Green Eggs and Hamid

I’m content. I’ve accepted it and basically moved on. Kind of crazy thinking how earlier today I was set on it going 7 but mid way through the 4th I realized something. The Oklahoma City Thunder were just a better team than the Lakers. Not hard to admit when you look at their roster. Westbrook, Durant, an athletic front court that can defend ours with Ibaka and Perkins, a solid bench with the 6th Man of the Year in James Harden providing instant offense with his athleticism and shooting, and most importantly the youth they have all around. Our team was made up of Kobe Bean Bryant, an inconsistent front court from Bynum to Gasol to Artest, a point guard that hasn’t really gotten the offense completely in Sessions, an unreliable bench, and the lack of athleticism this team had along with age all factored in to why we just couldn’t hang with the Thunder. 

Am I disappointed? Yes, as a Laker fan I expect championships year in and year out. Am I proud of our team? Of course. Considering what this team had to go through is remarkable to believe that it finished where they did. A shortened season to an aging team isn’t necessarily the best combo. Kobe’s divorce. The constant trade rumors surrounding Gasol/Bynum. The trade that didn’t happen with Chris Paul early on. No training camp. New roster. New coaching staff/system. The 2011-2012 Lakers had to endure a lot more than in recent seasons. This season was just ‘different’. Most night’s you didn’t know which Laker team to expect. The one that used their size and length along with passion or the team that just passed the ball to Kobe and hoped he would take over. I mean there’s nothing wrong with just relying on Kobe, the dude can score at will whenever he wants too, but it isn’t 2005 anymore and Kobe is 33 years old so there’s only so much he could do. A season with uncertainty ended up being not so bad after all. Some tweaks here and there and we could be in this yet again. 

It’s not like OKC dominated us like Dallas did last year. You take out the blowouts in Game’s 1 and 5, and we had a chance in every game. We could’ve easily stolen Game 2 if it weren’t for some late mistakes by the Lakers and Game 4 was stolen from us yet again on our home court if it weren’t for a Gasol turnover and a bad shot by Kobe. We could’ve been up 3-1 coming into today. No question the Lakers fought. People were calling this a sweep before the final horn in Game 1. The Lakers found a formula to disrupt OKC’s potent offense. But the trio was too much for the Lakers to stop them for a full 48 minutes and it showed. 

Future still holds some uncertainty but I’m pretty optimistic. Don’t really know why exactly but the Front Office has my support. People keep calling for the heads of Mike Brown and Pau Gasol but I won’t be too surprised if they get one more shot at redeeming themselves. I wanna see how Mike Brown can learn from this experience, use a full training camp, and get this team ready to win a championship next season. Gasol isn’t to blame for any of the losses. He does try to help this team in any way he can. I blame more Mike Brown for not really knowing how to use him. Making him shoot jumpshots while having him facilitate the offense is not a good combo for him. He needs to use his foot speed and length. That’s his advantage. I wouldn’t be surprised though if the Front Office decides to deal him. 18 million is too much for a 3rd option basically, if they decide to keep Bynum. Ideally, I would sign Nash, trade Bynum for Dwight. We need some fresh talent that has the fire to win a championship. I love Bynum but he’s been pissing me off with his attitude. 

Bleed Purple and Gold forever. Excited for the future. History shows that this organization finds a way to win. I could careless who wins this season. I’m thinking Spurs but OKC might take them. Heat and Boston will be interesting especially if Bosh is out for a lot longer than people expect him to be. Wade and Lebron can’t do this by themselves. Team USA this summer will be pretty awesome too…can’t wait to take the Gold again. Till next season, no more Laker talk from me. 

Am I crazy? Pretty simple if you ask me coming back home. They won on our terms. Just take care of business at home and it’s a totally new series. Anything can happen in a best of 3. 

Let’s go Lakers. 

:(