A Frustrated Fan ...sharing his disappointment

Wow, what a wonderful and entertaining season. I'm sure any fan would say that if they knew the Lakers were going to make a finals appearance in the preseason they would take it, but seriously, Game 6 made me want to puke.

What a terrible effort by the Lakers in the NBA Finals. How does the #1 offensive team in the NBA just get shut down like it's nothing? I guess the best offense is a good defense, which is what Paul Pierce and the Celtics had, so hats off to those guys. I still think the Lakers are the better team, but in the midst of a nervous and mental breakdown in the Finals I guess they couldn't be. It really is too bad, but I guess now it is time to move on to baseball and be disappointed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unlike the Lakers, the Dodgers have no hope for a huge letdown so I should not feel too bad by the end of the season. What the Dodgers are good at is a slow and steady diet of disappointment, and boy do I have a big appetite for it...

See you next season fellow Lakers fans, and of course I'll be keeping up with the Lakers' off-season and all the stuff that will go on and have zero effect on the upcoming season. Stay tuned, or just don't.

I hope the laid back, glitzy and star struck Staples crowd enjoyed this game and the wonderful surprise of a loss at the end, because it did not appear as if they had any signs of life after the Lakers took their gigantic lead. I am pretty sure the crowd was ready to say "game, set, match and lets leave early" after the Lakers took control of the game, which is what they did, until they realized the Lakers were in trouble by the 4th quarter. By then it was too late my friends, and the Lakers completed their disastrous meltdown of a game by blowing their season with a devastating loss.

The Lakers are now down 3-1 in this series, a deficit which no team in the history of the NBA has ever come back from in the Finals, so that means this series is realistically over. Why would the Lakers want to bother winning three in a row to take the championship? They could not even finish out the second half of Game 4, so why would they bother getting out of bed for Game 5? If the Lakers manage to somehow win Game 5 anyway though, you know the Boston Garden will sick the refs on them for a sure win in Game 6.

What a frustrating NBA Finals experience overall, that much is evident. The Lakers played a semi-decent game by coming back to win Game 2, and just when us loyal fans thought that our team was back in it, they rip our hearts out with a pathetic second half in Game 4. Boston will be laughing this one all the way to the bank, which now has another space cleared out for yet another NBA title.

So Kobe, how does it feel to lose your second consecutive NBA Championships series? Must feel pretty terrible, and although I know you will accept the blame for it....the real blame falls no further than Gasol, Odom, Radmanovich, and every other Laker who only shows up for portions of the game. If all of these guys would put as much heart into basketball as Kobe did, then the Lakers would surely have a another championship. But no, they're all headcases who psych themselves out most of the time.

Hopefully Andrew Bynum will help Kobe win a championship in '09, because this group clearly does not have the ability to get it done.

Here's what Schilling had to say on Kobe's behavior during Game 2 of the NBA Finals vs. the Celtics:

5) Kobe. This one stunned me a little bit. Who doesn't know Kobe Bryant right? I only know what I have heard, starting awhile back with the entire Shaq debacle. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on or about him other than to know that people feel he might be one of the 4-5 greatest players to ever lace it up. What I do know is what I got to see up close and hear, was unexpected. From the first tip until about 4 minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren't doing, or something they did wrong. No dialog about "hey let's go, let's get after it" or whatever. He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team. Then when they made what almost was a historic run in the 4th, during a TO, he got down on the floor and basically said "Let's fucking go, right now, right here" or something to that affect. I am not making this observation in a good or bad way, I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things like this, but I thought it was a fascinating bit of insight for me to watch someone in another sport who is in the position of a team leader and how he interacted with his team and teammates. Watching the other 11 guys, every time out it was high fives and "Hey nice work, let's get after it," or something to that affect. He walked off the floor, obligatory skin contact on the high five, and sat on the bench stone faced or pissed off, the whole game. Just weird to see another sport and how it all works. I would assume that's his style and how he plays and what works for him because when I saw the leader board for scoring in the post season his name sat up top at 31+ a game, can't argue with that. But as a fan I was watching the whole thing, Kobe, his teammates and then the after effects of conversations. He'd yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a "whatever dude" look.

