Chalking up the loss now: What's up, Lakers!?!

Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers head to the World Famous Madison Square Garden.  Even when the Knicks were terrible, and even during the 3-5 seasons of disappointing Laker basketball in my 30 years, MSG games were always something different and something to feel excited about.  NY vs. LA.  The established primary US city vs. the city that continues to erode the primary city's importance.  East vs. West.  Biggie vs. Tupac.  Tonight's game feels much different.

Forget the fact that the Knicks are undefeated at home this year.  Forget the fact that D'Antoni is heading in to coach his first game against his former team.  Forget the fact that two future Hall of Famers are not playing.  After all, this isn't about playing against a hot team, isn't about taking time to implement an offense, and isn't about a lack of chemistry on the offensive end or of offensive production components.  We can look back at various stretches of the 2003-04 season to draw comparisons, and at no point did the Lakers look as lifeless and beatable as they do right now.

The game isn't until 5 on the West Coast tonight, but I'm already recouping from what will be the Lakers' fourth straight loss.  Of course I'm still going to tune in and hope that they actually show up and play, but I also try to be a realist.  There is no heart, and no fight in this team (exemption, Kobe), and they are absolutely going to miss the playoffs at this rate.  With four future Hall of Fame first-ballot inductees.

It's gut check time, Lakers.  I know fans are giving you the excuse of blaming the front office, but I don't buy the whole notion of pigeon-holing a professional basketball coach into a single, monochromatic style.  Phil and Jerry are exceptions, not the rule, so a Mike D'Antoni team can play defense.  Any other excuse is complete B.S. and needs to be treated as such.  Better defense leads to run-and-gun offense, so the two can absolutely compliment each other.  Maybe we run Shell Drill all damn practice to drive the point home, but the latest disappointment in Cleveland clearly shows that it's time for everyone in the locker room to have a long look in the mirror and ask themselves what they are doing to earn their paycheck.  Mitch has done plenty, so don't let him (and the rest of us) down.

Bright Sunny March Days: The Calm Before the Storm

Welcome to LA, where the first full week of March is about as calm as the month gets for us Angelenos.  Yet there's a lot to get or be excited about.  The first and foremost is which, it's Southern California in March.  We're forecasted for 81 here in Long Beach, today, and it's still supposed to be the standard 72 and sunny in the South Bay tomorrow.  In Chicago it's 39 today, but hey, a nice 57 and windy tomorrow.

Then there's baseball.  Ah, baseball.  In March, it's just anticipation in town, as the Dodgers and adopted Angels gear up in Arizona for Opening Day in April.  Basketball is in the second half of its season, and the Lakers and Clippers prepare for the stretch-run of the NBA regular season.  The hockey playoff picture begins shaping up, spring football at the universities is arond the corner, and of course, March Madness looms large.  There's even this little even next weekend known as the Los Angeles Marathon.

But this week, the first full week in March, with wonderful weather, the home teams are out of town and the marathon is on the backburner.  This week, as the country brims with anticipation of bracketology, is Championship Week.  And in LA, that means the Pacific Life Pac 12 Championship at Staples Center.  Unfortunately for LA, both USC and UCLA have been eliminated in the early rounds, but Staples and LA Live are still teeming with action as the semis continue tonight, and both the men's and women's championships tomorrow.

I'll be on hand tomorrow, and will be sure to get some photos of the festivities to share.  There's always something going on in LA on the weekend, and this weekend, it's the Pac 12 Tournament!

Take Your Eye off the Throne: This is Laker-Town!

Last night, the highly re-tooled Lakers got a pre-season smack-down from the immensely upgraded Clippers.  I've heard the reactions, the lamentations on the Lakers and the growing expectations of a young Clipper team.  I've heard the assertions that the Clippers are now the best team in town, and that the Lakers have fallen off dramatically.

Please.

Did anyone not see the raw awesomeness that was Darrius Morris last night?  No, just me?  If Derek Fisher is to maximize his utility this year, it's going to be in taking this kid under his wing and teaching him how to run The Show.

