This is part of the Sameer Jhaveri NBA Special – a column that will bring you the latest news and highlights of the NBA season. This edition focuses on the struggles of the L.A. Lakers so far this season and if and how they can turn their season around.
by Sameer Jhaveri ’15
Do a Google search of the Los Angeles Lakers, and you will find dozens of articles about the embarrassing loss to the 15-26 Toronto Raptors, with Kobe Bryant shooting a very poor 10-32. Although, if you do a Google search of Kobe Bryant you will find an equal number of articles about his 15th consecutive selection to start in the NBA All-Star game.
The franchise player is known for his competitive style of play and his desire to make himself the greatest player the game has ever seen. But how can arguably the most driven basketball player of all time be playing with: 4-time All-Star and Rookie of the Year, Pau Gasol, 7-time All-Star and 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard, and 8-time All-Star, 2-time MVP and 3-time All NBA First Team, Steve Nash, and have a record of 17-22 and be in 11 place in the Western Conference? At this rate, the chances of the Lakers even making the playoffs are slim, considering they have been riddled with injuries the entire season.
Steve Nash quickly got injured in the second game of the season with a fractured fibula. Then Steve Blake went out with pain in his inner thigh muscles. As well as Dwight Howard missed 3 games with a torn shoulder muscle and Pau Gasol suffered a foot injury earlier in the season and was also diagnosed with a concussion. As well as Jordan Hill will also be out for the rest of the season with a torn hip muscle.
With all these disabilities, the Big 4 in L.A have no time to mesh on the court, and Kobe Bryant, as the leader of this team, needs to make sure they win continuously or else all playoff hopes will go out the window. But how focused are the Lakers on winning? With a reported fight between Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, the Lakers attention is fixed on the media rather than making the playoffs.
”Obviously with the fake stories coming out somebody has something against our team. It’s not us. Me and Kobe don’t have a problem with each other. We’re not beefing. So, for somebody to come out with a random story saying me and him got in a fight and for it to make ESPN like we’re beefing is ridiculous. I just think it’s funny.” That was what Lakers’ center, Dwight Howard had to say about the situation.
According to ESPN, the story reports that Dwight Howard had to be restrained from Kobe, after Kobe referenced to former teammate Shaquille O’Neal’s criticism to Dwight. But the story seems to be just a hoax after Kobe tweeted a photo of himself and Dwight Howard acting as if they were about to get into a fist fight right over head coach Mike D’Antoni.
But all in all, do the Lakers make the playoffs? With all due respect to any other team in the Western Conference that simply seems to be performing at a higher level than the Lakers right now, I do think the Lakers make the playoffs as the 7th seed. I just think that they are too much of a winning franchise to not make to playoffs.
Considering how T.V. program, “Numbers Never Lie” pointed out: the Lakers have only missed the playoffs twice since Kobe Bryant was born! But now, I think the injuries will simmer down, Kobe Bryant will continue to lead the league in scoring, and Pau Gasol will finally learn to play his part in the new Lakers system. I think too highly of Kobe Bryant’s ability as a competitor to predict that he doesn’t make it to the playoffs.
Kobe has also made it clear in a number of interviews, as if we don’t see it ourselves, that he is coming towards the end of his career. This is one of the key factors to why the urgency is so high for Kobe to get his 6th title and tie Michael Jordan’s title count, if not surpass it in the next 2 years. This accomplishment would make his legacy in L.A similar to Jordan’s much appreciated legacy in Chicago.