I basically sum up that characterization of Kobe as this: "Hi, My name is Curt Schilling and I know nothing about basketball. I am though an over the hill baseball player who is nursing an injury for half of this baseball season, basically because I can't last a whole year anymore, but since I have all this free time on my hands I'll write something stupid about Kobe Bryant. I'm going to make dumb inferences on a guy who I've never seen play before, and then make him look like a loser who is hated by his teammates. Basically, I'm going to write about ESPN's take on Kobe and put my own little hazy spin on it. That's original. I'm also not sure about anything that doesn't regard baseball, but I'll look at some dumb stat about Kobe and then decide he's a good player. Yes, my name is Curt Schilling, I know nothing about basketball, but I do have a stupid blog that all my Boston stalker fans love. So, in short, although my paragraph is stupidly long, I'm going to repeat my main point over and over until you believe it because I'm Curt Schilling and I know all."

Well, Curt, if you know anything about Kobe Bryant, it is that he is a competitive player who wants to win. Sure he may yell at his teammates, but he is only trying to make them better, and they respect him for it. Kobe has proved this entire year that his goal was to make his team around him better, and throughout this season his teammates have responded. The MVP award, stated by Kobe, was a sign of a total team effort. So, Curt, I'm glad that you tried to bash Kobe's name based on how he acted with his teammates during one of the worst officiated games in NBA Finals history, and now your view of Kobe has been ingrained in all of your fellow Boston diehards. If there's one last thing you should know about Kobe though, Curt, it is that he really doesn't care at all about anything you have to say, because all he cares about right now is having his team play their best basketball in order to bring LA another title.

If this were a football game, I guess the equivalency would be a Celtics linebacker blitzing in for a QB sack on 2nd down, once again laughing himself into a frenzy while standing over the woozy Laker just trying to get back up. Well my friends, there is a reason why boxers get 8-counts, just like there is a reason why in football there is a 3rd down to look forward to, and that reason is that nothing is over until it is over. When the game clock strikes 0.00 and the Celtics lock up their 4th win of the series, then it will be over, but as for now-- it is not over yet. The Celtics have shown that they are a strong home team in the playoffs, but one thing they have failed to show is an ability to win on the road.

So far in the NBA playoffs the Celtics are a dismal 2-6 record on away games, with both wins not coming until Detroit lost in games 3 and 6 of their series. The Celtics were 0-3 against both the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, so that shows that there is still hope for the Lakers. The Lakers are currently undefeated at home, and that streak will have to continue for Kobe and company to have any chances of a stunning comeback for the title.

Because the home and away game system is changed in the NBA Finals, meaning that the system is now a 2-3-2 instead of 2-2-1-1-1 for home vs. away games, the Celtics will have the difficult task of facing the Lakers three consecutive games in Staples Center. The last time the Celtics visited they owned the Lakers, but that was when the Lakers had no Bynum and no Gasol, but they did have a terrible Kwame Brown. Also, that was the odd game in which the Lakers were forced to wear those retro "show time" uniforms, tops and (very high) bottoms, so who knows how that game would have turned out if the Lakers were actually comfortable. The Lakers actually changed back into normal shorts at halftime of that game and made a run in the second half to get close to the Celtics, but Paul Pierce's clutch shooting was too much for the Lakers to overcome in that game.

I'm not going to give any keys to victory or tell the Lakers what to do in order to win against Boston, because at this point it would not really help. The Lakers know what they have to do, and hopefully they will accomplish their goal of winning out at Staples Center. Then maybe, if the Lakers can somehow take a 3-2 series lead over the Celtics, they can somehow steal game 6 or 7 in Boston.

We will all know by late Tuesday night if this Lakers team is willing to fight and get back into this series, but it is up to the Lakers to regain their defensive intensity and put Boston in its place in Game 3. The Lakers need to play a complete game, and if they can do that then they should be in good shape.

That's about as much wishful thinking as I can put up with tonight, so hopefully these words made some Lakers fans feel better. If not, then just think about it this way: At least we're not Clippers fans, and at least our football team isn't a bunch of gutless cheaters.

