The Los Angeles Lakers are officially out of excuses. This team has some serious issues and I’m not sure even Ron Artest’s psychologist could diagnose their problems.
To begin, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were pathetic. The two MVPs combined to shoot 12 of 32 from the field with Gasol putting up just 8 attempts scoring only 8 points. Gasol has the excuse of being tired as he put in another 38 minutes of work. As for KB24, well he’s reverting to Kobe circa 2006 when Mamba thought he had to do it all and trusted only his shadow.
Lamar Odom had his best three quarters of the year. He dropped 25 in the first three frames but posted a goose egg in the fourth. Pretty much a symbol of how the Purple and Gold folded in the clutch.
Worst of all is that Houston pulled out a 109-99 victory without Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks. So much for quick point guards being the Lakers’ poison. Turns out its Shane Battier that’s the Laker killer on the Rockets’ roster.
The biggest problem of all is that this team has yet to dedicate itself to playing D. Until that happens we’re stuck watching the Miami Heat West as a bunch of underachieving All-Stars sluff their way through the regular season.
What this team needs is a day off but that’s exactly what they can’t afford. Not after dropping four straight for the first time since 2007. Again, there are no excuses. The Lake Show was disjoint down the stretch as they allowed Houston to go on a 22-8 run to close this game out.
I’d say it’s time to go back to the drawing board but by the looks of things all this Laker teams wants to do is doodle. For now it’s time to forget about a three-peat, 73 wins was always a pipedream and homecourt could already be lost. Right about now it’s time to get back to basics. This squad is sleepwalking as if this were still the preseason. Then again, this team looked pretty terrible in the preseason too. I guess we should have seen this coming.