Best I’ve seen so far on this blog, hands down. The Lakers are unquestionably the best team in the Western Conference, and while I’m happy that my Rockets won today I know that the Lakers didn’t bring their A game..in fact I would give them F’s all across the board. I know they’ll play 100% better in game 5 and I just hope my Rockets can match them!

Before the game today, my heart was telling me I had to watch this game, but my head was telling me that watching would hurt my heart. I was surprised to see the opposite happen. I have never felt prouder.

Thanks for your post. Not that you will root for the Rockets but it hurts sometimes to watch how much this team leaves on the floor when their superstars always inevitably go down (the 22 game win streak, the playoffs last year, this year’s playoffs), and yet when they are down, no matter how good they play talentwise they will be outmatched. This Yao/Tmac expiriment remains with only one playoff victory which you can largely credit to the great play of our bench. And somehow, I have to watch teams that look like they are just going through the motions, like the Lakers, win everything. I almost feel as proud of this team as I did watching the championship Rockets teams of 94 and 95. Granted I was only a kid then, but this team has as much guts as any team I’ve ever seen.

I’m not asking Laker fans to root for the Rockets. I just want them to give us the credit we deserve, because if we had a player like Kobe, I don’t think there would be a doubt in anyone’s mind that we could easily take down a title with our heart.

nice post, I agree with your sentiments as a basketball fan — not only a Laker fan. We just don’t deserve the trophy this year, and it comes down to a lack of mental focus. We aren’t the hardest-working team, we’re just the most talented.

Now despite all this — we might still win the title. I’m not ready to count out LA after one terrible letdown of a game. But it was just awful, and I think it’s something we really needed as a team, just to get our asses absolutely handed to us. Maybe it’ll light a fire under us. But probably not.

I’m really not proud of this team today.

Slow your roll for a second. I admire your honesty… not sure if you’re just trying to cover your own back for if the Rockets end up winning the series… but it takes some guts to put this thought out there into Laker Land. It just amazes me that you can write that your mind hopes that this team doesn’t win a championship. Maybe our minds work a little differently, but I don’t think that I could ever say that, much less put it into print… and, for the record, I do try to remain as objective as possible, so I’m not one of those “Lakers can do no wrong” people.

I love the Lakers just as much as you (seem to), and I can freely admit that our boys were tremendously off today, and they did not deserve to win THIS game. But to say that they don’t deserve the championship, and they don’t even deserve to win this series? That’s fine if you want them to lose a game or two with the hope that it will light a fire under them and “scare them straight.” But to say that you hope a more deserving team comes along and knocks them off? C’mon, now!

There’s a reason that the majority of the people who agree with you are fans of other teams. Would you honestly rather have the Rockets be the champs? With their low-class fans, and their players’ dirty tactics? Would you rather have the Celtics (see Rockets’ description) win the championship? Or the Cavs? Personally, the only team that I could accept winning instead of L.A. is Denver. Yeah, Houston outplayed L.A.. Yeah, they haven’t seemed to be taking this series, or the last one, seriously. But we don’t know what goes on in the locker room. We don’t know what goes on in the hearts and minds of the players. Look at the Angels, for example.

By all accounts, that was a bad team for most of this new season; yeah, they’ve had a lot of horrible things (injuries, deaths, etc.) happen to them, but that was a team that had so much promise at the start. They’re just now starting to live up to that, and it looks like they just might be OK in the long run. I look at the Lakers’ playoff run in the same way.
They’ve got a lot of potential. But, for whatever reason, they’re just not living up to it RIGHT NOW. Maybe they will start living up to this playoff potential, and maybe they won’t. Only time will tell. But I choose to have faith in this team, and believe that they will (eventually) pull themselves together, by whatever means necessary. Your mind wants this team to fail, but I hope to God that they prove you wrong.

completely agree with you. The Lakers are the best team talent-wise, but at times they do not show an ounce of passion. It seems that they don’t want it. If they played with the passion of teams like Cleveland, they could have easily swept the previous series and even this one. Unfortunately, their performance each night is like a coin toss. Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don’t.

I just wanted to write as a fan of the game and commend you on the honesty you showed in this post. Really, it’s good to see a fan who can still root for the home team while retaining a modicum of objectivity. I get tired of all the trash talking and mindless cheer leading.

I see in my team, the Cavs, a really talented group of guys with perhaps one of the greatest players who will ever play the game. I see a team that worked their asses off every regular season game to earn the best record because they learned the hard way last year that home court matters in the playoffs. I see a squad who have embraced the concept of team, because Lebron knows he can’t do it alone. I see a team that, even when facing opponents they could have easily looked past, buckles down and never loses sight of the goal of a championship. “One goal.” That’s the team’s motto. I see a team poised to win it all.

But yet, there are doubts. Despite their focus, will they be soft when facing a stiffer challenge? Can they overcome the Lakers, an extremely talented team lead by a legend of the game? Can LeBron dethrone Kobe, or is it still not his moment? Will Cleveland have to wait yet another year?

So both sides have our doubts, which mostly seem to hinge on whether the Lakers will rise to the occasion—and if they do—whether Cleveland will be able to answer. I do think it is destiny that it will be Cleveland and the Lakers in the finals, although if I were you I wouldn’t be looking past the Nuggets, while either the Celts or Magic will be have to be taken seriously.

As far as the reason why the Lakers didn’t play hard tonight, as an outsider I’d have to place the blame on the coach. I’ve always felt that Jackson was overrated. He got lucky in Chicago and earned a reputation he didn’t necessarily deserve. Now he only walks onto teams already poised to win championships so he can claim credit. He’s good at managing superstar egos, but his basketball knowledge is questionable. I don’t like the way he threw his own team under the bus in this quote:

"They didn’t anticipate the energy that they were going to come with," Jackson said. "But you say as much as you can as a coach and then the players have to execute and do it on the floor."

It’s like he’s already distancing himself from the loss. “I told them but they wouldn’t listen to me. Don’t blame me!” Weak. As the coach, he has to accept blame. He has to get his team prepared. If they aren’t, it’s on him.

Winning has a way of bringing a team together. But I have a feeling that if the Lakers start losing, you might see more finger-pointing than resolve. But then again, I have my doubts. That’s why they play the games!

That was a pathetic and lame attempt by the team. I don’t mind the loss so much, as embarrasing as it was, but the fact the Lakers played with so little heart snd effort. If they don’t care I question why I should. Of course, I don’t think I can ever do that.

On a separate note, I think this team has stopped responding to PJ.

Let’s llok ahead …… NBA: The Week Ahead http://bit.ly/NXtX2

OMG!!!! What an AWESOME post…..you were sooooooo ON POINT!
Thank you for warming my heart.

I love the Lakers and have been a fan for more than 20 years, but……I don’t like them
right now and I, too, hope they get knocked off of their high horse.

In closing….Phil Jackson sucks!

This post is on TrueHoop!