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
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.
Next: Good road trip, but a mediocre game
That being said, it seemed like the game would be competitive. The Lakers relied heavily on Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in the paint to start the contest. At one point in the 1st quarter, Bynum and Gasol combined to take 12 of the Lakers’ last 17 shots. I always like when we start out in aggressive big man mode, with Kobe as the facilitator. Pau actually took a charge and drew Dwight Howard’s second foul, which I thought was fantastic.
Lamar Odom continued his recent stellar play as well, finishing with 15 points, 8 rebounds and a steal which are right about his season averages. He’s also averaging a career high 55 percent field goal percentage. I feel like every week, no matter what is going on with the rest of the team and who is or isn’t stepping up, Lamar is holding steady.
When Kobe did look for his own shots, he stayed in the middle of the court which helped to open up the perimeter. Unfortunately one of the problems yesterday was the Lakers’ shooting. They only shot 39% for the game and were held to a season low for points. They were also out-rebounded and played shoddy defense for most of the night.
It didn’t help that Orlando attempts the most three pointers of any team in the league and actually hit many of them. When they’re able to hit three point shots, it opens up the middle of the floor for Dwight Howard. I will admit, my mouth fell open when he had that monstrous alley oop slam as the third quarter buzzer expired. It was straight up nasty! It also made me dream of 2012 when the Lakers might be able to lure another Superman from Orlando…
Next: The Golden Days
The scariest part of the afternoon was easily when Andrew started grabbing at his left knee- pretty sure I had a mild heart attack. Every positive thing I’ve been thinking about him recently, how glad I am to have him on the team, flashed through my mind in a panic. The Lakers avoided disaster for the time being because he stayed in the game and didn’t seem too worse for wear. I feel no reason to panic or blow this loss out of proportion. The Lakers have made real attitude and playing adjustments and are on a good path.
I also know that I didn’t mention Pau on this page, so the picture seems a bit out of place but I really liked it. His facial expression looks abnormally aggressive, as if he is embracing his inner Black Swan like Kobe is urging him to do!
On a side note, I really enjoyed yesterday for a more personal reason as well. It was the first Sunday I’ve had off in a long time (which is going to become a more regular occurrence luckily). I loved being able to watch basketball for five hours on my couch… it reminded me of watching NBA Sunday doubleheaders with my dad when I was a kid.
I was a procrastinator even then and saved most of my homework and school projects for Sundays, when I tried to finish them while watching Michael Jordan annihilate whoever his opponent for the day happened to be. Such good memories, especially of the NBA on NBC theme song!
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UooitEU6AtE
I had waves of nostalgia wash over me when they used it for the USA basketball games during the Beijing Olympics in 2008 as well. It still makes me smile every time I hear it.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HfesvZWgos