While I would have liked to see more energy from the Lakers in their match up against the Orlando Magic, I feel like I can’t fault them too much considering it was their 5th road game in a week and 3rd game in 4 days. That’s a lot of basketball. Since everyone thinks our team is so old anyway, I guess it could be seen as remarkable that we won 4 road games in a row without their legs giving way.
We also must consider the fact that they came off a tough stretch of games at home before embarking on the Grammys trip and had one of their most emotional games of the year at the TD Garden against the Celtics. Now I know this sounds like I’m making excuses for their performance in Orlando and honestly, that’s exactly w
hat I’m doing.
Come playoff time they will have two to three days’ rest between each game and depending on how quickly they wrap up each series, up to a week until the next round begins. The Lakers will have plenty of time to recuperate and travel.
I do like the parallels of Los Angeles having Disneyland and Orlando having Disney World. The media came up with some fun names and titles during the playoffs a couple years ago, including “The Mickey Mouse Series.” I like the sound of “The Battle of the Magic Kingdoms” as well. Disneyland is awesome just like the Lakers, and who doesn’t like a good play on words once in awhile?
For what it’s worth, I don’t see Orlando representing the East in the NBA Finals this year. Even if the Lakers do face them again, we all know what happened in 2009! Considering they played us in the Finals, I have very little antipathy or even feeling towards them. They’re a good team but not worthy of the venom I reserve for truly terrifying opponents.
I hope my fellow fans in Lakers Nation know by now how much I detest losing. If I had my druthers, the Lakers would legitimately challenge the Chicago Bulls’ 72 wins record every season. For better or worse, L.A. considers itself more of a playoff team. They take care of business in the regular season for the most part and put all their considerable energy and talent into winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. There are worse things in life as a sports fan than for your team to try hardest in the postseason.
