The Official Site of Jordan Farmar

Wed, Jun 3rd 2009, 10:12

Jordan's Playboy.com blog: Five on 5 - June 2, 2009

Hey, what’s up guys? If you’ve followed this blog all season, you know that before our home opener earlier this season, I spoke for our team, saying, “Everybody in the building knows we left off on the wrong foot last season. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.” Fans were excited about how we had things rolling last season but were disappointed how we closed off the 2008 Finals against the Celtics. We were so close to winning the 15th franchise title but we didn’t achieve our goal. Well, we’re back in the Finals, and we’ve got unfinished business. There’s “4 Mo” to go in our battle with Orlando that tips off June 4 at Staples.

It’s extremely special to pull on the purple and gold for one of the most successful sports franchises worldwide. I grew up in L.A. being a Lakers fan, so I have a unique emotional relationship with the franchise. Hey, and what’s not to like? I’m in my third season, playing for my second world title, and just before that I played for a national championship with the UCLA Bruins in college. I’ve been fortunate to be part of some big games, but I’ve been on the losing end twice. So I’m really looking forward to getting it done this time! I’m excited to be going out there and help out anyway I can, and hopefully in two weeks or so, I hope to be holding the trophy and be able to say I’m a world champion.

Denver in the Western Finals was a good test. Lamar said experience is the best teacher, that you learn from the struggle, from being battle tested. We’ve just played 13 games in 26 days. We responded really well, our starters did their special thing, and everybody contributed something during the series. I led the team in points off the bench in one game. Sasha hit some three-pointers. Shannon had a big Game Five. My guy Luke (10 points) and Lamar (20 points) had some big buckets off the bench in the clincher where it was a total team effort showing our versatility and depth as a team. We figured out how to play together during some really tightly contested games, and it’s worked out to make us even more deadly.

How do our Finals opponents, the Orlando Magic, shape up? We know we can beat anybody. We beat the Celtics and Cavs, the top two Eastern teams, back to back on the road earlier in the season. But even though we were 0-2 against Orlando, it’s not about how you played then, but how you play now. They are a very good basketball team and that’s why they’re in the NBA Finals. They share the ball and defensively they try to get after it. They play an inside-outside game, inside to Dwight Howard and then outside to their really good three-point shooters like Lewis, Alston, and Pietrus. They led the NBA in that category. They have a lot of talent, with Dwight down inside and power forwards like Turkoglu who stretch the floor. They shoot a lot of threes, and that will keep them in any game if they’re knocking them down. We’ve seen them down by twenty, then come back and win games because of their three-point shooting.

So what’s the key to winning? You can score all the points in the world but if you can’t stop your opponents, you’re going to lose. You could be scoring 100, 105, 107 points every night but if you give up 108, you lose. So, if you can defend, if you contain their penetration, if you give them tougher looks and stop them getting into the lane easily and getting uncontested offensive rebounds, things like that, well, you still score those points and that’s where you win championships.

Did you guys see that ESPN story on Lamar’s thing for sweets? On the court, he’s a monster. But off the court, he’s like a big kid and he stashes his candies all over the place. When we’re on the plane or playing video games in our hotel, he’s always pulling out bags of Lifesaver gummies, Hershey’s cookies, Snickers, Nibs. You name it, he’s got it, man. As for me, I eat the same food pretty much during the whole year, not just during the NBA season. I include a combo of both meat or fish and vegetables or pasta. But I’m definitely a meat-and-potatoes type of guy, and I love steaks, but I’ll also include some healthy stuff. With my steak, I’ll have mashed potatoes and/or macaroni and cheese, then toss in some broccoli or some other veggie, the whole get up. I eat out most of the time, but on occasion I will cook. If push came to shove, I can pretty much whip up anything. I do know how to cook but because of time, I mostly don’t. I can put a pasta dish together like fettucini alfredo, maybe throw in some chicken, something pretty simple.

One more thing about the Lakers. As good as people say we are—the media often say we’re “the most talented and deepest” team—NBA teams at this level are all good. They’re not going to roll over and let you walk over them, regardless of how good you’re supposed to be. That’s why we play the game, no matter who you have you still got to come out and play. You can’t expect to win every game. Teams are fighting for their lives, they want to win as bad as we do, they’re not going to make it easy for us.

Thanks to all my fans at Playboy.com and Farmarlive.com. Here’s to a great NBA Finals. Check in next week when I’ll be blogging from Orlando.

—JFarm