I guess that would be the one positive note in such disappointment, the fact that the Lakers played terribly yet still had the game within reach going into the 4th quarter. Although Boston's team and fans are composed of individuals who have always fed heavily off of emotion, I must commend them for the statement which was made in Game 1. When Paul Pierce came out of that tunnel after suffering what looked to be a bad injury, Pierce's fans erupted with a loud statement which told the Lakers that they would not be going away quietly in this series. Pierce came back out of the tunnel to fight for a title which has eluded him the past ten years of his career, a title that Kobe Bryant has attained three times, and my guess now is that the Lakers hear Boston's message loud and clear. Boston may have taken Game 1, but look for the Lakers to respond with a message of their own-- a very physical, "fight, scratch, and claw" your way to a victory Game 2. Why do I believe Game 2 is an imperative "must win" game you may ask? Because this entire season Boston has not been beaten 4 out of 5 games at any point, and the Lakers would have to find a way to do just that if they lose Game 2. I have a feeling Kobe Bryant will deliver a great performance in this pivotol game, because no player responds better when his back is up against the wall. Kobe cannot do this by himself though, so his fellow Lakers must deliver.

Reviewing Boston's season a little further, they had two separate instances in which they had losing skids of three games. The first occurence was when they lost three out of four games in the month of January against Charlotte and Washington twice, and the second occurence was when they lost three games in a row to Denver, Golden State, and Phoenix in late February. Unsurpisingly, both of these losing skids had one thing in common: the majority of the losses happened while on the road. Only in the first losing skid did the Celtics lose one of those games at home, and the other five losses came on the road. Now I'm sure the feeble minded Boston Celtics fan will try to say that KG did not play in those games, because we all know he missed a lot of time this season, but I anticipated that rebuttle and confirmed that KG did participate in both losing skids. Infact, he was the leading scorer in 4 out of 6 losing efforts.

So, with that bit of information, what do the Lakers have to accomplish? The easy answer to that question is obviously winning Game 2 at Boston, but lets dig deeper here. What the Lakers have to do is allow KG to have his stats (but not dominate!) because he is a great player, yet limit Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. If the Lakers can effectively contain Allen and Pierce, and keep the rest of the Celtics around their averages, then Kobe and company should have no problem winning Game 2. The Celtics are the most dominant they can be when all three of their superstars feed off of each other in the stats column, but when one or more of the KG, Allen, and Pierce combo struggle, then it is very difficult for them to get a victory. Look at the Celtics and their struggles against the lowly Atlanta Hawks in the first round, which showed because Allen was a nonfactor the whole series. In the next round against Cleveland, KG did not play as well because he was hounded by big men Ben Wallace and Zydruans Ilguaskas, yet the Celtics managed to win that series basically because LeBron had very little offensive help. Against Detroit the Celtics blew a home game, Game 1, and that showed that it was possible to beat this team when they are not at there best-- when Allen was struggling. From Game 2 and forward against Detroit Allen played a lot better in that series, and with the help of Detroit's mentally weak team, the Celtics advanced to the finals.

The Celtics got their confidence as a team back when they eliminated Detroit in Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals because they finally figured out that when they work together as a team they can be very difficult to beat. That is why the Lakers lost Game 1 in the Finals, because they did not play team defense. The Lakers tried to stop the Celtics individually way too much on defense instead of helping each other on rotations, and the Celtics always seemed to find the open man.

On the offensive side of the ball, it was easy to notice that the Lakers were getting good shots, but they just did not convert them. The Celtics play tough interior defense, but the Lakers have to be tougher and drive the ball to the hoop more. Kobe definitely needs to take the ball to the hoop, and if he's not getting fouled for free throws then he should be kicking the ball out to a teammate for an open shot. The player that I am really calling out for Game 2 is Pau Gasol though, because his lack of physicality has made the Lakers look like a weak team. Gasol needs to be more aggressive on offense, and he needs to slam the ball home when he can instead of laying it up and not going strong. Lamar Odom also needs to utilize his athletic ability more, and he needs to get more rebounds. His blocking out, along with Gasol, was flat out terrible. PJ Brown and Kendrick Perkins should never outrebound Gasol and Odom, ever.

