Lakers Continue to Be Own Worst Enemy

And just like that the old Lakers are back. Gone are all the good feelings from the renewed championship focus. Gone are the chances of catching the San Antonio Spurs for the top spot in the West. Instead we saw another lackluster loss as the Lake Show allowed another sub .500 team with no playoff hopes to dominate.

The Golden State Warriors, like the Jazz the night before, ended a long losing streak to the Lakers while managing to beat the Lakers at their own game winning 95-87.

If size is supposed to matter then it didn’t last night. With almost no interior presence to speak of, the Warriors owned the paint. Don’t let Andrew Bynum’s 13 and 17 in the box fool you. With the undersized Ekpe Udoh checking him Drew should have dropped a Kevin Love 30 and 20 in Oakland.

Last night pretty much summed up what the Lakers are once again going through.

The Lakers took an early 16-4 lead in the first quarter and then took their foot off the gas. From there out it was as one sided an affair as you’ll see.

The Warriors dominated the Lakers in the second and third quarters. In the middle frames Golden State held the Lake Show to just 32 points. How one of the NBA’s worst defensive teams could do this to one of the league’s best offensive teams is inexplicable.

Once a strength early in the season, the bench is now officially a weakness.

Shannon Brown’s breakout year is looking more like a broke down season. Steve Blake still can’t buy a bucket.

Even with more late heroics and his best shooting night in weeks, Kobe Bryant couldn’t even bail out his lowly squad. The moment that best summed up the night was when KB24 was trapped in a corner, boxed in by two Warriors, late in the fourth and not a single Laker came running to the ball. Bryant called a timeout and then slammed the ball to the floor.

Flustered and frustrated the Lakers now have to go against two playoff teams in the coming days. Tomorrow night its Portland and then on Sunday Oklahoma City. If they’re going to get any of that momentum back then these next two contests are a great way to start. Maybe this team is back to the lethargic mind state of needing a challenge in order to get motivated. Maybe they’re once again bored with the regular season. One thing we do know for sure is that the only thing standing between the Lakers and the three-peat are the Lakers themselves.