The end of a run: Lakers head into an off-season full of questions and uncertainty
The clock was under ten seconds, with the Lakers bench players taking hopeless jump shots that wouldn’t effect the outcome of the game as the Mavericks fans began to stand in their seats, arms raised above their heads, knowing that their team just knocked off the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavericks didn’t just simply “knock the Lakers off” either. They embarrassed them.
The Dallas Mavericks, who were formerly known as “soft”, just bullied the veteran top dog Lakers squad for four consecutive games like a fifth grade bully would to a third grader who had a sense of entitlement. In game one, the Mavericks stole the Lakers lunch. In game two, the Mavericks came back and elbowed Los Angeles in the face and took home another win. In game three, when it looked like the Lakers would finally stand up for themselves, Dallas responded by again snatching a win from the champs, who couldn’t close out a late fourth quarter lead. In game four, when the Lakers were on their last legs, fighting to stay alive and make a stand for themselves, they responded by delivering perhaps the weakest and most abysmal performance that we have ever seen from a team coached by Phil Jackson.
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers had no answer for the Mavericks for four consecutive games
And like the snap of a finger, the Lakers chances at a third consecutive NBA Championship were done. The rug had been pulled out from under the feet of the Lakers, a team that was stuck in a lull and thought that they could win a championship while putting forth minimal effort and cake-walking with through the competition. Sadly for the Lakers and their fans, the clock finally struck midnight on Los Angeles and reality came forth. The fairy tale ending where the soon-to-be Hall of Fame head coach wins his 12th overall title as a coach, part of a fourth three-peat, and the closest thing to Michael Jordan we may ever see, Kobe Bryant, wins NBA championship number six to tie MJ, did not happen. The Lakers fairy tale ending simply wasn’t meant to be.
Instead, the former two-time defending champs skated by the New Orleans Hornets in the first round by simply having more talent than the Chris Paul led team. In the second round though, the Lakers ran into a team that was sick of being looked down upon, mocked and referred to as soft. They faced a Mavericks squad that simply had more heart, determination and team chemistry than the 2010-11 Lakers did. Because of their shortcomings and lack of effort on the court, the Lakers now head home for the summer about an entire month earlier than they are used to, seeing as they’ve played in the last three NBA Finals into mid-June each of the last three years.
“I don’t know where we lost it…that drive, that bond we had in the past, that cohesive drive in order to overcome adversity,” said Lamar Odom.
It would be one thing if the Lakers fought hard from the start, played their tails off and lost the series in six or seven games while battling to advance like their lives depended on it, but that wasn’t the case. The Lakers were swept. Embarrassed. Leaving their fans in shock, and perhaps themselves in a deeper mode of shock and disbelief as well.
The Lakers now head into an NBA off-season full of questions. Who’s going to be the Lakers coach? What does this mean for Kobe’s legacy? Are Pau and Bynum going to be back? Can the Lakers land another star in Chris Paul or Dwight Howard? Time will tell what happens to this rapidly aging Los Angeles Lakers squad.
Kobe Bryant, the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise, turns thirty-three years old in August and has more wear and tear on his body than most could imagine, as he’s already played more NBA minutes than Jordan ever did. Phil Jackson has more than likely coached his last game ever. Pau Gasol, the Robin to Kobe’s Batman, is now being put under the microscope as many are questioning whether he can begin to bear more of the workload as an aging Kobe can no longer carry the team on his back. Andrew Bynum is being scrutinized for his immature, punk like behavior for when he threw an elbow at an airborne JJ Barea, sending him viciously flying to the floor. Lamar Odom seems more concerned with being Mr. Hollywood than he does with winning another NBA title. The Lakers bench is still being searched for, seeing as they didn’t show up when they were needed the most.
When it seems as if the Lakers franchise could be heading into a few long years of decline, let me remind you of this: ANY time you have Kobe Bryant on your roster, you have a chance to win a championship. Kobe is a winner, through and through, but he can’t simply will this seemingly complacent Lakers roster to the Finals anymore. Kobe needs help, and I’m not sure that the current roster pieces are the right answers.
Pau Gasol has himself, and other Lakers fans, scratching their heads going into the off-season full of uncertainty
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak better realize that simply re-tooling this team and re-building around Kobe Bryant alone won’t work anymore. Kobe is still a great player in his own right, but he also isn’t 27 anymore. Kobe needs help. If the Lakers are smart, they will throw all of their chips in the middle of the table and call the Orlando Magic and/or New Orleans Hornets in an attempt to land either Dwight Howard or Chris Paul. The Lakers front office needs to realize that Kobe only has two or three years of quality basketball left in him, and he has admit to that. The Lakers need to re-adopt a new “win now” strategy and surround Kobe with another talented game changer, someone who can take the pressure off of Kobe Bryant in pressure situations and someone who can score the ball when the Lakers need it the most.
It’s only early-May, so we have plenty of time until we will see the Lakers on the court for the 2011-12 season opener. Between now and then though, the Lakers have plenty of questions to answer for themselves. Lakers fans, like myself, can do nothing but sit back and hope that this devastating exit from the 2011 playoffs will lead to a 2011-12 Lakers team that will come back with a vengeance.
When I got into twitter I realized I didn’t have a lot in common with people I met. The one thing I have in common with you Zach is that I like to read good sports coverage, and you my friend provide it. Always look forward to new posts.