So with all of that, here are the main keys to beating the Celtics in Game 2:

1) Kobe must guard Ray Allen, and shut him down. This will be a tough task because the Lakers demand so much of Kobe on the offensive end, but Kobe will have to find a way to buckle down and give everything he has to stop Allen on the defensive side. If Kobe can limite Allen to around 15 points, the Lakers will be in good shape.
2) Make Paul Pierce work for his points, and guard the 3-point line! Pierce had a 4-point play which killed the Lakers' lead early in the 3rd quarter, and his back-to-back threes also hurt the Lakers badly. I think Lamar Odom should guard Pierce, and that should force him to try to utilize his quickness advantage and drive to the hoop more. When Pierce tries to dump the ball off to KG when Gasol meets him in the lane, it will also be very important for the Lakers to rotate on the backside and stop this from happening.
3) Keep Sam Cassell on the bench! This guy has been a nonfactor all year, yet Fisher let Cassell make three straight baskets over him in the second quarter. This was a huge boost because KG and Pierce were resting at the time, and it just killed the Lakers because it made each team trade baskets.
4) Get Ariza more involved. This guy is a great defender, and I know he can do a better job on Pierce if the Lakers feel that Odom should be used to guard Perkins. Radmanovich only lasted 17 min against Pierce, was in foul trouble the whole time, and just looked awful. Ariza is a lot quicker than Radmanovich, and could put up a better fight against Pierce defensively if given the chance.
5) Box out! Although several of the Celtics offensive rebounds should have been called for an "over the back foul," the Lakers need to do a better job rebounding on the defensive end. PJ Brown should never be allowed to get 2nd chance points, along with Perkins. Gasol also needs to be more physical with Garnett and limit his opportunities on the offensive boards. That dunk which Garnett had all over Gasol was embarassing, and Gasol should be ashamed of himself for not boxing out on that big 4th quarter play.
6) Gasol and Odom need to be physical beasts. I've hinted at this all article, but I'm going to restate my point: When Odom and Gasol dominate, the Lakers are flat out unstoppable. Kobe will always be productive, but it just makes it so much difficult when Odom and Gasol decided to disappear. I especially want to see Gasol be the dominating all-star presence he is.
7) Cut down on the fouling. Boston received 35 free throws, and that is way too many.


If the Lakers follow all of those keys then they will win Game 2, but it will not be easy and it will take a lot of teamwork. I know the Lakers can improve on their effort from Game 1, but I'm not sure if Boston can. Boston played one of their best all around games, and although they beat the Lakers, we all know that the Lakers played terribly. Kobe will be ready to go, and I'm sure Phil Jackson has made some changes. Now all we have to do is wait and see if the Lakers have it in them to steal Game 2, and shake the Celtics up before heading back to LA for three straight games.

Everyone will be watching this series, not only Boston and L.A. fans, but also numerous people who are quasi interested in basketball. I will predict right now that this will be the most watched series since Michael Jordan won his last championship over the Utah Jazz in 1998. Now, I will personally share with you my Top 10 reasons why I wanted the Lakers and the Celtics to match up in the finals:

#10) I can't stand Richard Hamilton, and there's no way I would have enjoyed watching him and his stupid mask.

#9) Tim Duncan in another NBA Finals is about as exciting as sitting in traffic on the 405 Freeway at 5:30 in the afternoon in LA.

#8) Lakers vs. Celtics sounds a lot better than Spurs vs. Pistons, just to be honest.

#7) Phil Jackson sitting in his orthopedic chair and blocking high paying Celtics fans from viewing the court will be hilarious.

#6) Boston fans love to complain about everything, and it sure would be funny to watch the team with the best record in the NBA pull a "New England Patriots."

#5)Kobe will resurrect that silent grudge he's been holding against Ray Allen, who he despises, and Ray will be reminded of just how old he is.

#4) If the Spurs made the finals then all I would get to see is Eva Longoria on the sideline, but the Lakers will bring out every hot actress, model, or simply gold digging trophy wife imaginable. There's not much I can say for Detroit or Boston though, too bad.