Was nobody else impressed by some of the Josh McRoberts flashes of genius?  Feel free to disagree, and maybe I'm just making a Dukie comparison, but I put J McBob on the same "basketball intelligence" level as Grant Hill and Shane Battier.

I was distraught over the loss of my favorite Laker since Nick Van Exel.  I was so excited in the summer of 2004 that I barely noticed Shaq left (hyperbole, but you get my point)  Lamar left a huge hole that isn't easily filled on the Lakers roster, and in fact it's going to take two white boys to attempt the feat.  But if any duo could fill Lamar's shoes, J McBob and Troy Murphy are the two to make it happen.

Yes, Kobe looked old and slow.  Yes, Pau looked soft.  No, Andrew did not look in shape.  Yes, MWP looks worthless on the offensive side of the court.

This is pre-season, folks.

And yes, Chris Paul was magnificent last night, and DeAndre Jordan simply owned the paint.  Blake Griffin looked solid, and the Chauncy Billups pickup looks like a steal right now.

But to the highly trained basketball eye, what did you really notice with a view from the rafters?  The Clippers certainly will put up some SportsCenter highlights this year, because they are a talented, highly athletic team.  Teams like that win games when a) other teams get caught up and try to play like them. b) other teams forget to focus on defense c) other teams are both less athletic and less disciplined.  The Lakers were guilty of both b and c last night, and consequently had the table run on them.

But the intelligence of The Show's new 4's, the speedy PG we finally have in Darrius Morris, the strength of Bynum, the finesse of Pau, and the linchpin of the Mamba will not let us fans down.  True, the path to June is not as clear this year as it had been in years past, but let's not overreact before the games even count.

Ben Rosales (@brosales12), a contributor to the Silver Screen and Roll (SSR) blog probably had the best insight to adjustments regarding last night's game, other than Mike Brown's obvious assessment that the defense needs to be stepped up (don't worry, Mike, cohesion and discipline will fix that).  Ben beat me to the tweet, noting that Mike Brown should keep Pau at the high post as much as humanly possible this season, with Drew down low.  Methinks the high-low game will work well with the Lakers' lineup, and encourage more ball movement than the triangle did.

So yes, the Lakers got smacked last night.  It happens.  But the bandwagon is barely out of the garage and people are suiting up in their red and blue to jump on it.  Feel free, but I'm going to continue driving my purp-n-yellow double-dutch bus even if people hop off because the road ahead looks rough.

GO LAKERS!
I BELIEVE

Coming Unglued: This isn't the 1987 Lakers

I've tried my best over the past week to keep quiet, projectile retweets notwithstanding.  I've tried to withold judgement on the status of the Lakers' shortened free-agent season, but as much as Magic Johnson has been urging us all to keep patient and have faith in the Lakers' front office, I think I've run out of mine at this point.

It's enough that the rumors of a blockbuster Chris Paul-to-LA trade leaked to the media and consequently all NBA fans, creating a huge frenzy, let alone the spin put on the failed negotiations that the League office vetoed the trade at the behest of crying owners such as Cuban and Gilbert.

But to add to the failed CP3 trade, letting Lamar Odom go for nothing?  I'm sorry, but a draft pick is useless to a team like the Lakers.  And to let him go to Dallas, who swept us out of the playoffs last year, and whose owner cried at the mere mention of Paul going to the Lakers, was just wrong.  I've waited for the other shoe to drop, waited for the larger picture to come into focus, but nothing has changed.  The Lakers dropped their best all-around player out of fear, and got nothing in return.  Dr.  Buss wouldn't let this happen, if he was in good health.

Then, to replace the sixth man of the year, one of the most versatile players of this generation, with Josh McRoberts?  Really?  Hey Mitch/Jimmy, WE STILL NEED A SPEEDY POINT GUARD WHO CAN PLAY DEFENSE!  Josh Mc Roberts.  Come on!  This move rivals the multi-year contract gifted to Luke Walton a few years back, as far as bad business decisions go.

