Lakers Stumbling Into the Playoffs

Added on Apr 11, 2011 by Scott in

NBA

The good news for the Lakers is the regular season is almost over. The bad news is the playoffs are approaching and the purple and gold are playing like garbage. They’ve dropped five in a row with two games left on the schedule. A chance to earn the top seed in the West is long gone. Now, the best they can hope for is holding off Dallas and Oklahoma City for the second seed. What happened? Let’s explore.

First of all, the Lake Show is a veteran crew with loads of championship experience, so reaching for the panic button seems a tad premature. Kobe and Phil don’t really care what happens tomorrow and Wednesday. They care what happens this weekend when the real season begins. When you’ve won 16 titles combined, freaking out over a late season slide isn’t on the docket.

This isn’t to say they don’t have issues that need to be addressed. A potent offensive attack has gone cold. Only once in the last five have they eclipsed 90 points, and their shooting percentage has been less than 43% in four of five. However, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Oft-injured center Andrew Bynum has been a beast on the glass, averaging 15 boards during the bad streak. More importantly, he’s playing 34 minutes per night. Struggling small forward Ron Artest is also starting to play his customary brand of pest-like ball on both ends of the floor. And second fiddle Pau Gasol continues to provide steady points and rebounds.

A victory over number one seed San Antonio on Tuesday would do wonders for their bruised egos, and would also help their efforts to secure second position in the conference. Another loss, well, probably won’t do much to dispel the sky is falling mantra being cast by some NBA pundits.

Bottom line: the Lakers will be fine. Chalk up this recent slip to end of the season fatigue. The West might be more competitive, but the road to the Finals still travels through Los Angeles.