#3) Lakers fans will be chanting Kobe's name at Dodger Stadium again, and we all know that's not the first time it's happened...I wonder what Paul Lo Duca will think about that...oh wait, he's in New York, I mean Washington, whatever.

#2) Phil Jackson will school Doc Rivers in every facet of the game, and Boston fans will never let Rivers forget about it.

#1) More kids in need will receive clothing in Nicaragua, with the shirts reading this time around, "Boston Celtics: 2008 NBA Champions!"


There you have it, and goooo Lakers!

He added 13 more points from the free throw line, and aside from missing 4 free throws he had a very solid game. Pau Gasol was visibly back to his old self and filled the stat sheets once again, while the Lakers' X-factor, Lamar Odom, had several exhilarating dunks that sent the home crowd into a frenzy. In my Game 5 predictions I stated that Lamar Odom should be given the ball more because there is nobody on the Jazz capable of stopping him, and it looks like the Lakers did just that. Odom was a force to be reckoned with, and ended the game with yet another double-double. Vladamir Radmanovich also chipped in some timely 3-pointers, which took the Jazz players' hearts out, but in the end one of the defining plays of the game came from Jordan Farmar, who extended a late 1-point fourth quarter lead by making and converting a three point play. The Lakers never found themselves behind in the score in this game, so hopefully they can take the momentum from today's win and use it to finish off Utah in Game 6.

One of the keys to the Game 5 victory was definitely the turnover margin. I stated in previous post that the Lakers must cut down on their careless mistakes, and although they did just barely, they still had four less turnovers than the Jazz. Carlos Boozer was also not allowed to go nuts like he did in Game 3, but he still had a decent came. I characterize Boozer's 18 points and 12 rebounds as more of a containment by the Lakers, because Boozer was far from dominant. Deron Williams once again lit up the Lakers, but Kobe's efficient game ended up canceling out the young Jazz guard's great performance. The Lakers do not really appear to have an answer to Williams' great offense, but Derek Fisher is doing all he can to guard him.

If the Lakers want to close this series out on Friday night in Utah, then they need to do the following things:

1) Ignore the home crowd-- The Lakers will get terrible calls there as usual, but they cannot let the crowd feed off of their frustration
2) Quiet the crowd-- If Lamar Odom has more dunks in Utah like he did tonight at Staples, you will hear a pin drop in the Jazz' arena.
3) Contain Boozer-- Do not let him get a 20/20 performance, of else Game 7 will be sure to occur.
4) Guard the arc-- Mehmet Okur lives in this area, but he is not nearly as accurate with a hand in his face.
5) Limit the turnovers-- the Lakers won Game 5 with 14 turnovers, which is semi-decent, but they need to decrease that number to around 10 in Utah. The Utah players feed off of points off turnovers, and so does their crowd.

If you notice one thing about these predictions, it is that most of them have to do with the Jazz crowd. The Jazz as a team are far better at home than on the road, and I just have to admit that their crowd has something to do with that. The Lakers will need to take the lead early and maintain it, and also find a way to hold off the Jazz when they make their 3rd quarter run. For some reason the Lakers are just not a 3rd quarter team, so they need to have a strong first half to make up for it. By the time the 4th quarter rolls around the Jazz fans will feel a position of desperation, and then a few late shots by Kobe and company should rip their hearts out. Let's see if the Lakers can put this thing away, and we all know that 3rd time's the charm in Utah.

That discrepancy may make a few NBA fans suspicious of the Jazz's home cooking, including me, but I will still give them credit for frustrating the Lakers and evening up the series. The key to upsetting the Lakers in game 3 was Jazz center, Carlos Boozer. Boozer was a no-show in Los Angeles, but in Utah he had 27 points and 20 rebounds, not to mention a dominating performance over Pau Gasol. Gasol managed to get back to his consistent play in game 4, yet it was Jazz point guard Deron Williams who put on a show. Williams thoroughly put a smack down on Derek Fisher, and backup guard Jordan Farmar had no idea what truck rolled him flat. While on the subject of Jordan Farmar, I would like to point out that the former UCLA Bruin has not been representing his alma mater very well, as he has shot 1 for 16 at one point in this series. He also let a routine chest pass fly right through his hands and out of bounds in game 4, which turned out to be one of many costly and irresponsible Laker turnovers. If the Lakers want to take the upper-hand in this series and defeat the Jazz to win game 5, then they must make better decisions and execute more on the offensive end. Their passing has to improve and they need to score more baskets on assists. At the defensive end they also must make the Jazz work harder for their points. Games 3 and 4 were just too easy for the Jazz, so the Lakers need to toughen up and re-establish their dominance.