This current Lakers squad is nothing like the 1987 squad that people thought was over-the-hill.  Kareem was still better than Pau and Bynum combined at age 38; let's not forget that this man is arguably the best big man of all time, and holds the NBA career scoring record.  And in 1987, Magic Johnson was in the prime of his career, aided by James Worthy and all-defensive team perennial Michael Cooper.  Please, when you think of how stacked the 1987 Lakers were, it makes you want to find those nay-sayers from 25 years ago and heckle them all over again.  But this 2012 squad is truly aging and fragile, and in need of some serious re-tooling.

But now that Chris Paul has officially been traded to the Clips, and Dwight Howard is seemingly off the market, the big moves that the Lakers were supposed to make this offseason seem like nothing more than big dreams.  This time last week, CP3 and Superman were coming to play for the greatest franchise in the NBA; this week that same franchise is setting up for implosion in this lockout-shortened season.

But hey, maybe this means tickets on Stubhub will be cheap and I can get to a few more games this year!  There's always a silver lining, right?

So Cal Sports Check

Last week, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers deservedly took home the Cy Young award.  This week, Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers was undeservedly snubbed of the NL MVP Award.  However, showing enormous character, Matty just smiled, shook his head, signed his PHAT contract extension, and gave the classic 'wait 'till next year' statement.  We can't Matty.  We can't.  We're super-hyped and so proud of what you've done this past season despite the McCort mess that we're already on the edge of our seats in anticipation of March.



From postseason accolades to lost season lammentation: Though the decertified players and the league have supposedly resumed talks today in anticipation of striking a deal that would get Christmas games on the docket, I'm not holding my breath.  I started back in June with the solidified mindset that we would have a repeat of 1998-99 and have about a 50 game season.  That middle-of-the-road, should-have-been-realistic view is finally turning sour to despair, as I stare at the towel that was this season while I ball it up, ready to throw it in.  The media really needs to stop with the false hope thing on this one.



This Saturday at the Colliseum, the Los Angeles Civil War gets underway at 4pm with the 9-2 USC Trojans hosting the 6-5 UCLA Bruins.  Since USC is not elibile for anything that counts, UCLA will claim the Pac-12 South with a win and go on to play in the Pac-12 Championship game.  Who'd have thunk it?  Of course if they lose, Rick Neuheisel should polish that resume quickly.



Finally, since there's on pro ball being played and nothing to get excited about on that front, let's turn to the excitement of NCAA Hoops!  My Alma Matre, Santa Clara Universtiy, is playing tonight at the Anaheim Convention Center against Oklahoma after taking out New Mexico in a 79-76 overtime thriller on Wednesday.  It's still early in the season, and yes, the Broncos got waxed by UCSB in their first true game of the season, but they were sure to take out their aggression against San Jose State and continued the impressive play on Wednesday.  Tonight's game is a 9pm PST on ESPN 2. 

Happy Easter, Go Lakers!

Happy Easter everyone!  To me, it always seems like Easter is the true beginning of Spring, the beginning of that great part of the year where it's warm but not hot, where the hills are still green, and it's inevitably time for Lakers Playoff Basketball!

The Show heads into game 4 tonight in New Orleans with a 2-1 lead in this first round series.  Pau actually showed up last game, and if he keeps up his intensity level, we should be watching another Showtime display of dominance beginning at 6:30 tonight, and headed back home to close out the series.

Paging the Lake Show...Where Are You!?!

"It's a problem of motivation, Bob.  Initech ships a few more units- I don't see a dime..." - Peter Gibbons (played by Ron Livingston), Office Space


That's exactly the attitude eminating from inside the Staples Center's home locker rooms.  For the Clips, it's that the end of the season is upon them and they can't wait to head out on their fishing trip with EJ, Kenny, and Charles.  As for the Lakers, needing just 1 win out of their last 5 to lock up the #1 Western Conference seed, what's the motivation to step your game up when you can put that off until the Playoffs? 

The Lakers still have a Hallway Series game to play on their schedule, which they might wake up for if they lose the next 4 games.  But with 2 of the other upocoming 4 against Minnesota and Sacramento, it's a safe bet to say that the players are most likely rationalizing their lack of on-court focus with this forward-looking mentality.  Granted, Phil would probably like them to use it as an opportunity to grease the wheels, but if it's a few slack games that they need to get out of their system, better now than in 3 weeks!