Lakers losing doesn't fit surefire Hollywood script

First appeared on April 13th, 2010
in The Lebanon Reporter

The other day while waterskiing I asked myself a question. Besides the obvious, “what kind of an idiot waterskis in April?” the question that really had my mind swimming was, “could the Thunder actually beat the Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs?” Then I wiped out.


This is Los Angeles were talking about. You know the town where people are accustomed to everything running according to a script? Yet surely the Thunder evening this best-of-seven series at 2 games each wasn’t in the script David Stern handed Head Coaches Phil Jackson and Scott Brooks. These are the Lakers after all. You know, the Lakers of “15 time World Champion” fame and holders of the number one seed in the West after posting that conference’s best record.

The first round of the playoffs are a lot like campaign promises, nobody really pays attention to them because they realize ahead of time they’re worthless and not supposed to mean anything. While the Lakers playing an upstart franchise loaded with young talent is definitely an appetizing scenario, we’ve reached the point where the Thunder are just supposed to roll over and play dead. Trouble is they’re not.

Laker coach Phil Jackson would likely refer to his teams precarious situation as a “bump in the road”, only he would wrap it in a web of veiled analogies littered with much larger words those of us not attending Harvard would never use. While “bumps in the road” are nothing new to those residing in Laker land, Kobe Bryant’s inability to push his team forward is. Fans of the purple and gold have grown accustomed to Bryant jumping in the phone booth whenever Phil’s triangle gets bent out of shape, but this year, this series, Kobe Bryant looks especially disinterested. As for Jackson’s triangle, it definitely appears acute, or obtuse, whichever one means out of sorts.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way. So much was made of Ron Artest’s off season signing and all eyes, from those in the Midwest who still hang the death of the Pacers on Ron-Ron to the ones Jack keeps hidden behind the Wayfarers, were peeled to see how this grand experiment would turn out. And now when the Lakers need him most, how has Artest responded?

While some (and by some I mean myself) thought Artest’s signing was simply meant to pique Phil Jackson’s interest as he flirted with retirement; it turns out there was some actual strategy behind it. Artest was brought in as a defensive stopper. Somebody who could keep LeBron out of the lane and off the line come the Finals.

Well so much for defense. The Thunder’s two top guns, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, are averaging a combined 48 points per game in this series. Over the weekend Oklahoma City tore the Lakers up like a tornado making LA look older, less energetic and frankly less interested in competing.

To give the Lakers some credit this is the Western Conference and there were only 7 games separating the two teams during the regular season. Still this is the time of the year championship teams are supposed to “flip the switch”.

Just like my own wipe out, which served as a reminder that Michigan’s water in April is still colder than a beachside resort in Antarctica, the Lakers appear primed for their own nationally televised wipe out. The big difference being I didn’t spend millions of dollars for the chance to wipe out and Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss did. So get the popcorn and botox injector ready kids, game 5 between Los Angeles and OKC is tonight.