To sum it all up, if the Lakers do the following things then they will win Game 5:
- Defend the 3-point line-- Mehmet Okur has been given way too many open shots, and he needs to have a hand in his face.
- Rebound on both ends of the floor-- This needs to be done especially at the defensive end, because the Jazz are getting way to many second chance points.
- Limit the turnovers-- Turnovers happen, but the Lakers have been making some really stupid ones. I counted at least 5 occasions when the Lakers got a steal on defense and then quickly turned the ball back over to the Jazz at the offensive end. This simply cannot happen anymore, and the Lakers need to capitalize on points off of turnovers.
- Give Lamar Odom more looks-- has anyone noticed that the Jazz do not have anyone to stop this guy???? He has been going crazy on offense and defense, yet for some reason he's not getting the ball. Give LO the ball!
- Bench Jordan Farmar-- I'm sorry, Jordan, but your play has been pathetic. I know that Sasha Vujacic can do a better job in your place, so only Sasha should be rotated with Fisher for the rest of the series.
- Involve Gasol early-- I think that Gasol plays much better when he gets into an early groove, so Kobe should look to get Gasol the ball in the 1st quarter. We know Kobe can finish the game and score at will, but he needs that early push from Gasol.


So there you have it, and hopefully the Lakers listen to the prescribed advice. If they don't, then I'm sure Game 6 in Utah will not be very pleasant.

I still cannot believe that Steve Nash became the first player in the league since Michael Jordan retired to win two consecutive MVP's, and to this day I still have no problems at all saying that those awards should have gone to Kobe. The word "defense" is not in Steve Nash's vocabulary, as he has never been found on any All-NBA defensive team, let alone the third team. Kobe, on the other hand, has consistently been a First Team All-NBA Defensive Player selection throughout his career. He can burn any team on offense, yet shut down any team's best player on defense. A few seasons ago people thought that Kobe would win the MVP because he had one of the most prolific scoring streaks since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960's, yet Kobe finished 3rd in the voting. Last year Kobe thoroughly dominated the NBA, putting on one of the greatest offensive performances in league history by scoring 81 on Toronto, yet once again he did not win the MVP. The difference between this year and the past is that sports writers (and voters) have claimed that Kobe has not been able to make his team better, like Nash with Phoenix, but this year Kobe has proven without a shadow of a doubt that he is capable of making his team better while being the most dominating player in the league. The Lakers finished with the #1 seed in the toughest Western Conference of all time, so it was only right that the best player on the best team would win the MVP, and this year it was finally Kobe. Congratulations Kobe, too bad you had to have Brian Grant, Chucky Atkins, Smush Parker, Chris Mihm (still) and Kwame Brown on your team the last few years...let's see what Nash would have done with that group.

Looking at the way the MVP voting is done, it is easy to notice that often times the best player in the league does not win it. Nowadays the winner of the NBA's most prestigious individual award must be the best player on the best team, but Kobe was a victim of the system because of the lack of talent around him until this season. Do not mistake this at all: This was no lifetime achievement award. This isn't Karl Malone being given the MVP at the cost of Michael Jordan. This isn't Tim Duncan robbing Shaq of two consective MVP's. What this is, in this 2008 season, is the acknowledgement that Kobe Bryant is now considered the best player in the NBA.

Sports Illustrated has done several polls over the last few seasons which have asked NBA players what player they fear in the NBA the most, and in every poll the majority of the players have stated that Kobe is the most feared player. I do not care what any fan in the NBA says, if their team is down by 1 point with 5 seconds remaining, they hope to God that Kobe is on it to take the last shot. If the USA Olympic Team is tied with 1 second left in the championship game against Manu Ginobili and Argentina, America wants Kobe Bryant to take the gold medal winning shot. Why wouldn't it be that way? Kobe has dominated the NBA for many years, including players such as Ginobili.

