The Pain.
This one goes out to my fellow Laker fans. Does it sting right now? No? How about NOW? Not yet? Well, NOW? I don't know what it's like to pour salt into a wound, because I've personally never tried it, nor do I want to. But I am only to assume this is what it feels like. Oh, it hurts all right.
Most recently, D'Antoni has said, "We’ve got an All-Star team. Have you ever watched an All-Star Game? It’s God-awful because everybody gets the ball, they go one-on-one and then they play no defense. That’s our team.”
Chew on that for a moment. I sit here writhing in basketball pain and trying to dissect the situation. I'm an emotional person though sometimes I deny my emotions and cover them up to appear A-OK. Someone asks me, yo, what's happening with your Lakers? And I'm close to speechless. Are you as stumped as I am? This is a downward spiraling mystery.
It's come to the point where I'm not quite sure why I hang on in the 4th quarter with that skinny bit of hope that we're going to miraculously make a comeback, only to get disappointed in the end. Wait, I remember now. I'm a full-fledged fan. This is my team.
Loyalty.
When people get married, it's til death to you part. I'm currently married to the Lakers. As bad as it gets, I can't cut myself loose. Bandwagoners may divorce their teams with no second thoughts. But I'm in this for the long haul. It is completely like a relationship. I'm with you honey, no matter how bad it gets. We'll fight through this.
But, like the worst times in relationships, I get angry. I get frustrated. I want to throw things at the TV. I walk out of the room to avoid more anger. The worst game that did me in, was Lakers hosting OKC on a Friday night and coming up with a 15 point loss. It wasn't the score that deflated me, as much as it was the lack of showmanship. The frustrating missed shots. And the young beast Kevin Durant drilling us from the other side, without hesitation. We didn't just lose. We got beat down with a beatdown stick. And by no means do I encourage self-flagellation. Let's not give up. Where's our team spirit? Where's our drive to win? Are we simply too full from winning championship after championship that we've spoiled ourselves to the point where we don't hunger to win again?
Performance Review.
Guys like MWP want to stay a Laker for the remainder of his career. That's fine and dandy and all, LA is a beautiful place to retire, no lie. Where else can you hit up the clubs by night and then show up to work the next day to put in your time and make your 6.7 million salary? I admit, after the initial conversion from Ron Artest to Metta World Peace, it took some time for him to ramp up his shot. Now, every three that Metta hits, the crowd elicits a natural World Peace! To his credit, he has improved his game.
This doesn't change the overall scheme of things. As a whole, the team is questionably lacking what analysts insist over and over again, "chemistry". Give them time, they say, they're a new team.
So time check. We're halfway through the season now. Where's this so-called chemistry?
Putter*Putter*Sput*sput* no gas.. no motivation... if the team chemistry starts at the top with the coach, I think someone is bound to get fired. My friend refuses to call him D'Antoni, and just Antoni, because of his lack of D. Yes, this is a joke that seemingly doesn't grow stale, though I'm sure Antoni is more than tired of hearing about it. Well, then, prove us all wrong.
Mike Brown was a defensive coach and failed to get our D going. So if coach after coach fails to bring out the best in us, where do all fingers point to? Isn't there someone to blame? I know what you're thinking. If you're like 89% of the Laker fans out there, you're thinking, yes this is the coach's fault. Hiring D'Antoni was the worst decision. Not forking over all that we could do bring an exhausted Phil Jax out of retirement was a mistake. There's that clever YouTube video, Sh*t that Laker fans say. Admit it... all your Laker fan friends are all muttering the same thing. And they're all angrier than the new Pelicans logo. Insert *angry Pelican face* here.
We're supposed to believe that this team is going to get better, give them time let them gel.. so many problems, it baffles most, to see why a team with such talent can continue to spiral downhill. Where is the faith, people? Or better yet, where is the faith, self? Where is your faith?
Kobe is still fueling ahead with a fury, but as we all know teams that rely on ONE guy does more harm than good. What? Allen Iverson? Whatever happened to Allen Iverson? He WAS "practicing" soccer somewhere? Wait, what? Soccer? I digress. But if history teaches us anything, it's to not fall into the same traps that others have gone down. While we are blessed with a team superstar, we also need a team facilitator. Those Mamba-esque tough shots when they sink through the basket, gives you such a high, you forget that we're down. You cheer YEAH MAMBA! You forget that you're fighting back from being down because there's that silver lining in a doomfilled cloud.And Kobe TWEETS now. As if my life wasn't already gripped by Twitter's grasp, now we're talking.
