Lakers GIF Report Card: Week 5

The Lakers report card for Week 5 of the 2015-16 season using GIFs

The Los Angeles Lakers are in a strange position right now in a number of ways. Not only are they bottom-feeders in terms of the NBA standings, but Kobe Bryant’s announcement regarding his retirement at the end of this season adds a level of emotion that wasn’t there previously.

Kobe’s pending retirement paints the 2015-16 season in at least somewhat of a different light. The Lakers are still more than likely going to be low on wins at the end of the year, but the focus on the team seems to have now switched to this being the Kobe Farewell Tour more than anything else.

And really, Bryant deserves the farewell tour. Despite his performance so far this season, he’s an all-time great and a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. He’s meant so much to the Lakers organization, Lakers fans, and to the NBA as a whole that he deserves to be treated like a legend as he departs.

There’s no denying that Kobe’s retirement will be felt in everything that happens for the rest of the year, but the season will wear on nonetheless. Subsequently, it’s still necessary to look at everything that’s happening with the Lakers in terms of the present and what it could mean for the future.

Again, there’s no better way to go about that than using the language of the Internet: GIFs. This is the Lakers GIF Report Card for the fifth week of the 2015-16 season.

Kobe’s Announcement:

Bryant announcing he was retiring at the end of this season was, before anything else, an utter shock to Lakers fans and people around the league. Everyone knew that his career would come to a close at least sometime soon, but finding out that there is less than a full season left to say goodbye is a completely jarring revelation.

That wasn’t the only emotion that Kobe’s retirement announcement brought about, though. Once fans were able to process what was happening and that a legend was telling everyone that this is it for him as a basketball player, the emotions and reactions shifted gears.

Kobe’s Announcement Sinking In:

Prior to Sunday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers yet after Kobe made his announcement, the mood of the fans and around the league in general was incredible somber and, in many cases, distraught. This is a guy who, for a generation of fans in their early-to-mid 20s, fans have never watched the NBA without him being a part of it.

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For Lakers fans who fall in that demographic, Kobe’s looming retirement hits particularly hard. Not only is it going to be strange to watch professional basketball without Kobe, but it’s also that the face of the franchise and the idol of many fans is no longer going to be rocking the purple and gold.

The emotions have settled a bit, but there’s no doubt that a sadness is still lingering around Kobe in the Lakers following the news. It’s a strange brad of melancholy that can only be described as the loss of something that you had never truly imagined not being a part of your life and something that you may have taken for granted to some degree.

Second Half vs. Pacers:

The Lakers ultimately lost in their first game-action after the news broke about Kobe, but man did they put up a spirited effort in the process. Nick Young came in and had one of those Swaggy P games where he just starts chucking and happens to be unconscious; you never know when those are going to happen, but they’re always fun when they do. It goes beyond that, though.

Jordan Clarkson was also incredible in leading the Lakers back from a 13-point halftime deficit, but the team as a whole played with more effort than they have shown in quite some time. The young guys were aggressive on both ends of the floor and there was a sense of fearlessness that’s been lacking from the younger players and the veterans alike.

Speaking of veterans, a certain 37-year-old gave everyone in STAPLES Center a memorable moment as a part of the spirited second half effort from the Lakers.

Kobe’s Vintage Three vs. Pacers:

Down by only four points with less than a minute in the fourth quarter, Kobe came around a screen at the top of the key and curled around to drain a three. It was a trip down memory lane seeing Kobe drain a clutch shot just like he’s done countless times before.

Even more incredible was seeing him do it on the same night that he announced his retirement. It was just one of those moments that, as soon as it happened, fans knew that they were going to remember it for quite a while.

Kobe’s Subsequent Miss to Tie:

Unfortunately, Kobe had the chance to make the moment even more memorable when he launched up the potential game-tying three on the Lakers next possession. As he curled around to the top of the key again, everyone had the vision of him being the hero on such a memorable night.

It wasn’t meant to be, though, as his shot missed everything and wasn’t a great effort at all as Bryant was a bit offense. It was a bit of a let-down that ultimately led to the Lakers’ sixth consecutive loss. That doesn’t lessen the first moment, but there’s no denying that it’d have been better if he knocked down the one to tie it up.

Three Losses:

As previously stated, Kobe’s missed three led to the Laker’s sixth-straight loss after they were defeated in all three of their games in the fifth week of the season. Not all hope was lost in those defeats, but that doesn’t fully make everything better either.

Even in a year where the objective for the Lakers should be to develop young players, jumpstart the rebuilding process, and not necessarily worry about wins, it’d still be nice to grab a victory here and there. A winless week, no matter the situation, is a bit difficult to swallow and, quite frankly, frustrating.

The Warriors Game:

One of the reasons that the three-loss week was so frustrating was the dismantling of the Lakers at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were always going to beat the Lakers because, well, they’re beating literally every team that they cross paths with right now. However, it was how Los Angeles responded to the best team in the league that made this one tough to watch.

Summary:

This season is going to take a turn after the new regarding Kobe’s future as every game will have some sentimental value to fans, players, and the Lakers organization as a whole. However, there is life after Kobe for this team and the Lakers have to keep that in mind. It’s going to be an exhausting process both in terms of the emotion around Bryant and suffering through the growing pains of a young, rebuilding team, but the future should be worth that.

Next: The 30 Greatest Laker Moments of All Time

Buckle in; the rides only going to get more hectic from here on out in La La Land.

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