Let me just start by saying that out of all of my Laker-hating posts, this one is by far the most bitter and resentful post yet. But I'm tired of hearing about the Lakers this season, and all the excuses that they and their fans have made for the fact that the team was just plain horrible. So without further ado, let us begin....
It’s all done and over with now. The Lakers season is no more. With a roster that boasted 3 MVP awards, 4
Defensive Player of the Year awards, 37 All-Star selections and a plethora of
other honors in their trophy case, the team couldn’t even muster up a single
victory in the postseason. Note that it
is not even a series victory that
they couldn’t attain; this team’s biggest accomplishment in the playoffs was
losing game 2 by only 11 points. All
this after they were ranked number 2 in ESPN’s preseason rankings. All this after people called for a guaranteed
championship. All this after Ron Artest
said that the team would challenge the 72-10 record set by the Chicago Bulls in
1996. Since I am The Laker Hater, let’s
take a look back at this absolute disgrace that was the Los Angeles Lakers’
2012-13 season.
The first sign of trouble came when the Lakers finished the
preseason with a record of 0-8. Yes,
it’s just the preseason. But for a team
with a history like L.A. that features at least 3 future Hall of Famers, you
would imagine at least 1 single, measly win would be in order. That was most certainly not the case for this
team.
The regular season started just as poorly, with the team
getting off to a 1-4 start.
Unfortunately for head coach Mike Brown, his team’s lack of
compatibility and huge egos led to his firing after just 5 games. After heavy speculation of a Phil Jackson
return, and a very respectable 4-1 run by interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff, Mike
D’Antoni was hired to take over as the new scapegoat for the team’s failures.
Laker fans stayed vocal throughout the season, praising the
performance of Kobe Bryant at the age of 34.
Kobe praised his own performance as well, as he stayed atop the league’s
scorers, despite being well under .500 and out of playoff contention for most
of the season. Bryant’s scoring slowed
in the season though, and he finished 3rd in the league in points per game. In hindsight, he should have kept trying to
score since another scoring title would have been the only thing he had a shot
at accomplishing this year.
As the season went on, the Laker community continued blaming
their losses on coaching, as well as the absence of Steve Nash due to
injury. Upon Nash’s return, the Lakers
managed to get in only seven games with their four star players (Bryant, Gasol, Nash and
Howard). Those seven games saw the team
post a not-quite-respectable 3-4 record.
Regardless of this though, the team still used injuries as an excuse for
their losing.
By the end of the season, things started to look up a bit for
the Lakers, as the team started actually drawing in on a playoff spot. They ended up clinching a 7th
seed, but lost Kobe to a torn achilles heel along the way. Again, the Laker community saw yet another
excuse for their losing ways. The truth
is though, the team’s record against other Western Conference playoff teams was
7-17 with Kobe in the lineup. The
thought that they would’ve suddenly gained the talent to actually make an
impact in the playoffs is beyond ridiculous.
The postseason came, and the Lakers were set to play the San
Antonio Spurs in the first round. The
Lakers ended the playoffs with the most pitiful performance of the postseason,
losing the series 4-0. The Spurs
finished the series with an average win margin of 18.8 points, even higher than
that of the Miami Heat in their series against the sub-.500 Milwaukee Bucks.
Game 4 of the series saw the Lakers in their typical losing
fashion. Just like when the Dallas
Mavericks completed the sweep against L.A. in 2011, the final loss saw the
Lakers losing by a large margin, practically quitting before the second half
even started. And once again, Dwight
Howard got ejected and showed us that the Lakers are the biggest bunch of
sore-losers that this league has ever seen.
For those who forgot, that ’11 series ended with a 36-point loss that
saw 2 Lakers getting ejected for flagrant fouls.
The team failed in every way possible. They accomplished nothing. And I could not be happier to see this
overrated bunch of egotistical crybabies end their season in such an
embarrassing manner.
The season is over for the Lakers now though. It’s time for me to move my attention towards
teams that actually mattered this season.
With a 3 seed on the verge of elimination and a number 1 seed missing
their number 2 player, we may be in for a big shakeup in the West. Keep watching, basketball fans. And to any Lakers fans that may be reading,
have fun with the rebuilding process.
Happy trails, Dwight Howard!
