Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Turn out the lights. Cancel the parade plans. Get ready to selloff your Pau Gasol jerseys. This season is over for the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course it was all but over the second Jim Buss drunk dialed Mike D’Antoni on a fateful Sunday night. But I digress…

Phil Jackson couldn’t have saved this season so let’s not even go down that road. Injuries compounded by questionable personnel decisions helped to sabotage an otherwise disappointing season. The expectations were high. Too high in fact.

We expected Dwight Howard to become the cornerstone of the new era of Lakers hoops.

We expected Mitch Kupchak to surround Kobe Bryant with the weapons necessary to pull even with His Airness in ring count.

We expected Steve Nash to steady the ship with his veteran leadership.

We expected Coach D’Antoni to do something he simply cannot – coach a contender.

Our distorted sense of reality was crushed under the weight of the worst home loss in Lakers history last night.

Our hopes faded long ago but were given a gut punch when Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris were inserted into the starting lineup. Talk about adding insult to injury? While I’m a fan of the Mini Mamba and enjoy seeing the progression of Morris even I know their numbers last night were fool’s gold.

But we’re the fools for supporting this subpar team all season long. We saw with our eyes what our hearts had overlooked. This team never had a chance to compete. The end can’t come soon enough. The future, however, is now here. What happens next is anyone’s guess. I’m just guessing that next time we won’t be as eager to anoint our Purple and Gold as anything more than lottery contenders.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The post-Kobe Bryant era began with a reminder that these Lakers aren’t dead yet. For those wanting to author the autopsy of the greatest franchise in sports you’d better make sure to check the pulse first cause the heart of champion still beats. At least for one night it’s still thumping

Tonight’s 91-86 win over the San Antonio Spurs was far from flawless. In fact this game was downright unwatchable at some points as both teams combined to shoot 36% from the field but the result is all that matters.

Desperately needing someone to step up and step in as the new Mamba from a leadership standpoint it was Dwight Howard that set the tone early as the All-Star center asserted himself from the jump. D12 was a dominant force in the paint giving future Hall of Famer Time Duncan all he could handle.

After the dust settled from Dwight’s destruction filled the box with 26, 17 and 3 blocks. But it wasn’t Howard alone that set the tone.

Steve Blake has quietly enjoyed his best season in Purple and Gold as he continues to thrive in the Mike D’Antoni system. On this evening Blake did his best Steph Curry imitation by lighting it up in the first half scoring 18 of his 23 in the first 24 minutes. Blake made 4 of his first 5 triples helping the Lake Show to overcome some careless turnovers and sloppy play.

Pau Gasol came up with some big plays in clutch but overall his impact was felt most on the boards as he cleared the glass 16 times. For those keeping score that’s 33 rebounds between Pau and Dwight. That’s a winning recipe, something the Spurs should take note of in case these two by chance tangle in the first round of the playoffs.

Now make no mistake there were mistakes-a-plenty made by the Lakers tonight. Far too often the Spurs’ best perimeter players were left all alone and Duncan still went off for 23 and 10. None the less this was a quality win and a clear message that this team isn’t going quietly into the night.