9 unanswered points in two minutes. The Lakers blowing a seemingly insurmountable 7 point lead with 2:07 left in the game. Kobe Bryant resembling a flacid lifeless toy snake rather than the killer Black Mamba we've all come to know, respect, in some situations love, but in most, hate.
Two days later, it still doesn't add up for me. Not in what I saw; I watched every minute of that game. But how did a Lakers team that had complete control over the game's pace for 46 minutes suddenly abdicate the reins over to the Thunder for the final two deciding minutes? The loss still stings, and hopefully it hasn't lingered in the minds of YOUR...Los Angeles Lakers for more than a couple hours the other night.
How do you get over this? How do you shake this feeling of doom? Even a win tonight in Staples Center will still only put the series at a 2-1 Oklahoma City advantage, with the fourth game coming just 24 hours after the third? The answer is that maybe you can't. Maybe this one will stick in our minds for a long time to come, just as we could say about the Lakers if they falter tomorrow night.
Shortly after the conclusion of Game 2, I wrote up a
Silver Screen & Roll recap, which I had committed to days earlier. Little did I know that I'd have to write the thing with a rattled brain and a heart in the clutches of two grown basketball players who looks like they lived in Williamsburg. Not too long after I hastily put together my frazzled thoughts, a commenter left a response that Wednesday night was one of the worst Lakers losses he'd seen in 45 years.
Instantly, and even with only 27 years of Lakers fanhood under my belt, I recoiled with rejection and disbelief. That couldn't be true. Could it?
I taxed my brain, and when I came to a familiar standstill that I so often encounter when I, you know, think, I turned to my other, more functional and easily edited brain, Wikipedia. After gathering the facts, I replied that this wasn't even in the top 5 losses...of the past 15 years. Instantly I started reeling off game after game, with each playoff disappointment more painful than the last. As the barren, stale hole in my chest became larger and larger, I actually started to feel a small sense of relief. By burning myself longer and deeper with painful memories of past Lakers failures, I actually started to feel better about Game 2. In comparison, this was cake! Sarah Lee confetti cake from an erotic bakery! With a picture of a young Meg Ryan! Sweet!
Since the Kings have begun their playoff run, I have
contributed to every single game they have won by providing my unique form of support...my juju. 
Enter YOUR...Los Angeles Kings. 
If someone were to say, "Hey buddy, "you owe me one million dollars", you'd look at him and laugh, brush it off and move on to more serious conversation. He insists "no, really, you owe me one million dollars. I need it by Tuesday". What do you even do in that situation? You don't have that type of capital and even if you did, would you be able to hand it over like that? It's such a ridiculous situation regarding a unfathomable amount of money that I don't even know that you'd panic. You'd just sit there for a while, not knowing how you even go about wrapping your mind around the matter at hand.
A few days ago, The CDP described 4 in-game deficiencies that YOUR...Los Angeles Lakers flashed during Game 2 in this 7 game series against the Denver Nuggets. To paraphrase, they included:
Word today
was that Lamar Odom and his wife were cancelling their show,“Khloe & Lamar,” on E! so that he could focus on resurrect his basketball career next season. Their publicist rebutted the cancellation later, but I really hope
she’s just trying to get them to reconsider. I think Odom deserves some time
out of the spotlight to gather his thoughts and reconstruct his life, not just
his playing career. He’s always been a favorite of mine, despite being an
erratic on-court product. He’s a brilliant basketball player as well as a
genuinely good person with an infectious smile. But the amount of speculation
and media coverage directed at Lamar, both through his reality show and
disastrous NBA season, would be enough to break most men, much less men that
had been through as much personal tragedy and professional turmoil as Lamar.
Andrew Bynum's quote after game 1 of the Western Conference
first round matchup of the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets summed it up
pretty tidily. With a monstrous 10/13/10 block performance, number 17 made his presence felt on every part of the floor, helping limit the highest scoring team in the league this year to only 88 points on 35% shooting. The Lakers won the first game of a potential 16 on the way to their 17th NBA title, and handily at that. With a wire-to-wire 103-88 W, LA thoroughly dominated the game, allowing only 1 Nugget over 12 points (Danilo Gallinari, with 19), and perhaps more importantly, limiting any Denver player to 8 or less rebounds. 
