Last Season Backs Lakers Down Season

Basketball Betting Lines

History and tradition still mean something and the Lakers will always play the role of big brother to the Clips, sort of like the Yankees, who own the backpage of New York's tabloids no matter what the Mets do.

 

It's far too early to crown the Clippers in the Pacific but we are now past the one-third mark of the season and it's the Clips standing atop the division, not the Lakers.

 

Kobe Bryant is still the best player to call Staples Center home and he arrived in his hometown of Philadelphia on Monday night 23 points shy of tying former teammate and nemesis Shaquille O'Neal (28,596 points) for fifth on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

 

Collins ran the Army, Navy and Marines at Kobe every time he touched the basketball and to his credit, Bryant did what you are supposed to do -- move the ball. The Lakers got a ton of open looks and made some but missed more than their share.

 

"They just came after him immediately," Kuester said after the game, "and to Kobe's credit, what he did was try to get everyone involved. We had some great hits. When you are coming down to the end of the game, your margin of error is very small, and you have to take advantage of that. Things just didn't go our way."

 

He's obviously still one of the top players in the game, averaging a league- best 29.4 ppg coming into tonight's contest despite playing with a torn lunotriquetral ligament in his right wrist. But something is missing with these Lakers -- even with Bryant. The same air of invincibility is simply not there.

 

The Lakers certainly aren't the Washington Generals either but they no longer pack the kind of punch that scares anyone. The fact that the team is just 3-9 on the road should tell you all that you need to know.

comments

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•    #justheard: doesn't matter how you pull it out; it matters how u stick it in. Ô.O

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•    #ancient aliens season 1, #realshit

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•    Though the #Lakers DESPERATELY need Guard help, I'm not high on JR Smith- I'd rather develop Goudelock; he prob ends up on LAC or NYK anyway

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•    If the Magic gave us Dwight and Ryan Anderson, i think I'd be cool with giving up Bynum and Gasol.

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