So if Mamba has motivational words to appease the fans, this should be even extra incentive for him to play his heart out. Quite honestly, I feel like he's doing what he can. For an "old guy" he called himself, he is showing up to play like he's still got fire under his feet. But maybe we just need a few more savvy passes. Not that we can't get that out of Nash. But lesson learned from the ever-so-generous LBJ, sometimes passing can do wonders.Oh then it pains me to see people's reaction to Pau. We should've traded him a long time ago, says one person. He's Ga-Soft, says another. Breathe in for a moment. Exhale. Pau. Slump? What is this slump? You know who I used to hate that had a similar slump but in a completely different sport? Andruw Jones when he was on the Dodgers. Oh the travesty. I just don't want Pau to be on the same wavelength in the sports realm as that guy. We're better than that Pau, remember? Euro players have to tap into what they're best at. Sure, he's not the beefiest, brawniest forward. So tap into your other strengths. For that 10 to 15-foot release, no excuse, it should go in everytime. I don't care if your rebounds are soft, just rebound. Hone those Euro-skills we all wish to have.
Letting go of Bynum was a relief. I just didn't see him fit as a Laker. Him with his young, I can have whatever I want including a fleet of cars and two blonde girls at his side attitude, yet only exhibiting brief stints of shining on the actual court. I don't care if you wear disco pants and floss like you're royalty off the court, but you better make up for it when you've got your uniform on. The once-in-a-blue-moon double doubles wasn't convincing enough for me.
Still, unlike everyone and their moms who started posting Dwight Howard photos on their profile pages, I couldn't fully jump on the Dwight Howard wagon either. As much as I like his sunny disposition, it just seemed he wasn't 100% physically fit. And now, he's plagued with unfortunate injuries where we sit on the brink of suspense wondering if he's broken. Oh no, he's broken! And more questions people start posing about D12 - will he stay or will he go at the end of the season? How does knowing that affect our season at the moment? Doesn't all this he-said-she-said, rumor-mill just make everything more murky?
Well isn't that just the harpoon that killed the whale? What? No seriously. We're so quick to embrace someone and as soon as they can't achieve our over-expectations, we're like, go ahead and leave. That's the price that comes with being an athlete. Loved by all when you succeed. Prepare to take the blame when you fail. The kind heart in me says, aww, that really sucks. But the sports fan in me says, suck it up then! Get it together.
The lack of big men situation is undoubtedly our biggest curse. Were we doomed from the getgo? Was the Lakers TWC broadcast mess in the beginning of the season a precursor of the fail that was to come?
It's No Mystery
No, we didn't get Chris Paul, OK? We didn't even get Cliff Paul. But let's get over the past. I'm actually happy for the Clippers because you think our season is bad, Clippers have been in a nightmare of pain for many years. Props to their true fans for sticking it out with them in previous years.
No, we don't have Phil Jackson, OK? But remember, when he left, it wasn't all peaches and cream either. Even an 11-time championship winning coach might not be the miracle solution to this team.
No, Dwight isn't 100%. and yes, Nash is 38 years old. Injuries happen. Age is inevitable.
No, we are not playing Defense. Why? How does one forget to play defense?
No, we don't have extra money laying around to recruit additional talent because we pay Kobe 30 some million dollars and Pau 19 million dollars.
So we have to work with what we have. Although, it's still a business and in the interest of improving situations, trades are always possible.
If you're a true sports junkie, you believe in the intangibles. The heart. The team spirit. The drive. The hunger. This all falls into play. You want to know that your team's energy is at its all time high. That the quick cuts from a surprising Earl Clark are a spark of life in what appears to be a wilting game. That Mamba will strike and the rest of the team will be empowered from it. That Nash wants to finish his career with a ring on his finger. That Dwight is Superman underneath it all.
I want to believe. Because when we do bad, I b*tch and I cry. When we do well, I boast. My heart is in-sync with you, Lakers, and if it means anything, I will still hang on to that thread of hope in every 4th quarter no matter what the score is. I don't know WHAT more we can do as a team to start winning, I'll leave that up to the top dogs. But hopefully every bit of fan voodoo will help. We must ride out the bad days and hope for the good ones. It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. Heck, the way things are going, it may not even be this season. But I assure you like everything else in life, the glory days will return.