This year there is no controversy, there is no "this player should have won it," because everyone knows that Kobe is the best player in the league. Hopefully the Lakers will add an NBA Championship to this great accomplishment, because they have the best chance of doing it, and they are led by the fiercest and most competitive player in the league.

Kobe Bryant scored 53 points against Memphis, yet he barely received any help from the rest of the Lakers, and that is inexcusable. The Lakers have now fallen to third place in the Western Conference playoff standings, but at least they are still only one game out from the number one seed. Hopefully Pau Gasol comes back next game because the Lakers need him desperately, as they have been playing like an average .500 ball club stuck in a downward spiral of underachievment.

The Lakers have now lost their last two games to teams (Memphis and Charlotte) with a combined total of 47 wins. That is less than the Lakers currently have by themselves, which shows how big of a disappointment this team has been. It is understandable that the Lakers would not play as well without Gasol because of a lack of an inside presence, but the way they have been playing the last ten games has been truly pathetic. This Lakers team still has a lot of talent, yet they are just getting worked by no-name players from cellar-dwellar basketball teams. Their defense is getting shredded not only in the interior, but from the outside as well. They look like a swiss-cheese defense, that's how many holes they have right now. I certainly hope the Lakers do not think they will just be able to "flip the switch" when playoff time comes around, because aside from Kobe and Fisher, this team does not have the playoff experience to dominate in that fashion. Gasol will be rusty when he returns, and certainly Bynum's timing and stamina will be down due to not playing in over two months, so the Lakers better find a way to get their act together in order to have an easy tranition into the playoffs.

This loss now drops the Lakers to the #3 seed position with only ten games left to play, and it also means that the Lakers have been eliminated from a possible 60-win season. Also, Kobe's two technical fouls were his fourteenth and fifteenth of the season, meaning that one more gets him an automatic one-game suspension. Once again Kobe did have a good game though, but the lack of a true inside presence eventually proved to be the Lakers' downfall. They simply cannot win a game, or lose a high percentage of the time, without a legitimate big man in the starting lineup. Luckily though, Pau Gasol should be back very soon and I have now read several reports that say Andrew Bynum will be returning in early April. Once the Lakers have Gasol and Bynum in their lineup again things should get easier for Kobe and Odom, but until then they are going to have to weather this storm.

The Western Conference is so tight these days that one loss can drop a team more than a few spots in the standings, as is what happened to the Lakers tonight, but things could be worse. Look at the Dallas Mavericks for example, all-star Dirk Nowitski could be out for the rest of this season. If you think the Lakers struggle without a big man, then Dallas' problems will seem like doomsday. Jason Kidd has already proven that he cannot carry the load, like Kobe can most of the time, so the Mavericks and Mark Cuban are in a world of hurt.

Once Gasol comes back the Lakers should be back to their dominating ways, and hopefully it will be in time to attain the #1 seed. Having home court advantage in this playoff race will be crucial, especially because the West is so competitive this year.

Kobe then decided to take over, and with a slashing drive he slam dunked the ball to seal the game. Jazz fans were very angered at the effort of their home team, and at the end of the game through drinks on the floor. I guess that's what happens when Kobe and the Lakers have such a dominating performance, because this game was not only a steal for the Lakers, but a statement to the league that the #1 Western Conference playoff seed still belongs to them.

The only big man on the Jazz who the Lakers had to deal with was Carlos Boozer, but Lamar Odom and Turiaf had an equal size advantage when guarding him. The Jazz also were not good defensively, as Kobe broke them down repeatedly. Now with Gasol set to return from injury the Lakers should be due to make another nice run before the playoffs.

Lakers' center, Andrew Bynum, also resurfaced in the news today, and now it appears that he will return to action within the next two weeks. Only a few days ago it was believed that Bynum would be out until playoff time, but I guess the Lakers were just having some fun with the media. This will be a huge boost for the Lakers, and hopefully Bynum will get back into shape and into a groove before the playoffs begin.