Game-by-Game Predictions for Lakers' Homestand After Mike Brown Firing

The Los Angeles Lakers decided that enough was enough with Mike Brown as their head coach and dumped him before their homestand that kicked off with a Friday night win over the Golden State Warriors.

It might not have been a marquee win, but it was one to put in the left-hand column, rather than the right-hand column, so I can't imagine people are complaining out in Los Angeles.

The point here is that the Lakers seem to be undefeated without Brown on the sidelines. Coincidence? I think not.

For the time being, Bernie Bickerstaff will be manning the team, but over the course of this homestand, we could see a new face on the sidelines, or perhaps even a new old face if Phil Jackson decides that this is the team he wants to come back and coach.

With Brown out of town and change on the doorstep, let's take a look at what we can expect from the Lakers over the rest of their six-game homestand, which could be a pivotal moment early on in this young season.

Sunday Nov. 11th vs. Sacramento Kings

This Lakers-Kings matchup that comes around later tonight is actually pretty interesting. The Kings and Lakers are both 2-4, and both teams have wins over the Detroit Pistons and the Golden State Warriors.

Now Sacramento did win those games by a combined four points, while the Lakers took the two down by a total of 53 points, so there is a bit of a difference between the two, even though they boast the same record.

This Kings team is incredibly interesting, but they aren't a good basketball team. They've got a starting five that features three guys who are absolute black holes with Isaiah Thomas, DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans. Then they've got another three coming off the bench who are miniature black holes.

Needless to say, all the Lakers need to do is shut down a few guys and force one player to beat them, which is highly unlikely.

Prediction: Lakers 104, Kings 89

Tuesday Nov. 13th vs. San Antonio Spurs

This is where things will start to get interesting. Los Angeles will be playing what is arguably the best team in the Western Conference centered around a few old guys who will be coming off two big days of rest.

Tim Duncan absolutely thrived on rest last season, as did the rest of the Spurs squad. As a team they won all seven of their games coming off two days of rest in 2012, while Duncan was his most efficient after getting that extra day off.

It's hard to say how much the extra rest will affect them this early on the season, but I doubt it has too big a negative change on the team, and in all likelihood they'll come out spry and ready to play.

San Antonio's continuity from last season has been a big reason for their fast start, and it's going to be difficult to slow these guys down without them being physically tired.

The Spurs' unity and teamwork should send the Lakers to another loss.

Prediction: Spurs 102, Lakers 96

Friday Nov. 16th vs. Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns shouldn't be a problem for the top teams in the Western Conference, but as we've seen so far this season, the Lakers have no problem losing to teams that they should beat.

What comprises the biggest threat in with the Suns is their ability to get out and run. While they're not the fast-paced team the Suns were with Steve Nash at the helm, they do happen to be a team that doesn't let the shot clock wind down deep into each possession.

If they're hitting shots (which is possible) and Marcin Gortat is grabbing offensive rebounds and blocking shots (which he's done in every game so far this season), then they could be a difficult team to slow down.

That being said, Los Angeles just took down a similarly staffed team in the Golden State Warriors, and so long as their defense holds up long enough to grab a lead and start some nice fast breaks, they should be able to dispatch of the Suns with some amount of ease.

Prediction: Lakers 109, Suns 99

Sunday Nov. 18th vs. Houston Rockets

Beardsanity crashes into Los Angeles a week from now as the only team with more questions left to be answered than the Lakers looks to come in and grab a win.

Jeremy Lin hasn't been terrific so far this season, but he's been good enough for the Rockets to win a few games. Of course, however, the biggest reason for Houston's success has been James Harden's run-and-gun play from the start of the season.

He's had his good games and his bad games, but most importantly, Harden has showed off that he is capable of running an offense and scoring bushels of points at a time.

What should concern Rockets fans is that the Rockets have three wins, two of which have come against the Detroit Pistons.

That doesn't seem like it should frighten other teams at this point, and the Rockets' firepower shouldn't be enough to match up with the offense that the Lakers are running, which has done rather well so far this season.

Prediction: Lakers 104, Rockets 97

Tuesday Nov. 20th vs. Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets continue to confuse me, and maybe by the time they show up in Los Angeles a week from Tuesday, we'll know more about them. But for now, Brooklyn is a weird team.

The Nets started out the season by predictably beating the Raptors, then they completely fell apart against the Timberwolves, blowing a 22-point lead to lose by 11 points a few days later. Follow that up by a predictable drubbing at the hands of the Miami Heat and we're back on track.

At that point it looked as if their defense would be a huge hurdle for them to jump as the team moves forward, but then they went even further to confuse everybody. Brooklyn came out Friday and held Orlando to a meager 68 points, and then they played them again a few days later and held them to 70.

I'd have a better shot at picking the least poisonous snake out of a bucket than I would of predicting the score of this one with any kind of accuracy. One thing I'm somewhat confident about, however, is that the Lakers have the better team. 

Prediction: Los Angeles 102, Nets 95