player. They also have two of the best big men in the game in Pau Gasol and Andruw Bynum and could totally shift the power balance if they can somehow get Orlando's Dwight Howard to put on Lakers’ colors.

While the Paul and Blake Griffin-led Clippers have indeed claimed a share of the back pages of the papers, they don’t own Southland just yet.

The fact that they now are truly relevant for the first time ever does however make it for interesting basketball talk and just speaks volumes of the job ownership is now doing.

It’s tough to knock what they have accomplished so far this season, but they will have to do a lot more (especially in the playoffs) to get mentioned alongside L.A.’s other basketball team.

As Bryant told the writer that bravely mentioned if the Lakers still ran the town, "You gotta be joking" if you think the Clippers now have the city all to themselves.”

Sixers Enter Tough Schedule Stretch

Despite starting the shortened season with a string of road games, with a 15-6 record the Philadelphia 76ers
are off to their best start in almost a decade. While Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday and the rest of the Sixers’ team have gelled well early on, the young squad will need to keep up their pace in the upcoming weeks.

The Doug Collins’-coached team, who have won 11 of 13 at home this season, have that tough Philly crowd behind them at home for what's going to be a critical 10-day stretch. The Sixers won an ugly game over Orlando Magic and now will welcome the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat this week.

Another tough Eastern Conference team awaits them in Atlanta and then it's back home to host the Lakers, Spurs and Clippers. Not an easy task.

D'Antoni and the Struggling Knicks

Mike D'Antoni knows that the heat will fall on him as the high-touted Knicks keep losing and losing. It's just the way it is in New York, where fans and the media lay the blame on the man in the suit when team’s don’t win.

There 7-13 record and nine loses in their last 10 games have made matters worse for D’Antoni.

Carmelo Anthony has missed his last two games as he tries to heal his right ankle, left wrist and right thumb injuries that have bugged him for weeks now.

"Any time teams are losing, that's the first thing that comes to mind,"
Anthony said about his coach’s security. "We support Mike 100 percent. He's here with us. We're here with him. We're going to roll with that."

Adry Torres, who has covered MLB, NFL, NBA and NCAA basketball games and related events, is a regular contributor to Fox News Latino. He can be reached at elpiloto137@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @adrytorresnyc.