Indeed it was a good night to be a Laker fan after the improbable and lets face it, surprising win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sunday night. Kobe Bean Bryant once again proved to the rest of the viewing public what we already knew, that the Lakers are better when he doesn't hog the ball. Also we saw that Pau Gasol is not a liability and all of a sudden became a 'stooly player' just because coach D'Antoni doesn't have a clue on how to coach finesse big men. Now we see that the hype is starting to build again. Laker fans are beginning to believe that their team can be what they thought they could be, a "POWER HOUSE". Unfortunately, Im here to tell all of you Laker fans to pump the brakes and hold off on the Chardonnay and cheese.
The Lakers are 1 and 8 against elite western conference teams. All season they have shown us they are incapable of sustaining any momentum. Actually they remind me of another perennial playoff team on the east coast that's struggling right now, the Boston Celtics. But lets not go there.
Kobe Byrant has been one rebound short of a triple double his last two games and the biggest stat of them all would be the 14 assists that he has logged for both games. Kobe's defensive intensity has increased and Dwight Howard's has decreased. Pau Gasol has shown glimpses of his prior self, 'pre-Shannon Brown sleeping with his girlfriend'. For the first time since his arrival, I saw life from Steve Nash Sunday night, with his 17 point, 8 assist showing. However, I am not buying the Lakers just yet.
The Lakers are currently in 10th place in the western conference and are 15 1/2 games back behind the 8th seed Houston Rockets. After Tuesday nights home game against the Hornets the Lakers head on a 7 game road trip against teams the likes of the Nets, the Celtics and the Heat. In my opinion all of these games should be winnable for the Lakers but they are all on the road where the Lakers are 5 and 15. This doth not, a championship team make my friends. (Said in best theatrical voice)
So hold off on the confetti and champagne until after the road trip and lets see how they look then.
No comments:
Post a Comment