What or when was your most painful Laker heartbreak ever?

Pierce going off in a wheelchair and then coming back and leading the C’s to a win, the blown lead in Game 4, getting crushed in Game 6 and losing to the Celtics all contributed to a really crappy feeling afterward.

when they eliminated us in the playoffs after our 3-1 lead

Trying to escape that was hell. Then going to Hawaii in hopes of that only to see a sea of Celtic jerseys only made it worse.

It felt like it was the end of an era. I was so used to seeing them winning all the time.

That broke my heart because that meant they had no chance left in the series. They gave up in game 6, so i don’t feel as bad, but it was still terrible.

when we were up 24. the series pretty much ended that night.

also watching them implode in the 2004 finals and hearing on the news about Buss gutting the team over the summer, that was painful.

oh and game 6 of the 2006 1st round playoffs. Listened to the entire game on the radio. Kobe poured in 50 points but the team could not rebound steve nash’s missed 3. the ball went out to Tim Thomas and dumbass Kwame Brown got faked out of position to give Thomas a wide open look. We lost the game in OT.

game 5 of the 2003 semis. Didnt watch the game, but I heard on the news that night that the Lakers rallied from a huge deficit and by milimeters lost that game when Horry’s three rimmed out. Game 6 I got to watch. The Spurs rode the momentum after the game 5 win and blew us out badly at home. Things got pretty ugly in the 2nd half. The vets were moved to tears.

When the Lakers won 5 games, and lost in 7.

Seeing the green confetti fall down on our beloved purple Lakers

Man, that hurt more than my last bf breaking up with me! xD

Easily the saddest moment of my sports life. It was like my brother got a death sentence. Everyone thought we would see Magic in a year or two waste away, his joyous smile a sad memory. It wasn’t even so much about the end of Showtime, though they could have competed for several more titles. It seemed like basketball just lost it’s heart and soul.Thankfully wrong!
84 was rough too. The Lakers easily could have swept as was mentioned, but mental errors in game 2 and 4 cost dearly. My team let a crafty, dirty Boston team get in their heads. Tough to watch cause you could see it happening yet they couldn’t stop it. Maxwell waving his stupid towel and McHale calling Magic “Tragic” Johnson still gets me fired up.

I knew the series was over after giving up that lead. I remember it being really dark in my house…and in my heart…

Losing in 2008 game 6!

All equally painful for me

That was the first NBA game I ever watched, and what the hell Magic was dishing out sweet passes all throughout the game.

The Lakers lost and that was the last finals appearance by Magic.

The game then became Michael’s game in the 90s but I did not jump the bandwagon.

Even though Im not from the US (Im from the Philippines) so I could have chosen the Bulls to be my team.

But it was Magic who made me a fan and Magic was a Laker through and through.

So I gutted it out in the lonely 90s cheering for Vlade Divac.

And it was rewarded by Kobe and company.

Im glad to say that even though Im not from LA (or California for that matter)

I am a truly loyal Lakers fan!!

Loosing to the f***ing Celtics in game 7 at home after being up 3-2, even though the Lakers had West, Baylor, and Chamberlain. I hate those f***ing bastards more than any team in any sport. No, hate is not strong enough. I despise them. If they went 0-82 for the next ten years, it would be too good for them.

My first thought after the Lakers won game 7 this year was: Finally, Revenge for 69. I could hardly care about 2008. This was Finally Sweet Revenge for 69. Beating those bastards in a game 7 after they were up 3-2.
And having Kobe do it makes it even better.
Celtic fans and Kobe haters crying all at once.
Oh yes, 2010’s Game 7 is Sweet.

When a bench player gets more FT attempts than the opposing team the game is fixed. Any way you slice it it’s fixed. I hated that game with a passion. And in 2010 when Fat Baby Davis was drooling all over the place like an idiot I wanted to jump though the screen and choke the life out of him. In fact I want to head butt my monitor to pieces right now just thinking about that dudes stupid face.

It would be the fact that Morrison is taking his talents to Disney World so he can unite with JJ Redick and kick some serious ass.

For a Cavs fan… it’s pretty much all been heart break. I wasn’t born until ‘96, so things like Jordan over Ehlo aren’t “memories” to me, although if I was around I might have been close to crying. Some in my memory are; getting smashed by the Magic and watching LeBron storm off the court. I had about the same feelings as him at that moment. I hate Dwight Howard and his shitty grin. He gets all the calls and bitches when they don’t go his away. Also, when LeBronedict Arnold took a shit on the franchise on national TV.

God, it really sucks being a Cavs fan.

I was heartbroken thinking we were losing Magic not just as a player, but with this announcement that he had the HIV virus at the time seemed like a death sentence. Growing up a Lakers fan Magic was my favorite, and helped forge the Lakers as my favorite team for life. Thankfully he’s still around and by all accounts is still doing great.

Second to that was his getting injured in 1989 with a chance at a 3-peat we ended up getting swept without him (& Byron Scott).

I have repressed all of my bad Laker memories.

Looking back, it probably was a blessing disguise that we lost, but 2004 bothers me more than 2008 for a few reasons:

1. We were universally picked to not just merely win but dominate the Finals, and Detroit wound up annihilating us. In 2008, Boston was viewed as having a better chance against LA than the Pistons in 2004, so when we lost is 2008, it wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise as the 2004 loss was. That’s not to say though that I thought the Celtics would win mind you – I thought and expected LA to win, but I understood that the Celtics were tough. I didn’t think the Pistons were that ‘tough’ in 2004. I still remember, after we lost game 1 in 2004, I expected it to be another 2001 finals where we’d win the next 4 games. And even after every loss, I expected LA to come back. I figured every game was an anomaly and that Detroit was more lucky than good. I was wrong obviously, but as 14 year old accustomed to seeing LA win, it was a painful shock.

2. After the 2004 loss, with the giant Kobe-Shaq feud cloud hanging over the team, Phil’s status as coach, and with the role players of the team getting older and progressively worse, you just knew it was the beginning of the end and it became the end when the team was blown up. After the 2008 loss, my reaction was the complete opposite. We were still relatively young and I knew that we’d be back for vengeance the next season, and I was very confident that a Lakers team with a serviceable Drew and Ariza would be the best. In short, after 2004, we were left with nothing (save Kobe); after 2008, we still had something (the Kobe-Pau-LO-Fish core).

3. My reaction after the 2004 loss, then, is akin to the ending of a Shakespearean tragedy: I had the impression of waste. The Kobe-Shaq duo could have been better. They should have won 5 straight but they didn’t. They won 3, but I always felt they could have won more and nothing disappoints more than when one does not reach their full potential. After we lost in 2008, I did not have this impression because, as I mentioned before, we were still somewhat young, not at full strength when we lost, and still loaded with talent. I know Malone wasn’t at full strength for us in 2004 and that’s probably the biggest reason we lost, but I felt that two young guys in Drew and Ariza would help us more the next year (2008-09) than Malone would in 2004-05.