Former UCLA Bruin Earl Watson made the Lakers his bitch today. In only 19 minutes of playing time he shot 4/5 for 12 pts and racked up 5 boards, 5 assists, and 4 steals. What were the Lakers to do? There was nothing they could do to stop Watson, Mr. Jesus Ray Allen and the rest of the Sonics. Their defense was more porous than a 15 year old's face. The only hope they had to match a Bruin's intensity was to stick their own Bruin out there, but Jordan Farmar just couldn't keep up tonight. Still, 3-1 ain't bad.

With that said, both the Clippers and the Lakers have gotten off to decent starts on the season. The Clips sit at 2-1 and the Lakes are the aforementioned 3-1. The Lakers can't afford a shitty start, as 16 of their first 20 are at Staples. That means a lot of road games in the future. Kobe's still getting into shape, but the rest of the team looks phenomenal. Andrew Bynum is no longer a juvenile delinquent and Lamar Odom looks like he's finally been off the weed long enough to realize, "I'm pretty fuckin' good when I'm not high." The Clippers are starting to look better as well. After a rusty loss in the opener, they bounced back to trounce the Suns and actually showed a bit of cohesiveness. One problem: Mike Dunleavy still can't coach. We'll see if that kills the team in the playoffs again like it did last year (Inevitable).

Sidenote on the Suns: They look more glaringly beatable now than they ever have since Steve Nash arrived. Without a healthy Amare, they look like they all got punched in the gut. It's as if last season they were just hoping to hold the fort until their wunderkind came back, but now it looks like that might never happen again. Of course, I could be wrong. It could just be they lost all of their powers when Steve "Samson" Nash decided to cut his hair.

Here's how I see the Pacific Division playing out this year:
1) Clippers - Looks like we got the good Tim Thomas-for now...
2) Suns - The Clips abused them inside the other night.
3) Lakers - Ronny Turiaf may be French, but I still like him.
4) Kings - Ron Artest's new CD makes Sexy Back look not as sexy.
5) Warriors - I'm sorry, they're the Arizona Cardinals of the NBA. MDJTT needs to step it up.

The Western Conference playoffs:
1 Spurs over 8 Jazz in 5 - AK sleeps with Eva Longoria. Tony Parker gets revenge with 40 ppg.
2 Mavs over 7 Hornets in 4 - Too Much Dirk.
3 Clippers over 6 Rockets in 6 - Yao's party is crashed by Kaveman.
5 Lakers over 4 Suns in 7 - Kobe runs circles around Raja.

1 Spurs over 5 Lakers in 6 - Andrew Bynum rips Timmy D on his My Space page, gets ass handed to him.
2 Mavs over 3 Clippers in 7 - Too Much Dirk.

2 Mavs over 1 Spurs in 6 - Too Much Dirk.

NBA Finals:
Mavs over Pistons in 6 - Too Much Dirk.

This is the year Dirk finally gets his ring. They won't be blowing any 2-0 leads this time around. You'll see. You'll all see...