The Lakers must be frustrated. You would be too, if you'd been promised an easy berth to the NBA Finals, promised you'd be laying in wait while the Eastern titans drilled each other into pain and exhaustion. You could clean up the scraps of the Cavaliers, or the Celtics, or the Magic. Phil Jackson could pass Red Auerbach with 10 championships as coach. Kobe Bryant could evict Shaquille O'Neal's name from his existence. Sasha Vujacic could scream with glee. Luke Walton could suppress screams of glee.Instead, the Rockets (who have lost about $35 million of All-Star to injury this year) sent the Western Conference semifinals back to Los Angeles for a Game 7, an elimination game in which anything can happen. (See: NCAA Tournament.) Meanwhile, Denver chills 'til the next episode, and Cleveland get a head start on knitting those Christmas booties. Understandably, this is having adverse affects on the personal lives of the Lakers.
... perhaps none moreso than the coach himself. Jeanie Buss, the owner's daughter who also happens to be Jackson's love interest, tweeted the following at roughly 11 PM Pacific on Thursday:
Strained conversation w/Phil on way to plane. we're both so frustrated its tough to talk.Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola, Shane Battier ... why do you hate love? Ron Artest truly is the back hole of happiness.
:-(
While we're pouring salt, be sure to check out Tim Keown's fantastic column on Kobe for ESPN.com. Keown always does excellent work when he ventures into NBA commentary, and this is no exception. The thesis, if you will:
How can a guy with that much talent play with such little joy? Why does he feel he has to put on that phony tough-guy show all the time? Underneath all that pre-fab armor, who is he? Does he even know?Kobe fans may dismiss this as Kobe hate right off the bat, but it's not. Give it a read.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-15-2009 @ 10:46AM
RodSquad said...
Ron Artest needs to smack Kobe around some more!!!!
Reply
5-15-2009 @ 6:09PM
eddy082408 said...
I'm a diehard Kobe and Laker fan, and sadly, I agree
5-15-2009 @ 11:46AM
Kathleen said...
If the Lakers want to win the playoffs they need to superglue Jordan Farmar's butt to a chair and keep him off the court. He couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a barn door. What a waste of air
Reply
5-15-2009 @ 12:10PM
john said...
What do you propose then? Fisher is not fairing any better... Give AB some credit. :)
5-15-2009 @ 8:17PM
Martin said...
Kathleen- Don't know what game you were watching yesterday, but Farmar was 5 for 10 (and 3 for 5 in 3's) while Fisher was 1 for 7 and 0 for 5 from 3 point land. Oh, and Farmar was more or less keeping up with Brooks on the defensive end. Farmar needs more playing time, not less.
5-15-2009 @ 12:36PM
atorres00 said...
One man's thoughts on the Lakers struggles:
http://www.aarontorres-sports.com/?p=723
Reply
5-15-2009 @ 3:29PM
turnr47 said...
did it ever occur to all you Licker-Lovers that the media hyped Lickers aint all that; stacked up against the other Big boys........HuH!
Reply
5-15-2009 @ 4:13PM
tsshepard said...
Kobe couldn't lead a team out of the locker room let alone to a championship. He is selfish, a Michael jordan impersonator and a rapist. Some leader!
Reply
5-16-2009 @ 8:23AM
obamaizadope said...
Kobe is a phenomenal player, but as great as he is, he can't do it all himself (unless he's playing the clippers). The other guys on that team need to get their thumbs out of their asses, and play some basketball.
Reply
5-16-2009 @ 11:03AM
Ctran said...
Remember Sandler's 50 first dates? Well the Lakers are perfect to star in a sports movie called 50 first losses. They wake up the next day and completely forget last loss, as illustrated in games 4 and 6. Professional? nope they are not unless you mean to describe them professional loosers. Playing with hearts? Are you kidding, even artificial hearts beat better than theirs. Playing smart? Another movie comes to mind, Dumb and Dumber.
Well the list goes on and I ran out of movies.
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