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There is no way that a 16-7 record this early in the season will have me worried about the Lakers.  Health is a bigger concern but that applies to all of the teams in the NBA.  Just ask Shaq.  He looks so fat I wouldn’t be surprised if two Jerseys were sewn together just to make his.

 Anyways, looking closer at the Lakers’ 7 losses I couldn’t help but notice one trend.  We all know that when teams come out to play the Lakers they bring their A game every single time.  Sometimes, it’s not the team but just a single player that makes the difference:

Nuggets vs Lakers (118-112)

Ty Lawson – Season Avg. 9.4 – Against the Lakers 17 pts

 Suns vs Lakers (121-116)

Channing Frye – Season Avg. 11pts – Against the Lakers 20 pts

 Pacers vs Lakers (95-92)

Roy Hibbert – Season Avg. 15.2 – Against the Lakers 24 pts

 Memphis vs Lakers (96-98)

Mike Conley – Season Avg. 15.6 – Against the Lakers 28 pts

 Houston vs Lakers (99-109)

Shane Battier – Season Avg. 8.2 – Against the Lakers 17 pts

 The only two losses that I left out were the Jazz (96-102) and the Bulls (84-88) and that is only because those are the only losses in which no individual player had an out of the ordinary game in which he doubled or scored well above his average or at least not enough to make a huge difference.  

 Not only did these teams need exceptional games from individual players to beat the Lakers but also I doubt that any team can beat the Lakers in a seven game series in the playoffs/finals if they rely on this type of production from an individual player.  Just ask Ray Allen. Also, when you take into consideration that they are losing by an average of about 5 pts, shit! I will take that any day.  I mean really?  The worst loss they have had is a 10 pt loss to the Rockets. And all of this without Bynum.  Pu-lease!

 This doesn’t excuse their flaws but it’s still too early to act like the season is over.  So, put your Chicken Little outfit away and just give it time.  We got this.